Making a Training Database the Easy Way by Tom Benjamin - CRD

“Making a Training Database the Easy Way” - Tom Benjamin, SharePoint Systems Officer at Capital Regional District (CRD), Victoria, BC, Canada === “Making a Training Database the Easy Way” The “training database” started its life as an Excel spreadsheet. We wanted to improve on it because there’s only so much you can do in Excel. On the wish list were a training course calendar, self-service registration, email reminders, and the ability to view “my” training records. That’s was pretty easy really: three lists and a workflow or two. And we could throw in an import of the spreadsheet to create the historical data, statistics on the amount of training that was being delivered, a course sign-in sheet, course/trainer feedback, and a manager’s view. And it could all be done within HR's $5,000 budget. It’s surprising what you can do without needing a “real” database or custom programming. So far the training courses and records that have been included are all part of free corporate training provided by the HR department and rely on staff signing up if they are interested. Now we want to enhance this system to handle mandatory training, where we as an employer must be able to prove that staff were offered and took training that is required for the job – confined space entry, first aid, that kind of thing. And that sort of training is more controlled: administrators and managers need to plan training for their staff up to a year in advance, and to schedule classes and book staff on the training themselves. With SharePoint the answer is quite simple: add another list or two and write some more workflow.Read less