ARCHIVED: Completed project: Centralized Online Training and Tutorial Management System

Primary UITS contact: Scott Wilson

Completed: July 9, 2013

Description: This project will offer a centralized repository of online training, tutorials, and compliance-driven education and awareness. Such a system alleviates the burden imposed on departments by developing and maintaining silo tutorial and training systems (simply because their business needs mandate such training). The ideal solution will keep comprehensive records regarding what materials employees have taken and when, enabling them to certify their training and empowering the university to maintain robust compliance records.

Milestones and status:

• December 2009: Creation of a specifications task force
• March 2010: In-person meeting of entire task force to discuss initial requirements and outline project goals
• June 2010: Draft set of specifications and requirements sent to task force for feedback and comments
• July 2010: Draft RFP sent to task force for review
• September 2010: RFP sent to vendors
• October 2010: RFP responses received and reviewed by task force
• November 2010: Task force met to review candidates and ask additional questions based on the responses
• January 2011: Vendor demonstrations will be scheduled within the next month.
• March 2011: Vendor demonstrations attended; committee will meet to discuss and make product selection
• May 2011: The committee has narrowed the selection and is currently pursuing necessary funding.
• August 2011: The necessary funding is still currently being sought.
• October 2011: Funding has been obtained and the university is currently in the procurement process. Once completed, the selected vendor will be announced and a staging system will be launched to begin testing. The charter for this system's advisory committee is also being drafted.
• December 2011: IU has selected and acquired a three-year license for Absorb Anywhere, from Blatant Media; testing/setup has already begun. The Advisory Committee has been formed and held their first meeting. Beta testing should begin within the next few weeks. After that, the name will be announced and a larger beta testing will begin.
• February 2012: An advisory committee has been formed and tasked with guiding the overall direction of the beta rollout process. Individuals and departments from across the university are participating in a two-phase rollout process. The team is hopeful that this system will launch in production in spring 2012, though a production date has not been announced.

Next steps:

• Complete the stage/test environment
• Finalize IU-specific details (e.g., system name/branding, local skin/theme, etc.)
• Begin beta testing in phases

Benefits:

• Departments no longer must develop and maintain their own silo systems to accommodate training requirements.
• Subject matter experts within departments become content contributors to the centralized tool.
• Supervisors and department heads can mandate such training by employees.
• Centralized reporting will ideally enable integration with other systems, including a verification of completion of certain training materials before proceeding to other actions, such as granting access to more sensitive university information.
• Departments or offices with specific expertise can now make their materials available to the entire university.

Project team:

The project team consists of members from these offices:

• Academic Human Resources
• Office of Environmental Health and Safety Management
• Office of the Executive Vice President for University Regional Affairs, Planning, and Policy
• Financial Management Services
• Office of International Services
• IT Training and Education (UITS)
• Office of Procurement Services
• Research Compliance
• University Student Services and Systems
• University Human Resource Services
• University Information Policy Office
• University Public Safety and Police

Governance: Merri Beth Lavagnino, Office of the Vice President for Information Technology