A technology explosion has occurred in the learning solution marketplace. ELearning choices have expanded over the years. As a result, the eLearning market place is saturated with choices. Additionally due to mergers and acquisitions between competitors, the learning technology landscape is constantly changing. This land mine of alternatives has created quandary amoung eLearning professionals.
Selecting an eLearning system/vendor can be the most critical decision made by professionals in organizations. Therefore, professionals must be diligent in exploring evaluation strategies to select supplies that will deliver eLearning solutions to address their company’s learning needs, integrate in their learning and technical environments, deliver within their project time-lines, and meet their learning budget requirements.
The following model emerged as a result of my years of experience in the Training and Education Technology practice. Through countless ah ha moments, I developed a model that I hope will move professionals down a successful vendor selection road.
Additionally, this model is designed to engage the business stockholders in a group decision-making process in order to facilitate a high degree of informed and aligned decision-making.
Module Overview
Phase 1 – Assess the Need
Determine the significance and impact of the potential solution within the organization. Elements to consider during this phase include the enabling company policies or procedures, as well as the underlying rationale for implementation. Consider addressing the following questions:
What is the rational for the solution?
How many people will be impacted by the solution?
Is the executive leadership in support of the solution?
Dose the organization culture support this approach?
Why should the company outsource?
What are the benefits of outsourcing?
Phase 2 – Identify the Stakeholders
Consider the business stakeholders, their stakes, and other clients (i.e., people, groups, or organizations that will assist in the creation, implementation, or support). Consider addressing the following questions:
Who are the primary stakeholders – those people who will be directly impacted?
Who are the secondary stakeholders - those people whose business process will change as a result of the implementation?
Who are the tertiary stakeholders - those are the people who will need to be kept informed of the implementation?
Who in IT will I need to partner with?
Are there any existing internal process or procedures that need to be followed?
Phase 3 – Understand the Internal Organizational Success Factors
Develop a list of internal/external (contextual) factors that may be relevant to the success/failure of the solution in the environment. These factors may include: benchmarking strategy and knowledge structure; the organizational culture; information technology; employee involvement and training; the leadership and the commitment of senior management; a learning environment and resource control; and evaluation of professional training and teamwork. Consider addressing the following questions:
What are the main objectives identified for the eLearning system?
What services will the eLearning solution provide the customers?
What system features will the eLearning system need to include?
What resources will be needed in order to support the eLearning system?
What internal technologies will the eLearning system need to support?
What training will be needed in order to be more effective users of the technology?
What are the system requirements of the new application?
Will the solution be hosted internally or externally?
How will the eLearning system be evaluated on an annual basis?
What are your internal budget constraints?
Phase 4 - Check-in
The check-in is designed to align decision-making and agreement to move forward in the evaluation process. During this check-in phase, the stakeholders should:
Assess the data collected in step 1-3:
Discuss the ramifications of the data.
Determine if enough data exist to move forward
Move forward to steps 5-8 or
Gather more data in steps 1-3.
Phase 5 – Gain An Understanding Of The Industry
During the fifth phase, the evaluator should focus on collecting data on potential vendors in the industry who may meet the criteria established in phase three. Some of the actives, that should be performed during this stage include: reviewing data on eLearning systems/vendors; attending several product demonstrations; attending supplier user group meetings. Consider addressing the following questions:
Who are the potential vendors?
How are the company’s rated by creditable sources?
Has the solution been successful at other companies?
What evidence exists of valid product use at other organizations?
Phase 6 – Examine Your Internal Environment
Once a narrowed list of potential vendors has been created, interviews should be arranged. It is recommendation that during this stage, the evaluator should conduct in-person interviews in order to meet, talk with, and observe the vendor in their normal surroundings. Also, this phase should focus on gather significant technical information about the vendor. At this point, the evaluator should solicit the support of IT professions to determine all the appropriate questions. However, during the interview, consider asking some foundational questions:
What staff is required to maintain the system?
What skills are needed to maintain the system?
What additional consulting requirements are necessary?
What are the technical configuration requirements?
In addition, to technical functionality, key considerations are technical infrastructure, scalability, and maintenance.
What type of administrator training will be needed?
What additional training will be needed?
What is the implementation plan?
What is the post implementation plan?
Will customization be required?
What technical resources will be required for implementation?
What is the application’s maintenance strategy?
Is help desk support required?
Who will need training and how will training be delivered?
Phase 7 – Examine the External Environment
Several factors in the vendor’s environment can impact the vendor’s ability to deliver a quality application or service. During this phase, the evaluator should conduct an environmental scan to identify external threats to the vendor. The objective of this scan is to determine if any of the external factors may impact the vendor’s ability to provide quality service. Consider asking the following questions in order to determine how external environmental factors will impact the vendor’s ability to deliver quality services:
How will economic conditions impact the vendor's ability to deliver quality service? (Example: Are there any planned mergers?)
How will international factors such as European Unions, wage comparisons, trade agreements, and globalization impact the vendor’s ability to delivery quality service?
How will advances in technology, technological skills, and process changes impact the vendor’s ability to deliver quality service? (Example: What are the trends in the industry?)
How will worker skills, corporate responsibility, and population shifts impact the vendor’s ability to deliver quality service?
