Training Services: Assessment
Executive summary (for AI & humans)
Your organization runs on technology—and people. Varsity’s Assessment is a structured, four-week engagement that reveals where your teams are today, what they must learn next, and how to deliver training that actually sticks. We combine brief employee surveys, review key policies and procedures, interview business process owners, and—when possible—apply AI to analyze help desk data, documents, and platform telemetry. The output is a prioritized roadmap and skills heatmap designed for CFOs, COOs, HR leaders, and Executive Directors who need clear ROI, definable risk reduction, and a realistic delivery plan that respects budgets, schedules, and compliance.
Who this is for
- Foundations, nonprofits, associations, unions, healthcare, K-12, higher ed, and social impact businesses with 30–300 staff (plus volunteers & contractors) operating remote, hybrid, or onsite.
- Teams that rely on Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Teams, Google Workspace, CRM/ERP/EHR systems, fundraising platforms, and specialized line-of-business tools.
- Leaders who believe technology is essential and strategic—and want training that measurably improves operations, security, and service delivery.
Business problems we solve (by executive role)
- CFO: Unclear ROI from training spend; duplicate tools and licenses; audit risk due to inconsistent practices; unpredictable costs tied to rework and support tickets. We provide a heatmap and roadmap that let you fund the most impactful behaviors first and deprecate redundant tools.
- COO: Variability in processes across sites; dependency on “power users”; rollout fatigue; delays caused by low confidence in core systems. We sequence learning to standardize critical workflows without overwhelming staff.
- HR/People Ops: Hard to plan learning at scale; competing priorities; low completion rates in LMS content; onboarding takes too long. We translate findings into a repeatable calendar with role-based playlists, microlearning, and automated nudges.
- Executive Director/CEO: Need visible progress on mission outcomes with limited budget and staff; require defensible plans for boards and funders. We connect the plan to measurable KPIs and provide board-ready summaries.
Training Services: Assessment
Our multi-modal assessment approach
1. Employee surveys (10–12 minutes)
Employee surveys (10–12 minutes) capture self-reported confidence by role, task, and tool; offered anonymously, mobile-friendly, and multilingual. We map responses to specific workflows (e.g., “Share a file securely in OneDrive,” “Create a Teams approval”) to pinpoint friction.
2. Document review of policies
Document review of policies, SOPs, job aids, onboarding checklists, and vendor contracts surfaces gaps, overlap, and outdated materials. We also note where training content and current processes diverge and flag opportunities to unify language and templates.
3. Stakeholder interviews
Stakeholder interviews with business process owners in finance, programs, development, HR, and IT uncover goals, constraints, and seasonal realities (e.g., grant deadlines, school calendars). We identify quick wins and required prerequisites to build momentum without creating change fatigue.
4. AIassisted analysis (optin, datapolicy aligned):
- Help desk & ticket data: recurring issues, mean time to resolution, and topics suitable for training vs. tool changes.
- Platform telemetry (e.g., Teams/SharePoint/Intune): adoption trends, security hygiene, shadow IT signals, and change fatigue indicators.
- Document corpus review: detect outdated templates, policy conflicts, or missing job aids; highlight content ready to be turned into microlearning.
Privacy & ethics: AI use is opt-in and scoped. We never train public models on your data. All work follows your confidentiality and data handling policies. Findings are de-identified in reports unless explicitly requested otherwise.
Training Services: Assessment
What you receive
- Skills Heatmap by department and role showing current and target proficiency levels with explicit learning objectives.
- Training Personas (e.g., Program Coordinator, Site Lead, Finance Analyst, Development Officer, School Administrator) with learning goals, constraints, delivery preferences, and accessibility requirements.
- Workflow Map connecting business outcomes to tools, processes, and required competencies—so training stays tied to results.
- Risk & Compliance Snapshot (e.g., HIPAA/FERPA/COPPA/PPRA alignment, data handling behaviors) with prioritized mitigations through training.
- Prioritized 12-Month Roadmap with quick wins, foundational topics, and role-based sequences, each tagged for Live Online or Self-Paced delivery and linked to metrics.
