Tag: Private Sector

Case Study

Getinge Case Study

Post author By user
Post date March 9, 2022

Design and delivery of an animated video

Delivered for GETINGE

AT A GLANCE

In-house voiceover
Managed translation from English into four other language

THE CLIENT

Getinge is a leading global provider of products and systems that contribute to quality enhancement and cost efficiency within healthcare and life sciences.

Getinge offers equipment, workflow management, and clinical therapies, which help hospitals and clinicians offer the best possible outcomes for their patients.

Headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, Getinge employs more than 10,800 people and has operations in 39 countries.

THE CHALLENGE

In 2020, Getinge launched its Torin solution to simplify planning, management, and optimisation of surgical departments.

In 2021 the company added artificial intelligence functionality to the solution, creating Torin OptimalQ. With the new set of capabilities, this tool aims to help hospitals to shrink surgical waiting lists by prioritising surgery planning and building an accurate surgical schedule.

Getinge approached SkillSet with requirements for a 3 to 5 minute animated video to promote the launch of Torin OptimalQ.

OUR APPROACH

From the start of the project, Getinge already had a very clear idea of the key messages they wanted to get across in this promotional video. They provided a voiceover script, which allowed SkillSet to create a storyboard, following the logical order of the script.

Once the storyboard was signed off, SkillSet’s design team then began developing the video content.

SkillSet used a tool called Vyond to develop animated videos. Vyond allows us to depict scenarios or processes in an engaging and easy to understand way. This is particular helpful when the content is fairly complex and technical, such as that of Getinge’s Torin OptimalQ.

SkillSet recorded the voiceover using our in-house resource and this was then added to the animation.

Once the video was created, it was then shared with Getinge for review. Feedback was collated and then used to update the animation.

Once the final sign-off had been received, SkillSet provided Getinge with 720p and 1080p MP4 files.

We then worked with a translation partner to translate the voice-over, on-screen text, and subtitles into Spanish, French, German, and Italian, ready for global release.

THE RESULTS

The animated video was launched on Getinge’s YouTube channel in early 2021. It has also been used in various other channels to promote the Torin OptimalQ product.

Tags ELearning, Private Sector

Case Study

Whyte and Mackay Case Study

Post author By user
Post date January 12, 2022

Design and delivery of a learning management system

Delivered for WHYTE AND MACKAY

AT A GLANCE

Design and delivery of Moodle LMS.
Single sign-on.
Tailored user training.

THE CLIENT

Whyte & Mackay is an award-winning whisky maker, with five distilleries across Scotland. These distilleries produce exceptional whiskies and premium spirits, which are celebrated around the world.

THE CHALLENGE

Whyte & Mackay sought a professional learning management system provider to design, develop, and deliver of a platform for training line managers.

Key requirements included:

Integration with Whyte & Mackay’s authentication system.
Face-to-face bookings and tracking.
Forced progression through the courses.
Bespoke progress visualisation.

OUR APPROACH

SkillSet proposed a Moodle learning management system to satisfy Whyte & Mackay’s needs. It is the world’s most popular learning management system with more than 100,000 installations worldwide. Moodle is an open-source system but supported by a dedicated team of developers based in Australia. SkillSet currently hosts and supports Moodle for over 20 clients.

Moodle is compatible with all common browsers (including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge), running on all common platforms. Users can access content material on a full range of devices: PCs (including Windows 10), mobile phones, tablets, laptops etc.

SkillSet worked to an ADDIE (Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) methodology. Each stage was signed off before progressing to the next, to ensure that the project met Whyte & Mackay’s requirements.

Analyse – SkillSet verified the project requirements, defined system roles and permissions, and mapped out the initial course hierarchy.

Design – SkillSet used the Whyte and Mackay branding and style guides to ensure that the learning management system blended seamlessly with its existing websites. Learning report contents and integration requirements were documented.

Develop – The Moodle platform was built using the outputs from the Analyse and Design stages. A staging platform for testing was also set up, replicating the live platform.

Implement – The whole system was tested by a small number of Whyte and Mackay staff, using example courses on the staging system. Once approved, the solution was migrated to the production environment for final testing and sign-off.

Evaluate – SkillSet continue to monitor the system for any potential issues. We also provide help in creating reports and management information.

The system is hosted in an AWS data centre in the UK. Both AWS and SkillSet are ISO27001 certified. The system also complies with GDPR/DPA 2018 and all other relevant data security legislation.

