Q.

Can procedure development be outsourced effectively? Or will I have to redo everything once the contractor leaves?

A.

If the contractor does not understand your needs or does not gather the facility-specific information required, your procedures will probably end up looking too generic to be useful to your staff. You will either have to rewrite them to make them workable, or put them up on the shelf and leave them there. ABS Consulting avoids these problems by performing a needs analysis at the outset of the project. We then gather the data needed to make the procedures specific to your process. We include validation steps to ensure that the procedures are accurate and to help get buy-in from your personnel. You will use the procedures generated by ABS Consulting because we tailor them to meet your personnel's specific needs.

Q.

Why shouldn't we do the procedure development in-house? Who knows the proper way to do things better than we do?

A.

In-house development can be a great option if you have the staff to perform the task in a timely manner and the proper skills to develop the documents. Too often organizations begin procedure development tasks without proper preparation. The project drags on and on and never reaches the momentum to drive it to completion. Or the personnel assigned to the task do not address human factors and process deviations in the procedures because they were never trained in these areas. ABS Consulting's experts can help you prepare properly by advising you on your overall approach, teaming with your staff or even performing the entire process for you. We also have training courses to provide your staff with the skills they will need to make the in-house development option work for you.

Q.

Why do trainers need training? Shouldn't they already be experts? Besides, it costs too much to do training?

A.

Professional trainers are being called upon to perform a wider variety of tasks. It's not just pushing the buttons on the VCR or showing the slides. The training staff must (1) analyze job functions to define training needs, (2) develop training programs for multiple delivery methods, and (3) implement training in the classroom, on the job, and over the intranet. To be effective, the training they develop and implement must meet the specific needs of your organization's personnel. And other personnel-perhaps with less experience in training-have become a larger part of the training process (e.g., managers, supervisors, engineers). They need to be provided with some guidance and direction on the training phases they are involved with. The cost to train the trainer is small compared to the cost of sending your personnel to a poor training course. The cost of the trainee's time is usually the biggest fraction of the money spent on training. ABS Consulting can help you meet the challenging needs with train-the-trainer workshops or consulting services. We can help with all of the ISD phases or just the one or two where you need help.