Contact: Paul Carey-Kent, ext 7525

1 Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

1.2 Agreement to the structure and staff numbers for the business systems training team within County Treasurer's to deliver the training in support of rolling out new systems over the County, including to all schools.

2 Reason

2.1 In order to support the full roll-out of the Enterprise Project (to replace finance and related systems) a clear training structure is required.

3 Other options considered and rejected

3.1 Setting up the team within the Enterprise Project Team rather than within County Treasurer's, but this would have led to less integration with other finance-related training.

4 Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or a member or officer consulted - not applicable

5 Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - not applicable

6 Reason(s) for the matter being dealt with if urgent - not applicable

Approved by: ............................ Date: ..............................

Councillor TK Thornber

Contact: Lynn Elliott x 6344

1 Introduction

1.1 This report sets out for approval the proposals to structure the provision of business systems training to the Enterprise Project from the County Treasurer's Department.

1.2 The Treasurer's Training Team (TTT), to be based in the Professional Services Section within the Treasurer's Department with effect from 1 March 2002, will provide all the training to support the Enterprise Project, as well as IT and financial systems training for the County Treasurer's, Social Services and Education (including Schools) Departments.

1.3 The future provision of training to all clients, including the Enterprise Project, will be provided under formal Service Level Agreement (SLA) in line with Departmental practice.

2 The Current Situation

2.1 Currently there are five posts seconded to the Enterprise Project (4 Professional Services; 1 Audit) to manage and provide training as the system implementation rolls-out, for the new system trials and the on-going SAP training. A member of this team is also responsible for providing the on-going training, through service level agreement, to both the Education and Social Services Departments. Recently two of the five posts have been vacated as the post holders have taken up jobs within the permanent Enterprise Support and Development Team.

2.2 A formal SLA exists between the TTT and the Social Services Department to provide 115 days of training. An informal agreement exists between the TTT and the Education Department to provide 20 days of training, although an SLA is currently being drafted to formalise this arrangement.

3 The proposed arrangements to run with effect from March 2002

3.1 This paper sets out:

· Proposed structure and funding of the Treasurer's Training Team

· Estimated cost to the Enterprise Project for training

· How the training will be delivered

And requests approval for the staffing structure required to deliver this.

4 The structure of the new Treasurer's Training Team

4.1 The new TTT is likely to be constructed as shown below in Figure 1. The training posts have been evaluated through the County Council's normal job evaluation scheme.

Plus agency staff/additional secondments as necessary

4.2 The gross annual staff costs (mid-point) of the Treasurer's Training Team, excluding the Group Manager post, are set out below:

Title	No. of existing posts	No. of new posts	Total posts in TTT	Gross staff costs of new structure £
Training Manager	1	0	1	32,290
Trainers (including roof tax for 6 new posts)	2	7	9	252,990
Administration	1.2	0	1.2	21,710
TOTAL	4.2	7.0	11.2	306,990
Funded by:
Enterprise Project				258,960
Education Department				3,740
Social Services				21,520
Treasurer's				22,770
				306,990

4.3 Existing staff have been assimilated into the new structure as appropriate. New posts are being advertised internally and externally.

5 Estimated cost to the Enterprise Project for the provision of training

5.1 In summary, it is anticipated that the Enterprise Project will fund the following cost elements:

· The full cost of the trainers time spent on the Enterprise Project, including travel to venues

· IT recharges

· Refreshments

· Hire of training venues

· Cost of printing the course documentation

5.2 The Enterprise Project costs above will be met by the proposals within the forward budget 2002/03 to use the central share of Education and Social Services passported cash increases.

6 How the Enterprise Training will be delivered

6.1 The actual delivery of training will ultimately be constrained by:

a) Number of available trainers and/or

b) Availability of training venues (preference for delivering at establishments) and/or

c) The actual roll out timetable

6.2 The provision of the training will be undertaken solely by the TTT based within the County Treasurer's Department.

6.3 It is envisaged that the interaction of other departments with the TTT, for example Education, will be as a supporting role rather than a delivering role. The Education Financial and Personnel Services, for example, will receive training from the TTT in order that they can continue to deliver their ongoing supporting role to Schools which inevitably incorporates some explanations on how to use systems. Education business units will be key to providing effective support in the business processes in ensuring that each schools ICT set up enables them to effectively use SAP.

6.4 It is likely that different solutions in how training is delivered will be applicable to different departments. Currently for the trial implementation it is proposed to explore a "cascade training" approach. This is where training will be provided for people at an establishment, they then cascade their learning down through their establishment themselves.

6.5 It is not known whether this approach will be suitable for each department, but the important message is that a consultative approach will be undertaken to discuss the options and best way forward for key groups.

7 Conclusion and Recommendation

7.1 That the approach being taken, as outlined above, to establish a single training team within the County Treasurer's Department to provide the Enterprise Training be endorsed.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

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