While the pundits and consultants rave about advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, almost all the information consumed in business today is operational reporting.

That doesn’t mean that reporting has stood still during the digital transformation. We now have many new ways to access information. Instead of quarterly reports, we now have real time interactive visualizations, and embedded analytical engines in our learning management systems have made it possible for us to deliver real business intelligence immediately to the people who make decisions.

When it comes to evaluating learning, our operational reporting and our assessment tools form a powerful combination that can help us understand our learning activities at a profound level. The process begins with designing assessments, or surveys that produce valid, useful information.

You might be thinking at this point that we proved decades ago that end-of-course evaluations, or “smile sheets,” have little or no value in predicting improvements in performance. That is true. Meta-analysis of 34 scientific studies in 1997 found that smile sheets uncorrelated with learning results, and a similar, larger study in 2008 produced the same result.^[1]

Will Thalheimer (we are fans) declared the traditional smile sheet dead and wrote an autopsy in chapter 2 of Performance-Focused Smile Sheets: A Radical Rethinking of a Dangerous Art Form. He cites several reasons:^[2]

• Learners are incapable of providing an unbiased assessment of their learning, mostly because it’s presented in a biased context. We just taught you all about widgets. Now, tell us objectively whether you learned enough about widgets to be productive on the job.
• Likert-like scales are ambiguous. According to Thalheimer, they don’t help learners take the responses seriously, create indecision, and produce cognitive fatigue. Respondents tend to give the same answer down the list of questions.
• An assessment administered when the learning is fresh has little bearing on whether they will recall the information a week later. Can you tell today us how much of this article you will remember tomorrow? Not likely.

We first began trying to eradicate Likert scales and other fuzzy measures in the early 2000’s. We were working with organizations seeking to improve not only their learning standards, but also their performance management systems, development plans, and succession management practices. A lot of organizations were experimenting at that time, and our primary focus was using granular behavioral statements that eliminated as much bias and ambiguity as possible. It could be cumbersome.

We get better results when we can reduce questions to behavioral statements and ask the respondent to give us a yes/no response to each. The binary response removes the guesswork of scales or levels and focuses the respondent on the behavior rather than an ambiguous value. Then, we can present the percentage of responses to get a valid assessment.

Whoa! You say. Some things are more important than others we need a way to differentiate between what is merely okay and what is the most desired result.

Thalheimer attacks this problem this by assigning an acceptability level to each statement, beginning with what is acceptable and what is not. We can then define other levels if we so choose. So, if we are evaluating the quality of after-training support, we could have something like this example:

One of the skills you learned in your recent training was ___________. Since ongoing training and support are essential to learning new skills, we want to know what support you are receiving in applying the training.

Check all that apply.

• I have time to apply what I learned to real job tasks. Acceptable
• my supervisor encourages me to apply what I learned to real job tasks. Acceptable
• My supervisor monitors my progress in applying what I learned. Superior
• I have a coach or mentor to help me apply what I learned. Superior
• I receive follow-on training. Acceptable
• I do not have support in applying what I learned. Unacceptable

We can chart it like this:^[3]

We can apply the technique to any stage of the learning process, from design to after-training support, but we can also use this to gauge impact on the business. Let’s take an example of upselling training for customer support staff. We can send a questionnaire to participants, and, at the same time, gather the same information from managers to further validate our findings.

You (your team) recently completed upselling training for our new product line. Please complete the following short questionnaire to help us gauge how effective the training was in helping you (them) to sell the product.

Check all that apply:

• The training did not help me upsell the product, and I will not be able to do so.
• The training had no impact on my ability to upsell the product.
• The training has not helped me upsell the product yet, but I expect it to.
• I may be able to upsell the product, but I need more training.
• I can sell the product if I get more coaching and support.
• The job aids help me upsell the product.
• The training helps me upsell the product, and I have increased sales by more than 10%.
• The training helps me upsell the product, and I have increased sales by less than 10%.

Here’s a little exercise for you. How would you assign acceptability levels to these items? Apply the Thalheimer labels if that fit or create your own.

• Acceptable
• Not acceptable
• Unlikely
• Superior
• Deplorable

We can apply the same methods to any situation where we have observable performance.,

If you don’t already have Thalheimer's book, we recommend you get it and give the principles a try. You have nothing to lose but your useless smile sheets.

References:

1. Thalheimer, William, PhD. "Performance-Focused Smile Sheets: A Radical Rethinking of a Dangerous Art Form." Kindle location 313. Somerville, MA. Work-Learning Press, 2016.

2. Thalheimer.

3. Thalheimer

Chasma Place, is an independent source for solutions that will help you keep pace with changes in the way your people work without ripping and replacing your existing systems.

