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PP - Human Capital Contribution Model, A Systematic Aproach For Learning Organizations To ROI and Profit Impact - GeoLearning - 34
PP - Human Capital Contribution Model, A Systematic Aproach For Learning Organizations To ROI and Profit Impact - GeoLearning - 34
The Human Capital Contribution Model™ (HCCM) is a process and toolset that enables learning
organizations to measure and improve business results and bottom-line impact. The benefits of
implementing HCCM™ include:
Business Case: Without systems in place to track business impact, most organizations are not
reaping the full benefit of their Learning and Development (L&D) investments. According to IDC,
50% of all training expenses are wasted. KnowledgeAdvisors’ research shows that 35% of people
who go through learning programs do not apply what they learned and, perhaps more
importantly, most learning programs could be improved to significantly increase productivity back
on the job.
According to IDC, a typical Fortune 500 company or government agency invests approximately
2% of its revenue in L&D. If half is wasted, that means organizations on average waste 1% of
revenue. This means that an organization with $5 billion in revenue is probably wasting
$50 million per year. By implementing HCCM™, organizations can systematically drive out waste.
In our example above, if waste is reduced by only 10% it will improve earnings by $500,000.
The cost of implementing HCCM™ and its underlying technology, GeoLearning Analytics, is
approximately 1% of what an organization wastes in training.
The balance of this document is a guide for L&D organizations on how to implement a process
and toolset to better assess needs, effectiveness and business impact. There are five core
workflow components to this model. The process can be implemented in phases and can
leverage existing technology with GeoLearning Analytics as the platform.
The five components of the Human Capital Contribution Model are Business Needs Analysis,
Performance Analysis, Business Results Analysis, ROI Analysis and Profit Impact Analysis.
Why is this important? Because the key to a successful learning and development intervention
that maximizes impact on the business begins with a formal analysis of business needs.
What’s the process? To ensure the right L&D investment is designed, developed and delivered a
needs assessment should be conducted to understand the business objectives. Once identified, a
knowledge and skill assessment should be conducted to examine the gap between the current
state and desired state.
What are the tools? The primary tools are needs assessments, knowledge and skills
assessments, pre and post tests, and competency assessments. Using GeoLearning Analytics to
collect, store, process and report these results greatly facilitates the process.
What are the results? Better designed learning programs and more clearly defined and
measurable business objectives that can be linked to post-learning business results.
Why is this important? Because research has shown that nearly half (50%) of all training is
wasted. In financial terms, for a typical Fortune 500 company that is more than $50 million per
What’s the process? To ensure waste is eliminated and productivity continually improved a
systematic review of key indicators is needed to pinpoint the root cause of poor performing
investments. Performance analysis focuses on where the investment occurs (Which programs?
Which courses? Which vendors? What customers or lines of business?). It also analyzes key
attributes of activity and performance data including attendance rates, learning effectiveness, job
impact, and value indicators.
What are the tools? Data sources for this analysis include LMS (learning management system)
data and evaluation data. Using GeoLearning Analytics to collect, store, process and report these
results greatly facilitates the process.
What are the results? Better information for decision-making. Future allocations of L&D resources
to more value-added programs, courses, vendors, and clients or lines of will significantly impact
the bottom line.
Why is this important? Because you can’t manage what you don’t measure. By systematically
analyzing the link between learning and business results, one can identify areas for improvement
and help drive better results. In addition, by analyzing business results, validation for ongoing
investments can be made.
What’s the process? HCCM™ is based on a balanced approach and being as closely aligned to
financial statements as possible. After all senior management performance is almost always
based on financial results.
The recommended balanced set of business results most closely aligned with financial
statements are:
1. Revenue
2. Profitability
3. Productivity
This approach applies to both the public and private sector and is recommended for all major
learning programs including corporate universities, leadership programs and business unit
programs. When appropriate, it is also recommended that additional business results be tracked
such as quality, cycle-time, employee loyalty, customer loyalty and risk mitigation.
What are the tools? Data sources for this analysis include ERP (enterprise resource planning
data), financial and cost accounting data, customer satisfaction data, error rate data, CRM
(customer relationship management) data, and HRIS (human resource information systems)
data. GeoLearning Analytics provides L&D managers with templates and wizards to analyze the
key business results but is flexible to provide for customized business results analysis and then
displays the analysis on interpretive and graphical scorecards and dashboards.
What are the results? A thorough and timely understanding of organizational impact. L&D
becomes advisors for improved performance.
What’s the process? To ensure L&D management focus on benefit vs. cost leveraging
methodologies from experts such as Dr. Jack J. Phillips’ ROI Process helps provide a framework
for ROI. The process of collecting, storing, processing, and reporting data that create a monetary
cost and benefit from training are inputs to the ROI process and then isolating the benefit to
training and adjusting it for bias and conservatism is part of the Guiding Principles of the ROI
Process.
What are the tools? Data sources for this analysis include ERP (enterprise resource planning
data), financial and cost accounting data, customer satisfaction data, error rate data, CRM
(customer relationship management) data, and HRIS (human resource information systems)
data. GeoLearning Analytics wraps automation, templates and wizards around the Phillips ROI
Process to make the administrative burden of ROI feasible and practical when there are
limitations on resources to apply to ROI analysis.
What are the results? A credible and reliable ROI expressed as a benefit to cost ratio that when
compared by learning delivery, program, vendor, client or line of business will help the L&D
manager make better decisions from a dual dimensional perspective (benefit and cost). It will also
validate the investment (or invalidate it in the case of a negative ROI).
Profit Impact Analysis is a data driven planning and reporting process that helps to optimize the
impact of L&D investments and to connect learning to financial statements.
