Computer-based Training for Financial Management Systems: The City of Scottsdale Experience.

Computer-based training allows users to have complete control

Like many other organizations, the City of Scottsdale, Arizona, recently spent considerable time and money to upgrade its financial systems and address Y2K issues. In the past, efforts to train departmental system users on system changes and procedures have been costly, time consuming for trainers, and inconvenient for students. After looking for alternatives to leverage the staff's capacity to teach users about financial systems, accounting, and budget policies/procedures, Scottsdale decided to use computer-based training.

Computer-based Training

Computer-based training (CBT) is the combination of multimedia (text, graphics, audio, and video) to present a course of instruction in an interactive format. Computer-based training can be delivered to students over the Web, LANs, or CD-ROM. To take a course, a user simply needs a computer and very basic computer skills. CBT recognizes that learning curves are different for everyone and allows students to work at their own pace and focus more attention where needed. Review of subject matter is facilitated by replay of relevant sections, at the student's own speed and convenience. It can be used to train new users or current users who simply need to review lessons.

Organizations can either purchase existing courseware or use authoring software products to create their own training programs. Authoring software assists training developers and subject matter experts with creating interactive, media-rich learning tools. The software allows a user with little technical proficiency to import and/or create text, graphics, shapes, animation, audio, and video to produce a training program. There is currently a wide variety of authoring software products that can help an organization produce computer-based training at a nominal cost.

Benefits of CBT

The primary benefit of CBT is that it allows students to have complete control over their training and learning experience, which results in faster learning and better retention of the subject matter. Students navigate through the course material at their own pace and focus on the training that is most relevant to their needs. According to an IBM study, retention increased by 31 to 50 percent when students used interactive training materials as compared to traditional methods. Educational studies have further shown that learning time can be reduced by as much as 20 to 80 percent when compared to instructor-led training (Multimedia Training Newsletter Study, 1996). Other benefits include:

* cost effectiveness;

* frees subject matter experts from training others;

* always available;

* consistency of course presentation;

* ability to monitor student progress; and

* training is highly interactive.

Web-based Added Benefits

Computer-based training can either be administered through a CD-ROM, or students can access training courses via an organizational Intranet or the World Wide Web. Web-based training (WBT) is a more effective and cost efficient platform for delivering the coursework to students than the CD-ROM option.

Any customer/student who has authorization and Internet or Intranet access can undergo training from almost anywhere in the world. There is nothing to plug-in, download, and no need to master and produce multiple discs for distribution.

This also means that updates are much faster and less expensive. Updates can be made 'on the fly' without waiting for a sufficient number of changes to justify the cost of re-mastering, reproducing, and re-distributing CDs. The ease of updating the training has allowed Scottsdale to be more responsive in catering the course content to user needs and feedback comments.

WBT is particularly advantageous when target students may be using a variety of computers or operating systems. Only one version of the courseware needs to be produced for WBT (as opposed to multiple CD versions, each specific to a single operating system), and there is no installation process to support. To access the material, the student simply points their browser at the appropriate Web page and follows the on-screen instructions. With WBT, it is also possible to track exactly who is logged on and using the courseware.

CBT in Scottsdale

Scottsdale chose to employ this technology not as a total replacement for hands-on, instruction-oriented classes, but as a prerequisite course to enhance student learning. Use of CBT allows the city to take the base course content from conventional training and package it in a conveniently accessible package for customers/students. Students can view the prerequisite CBT at their own pace, and then supplement the CBT with later offerings of specific classroom sessions. Reference to CBT materials is available to students 24 hours a day. Scottsdale's users like having control over when they view the course material and the ability to replay sections at their own discretion and pace.

The authoring tools the city uses include color and graphics and are capable of incorporating sound and animation to make the training material come to life. These added features make the learning experience more enjoyable and aid in retention of the course material. User responses indicate that students prefer this way of learning over going to a classroom--and if they like it, they will learn better. One of Scottsdale's interactive tutorial subjects is requisitioning and usage of the new financial system. It was designed for departmental user's Web access via the Financial Services Intranet homepage. It also is made available on CD-ROM for those users working off-line or telecommuting. The tutorial encompasses nine lessons with step-by-step instructions along with screen captures from the new financial system. Lessons include: how to use the tutorial; logging on to the system; how to navigate through it; requisition procedural instructions; forwarding the requisition to purchasing; and how to exit the syst em.

Training content consistency and quality is now more assured versus when multiple trainers and multiple classes had been used in the past, even when using the same training materials. Use of CBT software features such as: pre-tests, review questions, post-tests, and the ability of students to e-mail comments to the course developer/instructor have assisted the city in improving and updating course content.

