How to Keep it within Budget

Whether as a client, an instructional designer, or a project manager, it is important to understand how to effectively work within and/or manage a budget. The purpose of this week's posting is to provide a few useful tools related to budgeting and provide visibility to some alternative options when approaching instructional design or projects in the near future.

Clark (2010), author of Estimating Costs and Time in Instructional Design, provides a high level overview on project budgeting and critical elements to consider when budgeting for a project. Clark provides examples of training cost estimates, development hours, and varying timeframes related to budgeting for a training project. Clark’s approach provides the novice and veteran instructional designer a sample checklist or sounding board in preparation of a project. Although each component is found to be beneficial, one component stood out the most: seat time. When taking into consideration project budgets, especially for training or educational projects, a project manager or instructional designer may overlook the necessity to factor in the “seat time” in relation to the budget. However “seat time” is something to strongly consider in relation to meeting project deliverables. Determining the “seat time” could ultimately determine the type of delivery method and the costs related to the chosen delivery method or style. For instance, while working on a current project to transform the current new hire training module from instructor-led-training (ILT) to a blended (or hybrid) training model consideration of the duration of ILT modules must be taken into account. Based upon limited resources and the need to train four satellite departments, the need for online and interactive learner driven methods is extremely high and necessary. Calculating “seat time” as a factor not only provides insight to the stakeholders and project team that may not have been seen had not been taken into consideration during budget planning resulting in making an less educated decision on how to best proceed with meeting the project deliverables in the most effective and efficient manner, but also considers the perspective of the learner and the time required to learn a subject matter versus from the instructor or facilitator perspective which also drives another aspect of success.

Radcliffe (2009) offers budgetary insight from an instructional designer perspective useful for the novice to the most veteran Instructional Designer in the presentation Course Development on a Budget – Reasonable Options to Save Time and Money. In this presentation Radcliffe offers alternative solutions in relation to project development and time management needs. Although Radcliffe does not address the methods on how to go effectively approach budgeting for a project, the alternative solutions offer another avenue to potentially alleviate frivolous product costs or inflated budgets. Course Development on a Budget – Reasonable Options to Save Time and Money (Radcliffe, 2009) provides a comparison of solutions and the benefits of less expensive selections. What was found most useful, from a personal perspective, were the high level breakdowns of user-friendly software that could aid an instructional designer to meet many of the desired results in relation to a project. For instance, SnagIt and Jing are great tools to meet various instructional design needs from graphic capture for document creation (e.g. training manuals) or multimedia presentations (e.g. online learning tools). In previous experiences, each has served as beneficial, supplementary, and cost effective tool/software to meet project deliverables with emergent turnaround times. For additional information, review the following presentation.

Course Development On A Budget

View more presentations from tradcliffe.

Resources

Clark, D. (2010, June 23). Estimating Cost and Time in Instructional Design. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/costs.html


Radcliffe, T. (2009). Course Development on a Budget – Reasonable Options to Save Time and Money [PowerPoint slides]. http://www.slideshare.net/tradcliffe/course-development-on-a-budget

Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

Upon the conclusion of any project, questions may be raised regarding the actual effectiveness of the implementation. In The Project Management Minimalist, Greer (2010) raises various post-mortem questions regarding the project, its effectiveness, and thoughts surrounding best practices and better approaches for the next release (p. 42-43). Referencing some of these questions, the following provides a high-level post-mortem analysis for a project executed and implemented for a regional supply chain customer service organization.

In January 2010, the regional Customer Service Centers were faced with a massive overhaul in system integrations and upgrades. Such changes prompted differences in business with customers as well as daily business processes. By March 2010 the return rate increased 3 times more than the previous year. With raised concerns, the Returns Business Process Owner raised the task in determining the reason for such an influx and how the data translated into a quality performance metric. Through data validation two areas of opportunity were identified: training and system functionality. From a training perspective, it was identified that the Associates required cognitive skill building in the area of customer returns. The training session were scheduled in June through July 2010. Each session was structured in three two-hour blocks and delivered by one instructor and facilitator daily. To drive learner engagement, the sessions focused on cognitive skill building through interactive group activities and open forum discussions. Due to the limited timeframe, the training was delivered without performing an initial needs assessment or conducting a formal evaluation phase. At the conclusion of each training session the associates were asked to complete a reaction survey on a non-mandatory basis (Evans, 2010).

From a general overview of the project, there were many identified successes. Many of the completed reaction surveys reflected extremely positive reactions and feedback regarding the approach to the subject matter and training environment. Many times, training sessions conducted for the organization were instructor-led and highly didactic. To promote learner engagement, the sessions took on the structure similar to an open forum, or outlet, for the associates to discuss concerns or regarding the returns process among peers which promoted engaged discussions allowing the chance to dispel misconceptions and provide insight on how to effectively and efficiently approach the varying customer situations when managing returns. Because of such an approach, learner engagement was higher than expected driving success in the area of interpersonal skill building, collaboration, and communication. To drive deeper engagement, learners were further stimulated by viewing “how to” directed video podcasts. The podcasts served a dual purpose. One purpose of the podcasts were to engage the learners visually and in an auditory manner to potentially commit the process to memory, and the second purpose was to allow the learner to have access to the podcasts for later retrieval for self-learning, and/or reinforcement, sessions.

Conversely this approach also created a greater possibility in training variances. Although the training was led by a primary instructor with rotating facilitators, at times the posing of different questions from session to session caused a slight deviation from the prepared materials and training session structure.Yet, the most challenging aspects of the project were in making the attempts to draw out cognitive reasoning in relation to the processes. It was unfortunate that during the information sessions, the Return BPO was unable to provide any insight regarding the intricate processes and how each impacts the site (local) or regional model. Taking this into consideration, it would have been ideal to schedule mandatory meetings with the BPO to ensure all pertinent information was being addressed and the processes were aligned with the intended regional model.
Another identified area of opportunity was in direct relation to the lack of a needs assessment and a formal evaluation. Due to time constraints, the conduction of a needs assessment was curtailed eliminating visibility to any learner weaknesses and/or strengths to aid in the design and delivery of the training. Assumptions were high in the area of delivery, being certain to steer away from a traditional method of delivery (i.e. didactic) versus the more unconventional method (i.e. open forum). Although the collected reaction surveys identified this as a success, it masked any underlying issues for those associates that were not readily active during the sessions or may not have comprehended the information being delivered. To rectify this issue in future trainings, a mandatory reaction survey will be conducted prior to and after the sessions to set the tempo and gauge the best approach for those attending each session.

In retrospect, the project lacked project management. Portny, et al. (2008) urge consideration of whether a project should begin before moving forward with any aspect of the project at all (p. 77). If it has been determined to proceed with the project, than unlike the manner in which the returns project was handled, it is essential to establish, or define, a plan. Although the overall concepts were presented, the returns project lacked a firm and formal plan. For instance, the involvement of other team members would have alleviated strain on the primary instructor and would have level set expectations regarding deliverables and goals. As noted by Portny, et al. (2008), it is ideal to “Prepare a separate description of needs for each category of personnel to be recruited” (p. 85). Doing so provides transparency to the needs and responsibilities of those actively involved in the project and promote organization and efficiency. With such lessons learned, it is recommended, regardless of how small or large of a project that project management be highly considered.


Resources

Evans, R. (2010, August 11). The importance of evaluation [Msg 1]. Message posted to http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn

Greer, M. (2010). Project “post mortem” review questions. In The project management minimalist: Enough PM to rock your projects!. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/56611/CRS-CW-4894953/educ_6145_readings/pm-minimalist-ver-3-laureate.pdf

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.