CGI had a structured approach to learning and development (L&D) with each employee belonging to a training framework; a learning pathway of courses relevant to their roles and career progression. However, the associated administration was proving a significant drain on resources.

The L&D team operated numerous training spreadsheets which had to be updated manually and made reporting on costs and schedules a timeconsuming activity. This, coupled with the multiple terms and conditions, purchase orders and cancellation policies required by its numerous training suppliers, meant the team was expending valuable time on administration, which could have been better spent focusing on other L&D needs.

To overcome this, CGI turned to QA, one of its key training providers, to discuss the Managed Learning Service (MLS) options available to streamline its end-to-end booking process and reduce the associated administration, whilst maintaining its structured approach to training.

The initial task was to identify what CGI’s L&D team wanted from an MLS arrangement. Following a number of initial steering meetings to identify the desired levels of reporting, information and functionality of the service, we set about implementing the MLS.

QA worked closely with CGI to determine what training was required for the coming year and began scheduling this on its behalf. By taking on the management of its training suppliers, QA became a single point of contact for all training and could negotiate costs and book courses against the specified requirements, immediately lifting the administrative burden from CGI’s L&D team. Once the required training had been confirmed, QA arranged the room bookings before uploading the final training schedule to CGI’s MyLearning portal.

Once hosted on the central MyLearning portal, CGI’s employees could log in and view the courses available as part of their training frameworks and book themselves onto events. This automated process allowed users to see ‘real-time’ data regarding the status of an event, the number of places available and its location. Through this centralised booking process, detailed reports could be generated, including information such as courses held, fill-rates and costs. This level of reporting allowed trends to be identified to generate further cost efficiencies.

Having previously supplied standard courses for CGI’s training frameworks, QA produced tailored versions of some courses, aligning the content and examples to the CGI environment and employees’ roles. This encouraged smoother transfer of the learning to the workplace.

The service is supported by two dedicated, full-time administrators who are available to book courses and advise delegates via phone of the courses available. The Account Manager is fully integrated with CGI’s L&D team and attends L&D meetings to scope requirements and ensure the closest possible alignment of the service to the organisation’s requirements.

In the first six months of the most recent annual training schedule, nearly 5,000 delegate days of training were held, with 230 closed events alone run during this period. Delegate satisfaction has been high with 99% of delegates indicating they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their learning event.

Through the MLS, CGI has realised annual cost savings of 33% against list price and benefitted from discounts of up to 27.5% from third party vendors, negotiated through QA’s Partner Solutions team.

The MLS has allowed CGI’s internal L&D resources to focus on value-add elements of staff development rather than basic administration.