Frequently Asked Questions: Design

By deleting Learning Objectives within the Group. You can identify the Learning Objectives within a Group by clicking on the Learning Objectives within Group under each Group. To delete, click on Learning Objectives above Group Analysis, place checkmarks next to Learning Objectives that you wish to delete and click Save.  If you reallocate the Learning Objectives to another Group, the Group will also be deleted.

The length of a Group or Lesson is computed by adding the length of all Learning Objectives within the Group or Lesson. In other words, to increase the length of a Group or a Lesson, you will need to increase the length of one or more Learning Objectives within the Group or Lesson.  You can identify the Learning Objectives within a Group by clicking on the Learning Objectives within Group folder under each Group. To modify the length of a Group or Lesson, click on relevant Learning Objectives under the Learning Objectives folder, modify the Length field and click Save.

Yes. Coaching and mentoring is equivalent to Instructor-led (On-location) with a student to instructor ratio of 1 to 1.

Instructor with Computers delivery option implies training delivered in a computer lab. It does not necessarily imply that instructor and students’ computers can interact with each other.

• The rating is an indication of how well each media/option meet trainees, instructional design, and organization needs. These needs are indicated under the Audience node under the Audience Analysis folder, Instructional Design Factors under Course Parameters and Requirements under Media Analysis. Some requirements can be critical (i.e., must have), such as “Access to Computers”. If trainees have no access to computers, then all delivery options that require computers (including synchronous and asynchronous delivery options) are eliminated – i.e., assigned a 0% rating. In some cases, a combination of factors may lead to the elimination of media/delivery options. For example, “Web Based Training” and “Internet Virtual Classroom” are eliminated if the “Internet Connection Speed is 56,000” and “Full Motion Video is Required”.
• If the requirement is not critical, i.e., nice to have; ADVISOR assigns a value of 1 if the media/delivery option meets the requirement, and 0 if does not meet. The rating of each media/delivery option is computed based on the % of requirements that the media/delivery option supports. For example, if 10 requirements are specified and a media meets 9, then the rating is 90% (=9/10).
• The reasons for the rating are provided- by clicking on the media/option title under Rating under Media Analysis to display factors that the media/option does not fully meet.
• Once the effectiveness of various media/options is determined, the life cycle costs of plausible delivery options are computed – including design, development, delivery, administrative, management, maintenance and support.
• The final recommendation is based on the media/options Cost Effectiveness Rating. It is computed by dividing media effectiveness rating by its cost. In other words, media that provide the greatest value.

If the Y axis represent Media Effectiveness/Rating and the X axis is the cost, the ideal media is the one that is 100% effective with $0 cost. Since this scenario is unlikely, the media/option that is closest to this ideal solution is assigned the highest cost-effectiveness rating (100%) and the other media are prorated accordingly.  The ratio provides a relative indication of the value of viable delivery options relative to each other.

Click on the Help button when you are on the Media/Options Supported tab under a (client), the Rating under the Media Analysis, or Recommendations under Group Summary. The definitions are also included in Appendix A of the Training Analysis User Guide.

To specify a blended delivery option, you need a minimum of two Learning Objectives in the course. The Learning Objectives should be assigned to a minimum of two different Groups.  Each Group can in-turn be assigned a different a media/delivery option.

The current delivery media/option is specified under Delivery Options under Cost Analysis under each Group.

It implies that the delivery media/option does not meet the minimum recommended rating. In other words, it is not effective and should not be used.

If the Source of the Development Hours [per hour] is Template or Industry Average, then the values will change if the corresponding values in the Template or Media Analysis Rating change. In this case the field will be a read only mode.  To prevent the Development Hours [per hour] from changing, click on the Edit icon next to the Development Hours [per hour] field.  You may also specify the desired value at that time. The value will not change if the field is in Edit mode.

In general, the development effort varies in line with the complexity of the training material and desired level of competency. Since different Groups within a course may have different levels of complexity, the Development Hours [per hour] for each Group will vary. To assign the same Development Hours [per hour] value for all Groups, you can assign all Groups the same Development template or click on the Edit icon next to the Development Hours [per hour] field and specify the desired value.

In this case you can create Development template for each type of content (i.e., Knowledge Fact, Knowledge Procedure and Knowledge Problem Solving, for example) under Development under (client) under Clients Setup and assign the Templates for the corresponding Groups under Course Analysis.

