Eaton Corporation’s Comprehensive, Automated Approach to Learning Analytics
Company Overview: Eaton Corporation is an international manufacturer. Eaton University is responsible for the training and development needs of thousands of employees.
Description of Learning Program:Eaton Corporation operates a diverse corporate university training its employees on a variety of subjects. The University deploys a combination of web-based/self-paced training and traditional training and utilizes in-house as well as external training providers to offer the best solutions to its employees.
Business Objectives of the Program: Eaton University is the centralized employee development entity within Eaton Corporation. The University is the primary provider of learning and development programs and initiatives. Eaton University is the thought leader within Eaton deploying the most innovative and timely learning services to Eaton employees to help improve job performance and productivity.
Measurement Approach: Eaton University initiated a completely automated, scaleable, and replicable solution to measure their learning investments. Metrics that Matter® is fully integrated with Eaton’s learning management system. Because of this integration, Eaton spends no time administering Metrics that Matter®. Instead data collection is seamless and completely automated. Data collection instruments are sent to learners at two points in time and sent to participant managers when the participant is back on the job. All the data collected through these instruments is then automatically stored, processed and reported. Eaton University is then able to logon to a website and pull information that can be aggregated and filtered. On a monthly basis Eaton receives custom reports that provide additional detail to manage its business. On a quarterly basis Eaton runs a score card that provides over 30 key performance indicators covering satisfaction, learning effectiveness, job impact, business impact, and quantitative ROI. This score card is run using various learning methodologies so that senior management can understand the impact of learning on the organization.
Measurement Obstacles: Integration between systems required appropriate and detailed project management to implement on schedule. The integration was done on time and on budget. This was attributable to appropriate teamwork from Eaton University, KnowledgeAdvisors, and the learning management system integrator. Appropriate communication to the stakeholders on a comprehensive strategy was also challenging. However, Eaton University planned and executed on many programs to market and communicate the measurement strategy to everyone that would be affected by the process.
Measurement Successes: Since implementing Metrics that Matter® Eaton University has been able to monitor all of their training investments in a seamless and automated manner. The administrative time saved in the measurement process is significant. The standardized reports and easy to use online system permit users looking to glean metrics on learning with a solution that is efficient and effective to use. A very bright spot with the success of the tool is that the decentralized learning units at various manufacturing locations were able to see the value of the measurement solution that Eaton University implemented and are now rolling out their own versions of the tool for the training they conduct at the local sites.
A final success is that Eaton was awarded the Corporate University Best In Class Award for Best Evaluation Technique. This award is given by a panel of measurement experts and is recognized as the most prestigious award for measurement in the industry. They attributed their winning this award to the use of Metrics that Matter and its ability to help them scale to the right measures of value and continuous improvement.