Case Study: Assessment Management Tool
THE CLIENT
London Fire Brigade (LFB) is one of the largest firefighting and rescue organisations in the world. LFB currently employs around 5,700 staff, including 4,500 operational firefighters.
THE CHALLENGE
LFB issued an invitation to tender, seeking the implementation of an online assessment management tool, to replace its existing training platform.
The replacement platform had to provide assessments for the following user groups:
- Operational and control staff, to assess their knowledge following a learning intervention.
- Candidates being assessed for promotion.
- Candidates being assessed as potential recruits.
- All staff, receiving online training.
- Recruitment staff, trainers and managers, to administer assessments, set questions and review reports.
SkillSet proposed a solution based on the Moodle open-source learning management system to meet these requirements and were subsequently successful in winning the contract.
OUR APPROACH
SkillSet starts all projects with a kick-off meeting. We confirmed project objectives, discussed and amended the plan, and, agreed on potential risks and issues. This gave us a solid foundation to build upon.
We designed and developed a state-of-the-art learning management system, providing LFB with accurate records of staff training. We used LFB branding and style guides to ensure that the system blended seamlessly with their existing website.
SkillSet’s detailed knowledge of Moodle allowed us to satisfy most of the client’s requirements through configuration alone. We defined permission groups, which LFB administrators could then allocate staff to.
A wide variety of question types were used in the online assessments, including:
- Multiple choice.
- True/ false.
- Essay style.
- Fill in the blanks.
- File uploads.
We also integrated the new system with LFB’s existing platforms. Each user has a unique identifier to enable results from the assessments to be imported directly into LFB’s other training systems. Active Directory was also integrated to provide users with single-sign-on access.
LFB mandated that the system should be hosted in the UK to comply with GDPR legislation. SkillSet chose an Amazon Web Services (AWS) UK data centre for this. SkillSet is proud to be a Consulting Partner with AWS. This alliance allows us to provide our customers with guidance on security, resilience, performance, and back-up, ensuring that their cloud environment meets their requirements exactly.
Once the platform was built and accepted by LFB, a formal handover, including training for LFB staff, was conducted. SkillSet continues to provide hosting and support to LFB.
OUR PARTNER’S FEEDBACK
“SkillSet delivered a product which matched our specification on time and on budget, which included hooking into our existing environment, allowing single sign-on via the Azure platform.
For us, the project was about enabling a facility for staff (or potential staff) to undertake online assessments in relation to recruitment. It allows people to access the assessments as a candidate and therefore not be immediately identifiable.
In addition, it allows us to easily send out staff surveys and more importantly, level 2 knowledge checks following a learning intervention. These are logged against individuals within the organisation, enabling an additional check that staff are performing at an agreed level.”
JASON SIMS, Business Systems Improvement Manager