SkillSet utilise the AWS Cloudwatch monitoring tools for all the hosted system components. This alerts us if there are any issues with running services, memory/CPU/disk usage, or errors encountered on the servers.

SkillSet also provided training, tailored to different user groups and covering the following topics:

System administration
User administration
Content creation and upload
Reporting

THE RESULTS

Having completed an initial pilot in spring 2021, Whyte and Mackay is now looking to roll-out the LMS to the entire business as part of its digital strategy. This includes a bespoke dashboard. This allows managers to log into the platform and see a “My Staff” overview block on the homepage. This then gives them information such as their direct reports’ last log-in, assigned courses, and progress.

OUR PARTNER’S FEEDBACK

“When searching for the right supplier for this project, I spoke to around five others, who were all non-integrated and did not have single sign-on capabilities. Whereas SkillSet ticked all the boxes for us, particularly for the price. It was clear from the outset that SkillSet could meet our project needs. It felt really easy to work with Jemma, and also the proposed solution suited us in terms of its simplicity and user-friendly system.”

LAURA HENIGHEN, learning and development business partner

Tags Learning Management System, Private Sector

Case Study

Trade Skills 4U Case Study

Post author By user
Post date January 10, 2022

Upgrade and rebranding of Moodle learning management system

Delivered for TRADE SKILLS 4U

AT A GLANCE

Upgrade of Trade Skills 4U’s Moodle LMS
Hosting
Training and ongoing support

THE CLIENT

Trade Skills 4U is a national electrical training company. They have centres in Gatwick, Central London and Warrington, where 1000s of new and experienced electricians have passed their qualifications.

THE CHALLENGE

Trade Skills 4U contacted SkillSet, having recently introduced blended learning into its main qualification packages. This included SCORM-based eLearning modules, which were hosted on an existing Moodle learning management system.

This system was using an outdated version of Moodle, which meant that the site wasn’t providing Trade Skills 4U with all of the functionality that was required. Also, it was not visually appealing and intuitive to use.

SkillSet was therefore engaged to update the LMS to the latest version of Moodle and apply new visual templates to match the Trade Skills 4U brand.

Trade Skills 4U asked SkillSet to move the Moodle site from their internal infrastructure to SkillSet’s. This allowed SkillSet to take full responsibility for hosting, monitoring and maintaining the site.

OUR APPROACH

The first step was to take a back-up of Trade Skills 4U’s existing Moodle LMS. This allowed our team to create a Linux-based staging site using Amazon Web Services (AWS).

SkillSet is proud to be a Consulting Partner with AWS. This alliance allows us to provide our customers with guidance on security, resilience, performance and back-up, ensuring that their cloud environment meets their requirements exactly.

Using the staging site, we then upgraded the system to the latest version of Moodle. We also updated all plug-ins and PHP on the staging site. At this point, Trade Skills 4U was invited to test the upgrade to ensure there were no functional errors.

Once the upgrade was in place, we then applied a new theme and configured this based on the Trade Skills 4U website to match the company’s branding.

SkillSet then configured the default dashboard to ensure that users have the required functionality at their fingertips and anything that is not required was hidden. We also set up tracking to allow students to track their progress through a particular course.

Trade Skills 4U signed off the staging site from a functionality, theme and dashboard perspective. We were then able to switch this over to the live site, with minimal disruption.

Finally, SkillSet provided support to Trade Skills 4U with a training workshop. This was held over two sessions, in which we worked through queries, customer feedback and general Moodle support.

THE RESULTS

Trade Skills 4U now has a robust, up-to-date Moodle, which allows the company to scale their business, continuing to add new courses and new clients.

The solution can be iteratively developed to support Trade Skills 4U’s requirements.

Since the initial implementation, SkillSet has worked with Trade Skills 4U’s clients and suppliers to create new integrations and new ways of working.

The SkillSet support team are ready to help when required and will continue to host, monitor, and maintain the site.

OUR PARTNER’S FEEDBACK

“Helpful and professional. I find SkillSet to be supportive and quick to respond.”

Adam Ormesher, Trade Skills 4U

Tags Learning Management System, Private Sector

Case Study

Civil Service College Case Study

Post author By user
Post date December 8, 2020

Development of eLearning courses

Delivered for CIVIL SERVICE COLLEGE

AT A GLANCE

Development of eLearning course
Use of case studies to bring the content into real life situations

THE CLIENT

Civil Service College is a leading provider of high-quality, bespoke training for those working in the public sector, here in the UK and abroad.

