BaptistCare created a fully integrated LMS to support employees, volunteers and students

BaptistCare is one of Australia’s most respected non-profit care providers, serving the aged and people living with disadvantage for over 75 years. They support thousands of people across NSW and the ACT in Australia, through more than 160 programs and facilities.

Their mission is to uphold strong and caring communities that value personal and communal wellbeing, employing more than 3,500 staff with a further 750 volunteers.

The Challenge

Following consultation across the organization to identify key pain points, BaptistCare conducted extensive research into potential partners to find one that would best fit their needs. After a strict selection process, Kineo was engaged as the ideal partner. BaptistCare sought to onboard a trusted learning specialist with a track record of providing learning solutions across aged care and community services.Prior to the My Learning LMS, there was limited learning integration in place and no central repository for training records. There were also challenges in real-time accessibility of reporting for managers. They needed a learning management system that could support the business with managing its compliance and risk requirements, and the capability to provide for future learning needs.It was particularly important for BaptistCare to find an LMS that could manage their full spectrum of needs. This includes employee, volunteer and student onboarding and development, as well as data security, system integrations, and flexibility in course design.

The Solutio

 A BaptistCare working group was created across all business streams and with counsel from Kineo, Totara Learn was chosen as the fit-for-purpose learning platform that would also incorporate a modern library of e-learning to suit their current and ongoing learning needs. Additional libraries were also updated and sourced to complement the Kineo library.Key stages in the implementation process that lead to the success of the solution included:

1. Pain point identification and mapping to ensure that the LMS solution addressed these
2. Concurrent library review project – Kineo, Altura and range of other internal and external library resources mapped, updated and developed
3. Customization and configuration – branding, navigation, user configuration, audience management, administration roles and access, reports and dashboards
4. Integrations – with their CRM for volunteers, with their HR and financial systems (T1) and with their talent management platform (Page Up)
5. Content libraries – set up and transfer of a range of clinical, business, personal development and management/leadership courses, as well as in-house courses, including e-learning, blended and seminar courses
6. Data migratio
7. Pre and post go-live checks
8. Training and communication strategy – for our learners, managers and system administrators

 A custom look and feel web design, with new and updated content has been added to BaptistCare’s “My Learning” LMS.

“Our Totara (“My Learning”) LMS has provided us with a scalable, flexible platform capable of growing as we grow to meet our changing business needs. We did our homework to find an integrated system that could deliver a seamless, best practice learning experience for our users across all our systems – and we are confident My Learning delivers this for us.”

– Lisa Hoggard, Learning and Development Manager, BaptistCare 

Microlearning has been adopted to support their blended learning and webinar programs and recordings have also been incorporated into the learning mix.Real-time reporting helps managers develop their teams and meet compliance requirements – all of which support BaptistCare’s risk strategy. In addition, BaptistCare’s upskilled team leaders and managers have been empowered to be more accountable.Access to the Totara Community, combined with Kineo’s strategic advice and support, has played a significant role in supporting BaptistCare’s planned growth and enabling a responsive, agile approach to manage changing business needs.  On-demand manager reporting and a range of customized reports are available, with further enhancements such as manager dashboards nearing finalization.Now the platform can grow as the organization evolves. BaptistCare is delighted with their autonomous and flexible Totara Learn-powered My Learning platform that has made a huge, positive difference in what they can do and addresses their identified LMS pain points. My Learning ensures that we can effectively support the diverse learning and management needs of our workforce now, and into the future. 

The Results

Just one example of success is the COVID-19-related training module launched within a couple of days that would otherwise have taken weeks. BaptistCare has seamlessly blended webinars, e-learning and seminar (face-to-face) programs for effective training.  Other notable results include:

• Employee progress/completion of training (blended, seminar, e-learning) can be tracked in real time in the one system – previously different tracking/reporting systems existed for volunteers, pre-commencement employees, employees and for seminar vs e-learning courses.  This has led to greater management visibility of learner progress through their training. It has supported risk reduction through greatly improved performance in mandatory and compliance training reporting and management.
• Introduced real-time compliance reporting for managers, including graphical reporting, using Totara’s graphs functionality.
• Facilitation of webinars via our LMS (My Learning) has greatly supported BaptistCare’s workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Easy integration and management of a special COVID-19 “surge” workforce into Totara Learn using custom profile fields and audience rules – to support residential aged care facilities with managing risks associated with COVID-19 potential outbreaks and management protocols.
• Quick response course development and rapid response deployment of new COVID-19 training possible through program and audience management.
• Supporting the rapid transition of face-to-face seminar programs into online platforms for remote working conditions associated with COVID-19 – including leadership, team and personal development workshops.
• Improved integration of webinar format programs using Microsoft Teams with in-house courses.
• Ease of integration with new Recruitment Management System platform, including onboarding training integrations and learner management.
• Development of more blended learning courses with a combination of online modules, quizzes and seminars within one course.
• Significant streamlining of seminar course participant management through Totara’s email notification functionality.

“Our “My Learning” LMS based on Totara provides a modern, versatile and secure learning platform for BaptistCare to meet growing training needs. The platform’s rich integration capability provides us the ability to enable a seamless end user training experience where our new starters, employees and volunteers are able to learn anywhere, anytime and on any device. ”