Creating a training plan—and making it data protection-compliant, auditable, and fast
Training plan template and guide for companies
Quick links
- What is a training plan?
- What should a training plan include?
- Training plan template
- Why traditional training plans are no longer sufficient
- Transitioning to a digital training plan
- FAQ on digital training plans
- Step-by-step guide to creating a digital, automated training plan
- The training plan of the future
- The bottom line
A training plan is crucial for many companies. It governs employee training and development objectives. In this article, you’ll find out what a training plan is, how to create one, and why a traditional training plan is no longer really sufficient. In our detailed guide, you’ll learn the most important steps for switching from a traditional training plan to a digital one.
What is a training plan?
A training plan sets out the framework for your employees’ development and training. It contains objectives, content, methods, and schedules for training and education programs. In a training plan, you clearly define what is to be learned, when, how, and by whom. This plan will help you to systematically achieve learning objectives and ensure that everyone involved reaches the same standard.
Why do I need a training plan?
A training plan enables you to manage your employees’ training. It helps you close specific skill gaps, foster the strengths of your teams, and work on their weaknesses. You can use a training plan to define learning objectives and organize individual training courses. However, training plans are also a practical tool for meeting legal requirements with regard to compliance training. Compulsory training courses such as occupational safety and health, data protection, and hygiene are essential for protecting your employees and complying with regulations. With a training plan, you can ensure that all compulsory training is carried out effectively and on time. This avoids legal consequences and ensures workplace safety.
What should a training plan include?
A training plan should include everything that enables you to record the status of your employees’ training and development. Keep a record of who learned what, when, from whom, and how. It is important that the training plan content is later stored in an auditable manner. This means that you need confirmation that the training was actually carried out as described. Only then are you legally in the clear with regard to your compliance training. Some training courses even require you to provide proof to external institutions such as a chamber or insurance company. This is no problem with a well-maintained training plan as it contains all the important information you need.
Training plan template for your personnel development
The specific content of the training plan also depends on the size and structure of your company. Large corporations have different requirements than small businesses. This training plan template is based on the typical needs of a medium-sized company. Only adopt the points that are relevant to you and your processes.
Employee information
Employee information is part of the training plan. It is essential as it enables you to accurately identify participants later on. It includes, among other things:
- Employee ID
- First and last name
- Gender
- Place of residence
- Training
- Language
- Qualifications (e.g. driver’s license)
You can obtain this data from the respective personnel files or collect it when hiring new employees
Company information
In addition to your employees’ personal data, you also need company data in the training plan. This includes, among other things:
- Length of service with the company
- Type of employment (full-time, part-time)
- Department
- Position
- Branch/office
- Country
- Perhaps whether they require access to certain areas or machinery (e.g. kitchen, server rooms, warehouse, forklift etc.)
Information about the training
Enter information for each training course that you are planning or have already implemented.
- Training title
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Date
- Success verification (certificate, test etc.)
- Trainer/speaker
- Planned repetition (e.g. for occupational safety)
Why traditional training plans are no longer sufficient
Traditional paper- or Excel-based training plans have been used successfully for years. But the faster a company grows and the greater its efforts to provide further education and training, the greater the challenges associated with these methods. With a simple table-based training plan, you quickly reach your limits. You will encounter the following critical problems relatively quickly:
High resource expenditure
Manually maintaining training plans—whether on paper or in Excel—ties up valuable resources. Every change, every new employee, every new training course requires new manual input. This effort quickly adds up and takes away resources that are urgently needed elsewhere in your company. It is even more complicated if you are looking for something specific. When did a particular warehouse worker last receive safety training on the lifting platform? And when was the last time your office intern received occupational safety training? Searching for data can be an annoying waste of time, even for an Excel pro.
Accessibility
A training plan is not only of interest to management or the HR department. Department heads, managers and, of course, the employees themselves all have a legitimate interest in the document. A physical document by its very nature makes this impossible from the outset. In the case of a computer file, server access, authorizations and other technical challenges restrict access to the training plan.
Data protection
Following the introduction of strict data protection laws such as the GDPR, handling sensitive employee data in traditional training plans can become a real risk. If every supervisor—or even employee—can view other people’s plans, privacy and data protection violations are inevitable. This poses legal risks for your company and undermines trust among your teams. It is almost impossible to create effective access authorizations for an Excel- or paper-based training plan. Another data protection trap that many companies fall into occurs when sending training plans to authorized third parties. For example, to an insurance company as evidence. Many data protection officers now agree that sending sensitive data by fax is not GDPR-compliant. Never send sensitive employee data by fax or in an unencrypted email.