The college was founded in 2012 following the closure of the National School of Government in 2010. Civil Service College acquired many of the training programmes that were previously offered by the school. It has since added more, ensuring that the available training reflects the current needs of those working in the public sector.

THE CHALLENGE

SkillSet were approached by Civil Service College to design a bespoke eLearning programme based on the book ‘The Public Sector Fox’. The college had made an agreement with the book’s author, allowing them to use the content and develop this into eLearning.

OUR APPROACH

During the project kick-off meeting, SkillSet and Civil Service College agreed what content to prioritise from ‘The Public Sector Fox’. We then split the content into appropriately sized modules.

We worked with Civil Service College to ensure that each module had clear objectives, appropriate content, and an assessment relevant to the learners and style of the course. This ensured that the content was clear, relevant, and fit for purpose. Using a user-friendly and accessible design, we were able to consistently present the learning in a format that is suitable for all levels of learning. Summative assessments were included.

SkillSet developed the content using Articulate Storyline 360. Each module was able to pass to the next project stage without requiring other modules to have passed the same stage. This methodology allowed the project team to be agile in its delivery; if one element became blocked, this did not block the whole development.

The course navigation allowed easy access to each module. By developing the content in the SCORM format and running it within elasticLearning, the user can elect to re-start at the last point that they reached or return to any other point to check their understanding of a specific topic.

Case studies were also used throughout the modules to help bring the content into real life situations.

THE RESULTS

The project was completed on time and Civil Service College are very pleased with the results. Managers are able to report on learner activity through elasticLearning’s management dashboard. This not only allows Civil Service College to track usage of the platform but also whether users are only completing certain elements or using specific modules for repeated reference. By understanding learners’ use of the content, the College can continue to evaluate and support learners.

OUR PARTNER’S FEEDBACK

“We are novices as far as eLearning is concerned. When we approached Jemma at SkillSet, she put us at ease and explained to us in plain English what we needed to do. She held our hands every step of the way and worked with us to develop our very first eLearning module. We will definitely be working with her and her team at SkillSet to develop other eLearning modules.”

SONNY LEONG, chief executive at Civil Service College

Tags ELearning, Private Sector

Case Study Uncategorized

Jisc Case Study

Post author By user
Post date October 28, 2020

Learning analytics

Delivered for JISC

AT A GLANCE

Development of the Jisc learning analytics service
Ongoing support

THE CLIENT

Jisc is a not-for-profit company whose role is to support higher education and research institutions. It provides network and IT services, digital resources, advice, and procurement consulting, while researching and developing new information technologies and modes of working. Jisc is funded by a combination of the UK further and higher education funding bodies, and individual higher education institutions.

THE CHALLENGE

The Jisc learning analytics service development project is the world’s first national learning analytics service developed to address the key strategic goals of HE and FE organisations. SkillSet CEO, Tim Stratton, was engaged in the early stages of this project and was tasked with managing the implementation of the service, even as it developed, in the “pathfinder” institutions.

These pathfinders included the very earliest adopters, such as the University of Gloucestershire and Cardiff Metropolitan University, who were very much involved in shaping the Jisc service.

Tim inherited a number of projects that had already commenced and implemented strong project management controls. He created project initiation documentation, planned and coordinated communication with the institutions and managed subcontractors.

OUR APPROACH

Jemma Greener joined Tim on this project due to the number of pathfinder institutions (more than 20 concurrent) and the consequent volume of work. Tim and Jemma worked closely as a team, providing the main liaison between Jisc and the pathfinders. This enabled the Jisc technical team to spend much less time dealing directly with the institutions and more time on developing and setting up the service.

The project management team developed, or helped to develop and manage, several processes:

Support, including the introduction of Freshdesk – a trouble ticketing system.
User groups for Data Explorer, Study Goal, and the core Learning Records Warehouse set of products.
Project set up and reporting.
Implementation of Jisc systems (Data Explorer, Study Goal, plugins and data extraction) for each institution.

