How we built a Bespoke Training Management Solution using Microsoft Power Apps

What is a Bespoke Training Management Solution?

At Pragmatiq Solutions, we design custom business solutions, leveraging Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform as the foundation. Microsoft Power Apps is one of the tools within the Power Platform that enables businesses to build custom apps, to accommodate your specific needs or solve their problems when you cannot find a suitable off-the-shelf solution. This allows us to design tailored systems that are fully flexible and able to grow with an organisation over time. ECG Training needed a solution that would be able to keep up with their pace of operation, streamline their processes and provide the functionality to access reports and dashboards across the business. It became evident early in the scoping process that they did not require standard Dynamics 365 functionality, so we designed a bespoke training management solution built on Microsoft Power Apps, around their unique requirements that could easily scale with them as the business grows.

Key Benefits of a Bespoke Training Management Solution…

• Work the way you want to – No two organisations operate in the same way and a bespoke system can be tailored to your individual requirements. As a result, this provides a more positive user experience, increased adoption rates, and means there is no irrelevant functionality that hinders the way you want to work
• Scalability – A custom solution can scale as your business grows or your needs change
• Flexible pricing – Only pay for the features and functionality you need, unlike an off-the-shelf system where you are paying for many elements that aren’t of use
• Technology updates – As we leverage the Microsoft platform, our custom business solutions benefit from the twice-yearly ‘wave’ updates alongside incremental updates, to ensure your system is always up to date and working on the latest features

Why ECG Training chose a Bespoke Training Management Solution…

“After outgrowing our training management calendar, we contacted Pragmatiq Solutions to help us design a bespoke system for our unique requirements. We are a rapidly growing business requiring a system that is able to keep up with the pace and provide us with quick processes, reports and dashboards for all departments. We have worked closely with the team for over 12-months and we are over the moon with where we currently are. Jamie guided us with the best solutions to meet a logical workflow.”

Clara Travers, Head of Operations at ECG Training

Below we will cover the key challenges that ECG Training faced, the solution we implemented, and the benefits of this:

Challenge 1: Managing data and relying on manual processes

Historically, ECG Training used a manual setup relying heavily on Microsoft Outlook calendar to manage their operations. With a large number of courses being run each day, data related to the courses, location, trainer and attendees were being held within calendar invites. By managing their information in this way ECG faced challenges around visibility, efficiency, and lost information, as Outlook is not designed for this purpose On top of this, some data was manually extracted out of calendar invites into spreadsheets, to capture additional information. This process meant that data was at risk of being duplicated, prone to errors and also wasted valuable time entering information into multiple applications.

Solution: Implement a Bespoke Training Management Solution

Utilising the capabilities of Power Apps, we were able to design and build a Bespoke Training Management Solution enabling them to centralise their data, manage new enquiries, create new courses, book trainers, locations, calculate financials, and more.

Benefits

• 360-degree overview of business data and operations
• Time saved on administration
• Increased productivity
• Improved accuracy of information
• Increased process efficiency
• Enhanced data security
• Improved user adoption

Challenge 2: Managing and tracking communications

Communication around training courses, such as new and existing bookings, correspondence with trainers and attendees and course reminders, relied on a manual administration process. Each week, this relied on a member of staff to pull together individual schedules and email these to the recipients. Beyond this, communications overall were complicated to track and also presented challenges from an auditing perspective, as information was stored in lengthy email threads and spreadsheets.

Solution: Redesign and systemise manual processes

We designed and implemented a logical process to create courses, schedule trainers and book locations, as well as incorporating the functionality to calculate course financials. We also implemented the Outlook Integration for tracking email correspondence, making this process more efficient. Additionally, having centralised ECG’s data around their training courses, they can send weekly schedules to each of the trainers and provide access to internal trainers to view their upcoming rota directly in the system.

Benefits

• Reduce admin time
• Standardise processes
• Increase efficiency
• Provide secure data visibility

Challenge 3: Manual follow-ups to new enquiries

New course enquiries were previously handled manually by staff, relying on individual staff members to ensure these were followed up.

Solution: Implement a structured process

For new enquiries, we worked with ECG to design and implement a structured process whereby enquires could be registered and effectively followed up. An individual also has the ability to then progress the enquiry through to a training course within the system, if required.

Benefits

• Reduce admin time
• A standardised process
• Increase efficiency

Challenge 4: Reporting had become a laborious task

With data stored across emails and spreadsheets, analysis was limited and producing basic reports involved was a manual, admin-heavy task each month. Without a centralised system, ECG were heavily reliant on employee knowledge and expertise when it came to reporting, presenting challenges from a business continuity perspective.

Solution: Set up dashboards within Dynamics

To provide ECG with greater visibility of their information and improve reporting capabilities, we setup dashboard overviews within Dynamics. This enabled ECG to gain insights around key areas of the business, such as courses that need attention, where auditing is yet to be completed, total number of upcoming courses planned, any outstanding enquires, etc. The dashboards present data in visual easy-to-read graphs and charts, so employees can see clearly what needs to be followed up and what actions need taking day-to-day.

Benefits

• Increase visibility
• Accurate reports
• Reduced admin time

Our comments on the project…

“In this project, we successfully moved ECG Training away from a manual and time-consuming system that was heavily reliant on Microsoft Outlook calendar, to one that ensures all users are working to a standardised process, reduces admin and centralises their data. This ultimately enables them to gain a clear overview on what is going in their business, improve productivity and provide a platform for scalability and growth.”

Jamie Evans, Technical Director at Pragmatiq

Get in Touch

If you are a training provider looking for support with your systems, please do not hesitate to get in touch. You can do so by filling in the contact form, emailing us at info@pragmatiq.co.uk, or calling us on 01908 038110.