Gaps in documentation and traceability
Training plans in Excel in particular make it almost impossible to keep track of every change. It gets even worse when several people can access the documents. It’s easy to accidentally delete a line or overwrite content. These errors often go unnoticed, which can result in a documentation gap that “comes back to bite you” later. Also be careful about inaccurate documentation. During audits, you must provide detailed and clearly traceable evidence of what training has occurred. Three keywords are usually not enough. It is very difficult to maintain the auditability of analog training plans or training plans produced with non-specialized tools.
Currency and versioning
Technical skills now have a half-life of a maximum of 2.5 years. The demands placed on your employees are constantly changing, and with them the training requirements. Traditional training plans can barely keep up. Manual maintenance is time-consuming and the probability of errors is high.
Difficulties in measuring success
Without digital tools, it can be challenging to evaluate the success of your training measures. The lack of clear, traceable data makes it almost impossible to determine the return on your training investments or make targeted improvements. After all, just because your employees have attended a training course does not mean that they have taken the content on board and are able to apply it successfully in their day-to-day work.
Transitioning to a digital training plan with an LMS
So how do you solve the dilemma of training plans when traditional methods are no longer sufficient and take up too many of your crucial resources? One tried and tested option is to use a learning management system (LMS). An LMS is a powerful digital platform that simplifies the creation, management, and delivery of training programs. Unlike traditional training plans, which are often cumbersome and time-consuming to manage, an LMS offers you a centralized, easily accessible solution to make your training processes more efficient, effective, and flexible.
Transitioning from traditional to digital training plans using an LMS makes sense as it aligns with the requirements of modern working environments. Companies today are often faced with the challenge of having to react quickly to changes. An LMS enables you to update training content promptly and create customized learning paths for different teams and roles. It also makes it easier to scale training programs to keep pace with the growth of your business.
The advantages of an LMS over a traditional training plan
Accessibility
An LMS makes training programs accessible to all employees, anytime and anywhere. This supports flexible working models such as working from home, and facilitates training across different locations. You can use roles and assignment rules to define who should receive which training courses and when, and who has access to the respective training plans.
Personalization
Create individual learning paths that are tailored to the specific needs and goals of your employees. This increases the relevance of the training courses and fosters motivation and commitment among your learners, which in turn enables you to close skill gaps more quickly and effectively.
Efficiency
Digital training plans in an LMS reduce your administrative effort considerably. Automated functions such as registration, reminders, and reports save time and resources.
Data protection and security
An LMS helps you meet data protection standards by securely managing personal data and controlling access to training content.
Traceability and reporting
You receive detailed insights into your teams’ learning progress. Performance analyses and final reports make it easier to evaluate training effectiveness and support the continuous improvement of your programs.
Interactivity and engagement
Modern LMSs offer a wide range of interactive functions, from discussion forums and gamification to virtual classrooms. This encourages active participation and improves the learning experience.
FAQ on digital training plans using an LMS
Most LMSs are mobile-compatible. They can be accessed easily via a smartphone or tablet. It is also possible to access the content via any desktop browser. This means that your employees can access their data from any computer in the company using their individual login information. This benefits both office workers and employees out in the field or in production.
The duration of the project depends on your individual circumstances. Among other things: Which processes are already in place, how well data is already recorded and documented, and whether individual adjustments are necessary. Standardized systems can be successfully implemented within just a few weeks.
When selecting your LMS, look out for European providers with servers located within the EU. LMSs are generally safer than traditional training plans if this is the case. The option of linking data access to specific roles means that you also comply with data protection within your own organization. Further information on data protection in eLearning can be found in our blog post on data protection and the associated checklist.
The costs vary depending on your requirements. It depends on which LMS you choose, how many employees your company has, and which supplementary services you want to use. You can find a sample calculation for compliance training digitalization on our blog and in the accompanying case study.
Which LMS is right for your needs depends on your training plan requirements. We will be happy to advise you on selecting a suitable system. You can also find more information on choosing the right LMS for your training courses in our blog.
Most LMSs are easy to integrate into your existing IT landscape. For example, you can integrate your HR systems, employee databases, and training software via interfaces. As they use the latest cloud technology, you don’t need servers or other hardware. We will be happy to answer specific questions about compatibility and interfaces free of charge in a personal consultation or via email.
