CS Education Solutions, the IT training and education division of JSE-listed CS Holdings, has implemented a comprehensive online training management system that will facilitate the management, planning and organisation of all its training requirements. Additionally, the company is to market the system for Australian firm DPM Consulting, which specialises in management information systems and other customised data-based development solutions.
"We decided to invest in the E-Sced system because we could no longer handle our rapidly increasing training volumes, even with existing electronic management systems in place," says CS Education Solutions managing director Dr Madelise Grobler. "We seat around 1 000 people per day, and without proper automation it`s impossible to deliver the level of service that our clients are used to. We investigated several local and international systems on offer, but none could meet the level of functionality provided by the E-Sced system."
"E-Sced allows a company, department or training provider to have complete visibility of their staff or clients, their training needs, current bookings and training history," explains DPM Consulting marketing manager Patrick McLaughlin. "The system maintains a complete history and financial audit trail, and at the click of a button provides detailed information on costs, income, profitability, successes and overall productivity.
"E-Sced is a hugely flexible application that integrates with HR or financial systems, has a Web interface, and communicates electronically via e-mail to training managers, venue liaison, trainers, coordinators and participants," he continues.
"The solution allows users to plan training courses, book the trainer and the venue and accept bookings onto a course. E-Sced also tracks costs, enabling the user to see their potential revenue, as well as the individual profit and loss for each course or schedule."
A major component of E-Sced is its ability to define competencies and associate skills to positions or roles within an organisation. "From E-Sced, each client can complete an Individual Development Plan (IDP), which compares a client`s skill set against the required skill set," says McLaughlin. "This automatically provides a training needs analysis for an organisation."
"The fact that the South Africa`s National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is based on the Australian model makes E-Sced the ideal solution with which to manage local skills development requirements," adds Grobler.
"We are so impressed with the system`s capabilities that we decided to market it to other South African companies, so that they might also enhance their training service levels," she continues. "This product would not only be relevant to training companies, but would support the training needs of any large corporation."
CS Education Solutions` appointment as a DPM Consulting reseller marks the latter`s first entrance into the export market. "The product is tremendously popular in Australia and is used by about 40 organisations," says McLaughlin. "CS Education Solutions not only marks our first international sale, but the company is also our first channel partner, of which we are very excited.
"We believe that South Africa constitutes an excellent market for our product, as so far we have yet to find an equivalent offering available. CS Education Solutions is strategically placed in the South African training market and enjoys healthy relationships with local corporate companies, which will stand them in good stead when marketing E-Sced. Additionally, they`ll be able to show off a product which they`re already using, which will furnish them with a very powerful marketing tool indeed."
The E-Sced system is available in three models - E-Sced Lite for the small internal or external training provider, E-Sced Professional for corporate or government internal or external training, and E-Sced Enterprise, a complete solution that includes a Web component, E-Sced Client Server and a complete client management system (e-CRM).
With the Web component, clients can search for courses, view details, aims and objectives, and book onto a course. Clients can also plan training by completing a staff development plan to determine their current skills shortage. To complete the cycle of training, staff can complete online course evaluations, all of which feed directly back into the E-Sced database.
E-Sced can also be used via a bureau service, which CS Education Solutions will provide. "This means that companies can still derive all the benefits of the system, without having to invest in the relevant infrastructure, and thus reduce the total cost of ownership," says Grobler.
"E-Sced will undoubtedly become an essential management tool that neither we, nor our customers, cannot afford to be without," she concludes.
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CS Education Solutions, a division of JSE-listed CS Holdings, is one of the largest providers of high-quality, customised, and accredited IT education and training solutions to corporates and end-users in the Southern African region.
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