Our Training Management System features blog series explores the capabilities that organizations rely on to modernize and manage instructor-led and vILT training programs. This article focuses on scheduling and resource management.
Managing the needs of both Instructor-led training (ILT) & virtual instructor-led training (VILT) can be complex, especially without the right system in place.
Many L&D teams still rely on disparate tools such as integrated calendars and numerous spreadsheets to manage training schedules, session dates and learning resources.
While doable, relying on spreadsheets and other manual processes to manage in-person sessions can lead to increased costs, human errors, and inefficient workflows for your training team. That’s something training companies and L&D teams can’t afford to lose especially if your goal is maximize training ROI!
Training providers and internal training teams have one clear mission: deliver impactful and applicable skills training to learners so that their organizations can be successful.
When these teams don’t have the proper training operations framework in place they set themselves up for an inefficient and time-consuming workflow to deliver just one training session.
A training management system not only helps reduce scheduling mistakes but also enables teams to align the most appropriate resources, whether they be people or equipment, to deliver the highest quality training.
While there are many training management system features and capabilities to consider, today we’ll focus on the course scheduling component.
Course Scheduling and Resource Management
Training management software has numerous features to make in-person (ILT and VILT) and blended learning experiences better for learners and training admin teams but one feature stands out as the key replacement from a maze of spreadsheets — the course scheduling and resource management ability.
Training Orchestra helps modern corporate training proividers scale large-scale training by streamlining schedules.
How do we do it?
Fast and Efficient Course Scheduling
Say goodbye to scheduling errors! With intuitive, graphical course scheduling, you can easily drag and drop your sessions, instructors, and resources all into the right place and time to guarantee a conflict-free schedule in minutes.
Whether you’re scheduling in-person classroom sessions, virtual courses, seminars, or workshops, this is the tool for you.
Do you manage a global team? With this feature, you can get instant global visibility over all training events and activities and manage sessions and information with just one click.
In addition, having intuitive color coding and live indicators will help you quickly track session occupancy rate and status.
Learn More: Top Benefits of Training Scheduling System for Training Providers
Learning Resource Management
Some earlier proponents of training management systems have referred to it as a “training resource management system” and for good reason: such a system monitors all the components needed to make training a success!
What resources do in-person training sessions need?
- Instructors and facilitators
- Training materials
- Equipment, including computers to industry-specific technology
- Physical training locations
- Video conferencing tools (if doing VILT)
For instructor-led training sessions, learning resources are much larger, expensive, and time-sensitive.
When we multiply this across hundreds of training sessions for just one training program, you can see why it takes a specialized system to coordinate each item to ensure you’re getting the most out of your training.
Why is learning resource management critical with scheduling ILT?
When the resource management processes are connected with ILT scheduling processes, training teams now have a streamlined process in sessions are prepared to deliver training.
This reduces the time it takes for admin teams to compare the learning resources of one spreadsheet and ensure that the sessions have everything they need to succeed.
By having the flexibility to adjust, say, the number of computers needed for one session or switching one trainer for another due to time conflicts, this faster delivery times on the admin side and less errors before training begins.
Learn more: Benefits of a Training Scheduling System for Learning Providers
Instructor Engagement Portal
Think of the instructor engagement portal as the “strategy room” or virtual faculty room between your facilitators and training managers.
The Engagement Portal exists to create efficient communication with ILT-based training stakeholders:
- For the L&D team to provide real-time discussion on current roadblocks and bottlenecks with training delivery.
- For trainers and instructors to discuss delivery strategy or status updates to training team members.
Why is an engagement portal important for instructor-led training programs?
For enterprise-scale, instructor-led training programs there can be dozens of modes of communication between trainers leading the sessions and the team responsible for organizing sessions. That’s a lot of back-and-forth between ad hoc calls and urgent emails!
When trainers and training admin teams have one singular source of communication to address key matters of in-person training it reduces confusion between what the plan is for training.
In addition, the external-facing portal can help you quickly find and assign the best instructors for each training session based on criteria.
Consider a hypothetical scenario for an IT services training provider:
You need a trainer to lead virtual, face-to-face training sessions for IT and cybersecurity training.
The ideal trainer needs to be:
- Lean-Sigma Six qualified
- Be able to speak both French and English
- Has availability at 0900 for Fridays and 1700 for Mondays
- Can lead the training between March through May
- Is recognized as certified trainer by CompTIA
With our specific request, we can either search for the right instructor based on our criteria filters in our trainer roster portal or we can promote the training course within our instructor engagement portal.
The instructor engagement portal is especially important for teams who seek to outsource part of all of their training to managed learning services or for internal training providers who manage large scale global training operations.
What makes the instructor engagement portal even better? Visualize progress and tasks with a milestone tracking dashboard. This portal fosters collaboration, helping you make the most of internal and external resources.
Can I Use my LMS to Manage Trainers and Instructors?
While your LMS platform may have some capability in managing trainers for ILT sessions, the capability will be very limited. Why is that?
LMS and TMS platforms are distinct forms of training software with their own features.
In short, an LMS is specialized in providing online training experiences to learners while a TMS is specialized in the overall management of ILT-focused training operations.
If you were to schedule trainers for online training sessions with an LMS, it could become very confusing for your training managers to get the right trainer and the right time, considering it likely doesn’t have the capability!
More In-Depth: LMS vs TMS – Understanding the Differences in Training Software
Maximize Your Training Resources
Download the Top 20 Training Management System Features E-Book
Interested in learning more about must-have training management system features? For our comprehensive list of features that every training organization needs to effectively manage Instructor-Led Training (ILT) and virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT), download our e-book:
Top 20 Training Management System Features: The Complete Checklist
Better Instructor-led Training starts with The Best Training Management Software
For over 18 years, we’ve been helping 600+ organizations worldwide manage their instructor-led training operations and over $6B in training budgets.
Training Orchestra can help you optimize classroom and virtual training operations: session scheduling, resource management, instructor calendars, vILT, cost tracking, and reporting.
Complement your learning operation with Training Orchestra, the platform designed to replace routine monitoring for schedules and spreadsheets so you can focus on delivering more training.
Interested in how you can streamline your scheduling functions for in-person and live virtual training for your L&D operation?
Contact us to learn more!
Up Next! More in our Training Management System Features Series:
- Training Scheduling and Resource Management Features – You’re here!
- Training Operations and Logistics Features
- Training Budget and Financial Performance Features
- Training Reporting Features
- Training Sales Cycle Management Features