In this case, no need to specify the Technical Capabilities or create a Technical Capability template since the data is only used to assess the effort needed to develop the course.

The Technical Capabilities under Cost Factors provide insight into the effort needed to develop eLearning. For example, if Delivery Hardware Capabilities for all target audience is high (i.e., can run eLearning courses), then no additional effort will be needed to tailor the eLearning courses to computers with limited capabilities.

It should be specified. Although the number of trainees for asynchronous delivery media/options may appear to be irrelevant, it is used to compute the frequency of the course. This in-turn could impact the effort and costs needed to administer, manage and support training.

Two examples are provided below to illustrate how the number of Instructors per class for asynchronous delivery media/options can be estimated:

Example #1: If 20 students will be taking an eLearning course off-site and a single instructor is assigned to answer e-mail questions and grade assignments submitted online, then the number of instructors per class is 1. You can of course assign 0.5, if the instructor is only allocating ½ available time to support the students.

Example #2: If 45 students will be taking an eLearning course off-site, and no instructors are assigned to facilitate the training or answer questions, then the number of instructors per class is 0.

Three examples are provided to illustrate how the % of Instructors that Travel can be estimated:

Example #1: If an instructor teaches 10 classes per year, and one of the classes is off-site; the % of instructors that travel is 10% (=1/10).

Example #2: A 36-week course is delivered by two instructors.  One instructor is off-site and is required to travel to the training center, while the other is on-site. The % of instructors that travel is 50% (=1/2).

Example #3: A class has 10 one-hour Lessons. Two of the Lessons are off-site. The % of instructors that travel is 20% (=2/10).

Self-paced instruction encourages the trainee to take the most efficient path to content mastery, skipping areas of strength while focusing on areas of weakness. Interaction and immediate feedback provide constant, highly effective reinforcement of concepts and content. Personalized instructions accommodate different learning styles to maximize trainees learning efficiency. The reduction in training time is supported by the following papers/studies.

• Bahlis, J. and Corneau, Daniel (1994), Case Study: Development and Implementation of Interactive Self-Study Training Program at National Defence
• Headquarters, Directorate of Civilian Training and Development, paper presented at the Washington Interactive Multimedia 94 Conference, Washington, D.C.
• Bunderson, C.V., and Olsen, J.B. (1984), Instructional Effectiveness of an Intelligent Videodisc in Biology, Machine Mediated Learning.
• Ketner, W. (1982), “Videodisc Interactive Two-Dimensional Training”, paper presented at the 4th Annual Conference on Videodisk Training System, Warrengton, Virginia.
• Kimberlin, D.A. (1982), The U.S. Army Air Defense School Distributed Instructional System Project Evaluation, paper presented at the 4th Annual Conference on Videodisk Learning System, Warrington, Virginia.
• Miller, Rockley L. (1990), Learning Benefits of Interactive Technologies, the Videodisk Monitor, pages 15-17.
• Reeves Thomas (1988), Effective Dimensions of Interactive Videodisk for Training”, Computer Assisted Approaches for Training, Elsevier Science Publishers, pages 119-132.
• Reeves, Thomas and Marlino, Mary (1989), An Evaluation of the Emergency Medical Condition Interactive Videodisk”, American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting.
• Weinstein, Stuart (1987), Training and Cost Effectiveness of Interactive Videodisks for Technical and Maintenance Training”, Research Report, SWL Inc., Multimedia Products Group, Vienna, Virginia.
• Wright, Elizabeth (1983), Aid to Families with Dependent Children”, University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida

Gained productivity that may result from reducing training time is accounted for under Trainees costs under Cost Analysis under each Group, as follows:

• Trainees Cost – Salary computes the cost of trainees’ time away from the job. If the time away from the job is reduced due to a reduction in training time, then this cost will be reduced.
• Trainees Cost – Lost Opportunity computes the costs of lost opportunities due to trainees’ time away from the job. Once again, if the time away from the job is reduced due to a reduction in training time, then this cost will be reduced

Each cost field in ADVISOR can be categorized as Direct Cost [D] or Indirect Cost [I]. The Up-Front tab only includes Direct costs. Indirect costs are reported as Start-up Development Staff [person days] under Resources tab. Both Direct and Indirect Development costs are reported under the Distribution tab. To display the Development Cost under the Up-Front tab, change the Development Cost categorization from Indirect to Direct by clicking [I] next to the Avg. Daily Cost for Developer field.