SumTotal 18.1 isn’t the leap forward that 17.2 was. At our first look, it appears to be improvements in those features and some new tools to make admin easier and learning more accessible.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

• It’s now easier to address one of the most pressing problems business face today. SumTotal Learn is now integrated with Harvard Business Publishing, making the entire spectrum of leadership development courses available.
• The new Library is now easier to manage with permissions to manage and organize taxonomies. Administrators can now associate multiple activities to a single topic and associate entire topics with audiences.
• Users can now manage skill matrices, and administrators can connect one skill to another to develop learning paths.
• Your administrator can assign permission to update statuses for all open child activities from the parent activity roster.
• Learners now have a calendar view for searching for activities, and you can put the calendar on their dashboards using the calendar widget.

Of course, these features come complete with the admin tools to manage them.

Getting Ready for the Update

A little preparation can help you make the most of the coming updates. Here are three suggestions to help you start your planning.

Tune up your data files. Before the update is an excellent time to clean up your records. Take this opportunity to archive old content and clean up user records. Check your support records to see if there are issues you need to address before the update.

Prepare your test scripts. Review changes in your organization, processes, and configurations. Document any changed workflows to make it easier to record and edit new scripts.

Evaluate new features to assess how they can help you improve service. For example, if you have beenconsidering investments in leadership development, HBR integration may be just the opportunity you need.

As always, if you have questions, please contact us.

Chasma Place, is an independent source for solutions that will help you keep pace with changes in the way your people work without ripping and replacing your existing systems.

But without a robust library of reporting tools that deliver real-time actionable information, 88% of businesses still use spreadsheets to get the information they need. That was one of the key findings in a recent IFS study on enterprise software usability transformation. The report flatly states, “ERP means Excel Runs Production.”^[1]

Over the past few years, human capital management vendors have made a push to embed reporting tools in their applications, but they are just that — tools. Building a library of reports and dashboards that give you instant insights into your operations is a do-it-yourself project. This presents some difficult challenges for many businesses.

• Workday® delivers reports, but they are rows and columns of data, and many people just download the data into spreadsheets so they can make sense of it. Workday® Composite Reporting gives you the tools to create visual reports and dashboards. You can do some amazing things if your team has the skills. Even then, getting your reporting up to speed takes time.
• If you have resources, you can deploy a business intelligence platform in a few months.

Your business can’t wait. You need access right now to the information that will help you make the right operational, tactical, and strategic decisions.

That’s why we’ve extended Chasma Analytics to Workday® human capital management.

Chasma Analytics provides preconfigured visualizations and dashboards, so you stop manipulating tabular reports or wrangling spreadsheets to analyze your operations. These visual reports give you instant insights and visibility into details without waiting for long development cycles.

Get the advantage of rapid deployment of business intelligence that can help you get the most from your Workday® human capital management.

Contact us for a demo.

Chasma Place, is an independent source for solutions that will help you keep pace with changes in the way your people work without ripping and replacing your existing systems.

References:

1. Rathman, Charles. “Enterprise Software Usability and Digital Transformation." IFSworld.com. October 2017. 

We paraphrase the opening scene, where the nasty, bureaucratic Volgons announce they are about to destroy Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass:

People of HR!

Your entire operation is about to be disrupted. If you don’t become experts in people analytics right now, you will lose the war for talent, your talented people will leave you never to return, and your company will become known as the place nobody wants to work.

Don’t panic!

People Analytics Is Already Here

Your world is not about to be turned upside down, but over the next few years, you will acquire better tools and knowledge for managing your workforce.

The way you manage talent over the entire employee lifecycle is changing. We once relied on experience, best practice benchmarks, and instincts to make the right decisions. As the practice of analytics becomes more user-friendly, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence will help make data-driven decisions. It will give you new insights and remove many of the biases that rule the way organizations acquire, engage, retain, and promote talent. It’s happening around you already in small ways or large, depending on where you are in your analytics journey.

Most organizations are still in the process of mastering operational reporting, but the use of people analytics is much more widespread than you might think. Many companies engage the services of analytics consultants to explore correlations and understand causes of human behavior, and there are hundreds of companies that provide analytics services in the form of predictive assessments for hiring and promotion. New competency libraries based on advanced analytics are available right now.

In the short term, outsourcing makes sense, but over the long haul, HR will need to become more capable of asking the right questions and understanding the principles behind the analysis. HR Analytics Dashboards and HR Reporting Dashboards are some of the many tools which can assist HR in assessing their performance.  