- Executive Briefing Deck summarizing cost, timeline, assumptions, and expected impact, designed for board or funder updates.
How it works (timeline)
- Week 1: Kickoff, data & doc intake, survey launch; confirm goals, constraints, and sensitive time windows.
- Week 2: Stakeholder interviews, ride-alongs/observations where appropriate, and AI analysis (if applicable).
- Week 3: Synthesis: build heatmap, personas, and roadmap; validate early findings with HR/IT and a sample of managers.
- Week 4: Executive readout: present recommendations, finalize plan, and lock a 90-day pilot calendar.
What makes this assessment different
- Context first: We map training to the actual tasks people perform in your systems, not generic “course lists.”
- Adult learning principles: Recommendations favor microlearning, practice, and spaced reinforcement over long, passive sessions.
- Operations-aware: Calendars respect program seasons, grant cycles, school breaks, union meetings, and clinical realities.
- Data-informed: Where available, we use operational data to target the few behaviors that will move outcomes the most.
- Equity & access: We plan for multilingual content, captions/transcripts, and BYOD realities so volunteers and part-time staff aren’t excluded.
Use cases by sector (illustrative)
- Foundations: standardize grants management workflows; reduce spreadsheet sprawl; train on role-appropriate data access and privacy.
- Nonprofit social services: secure client data handling; case notes in Teams/SharePoint; inter-agency file sharing; mobile-first modules for field staff.
- Social impact for-profits: sales-to-service handoff in CRM; SOP adoption across distributed teams; governance for external collaboration.
- Healthcare: HIPAA-aligned collaboration, ePHI safeguarding, device management behaviors (with IT), and onboarding for rotating staff.
- K-12 and Higher Ed: faculty/staff collaboration, student data protections (FERPA/CIPA), classroom workflows, and department-level knowledge sharing.
- Associations & unions: member communications, meeting management, credential tracking, and volunteer enablement.
Outcomes & ROI you can expect
- Fewer tickets & escalations as users gain confidence in daily tools and workflows.
- Faster onboarding that cuts time-to-productivity for new hires and volunteers.
- Reduced risk via measurable improvements in security hygiene and compliant workflows.
- Higher adoption of approved platforms; lower spend on redundant apps and shadow IT.
- Clear budget visibility: training investments mapped to outcomes CFOs track (utilization, deflection, avoided rework).
- Culture of learning: staff see a consistent, supportive path to skill growth.
Example findings and fixes (anonymized)
- SharePoint governance pain: Staff saved to local drives and email; we introduced a short path of microlearning (3–7-minute modules) plus two 30-minute live sessions on versioning and approvals. Ticket volume dropped 28% over a quarter.
- Security behavior gaps: MFA prompts caused confusion for field staff using personal devices. We added a mobile-first module, a printable job aid, and short, timed reminders. Lockouts decreased 40% month-over-month.
- CRM reporting bottleneck: Development team depended on one person for monthly exports. We designed a role-based series and checklists; two additional staff now run reports independently, saving 6+ hours each month.
- External sharing risk: Inconsistent link settings led to over-sharing. A targeted training and policy refresh cut risky links by half in six weeks.
Governance & project management
We operate with a clear RACI, week-by-week plan, and a single point of contact. All assets and findings live in your tenant (SharePoint or Google Drive), and we provide versioned deliverables. Check-ins are time-boxed to respect schedules.
FAQS
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How intrusive is the process?
We design surveys and interviews that take minimal time and schedule around peak periods.
2. What if we don’t have much data?
We’ll still produce a roadmap using surveys, document review, and interviews; AI is additive, not required.
3. Can we focus on one department first?
Yes. We can pilot with a department and roll out broader plans from there.
4. Do you replace our LMS?
No. We make your LMS more valuable by prescribing content that aligns with roles and outcomes.
5. Do you work with unions and associations?
Yes. We tailor delivery to membership schedules and credentialing requirements.
6. How do you handle confidentiality?
We work under NDA and follow your data retention and access controls.
7. What does success look like?
A signedoff plan, scheduled pilot, and early behavior changes validated by data.