Follow the steps below:

1. Create 3 Development Costs Templates to reflect the 3 options that you wish to compare, namely “Internal Development Costs”, “Industry Standard” and “Competitor Development Costs”. For each template specify the corresponding development costs.

2. Create a Course under Course Analysis and set-up required parameters including Trainees per Year and Learning Objectives.

3. For each Group, select 3 identical delivery options, with following titles “Internal”, “Industry Standard” and “Competitor”.

4. Import the corresponding Development Template under each of the 3 options.

5. To view results, click on the Summary under each Group to see a side-by-side comparison for each Group or the Cost Distribution under Course Summary to see a side-by-side comparison for the entire course.

Instructor Costs are directly related to the length of the course and instructor preparation time. In other words, the longer the course the more time is needed by the instructors and the higher the costs.

Administrative, Management and Support Costs are not directly impacted by the length” of the course, but the frequency of the course. In other words, the same effort may be needed to book a room, register trainees, arrange for equipment, etc., for a 10-hour course and a 20-hour course. For this reason, Administrative, Management and Support Costs vary based on the frequency of the course versus its length.

The Allocation to Group (%) is computed based on the Group length, frequency, and availability of hardware or facilities. In other words, the longer the course and the more frequent it is delivered, the more hardware and facility time is needed.  To assign a specific % of Hardware or Facilities, click on the Edit icon next to the Allocation to Group (%) field and specify the desired value.

Based on the length and frequency of the course and availability of equipment or facility, Allocation to Group (%) is computed. If one piece of equipment or facility is not sufficient to carry out the training, then the Allocation to Group (%) would be greater then 100%.  In other words, more equipment or facilities will be needed to meet demand.

The percentage of time and cost allocated to each course is indicated under the Allocation to Group (%) field. If a piece of equipment is shared equally by two courses, for example, then the Group Allocation for each course should be set to 50%.

The time and costs needed to administer, manager, deliver, maintain and support various types of courses can be setup under Templates and Resources under each (client). Once created, the templates can be allocated to any course assigned to the (client) by all team members.

The Adjusted Group Length refers to the time needed to complete the same training material using different media. Since training can be completed faster with some media such as eLearning then instructor-led, the Adjusted Group Length for eLearning in this case should be less then the instructor-led approach. The Time Required by Trainee [% of classroom] for each media is specified under Course Variable under Cost Analysis. If 100% is specified for all media/delivery options, then the Adjusted Group Length for all media will be the same.

Trainees Cost – Salary is computed as follows:

Trainee Daily Cost x Days Required by Trainee (per class) x Number of Trainees (over life)

Total Trainees Cost (over life) is computed as follows:

    Trainee Cost – Salary

+ Trainee Cost – Lost Opportunity

+ Trainee Cost – Per Diem

+ Trainee Cost – Travel

+ Miscellaneous Costs x Expected Life of Course (years)

Detailed info is also available in Chapter 6 of the Training Design User Guide and the context sensitive online help. In other words, if you click on the Help button while on the Trainees screen.

They are computed as follows:

Trainee Costs – Per Diem = Trainee per Diem Costs x # of Trainees [over life] x % of Trainees that Travel x Group Length (days)

Travel Costs – Travel = Trainee Travel Costs x # of Trainees [over life] x % of Trainees that Travel

If the % of Trainees that Travel is 0, then both Trainee per Diem Costs and Travel Costs are zero.

Similarly, if Trainees per Diem Costs or Trainee Travel Costs are zero, then the corresponding costs will also be zero.

If new computers, equipment or software licenses are needed for the delivery of training – than Hardware Costs can be significant and should be considered. If on the other hand, trainees are using their desktop computers or notebook – than its allocation to training is minimal and, in-turn, no need to consider.

If the course material requires regular updates – reflected in the % of Content That Changes field under each (group), then course maintenance and update costs can be significant; and in-turn should be considered.  Maintenance costs can be quickly forecasted by estimating the % of Content That Changes. This percentage is used to compute Curriculum Updating Cost [over life] as follows:

    Total Development Cost x % of Content That Changes x (Expected Life of Course (years) – 1)

Attrition Rate reflects the % of trainees that are not expected to successfully complete the course on the 1^st trial.  Attrition rate can greatly impact costs, since it implies that more individuals would have to be trained or retrained to graduate the required number of individuals.