Financial Services staff and training facilities have been greatly leveraged by employing this technology. Students learn from the CBT at their own workstations and at their own convenience, rather than at fixed times and in training facility locations. Subject matter experts have subsequently been able to spend more time on system stabilization and support of other accounting administrative tasks.

Virtual University Initiative

The City of Scottsdale is also in the process of implementing a Virtual University training resource. This full-feature training resource is intended to provide access to all employees (using the city Intranet) and includes the use of an authoring tool. This broader city training and development goal is complementary to one of Accounting and Budget Division's strategic objectives: provide governmental financial training/advice to departmental customers to increase their financial acumen and confidence with financial responsibilities.

To achieve this objective, key staff members are expected to design and provide workshops and/or interactive Web/CBT training, coordinated through Scottsdale's virtual university, on a variety of topics:

* general accounting procedures;

* payroll procedures;

* accounts payable procedures;

* budget control;

* financial system use; and,

* other general financial management topics.

Some of the general financial training topics being developed for Web training and educational access include: costing of services/projects, rate/fee development, cost/benefit analysis, fiscal note disclosure, and financial owner(s) training for new managers. One of the benefits of using the authoring tool is the ability to administer student feedback. The feedback from students is important to determine the success of training sessions and categorize subjects for further training and/or consulting followup.

Necessary Resources for CBT

Similar to developing conventional training programs, training content development still takes up the bulk of the time needed to produce CBT. Staff time committed to each course has been approximately 72 hours, including course design, writing course content, screen captures/media creation, task analysis, and testing. However, many CBT authoring tools have features that will make this job much easier. Look for authoring tool features such as:

* test question generation;

* response judging (exact match, spelling allowance, phonetic match, word search, anticipated incorrect);

* automatic scoring;

* feedback;

* user log-on and log-off password;

* user bookmarks (so users can resume where they left off);

* user comments;

* network (LAN) support;

* user rostering;

* data analysis; and,

* report generation.

Software exists with some or all of these features (depending on price), but many of these features are well worth the small additional cost when compared to the time saved during development.

Costs/Benefits

Several authoring tools for creating online learning applications are available on the market. There is one for each budget range, with some available on a free sample basis over the Internet. Scottsdale purchased one easy to use authoring software package for $1,200; it's licensed for up to 2,000 users and can be used by any city employee. Financial Services purchased another more sophisticated authoring software for $2,700 which incorporates the full-range of multi-media capacities (i.e., paint programs, video, audio, animation, database, and asset management programs). When selecting authoring tool software, the most important factors for the city were finding tools that:

1) included authoring features to assist in producing quality coursework;

2) provided beneficial learning features to meet student needs; and,

3) cost significantly less than in-house training or sending employees off-site.

CBT has a one-time cost that can run as low as a few hundred dollars per person/per year. The average cost of in-person training can be as much as $2,500 per course/per week, plus transportation and lodging and lost productive time spent away from the office.

Use of authoring tools also provides hard-dollar savings by eliminating and/or reducing the costs of printing and staff time needed to distribute training manuals for each course. The use of Web distribution technology also eliminates the necessity of reprinting and redistributing hard-copy training materials when courses are altered.

Difficulty of Implementing CBT

A common question is: "Do I need to know programming to develop CBT?" The answer is no. Try to find an authoring tool that can provide as many common CBT operations without requiring staff to program. A quality CBT authoring tool will help maximize the author's productivity so that he/she can concentrate on project content.

As part of Scottsdale's virtual university, an authoring tool was selected simply for its ease of use so that any/all staff could develop courses. Financial Services is utilizing another authoring tool, which is a bit more robust, in order to incorporate additional multi-media features and screen captures from existing financial software. To use this authoring tool, some added software training (a three-day class at a cost of $1,200) was necessary to take full advantage of added features. In short, developing CBT can be as simple or as difficult as administrators need to make it in order to fit their special needs.

Conclusion

A wide variety of private-sector companies already use authoring tools and CBT to quickly and easily teach customers the 'how to' of their products. Any government (large and small) interested in saving staff time and effort would benefit from using authoring tools and building interactive CBT courses. This technology can reach all the staff within an organization immediately; whereas classroom training is not always convenient or accessible. The use of authoring software and Web access takes the classroom to the student, thereby improving the efficiency of Financial Services staff and the effectiveness of their training. CBT is a cost-effective way to leverage financial professionals' efforts and transfer their financial and business knowledge to other staff within the organization.

CRAIG CLIFFORD is the Accounting and Budget Director for Scottsdale, Arizona. He is President of the Arizona Finance Officers Association and serves on GFOA's Committee on Governmental Budgeting and Management. He can be contacted at cclifford@ci.scottsdale.az.us.