The ELearning Fieldbook [Electronic resources] : Implementation Lessons and Case Studies from Companies that are Making eLearning Work نسخه متنی

Designing and Building Reports

Reports go far beyond just providing information or statistics to an intended audience. They are an opportunity to further the e-learning strategy and are the foundation for demonstrating the business impact and measuring ROI.

There are two questions to consider when starting to design and build reports.

What data/information does the organization and/or stakeholder want to know?

What data/information do I want the organization and/or stakeholder to know?

It is essential to incorporate the answers to both of these questions when building reports, ensuring that the reports are a useful tool in driving the e-learning strategy. The Learning and/or Human Resources organization needs to spend time addressing the second question. As with any strategy, taking the time to identify the key messages important to the stakeholders, and building reports to do just that will definitely pay off.

Reporting e-Learning at Austrade*

Reporting mechanisms have provided senior management with a clear picture, showing a greater degree of work output from the staff and improved efficiency in responding to clients. With supporting systems, 91 percent of the organization is using e-learning, which is being seen as increased productivity and competency in the workplace.

*See Chapter 14: Austrade

Steps to Design and Build Reports

Identify the stakeholders and audience for the reports and understand their needs.

Know the goals of the stakeholder. Be clear about their specific targets as well as those that have been set for the learners and the organization. This will impact how data is presented.

Identify the reporting parameters, such as key information needed, frequency of report, and distribution of the information (who receives what). Build in the answers to the two questions above.

Know the data! Be clear on what is tracked, where it is tracked and what it means. Based on the internal systems, utilize the tools available (for example, Excel, reporting software such as Crystal Reports, or an LMS).

Determine data needed for specific reports and ensure the integrity of that data. In other words, do the requisite homework. Make sure that the data is accurate regardless of the story it tells.

Build a prototype of the report and gain agreement with the stakeholder on the final design.

Standardize and document the process and automate it wherever possible, as these reports may be needed on a regular basis.

Verify the report information within the learning organization.

Analyze report results and take actions based on what is now known.

Identify and build standard, cyclical reports, so that the organization becomes very familiar with the concepts, terms, and metrics of e-learning. Consider some sort of learning dashboard or scorecard to drive the e-learning strategy. It can be very valuable to show e-learning and classroom learning data to measure progress as the organization shifts from an e-learning to a blended learning culture.

Table 6-2 depicts data-sorting by geographic location. Depending on the learning management system, there may also be options to sort by organization structure, level, or program/course.

There are new and/or improved reporting tools available in the market today that can enhance your reporting capabilities significantly. Whether you use standard tools such as Crystal Reports, Excel or Access, it makes sense to explore some of the new software that is available to help track and measure ROI. Many of the LMS vendors are introducing new programs with improved reporting functionality as well. Using the proper tools will allow you to spend more time on strategic analysis versus the manual processes of gathering the data and building the reports.

Harnessing the Power of Tracking and Reporting

Once reporting is in place, it is important to collaborate with key stakeholders and the recipients of your reports to ensure their needs are being met. When valuable, accurate data is provided and the audience becomes more educated in analyzing this data, be prepared for new requests and additional interests. Work with the stakeholders to identify gaps between expected and actual results. As a strategic business partner, work with your senior executives and learning champions to address the gaps. Continue to track and report on progress.

e-Learning tracking and reports have proven a valuable tool for business leaders and champions of e-learning initiatives to further drive usage and completions of e-learning, to measure the effectiveness of courses and programs in equipping employees to achieve important strategic goals and to plan for the future.

In the next chapter, methods and approaches for engaging the support of your strategic partners will be explored.

Lessons Learned

Develop a tracking and reporting strategy, and have processes in place to capture the data needed. These are critical to the overall success of e-learning.

Invest the time in strategy-level discussions within learning and with key stakeholders.

Address all levels of measurement for e-learning including Level 0:e-Learning Participation.

Don't expect that tracking and reporting of e-learning is simple and easy. Often the opposite is true. It requires a combination of knowledge, resources, time, and a commitment to getting it right to be successful.

Ensure that resources in the reporting area are knowledgeable in e-learning and have a strong database skill set.

Realize that reporting is an ongoing process and not static.

e-Learning does not possess the same attributes as classroom learning and should not be tracked and reported as such.

It is critical to educate the stakeholders and leadership in understanding the hierarchy structure, terms, categories, and definitions.

Hierarchy structure, terms, and definitions differ from vendor to vendor. Share the internal information right away when working with vendors to avoid confusion and data not tracking appropriately.

Always ensure data integrity prior to releasing any results. Your reputation and trust in the learning organization depend upon it.