For example, let us assume that our objective is to successfully train 225 individuals. If the attrition rate is 0%, it implies that all trainees will successfully complete the course on the first attempt. In this case, 225 individuals will require training to meet our objective. If, on the other hand, the attrition rate is 10%, it implies that 10% of the trainees are expected to dropout or fail the course on the first attempt. In this case, we would need to enrol 250 (= 225 / 0.9) individuals in the course to meet our goal – i.e., successfully graduate 225 individuals.

Breakeven is the point in time (or dollar amount) in which the initial investment has been recovered, and savings commence.  Breakeven Points between two delivery options are computed as follows:

Net Upfront Cost =

Upfront Cost of Media/Delivery Option #1 – Upfront Cost of Media Delivery Option #2

Net Recurring Cost =

Recurring Cost of Media/Delivery Option #1 – Recurring Cost of Media/Delivery Option #2

# of Months Needed to Breakeven =

Dollars Needed to Breakeven =

Upfront Cost of Media/Delivery Option #1 + Recurring Cost of Media/Delivery Option #1 x (# of Months Needed to Breakeven / 12)

Upfront costs also referred to as Start-up costs =

Hardware Costs + Development Costs

Recurring Costs per year =

Administrative Costs + Management Costs + Trainees Costs + Instructors Costs + Facilities Costs + Transmission Costs + Maintenance Costs + Support Costs

Detailed info is also available in Chapter 6 of the Training Design User Guide and the context sensitive online help. In other words, if you click on the Help button while on the Trainees screen.

Days Required by Instructor (per class) is computed as follows:

   Length of Group (days) x Time Required by Instructor (% of classroom)

+ Instructor Preparation Time (days)

+ (% of Instructors that Travel x Instructor Travel Days) / 100 %

The Length of Group (hours) is indicated under the (group). Other variables are specified under the Course Variables under Course Analysis.

Detailed info is also available in Chapter 6 of the Training Design User Guide and the context sensitive online help. In other words, if you click on the Help button while on the Trainees screen.

If the course has multiple Target Audiences (Jobs/Roles), you can specify how the data is combined in the Criterion for Combining Data field under (course title). If the Criterion is set to the Lowest Common Denominator, then the lowest salary and fringe benefits factor are used. You may select Average Value to adjust Trainee Annual Salary and Fringe Benefits Factor (%).

Since Fringe Benefits Factor is a % of the salary, it will have no impact on the costs.

Trainees Attitudes can impact the Risk and in-turn the costs of introducing a new media/ delivery option. For example, if Trainees Attitudes towards Social Learning is negative, then risk for introducing Social Learning would be high and more effort/cost will be needed to communicate the benefits.

It depends.  If the Reference Code of a Learning Objective in the Excel file already exist under the course, then the attributes of the existing Learning Objective will be overwritten. In this case, a warning message will appear during the import. If on the other hand, there are no Learning Objectives in the course with the same Reference Code, then a new Learning Objective is created.  Similarly, if no Reference Code is assigned to a Learning Objective in the Excel file, then a new Learning Objective is created.

Click on Learning Objectives, place checkmarks next to Learning Objectives that you wish to delete and click the Delete button.

Click on the parent folder above the screen that you would like to refresh. This will reload and present up to date-data from database.

Trainees Financial Data are presented on the top. The additional fields in Trainees Group Analysis screen capture travel costs. These are retrieved from the Travel Costs Template under each (client).

You may add notes to any screen by clicking on the Notes button, typing in the note and clicking Save.  A yellow or red indicator appears in the top right corner of the tab or screen to indicate that a note has been added to the screen. Anyone that has access to the screen can view and add Notes.

The indicator does not appear when the 1^st Note is added. You will need to refresh the screen by clicking on the corresponding node one more time for the indicator to appear.

Click on the (client) and change the Base Currency using the dropdown menu.  This will automatically update the currently for all projects, courses and solutions assigned to the client.

:  ADVISOR can be easily configured to hide screens, data fields or analysis that are not required.  To change the settings for all projects, courses and solutions assigned to a (client), click on the Analysis Required tab under the (client), place or remove checkmarks next to the desired options and click Save. You may also configure specific Project, Course or Solution by clicking on the Analysis Required tab for the (project), for example, and place or remove checkmarks next to the desired options and click Save.  If the Analysis Required tab is presented in read only mode, click on the Cascade button to turn the Cascade off.