THE RESULTS

Both Tim and Jemma had considerable experience with relevant systems, particularly virtual learning environments, but throughout this project they have developed a deeper understanding of the technology and issues relating to learning analytics. For example:

Data structures – helping institutions to understand how their data should be used to populate the LRW. The progression codes and assessment data fed in by the University of South Wales from its Quercus and Blackboard systems is a good example.
Predictive modelling – explaining to customers how the predictive models constructed in OLAP and Tribal Student Insight work. Discussing data and model quality with Unicon and Marist College.
Data protection – Tim helped to deal with queries from customers relating to both the original and new data protection/service agreements and for getting these extended/signed by the institutions. Tim and Jemma were also involved in some of the technical implications e.g. the withdrawal of consent by a student who had previously agreed to let their personal data be used for analytics purposes.

OUR CLIENT’S FEEDBACK

Jisc rated SkillSet as a 5 out of 5 on our annual customer satisfaction survey for project management and system implementation. They also provided us with the following feedback:

“Very pleased with our dedicated resource.”

PAULETTE MAKEPEACE, Jisc

Tags Learning Management System, Private Sector

Case Study

LivePerson Case Study

Post author By user
Post date October 26, 2020

Delivered for LIVEPERSON

Face-to-face training

AT A GLANCE

In-depth training for professionals who manage messaging software
Undertaken in 7 different countries in 3 different languages

THE CLIENT

LivePerson makes life easier for people and brands everywhere through trusted conversational AI. The Conversational Cloud, the company’s enterprise-class platform, empowers consumers to message their favourite brands just as they do with friends and family. More than 18,000 customers, including leading brands like HSBC, Orange, and GM Financial, use LivePerson’s solutions to orchestrate humans and AI at scale and create a convenient, deeply personal relationship with their millions of consumers. This helps them to reduce costs, drive revenue, and create meaningful connections.

LivePerson Institute offers in-depth training and certification courses for professionals who manage messaging programmes using the Conversational Cloud. SkillSet partnered with the LivePerson Institute in 2018 to help design, develop and deliver the Institute’s global training offering.

FEEDBACK FROM BRANDS

“Excellent training course. Right pace, right level.”
“Really enjoyed it and was very useful. I hope there is further training similar to this.”
“LivePerson Institute brought to my team the knowledge, expertise and tools to optimize and scale the messaging programs in our company’s projects. Looking forward to attend the next course!”

OUR APPROACH

In partnership with the LivePerson Institute, we designed and developed a suite of courses covering both the mindset/behaviour changes needed as well as the system knowledge necessary to ensure a brand successfully implements a messaging programme.

The courses jointly designed and delivered by SkillSet cover;

Messaging foundation
Conversational design
Messaging programme optimisation
Integrating Conversational Cloud with mobile applications

These courses combine SkillSet’s learning and development expertise and deep understanding of software technology. For example, this helped developers to use LivePerson’s software development kit to embed messaging within mobile applications.

THE RESULTS

The training programme developed by SkillSet and the LivePerson Institute has been rolled out to LivePerson’s operations in North America and Asia Pacific. Delivery has been undertaken in seven different countries in three different languages by SkillSet.

To learn more, please visit https://institute.liveperson.com.

OUR PARTNER’S FEEDBACK

“As part of setting up LivePerson Institute, we were looking for a company that we could partner with to give us the flexibility to develop into completely new areas (for us), as well as finding ways to keep servicing the work that was part of business as usual. Working with SkillSet has allowed us to do this and even more. The partnership between LivePerson and SkillSet is the way a partnership should be: getting the work done, finding new and better ways to identify and resolve the task at hand.”

Rolph Danko, director at LivePerson Institute

Tags Instructor-Led Learning, Private Sector

Case Study

Advance Northumberland Case Study

Post author By user
Post date October 26, 2020

Development of the iNorthumberland Business Support ePortal

Delivered for ADVANCE NORTHUMERLAND

AT A GLANCE

Development of the iNorthumberland Business Support ePortal
Online training modules to support small-to-medium sized enterprises

THE CLIENT

Advance Northumberland provides support and funding for new and developing businesses across a broad spectrum of business and residential communities in Northumberland.

SkillSet was commissioned by Advance Northumberland to design, develop and deliver the iNorthumberland Business Support ePortal: https://www.businessnorthumberland.co.uk/.

This first-of-a kind portal is delivering a programme of business support to enable ambitious businesses in Northumberland to harness the opportunities of superfast broadband and associated technologies in order to effectively manage and grow a business online.

THE CHALLENGE

To design, develop, and deliver a range of online business support training for small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), to help them fully understand and exploit the commercial benefits and opportunities of connecting to superfast broadband.

