The impact of training management is often overlooked by executives, despite its grave importance and close connection to compliance, quality, health, safety, and a wide variety of other key areas related to business performance. Fortunately, automation, combined with other next-generation software capabilities has transformed training management into a tool that’s more useful than ever.
In this post we will explore some of the challenges facing quality leaders with regard to training from a quality management perspective and the features in enterprise quality management software (EQMS) that, when applied correctly, can take non-value-add administration out of the equation, so more time can be focused on the quality of content and the effectiveness of the training itself.
We’ll dive into the key areas you should know about: ISO 9001, training requirements, SOPs and WIs, delivery and integration, and, finally, training records.
Most of us are familiar with the ISO 9001 requirements for training, awareness, and competence, and therefore it is a good place for us to open the discussion. The language used is squarely focused on determining what competence is required for personnel where their work affects the conformity of products. And then providing the training (or taking other actions) to achieve said competence, followed by an evaluation of the effectiveness of training and/or other actions taken. The awareness piece relates to connecting personnel (their activities) and the relevance and importance in achieving quality objectives. Finally, for conformance, the appropriate recording of education, training, skills and experience should be maintained.
Technology, or software to be specific, is particularly suited to quickly and accurately cross-reference or triangulate the following:
The fact that there are three factors and the potential for ad-hoc training requirements to be assigned makes managing this information in hard-copy binder or even a spreadsheet, for example, error prone and takes significant effort to maintain. Beyond conformance there are also many stakeholders that should have access to this information for decision-making, compliance, conformance and efficiency’s sake--for example, a line supervisor needing a replacement for a particular role for a short period or longer term-succession planning should be able to quickly look up and verify all personnel with current or those in need of qualifications for a piece of equipment or a specific role.
Utilizing training functionality in EQMS means the triangulation of training requirements is robust, but also efficient. By connecting a new employee with their role and work area, the application can auto-generate their training needs/analysis. Searching against a particular work area yields those trained versus those that are not. It is important that one can also include ad-hoc, non-role or work area-required training and competence. Someone may be flagged as having a forklift license but does not require it to fulfill their current position or duties.
One additional element to consider is the potential for a course or requirement to be completed, but true competency is assessed/determined at a pre-defined time after a new skill has been exercised.
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) and work instructions (WIs) are relevant here, too. When updates to these documents are published, the EQMS must flag for those personnel affected and notify them or their superiors of the need to consume, digest, and acknowledge the changed document. This action is recorded with a timestamp and substitutes archaic signature sheets. Injecting efficiency, the notification should directly link to the updated version of said document (ideally) also managed in the EQMS or via seamless integration if a dedicated document management solution is employed.
Training delivery includes a diverse array of traditional and technology-based options, from instructor led face-to-face or virtual classes through individual recorded e-learning courses with online examinations. What remains consistent is the fact that we must capture the event, completion date, pass/fail information and, where appropriate, plan the next iteration if there is an expiration for credentials.
E-learning and on-demand training in the form of a learning management system (LMS) is an efficient way to deliver some types of training. The specifics of e-learning goes beyond this article—suffice to say that e-learning is in most cases delivered separate to the EQMS, but integration using Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) including material, scores and pass/fail outcome are available from some vendors out of the box.
Organizations with an existing and strong LMS capability, deployed for non-QMS purposes, should lean on the expertise from the owner function (probably group HR), leverage their processes for delivery and gain expert integration insight. This integration point is not new and LMS-EQMS integration continues to become more pervasive with better and more robust connectors.
It is very common for courses to be outlined, with properties including qualification types (very useful for licenses for example) and for these to have some capability for material to be attached or uploaded.
The goal is a single source of truth that is highly efficient and auditable (conforming). To this end, the integration with ERP/HR solutions for employee data should be considered a requirement for your EQMS.
If the engine of our training ‘ship’ is triangulation or needs analysis, driving notifications typically by email or task list item of changes to SOPs, new and updated WIs, training requirements and refresher training becoming due or overdue. The ‘ship’s log’ is our record to prove we have adhered to and observed what was required. This should also include an evaluation of effectiveness. Linking to a review of training delivered and competence levels within our EQMS solution is the best approach. This could even be a risk assessment specifically addressing the severity and consequence of training not being effective or completed, especially given that any resulting actions can be driven through the corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) tools also part of an EQMS to maintain visibility on proactive and reactive activities.
EQMS will reduce the traditional overhead of documenting what training has been completed, when it was completed, by whom, what the outcome was (pass/fail), capturing qualifications (uploading evidence is a good approach) and provide some intelligence around identifying if said training is required as a pre-requisite for additional qualifications and more. Other valuable elements can be managed, too, including providers and actual costs.
Reporting should be comprehensive and there should be plans to conduct analysis to allow further insight once time has been freed up from administration.
Reports for training should include (not be limited to) the following:
With EQMS comes some effort to configure and adjust over time but your enterprise and the integrity of your training programs for excellence and compliance/conformance will be much less of a burden with the added benefit of interoperability with documents (SOPs/WIs), risk management, CAPA and more.
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