In general, it is far more efficient to create Templates.  Templates can be imported under multiple courses/groups. Moreover, if the data changes, you can quickly update throughout by updating the Template.

The simplest way is to create and reimport a Development Cost Template with zero values. The concept can also be applied to other Templates as well.

The course length is presented in Time Required to Deliver Course field under each (delivery option) under Delivery Options under Course Summary.  Note, the length of the course can vary based on selected delivery option.

The Course Analysis Report under Course Reports presents all info in a course. Simply select items to be included in report and click Save.

The course length can be changed by the changing the length of Learning Objectives. To change the length of Learning Objectives, click on the (learning objective) under Learning Objectives change the length and click Save.  This will automatically update the Course length, accordingly.

The Development hours [per hour] can be specified for each Group under Development. To modify, click on Development under Cost Analysis under (group) and change the Development Hours [per hour].  If the field is presented in read only mode, click on the Edit icon.

Learning Objectives can only be placed in a Group with similar Learning Outcome. For example, Learning Objectives with Knowledge Learning Outcome can only be placed in a new Group or a Group with Knowledge Learning Outcomes.  When you change the Learning Outcome for a Learning Objective without changing the Group, you may accidently be allocating the Learning Objective to a Group that does not have the same Learning Outcome.  In this case, simply assign the Learning Objective to a new Group or a Group with similar Learning Outcome.

Several reports under Course Reports list the Learning Objectives in a single course.  These include:

• Media Analysis Report. Presents current and recommended media for each Learning Objective, along with training time and rating.
• Cost Analysis Report. Presents the cost of current and recommended media for each Learning Objective along with training time and potential savings.
• Cost Effectiveness Analysis Report. Presents the cost-effectiveness rating of current and recommended media for each Learning Objective along with training time.
• Executive Report. Presents key findings – i.e., effectiveness of plausible delivery options, costs of plausible delivery options, recommendations and Learning Objectives.
• Training Plan Report. Presents the Training Plan of currently and recommended media. Time needed for each Lesson and Learning Objective are also included.

To view the Learning Objectives from multiple courses, go to Reports, and click on Uncover Training Programs Duplication under Maximize Training Impact. The report uncovers potential duplications within multiple courses by mapping the Knowledge and Skills within relevant projects to Learning Objectives within the selected courses. Multiple Courses can be selected for this report.

Click on Media Supported tab under (course), deselect the required media/delivery options and click save. If the screen is presented in read only mode, click on the Cascade button to turn the Cascade off.  To deselect Media/Delivery Options for all courses assigned to a client, click on the Media Supported tab under (client), deselect the required media/delivery options and click save. This will update the media for all courses assigned to the client.

To assign multiple personnel or resources for each Media/Delivery Option under a single Group, click on (course) and change the Cost Analysis field option from Standard to Detailed, and click Save. This will allow you to assign multiple personnel and resources (hardware, for example), for each Media/Delivery Option under each Group.

Yes, you can.  This is conducted under Performance and Enabling Objectives under Missions, Systems or Jobs/Roles, as follows:

Click on the KSA Gap Analysis under a under Performance and Enabling Objectives under Mission, System or Job/Role.  The Desired Level for each Knowledge/Skill/Attitude (KSA) is indicated under the Desired Column, and the Current Level of Knowledge/Skill/Attitude (KSA) is indicated under the Current Column. If Current KSA Level is less than Desired KSA Level, there is a KSA Gap, and training would be required to close this gap. If a Learning Objective is created for the KSA Gap, the background color of the KSA will change. To view the Learning Objectives, click on the Learning Objectives that follows the KSA Gap.

Place checkmark next to Sync POs/EOs with Tasks/Sub Task field under (project title). This will ensure that POs/EOs and KSA will be the same as Tasks/Sub Tasks and KSAs.  In other words, anytime you add Task, Sub Task or KSA, an equivalent PO, EO or KSA is automatically created.

If the cascade is turned on, then the attributes of Learning Objectives under courses will change when the corresponding attributes of Learning Objectives under Training Analysis change.  Of course, if the attributes of a Learning Objective under a course change, this will not impact the corresponding Learning Objective under Training Analysis.