When needs must

Looking at needs analysis What's currently available Some do-it-yourself solutions The learning volcano

• competency management: allowing an organisation to define where it is going in terms of job roles, knowledge and skills
• performance management: provides assessment tools to measure where an organisation actually is in terms of knowledge and skills
• learning management: helps the organisation close the gaps by integrating classroom, web-based and on-job training

Knowledgesoft's customer list is impressive, including AT&T, IBM, Amoco, Novell, Prudential and Silicon Graphics.

Saba market the Saba Competency Manager as part of their suite of online learning management products. This includes facilities to:

• define the competencies required to achieve your business goals, gathering input from high performers, whether they be your own employees, suppliers, partners or customers
• track individual competencies, updated through self-assessment, learning completion, testing, multi-rater assessments or performance reviews
• associate your learning offerings with the competencies they are designed to improve

Saba software is rapidly gaining prominence in the online learning world. Customers include Sun, Netscape and Wells Fargo Bank.

HR Pulse, from Nardoni Associates, is a multi-purpose career planning, succession planning and competency management tool. The software allows you to:

• determine relevant information about people and jobs
• capture competency-based performance appraisal information
• use competencies as a convenient way of comparing people against each other and against the demands of the job
• record succession decisions and display the results
• generate a wide variety of printed and on-screen reports, graphs and statistical analyses

Nardoni boast a world-wide Fortune 500 customer base, but without giving names.

A screen from HR Pulse, Nardoni Associates, Inc.

The McMillan Partnership market a product called 360° Plus, which automates the process of gathering feedback on a 360° basis. As well as reducing the administrative burden, the package claims to increase response rates and improve security. The program can be operated on a stand-alone basis or can be linked to McMillan's personal development software, Catalyst.

Is this all? No, new systems are emerging all the time and the chances are that your existing human resource software is being enhanced to add new facilities in this area. With so many offerings coming available, it's important to get recommendations from customers who have implemented these systems and made them work. All systems look good on paper, but enterprise-wide solutions like these have to be extremely reliable, compatible with your other HR systems and backed up by the right sort of support. 

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