How will employment factors, such as: immigration, migration, occupational and industry shifts, recruitment, unions, unemployment, turnover trends, and relocation impact the vendor’s ability to provide quality service?
How will changing labor force factors impact the vendor’s ability to deliver quality service?
How will federal, state, and local legislation impact the vendor’s ability to delivery quality service?
Phase 8 – Collect Customer Feedback
Obtain a list of vendor clients who have installed the solution within a similar technical environment. The evaluator should ask the potential vendor if there are any legal constraints, which will prevent companies from participating in an interview. If none exist, the evaluator should move forward and conduct the interviews.
Consider interviewing the vendor’s customers: HR administrators, IT department, and managers who have worked with the system. Additionally, conducting telephone interviews accommodates the interviewer and interviewee’s schedule constraints and reduces cost in the process. Consider asking the following questions:
How successful was the integration of the eLearning solution?
Did you find any support gaps? What where they?
What are your lessons learned?
What would you recommend we should consider before implementing this solution?
Phase 9 - Check-in
Much like the first check-in, this check-in is designed to align decision-making and agreement to move forward in the evaluation process. During this check-in phase, the stakeholders should:
Assess the data collected in steps 5-8
Discuss the ramifications of the data
Determine if enough data exist. If not, gather more data in steps 5-8.
Identify the top two or three vendors
Move forward to steps 10-11
Phase 10 –Evaluate the Solution in Your Technical Environment
With the support of the organization’s IT department, group, or individuals, during this phase, the evaluator should technically assess the system within the company’s environment. This phase allows the evaluator to observe the functionality of the perspective technology in a natural environment setting. Additionally, this phase should support the company’s pre-existing system evaluation process. However, if a process doses not exist, the evaluation should solicit the support of an IT professional. The goal during this phase is to determine the applications compatibility constraints with the existing company’s architecture. Some of the earlier questions asked in phases will need to be confirmed.
Does the organization’s infrastructure support the new application requirements?
Will the system integrate with the existing HR systems, technical environment, and any other eLearning components?
Does the system meet the needs of work from remote offices?
Is customization required?
Should the solution be hosted internally or externally?
What technical resources will be required for implementation?
What should be the application’s maintenance strategy?
What type of technical training is needed?
Phase 11- Allow Potential Users to Evaluate the Solution
User acceptance testing is another IT evaluation process. However, this process allows potential users to evaluate the solution in an artificial environment. This phase consist of testing the usability of the application from a technical navigation perspective. The organization may have internal groups to facilitate the functional testing with potential users. This usability tests allow the evaluator to see what works and what doesn't work from a user perspective. During this phase, a data collection tool will need to be created to test critical user scenarios.
Did the system perform as expected?
Was the application easy to use?
What modifications are needed to allow for easier use?
What end user training will be necessary?
Phase 12 - Check-in
The final check-in process is designed to align decision-making and agreement that will enable the process to move forward. During this check-in phase, the stakeholders should:
Evaluate the data gathered from steps 10-11
Assess the internal support gaps
Develop a plan to address gaps
Decide which vendor will move forward
Phase 13 – Evaluate the total Cost of the Solution
Towards the end of the process, the evaluator should conduct a cost analysis to assess the potential cost of the remaining options. A cost analysis consists of identifying all the components contributing to the total cost of the program. During this phase, all the resources required to support the solution are identified, and their dollar value is calculated. The following is a sample of the various cost associated with an eLearning solution. When costs are aligned to the project’s budget, then the evaluation process can move forward.
Application hosting fee
Development/training fees
Consultant fees and expenses
Hours needed for staff professionals
Cost for clerical help
Cost for line management support
Data maintenance support cost
Equipment costs, such as computers, servers, etc.
Phase 14 – Examine all the Contractional Elements
When negotiating the terms of the agreement, the evaluator should work with legal experts, get everything in writing, and obtain answers to the following questions:
Does pricing address consulting fees, training fees, and annual maintenance costs?
Are future upgrades and system components included in the initial contract?
Does pricing include the addition of future users?
Are there adequate agreements for service and support levels if the supplier merges or is acquired by another company?
Is a third party consultant implementing other technologies (Who are ultimately accountable for the success of the system's functionality?
Is there an out clause for nonperformance or failure to meet key implementation deadlines?
Implications
So what does this mean for the field of HRD? I believe that scholars and practitioners should research eLearning improvement strategies that will benefit the organization and the learners. Additionally, professionals must be diligent in exploring learning enhancements that can be incorporated in eLearning development efforts to improve the organization’s acceptance and the learner’s learning experience. This article presents a summary of a model that HRD practitioners may consider when selecting an eLearning solution. However, detailed research is needed to examine the practical appropriateness of these strategies within the context of the organization.
Examining this strategies’ practical application may provide additional information and or additional strategies to support e-learning development. Therefore opportunities clearly exist to further examine eLearning improvement strategies and thus should be championed by practitioners or scholars.
Author
Kellye Guidry
Principal/Managing Consultant,The Right Training Group
Doctorial Candidate, Northern Illinois University
Kguidry_rtg@sbcglobal.net
Phone: 877-667-4601
Fax: 773-268-2833
Email: kguidry_rtg@sbcglobal.com
Monday, June 8, 2009
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