©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 1 PHASE 2: DATA COLLECTION Why do data collection? Three categories of data collection:  Business Requirements —Business Challenges, Goals, and Strategies —Initiatives —Product/Service Deployment —Learning & Development Interfaces —Population Dynamics  Current Capabilities —Current L&D Capabilities —Technologies Readiness  Best Practices PHASE 2: Data Collection

©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 2 BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS Population dynamics Business needs  Executive interviews  Initiative Leader interviews  Business Plan analysis  Products/services deployment Learner needs  Focus group/interviews Interface requirements  Interface analysis PHASE 2: Data Collection

©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 3 DEVELOP POPULATION FORECAST Segment the population by  Function  Geography  Organization (e.g., Business Units)  Levels/hierarchy Collect data  Historical population by segment  New entries (growth plus turnover) Forecast future  Population  Growth plus turnover These numbers drive the quantitative Learning & Development requirements PHASE 2: Data Collection

©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 4 BUSINESS NEEDS ANALYSIS What to Look For How to Find It Business strategies and plans Major initiatives Product/service deployment Performance and learning needs in the field Interview  Executives  Initiative Leaders  Product Managers Read documented plans Conduct focus groups PHASE 2: Data Collection

©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 5 TECHNOLOGICAL READINESS Technological readiness issues Technological readiness assessment guide PHASE 2: Data Collection

©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 6 ASSESS CURRENT CAPABILITIES What to Look For How to Find It Learning & Development organizations in the company Services and products offered Processes followed Staff size and capabilities Facilities Information infrastructure Budget Governance/customer account management Overall capacity Quantitative and qualitative results Interviews Survey instruments Site visits Assessment conference PHASE 2: Data Collection

©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 7 RESEARCH BEST PRACTICES What to Look For How to Find It Who is doing what that fits your situation Literature search Benchmarking consortia Interviews Site visits PHASE 2: Data Collection

©2012 RAY SVENSON CONSULTING, INC. 8 BARRIERS AND OBSTACLES Some executives don’t want to give time for interviews Scheduling interviews can be very difficult It can be a difficult logistical issue to get benchmarking visits with other companies scheduled within a limited project timeframe Population data can often be very hard to get in the form it is needed; it is often incomplete and inconsistent When assessing current capabilities training staff have a tendency to overstate their capabilities Working Team members don’t always know how to conduct interviews or facilitate focus group meetings Executives may bring in project scope changes by adding people to the list of interviews PHASE 2: Data Collection