Build Credibility in HR Data

HR has historically had a credibility problem with data and reports. Many organizations have fragmented, inaccessible, or erroneous data, but we don’t believe that is the root of the credibility issue. The real problem is in the messaging. HR has focused on metrics, sophisticated analytics, and accuracy when the focus should be on the people who need the insights information can provide.

in our experience, the way to achieve credibility is to deliver business intelligence using operational reports in role-specific dashboards. We often see functional dashboards such as revenue dashboards or indicators for KPIs or OKRs. Many display only information from a single application, when the user needs much more.

For example, a manager needs a complete picture of team and individual performance and development when he or she is focused on coaching and developing the team. They shouldn’t have to go to one report to see performance, go to a report in another application to see development progress, and go to still another report to view the succession plan. All that information should be in one dashboard. It may not be feasible to display all information at once, but it should be accessible from the dashboard.

We recommend working with every key role in your organization understand how they work and what information they need. Make a concerted effort to place the information they need to perform related tasks in a single set of displays and resources. We also recommend:

• putting the information in context by communicating its purpose, uses, and impact,
• showing how having the right data available can help them improve their decisions, and
• solicit their participation in the design and frequent feedback after deployment.

Use a Collaborative Approach

Designing dashboards takes a broad and deep understanding of the subject matter and design skills to understand how you should package the information. It takes more than a skilled developer to create a truly useful set of dashboards. You will need the help of the people who use the information.

Relevant, useful dashboards will help you create a foundation of credibility and the distribution channels for your analytical insights, but data and visualizations do not speak for themselves. Couple them with communication that motivates users to act on the information.

_____________________________________________________________

Finally! A sensible solution for your HR Reporting Portfolio.

Chasma Analytics

Prefabricated dashboards for your human capital applications.

Visual reports and multichannel dashboards ready to deploy in your systems — without programming.

• Native technology designed specifically for your applications.
• Instant insights into the things you need to know now.
• Ready to deploy without programming and development..

Avoid the costs of an expensive business intelligence platform. Start managing instead of manipulating worksheets.

Chasma Place, is an independent source for solutions that will help you keep pace with changes in the way your people work without ripping and replacing your existing systems.

References:

1. Boudreau, John. "HR Must Make People Analytics More User-Friendly." Harvard Business Review. June 16, 2017. 

In some organizations, administrators and back-office report builders have been thrown into the role of dashboard designers. We can suppose that many hired experts or developed their in-house skills, but we sense that many have done either nothing or only a little and not very well.

You may have had training on how to create useful data visualizations with widgets, but none of what makes a helpful dashboard your users will love.

Dashboards Are for People

This article isn’t about the technical aspects of creating data visualizations or even the right one to use for any situation; it is about designing dashboards for people. Let us share what we have learned through our training, experience, and hard knocks so you can avoid some of the pain of not getting it right.

Avoid the “I’ll know what I want when I see it” syndrome

Good dashboard design starts with people. It means spending enough time with them that you understand the goals they need to attain when they use information. It begins with two questions:

• What are you trying to accomplish when you use information?
• What information do you use and how you use it to accomplish your goal?

At this point, if you move too fast both you and your dashboard customer will have an incomplete understanding of what information they require and how you should present it. You could find yourself in an endless round of revisions. Give your customers time think, then ask again.

One Dashboard, One Purpose

A dashboard’s purpose is to help the user accomplish an objective. The data is a building block, not the goal. Dashboards are for people. Most modern tools give you the capability to create a tabbed display, so it is very little trouble to devote single tabs to a single task or objective.

Any user dashboard will likely have a scope broader than one data set. The user’s purpose may need several visualizations. An executive may need a panel with seventeen KPIs. The single use of that executive’s dashboard may be to see which KPIs are out of line or headed in the wrong direction.

Simplicity and the Six Second Rule

Your user should get the point of any visualization in a few seconds. Here are three ways to make that happen:

• Keep it simple. Avoid clutter by using only the components that are required to make the point. If it’s “nice to have” it’s nice to leave out.
• Make it easy for the user to identify what’s important. If it’s a change in a trend, highlight it with a different color. If it is one indicator out of line, try using conditional formatting to make it a brighter color.
• Be consistent with your color schemes and symbols. If lime green indicates good and orange indicates bad, make it so everywhere. If a clock icon means history, use it for history and nothing else.

Ask for Feedback

Users will not give you feedback unless you ask for it. If they run into a problem or a need they didn’t anticipate, they often will not come to you to update the dashboard. They are more likely to either find a workaround or stop using the tool — and you may never know until you ask. Do so, early and often.

Never Stop Communicating

As business needs change, so will your users’ needs change. Anticipate changes and make your users know you are there for them. In time, your users will become one of your most valuable resources in keeping up with their needs.

Chasma Place, is an independent source for solutions that will help you keep pace with changes in the way your people work without ripping and replacing your existing systems.