The online training programme would consist of a series of modules delivering 12 hours of online business support.

The training needed to be attractive, friendly, and easy to use, providing a personalised learning journey for each user, as well as being accessible by a wide range of devices.

The ability to create robust and accurate reporting on user registration and individual use was vital. This is to ensure that the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding requirements were met.

The ePortal had to sit within a fully managed and supported, hosted server environment, scaled to enable 350 simultaneous sessions without degradation of service.

OUR APPROACH

Advance Northumberland provided SkillSet with raw content on topics such as finance, growth, employment, management, marketing, SEO, GDPR and Microsoft Office. SkillSet then used Articulate Storyline and Vyond to develop this content into the training modules.

To ensure that the learning modules provided a rich, engaging and coherent training programme, SkillSet worked closely with Advance Northumberland subject matter experts to identify and understand the needs of the learners and how best to convey the range of subjects.

SkillSet used Joomla and Moodle to create the ePortal. Moodle allows users to access the online support, browser articles and blogs, as well as an events booking system. SkillSet worked closely with Advance Northumberland to identify issues, provide the required reporting and deliver the solution on time.

To meet the ePortal availability requirements, SkillSet used an Amazon-based cloud server to host the ePortal, with built- in system redundancy and the capability to cope with increased load from increasing content and additional users.

Once live, the server was monitored to check performance stayed within acceptable parameters with additional resources being added to meet peak load when required.

Throughout the project, SkillSet and Advance Northumberland established an honest and open stream of communication to ensure effective review of the project deliverables.

THE RESULTS

Launched in September 2014, the iNorthumberland business support portal is a pioneering online learning system. Northumberland is the first local authority to provide online business support to local SMEs and has garnered interest from other local authorities across the country, keen to emulate iNorthumberland. The portal’s many features include online business support, comprising 78 training sessions with subjects including social media, cyber security, SEO, measuring online success and cloud technologies. The training modules have gained positive reviews for the excellent quality of content and the engaging presentation.

OUR PARTNER’S FEEDBACK

“We were looking for an organisation to partner with us on the ePortal and one on the instructional design. We were very fortunate that, following an open tendering process, SkillSet was selected for both workstreams. We have benefitted from working with one supplier that is committed to partnering with us and going the extra mile to deliver our requirements.”

Lucy Cansfield, Digital Business Support Manager, Advance Northumberland.

Tags Learning Management System, Private Sector

Case Study

Landex Case Study

Post author By user
Post date October 23, 2020

Conversion of PDF materials into eLearning

Delivered for LANDEX

AT A GLANCE

Conversion of an existing bank of PDF materials into interactive eLearning
Diverse topics such as hydroponics, pesticides, and propagation
SkillSet were “…highly responsive and very easy to work with…”

THE CLIENT

Landex – Land Based Colleges Aspiring to Excellence – is a subscriber organisation with 43 member colleges in the UK. Landex provides a wide range of teaching and learning materials, which are available only to subscribing members.

THE CONTENT

With topics as diverse as hydroponics, pesticides, and propagation, students can acquire the vital skills required by the modern horticultural and agricultural industries.

Each course is accompanied by supporting information including further reading, resources and learning outcomes.

THE CHALLENGE

Landex wanted to ensure that all online content and services were developed to best meet the needs of users and to offer an engaging and enlightening experience.

The company issued an invitation to tender for suppliers to develop materials for the Landex online learning environment. This involved the conversion of an existing bank of content, written by subject specialists in PDF format, into interactive eLearning. SkillSet were subsequently successful in winning this invitation to tender.

OUR APPROACH

SkillSet delivered this project using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) methodology. We created a detailed storyboard following adult learning theories. Content was generated using Articulate Storyline and published as SCORM 1.2. This was fully tested and uploaded to the Landex Moodle system.

The screenshots below show an example of the original PDF on the left and the converted eLearning material on the right.

THE RESULTS

Converting eLearning from existing materials is SkillSet’s bread and butter. The SkillSet team were able to turn this project around quickly and effectively, with very positive feedback from Landex.

OUR CLIENT’S FEEDBACK

“SkillSet Ltd did an excellent job for Land Based Learning Ltd, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Landex. They were highly responsive and very easy to work with. All our required deadlines were hit, and the quality of the work exceeded our expectations.”

Steven Porter, Director of Development, Landex – Land Based Colleges Aspiring to Excellence.

Tags ELearning, Private Sector