Transitioning from traditional training plans to an LMS can be a challenge. We will be happy to advise you on the right system for you. We can support you with managed training services on request
Bringing change into your company is not always easy. To make the transition from traditional training plans to digital methods successfully, you need the support of your employees. The following resources will help you to take these steps effectively:
An LMS is not just a platform for online courses. In an LMS, you bring all of your training and learning activities together in one place. This includes classroom training, documents such as PDFs, videos, and much more besides. Combine classroom training and digital learning content in your training plan to create a strategic blended learning concept.
Step-by-step guide to creating a digital, automated training plan
Time to tackle the necessary changes and turn your time-consuming, insecure training plans into digital, automated learning assistants. To make the transition easier for you, we have put the most important steps together in a logical order and presented them in an informative way.
1. Needs analysis and objectives
Start with a thorough needs analysis to define your company’s learning objectives. Determine what skills and knowledge your employees need to achieve your company’s goals. Set clear, measurable goals for each training course. This phase generates the framework for your digital training plan, and ensures that the LMS delivers the desired results.
2. Review your processes
Look at how your current training processes work. Identify strengths and weaknesses. Ask yourself: Which steps can be digitalized? Where is there potential for efficiency gains? The aim is to simplify processes and optimize them for the LMS. Processes that may have been useful and important in an Excel spreadsheet are not necessarily so in an LMS. Knowing which processes you want to cover helps enormously when choosing the right LMS
3. Select a suitable LMS
Compare LMS providers based on your needs and goals. Pay attention to user-friendliness, scalability and customizability. The perfect LMS will support your specific training processes and grow with your company.
4. Map training plan in the LMS
Transfer your training plan to the LMS. Create courses or events, define learning paths, and assign content to the respective target groups. Use the flexibility of the LMS to create dynamic and interactive learning environments.
5. Bring data into the system or have it done for you
Digitalize your training materials and participant data. Decide whether you want to take on this task in-house or outsource it to a service provider. Ensure that all your data is transferred to the LMS securely and in accordance with data protection guidelines.
6. Buy digital training courses, create them yourself, or commission them
Based on your needs analysis, you can decide whether to buy ready-made training content, create it yourself, or commission it from a provider. Consider the quality and relevance of the content to your specific learning objectives. Also consider a mixture of all three options. While “off-the-shelf” compliance training courses are an inexpensive and sensible option, custom courses are particularly good at imparting specialist knowledge that comes from within your company.
7. Verification and documentation
Use the LMS’s reporting functions to monitor the progress and success of your training courses. Document participation, performance, and feedback systematically. This not only makes management easier, but also makes it auditable down the line.
8. Obtain feedback and optimize training plan
Collect regular feedback from participants and trainers. Use these valuable insights to continuously improve your training plan. Adapt content, optimize learning paths, and react flexibly to new requirements.
The training plan of the future—these developments are coming
And the future of training plans? How is training evolving with new technologies and new demands on your employees? One development is already emerging, and giving us a hint as to what a training plan may look like in the future.
The learning experience platform (LXP) is at the heart of this development. LXPs provide a user-centered environment that allows your learners to design their own learning paths by choosing from a variety of content options tailored to their individual needs and interests. Artificial intelligence is already helping to identify skill gaps and suggest appropriate training courses. In future, AI will play an even greater role in the design, planning, and implementation of training courses.
The training plan of the future is likely to focus more on social learning and collaboration. Integrated social media features enable content to be shared, commented on, and added to quickly. Optimal conditions for a positive learning culture and lifelong learning.
The bottom line.
Transitioning from a traditional paper- or Excel-based training plan to a dynamic, digital one in an LMS has many advantages for your company. Your training courses become more effective, personalized, and less resource-intensive. In addition, you increase auditability, work in compliance with data protection regulations, and document your training programs seamlessly.
Digital training plans will continue to evolve in the future. With the help of AI, your employees receive training recommendations that align with their skill gaps and learning objectives. Social learning and elements from social media are also gradually finding their way into the creation of training plans.
With the right preparation and the right partners by your side, transitioning from an analog training plan to a modern LMS or LXP is no longer an insurmountable hurdle. The added value for your company and your employees far outweighs the investment. We would be delighted to answer any questions you may have about digital training, eLearning, and personnel development. Arrange a non-binding and free appointment or send us an email.
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