CiviHR Training: Initial Thoughts on Business Requirements

CiviHR 1.2 Beta was released yesterday, most of the team is already working on the Recruitment module (see Tim's blog with mockups), while the rest of us are now putting together business requirements for the next major module - Training. This is an exciting time in the CiviHR project!

The Purpose of CiviHR Training

As in the past, I shall start by attempting to define the purpose of CiviHR Training. In non-profits - as with any organization - the people who work there are the biggest assets of the organization. They frequently take on new and challenging roles to make up for shortage of staff. The HR manager must ensure that each person gets an environment in which they can grow professionally and is fully equipped to deliver great results. The CiviHR Training module must therefore make it possible for the HR manager to:

• identify who needs to be trained in what, and when 
• manage training sessions and budget
• record the effectiveness of training sessions
• generate reports for compliance and analytics
• perform a more comprehensive skill search based on not anly the past qualifications of employees, but also the training that they receive after joining the non-profit

in a way that saves time, is more streamlined, and allows for automation of routine tasks. 

Additionally, employees should be able to book trainings and view their training history in the self-serve mode. 

Training Management Technology in 2014

Josh Bersin, Deloitte says that HR organizations are now no longer judged by administrative efficiency. They are judged by their ability to acquire, develop, retain, and help manage talent. HR is being asked to become “Data-Driven” and manage people based on real data, not just judgement or good ideas. He makes the following predictions for talent, leadership and HR technology in 2014:

• The traditional training function will evolve into capability development, involving developmental assignments and focus on continuous learning
• Employee engagement and retention will be a top priority, which has implications for how performance management and capacity development are done in organizations
• Employers will have to set up systems to facilitate internal talent mobility
• The word for 2014 is “adoption” – technology must be easy to use for it to deliver great value.

I believe some of these predictions must influence how we conceptualize CiviHR Training, in order to deliver a software that is relevant to current HR practices and is also future-ready. 

Next: Drafting Business Requirements

Over the next two weeks I shall interact with HR professionals in non-profits, and will review resources available in the public domain to draft the initial set of business requirements for CiviHR Training. These will be published on the wiki for your feedback. Please feel free recommend any resources that I should take a look at, or people I could talk to.