Why is this important? Because L&D expense is part of the calculation, these profit measures are
arguably the most meaningful ways to analyze past and future impact of learning on earnings.
What’s the process? If learning intervention is effective, it will ultimately impact profit in a positive
way. The financial goal of a corporate university is to increase the profit contribution of its people.
That profit contribution can best be measured by taking revenue less labor costs and L&D
expense, which is called The Human Capital Contribution Profit. A corporate university will be
most successful when the Human Capital Contribution Profit is growing faster then the revenue,
which is measured by calculating the Human Capital Contribution Margin (Human Capital
Contribution Profit divided by Revenue).
What are the tools? Data sources for this analysis include financial and accounting systems.
GeoLearning Analytics provides templates to guide a manager through the inputs and structured
analysis to trend and track the actual to projected results.
What are the results? A sensitivity analysis tool that can help plan investments better and
optimize L&D impact. It also enables learning professionals to discuss financial impact with
business executives.
Analogous to a doctor, an L&D consultant needs to ask the right questions before prescribing a
solution. Just as the doctor uses basic medical devices such as thermometers and stethoscopes
to gather initial data about the condition of a patient, an L&D consultant can use business needs
assessments, tests and competency tools to assess the health of a client in need.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
In addition to Business Needs Assessments there are knowledge and skill assessments. A
common way of measuring knowledge and skill is by a test. A pre-test or a self-assessment can
measure knowledge or skill before the learning intervention and can be a great job aide to use
before a learning intervention is ever developed. Unlike a business needs assessment this tool is
designed to focus on human capital knowledge or skill.
For example in Figure 2 the L&D organization created a simple test for the finance and
accounting organization to take prior to the creation of a learning program. The test was meant to
understand if the workforce had certain knowledge to accomplish the business need identified in
the needs assessment. The test results revealed that only 38% of the finance and accounting
employees had sufficient knowledge and skills as determined by test pass rates. The L&D
manager can then conduct more detailed item analysis on each test question to determine which
questions were missed the most/least to further pinpoint where the greatest skill gap exists.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
We suggest that every L&D organization create a set of organized steps to ensure there is a
metric focus on identification of needs, knowledge, skills and competencies.
At a high level, the following are the basic process steps for Business Needs Analysis:
1. Collecting, storing, processing and reporting the results of business needs assessments
so L&D managers can quickly pinpoint strongest business needs.
2. Collecting, storing, processing and reporting the results of tests and self-assessments so
L&D managers can quickly pinpoint the largest knowledge and skill gaps.
3. Collecting, storing, processing and reporting the results of knowledge and skills
assessments so L&D managers can quickly pinpoint largest competency gaps.
4. Analyzing results of assessments and providing written feedback on where to prioritize
L&D design and development resources.
Performance Analysis
Waste Reduction
KnowledgeAdvisors research shows that 81% of all L&D measurement resources are
administrative in nature. This means the vast majority of resources are allocated toward
readying data for analysis versus making decisions. Analytics tools are designed to collect, store,
process and report data. This frees the analyst up for information decision-making time. See
Figure 4 for an illustration of the activities taking place when readying the data for analysis where
GeoLearning Analytics reduced administrative burden.
Reduced administrative costs is an easy first step. Integrations between analytics technologies
and feeder systems such as Learning Management Systems (LMS) allow automation and
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
The key to reducing waste with under-utilized resources is to identify the resources and analyze
the root cause of under-utilization. Examples of resources to consider in an L&D operation
include:
Instructor workforce.
Physical training locations.
Courseware completions.
For example, change suboptimal training solutions where waste reduction can occur. In this
aspect it is powerful to trend and track indicators of poorer performance. Reviewing some of the
following can help with waste reduction and reallocation of resources.
In Figure 6, a table from GeoLearning Analytics illustrates application on the job and barriers to
use for a corporate university over a month of organization-wide training. This data was collected
60 days later, automatically by the technology to understand when application happened (if at all)
and if not, why not. There is 14% waste (where training had not applied yet) and the biggest
barrier was lack of opportunity. Trending this data over time or by key program can help in waste
reduction.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Another example of waste reduction is an analytic output such as Facility Utilization Ratio. It is
illustrated in Figure 7. A manager looking at waste reduction can see that the Chicago site is the
one most utilized and several locations have only 1 training day. This can lead to decisions to
consolidate or close physical training locations under-utilized. However, if this data is hard to
obtain or not tracked these low-hanging opportunities will be missed.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Performance Improvement
Investment analysis should also cover performance improvement. An optimized investment not
only reduces waste but continuously improves its process making it more efficient and effective.
Review quality indicators which include: 1) instructor performance, 2) courseware quality, and
3) environment conduciveness to learning.
Review knowledge transfer indicators which include: 1) pre- and post-test results, and
2) evaluation indicators of training from the students perception.
Review behavior change on the job that could be gained from observation, follow-up
evaluation, managerial evaluation.
Review alignment with business results, if sales training occurred did sales increase?
Using analytics technologies like GeoLearning Analytics to slice the aforementioned data by
course, program, vendor, instructor, business unit, job function, office location, years of service
etc. can provide for profiles of learners and training to pinpoint performance improvement
opportunities.
In Figure 8 below, the data shows the effectiveness or impact courseware. The easy-to-read
analysis shows the red items that should alert an L&D manager to take action. In this case if we
find that wrong prerequisites exist or if the content lacks has real-world, relevant examples and is
not current content we will likely find the culprit to poor performance. But the data highlighted
where to look. In business when resources are limited, rely on the right data to guide you.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Another example is the analysis of impact by line of business. Performance improvement analysis
needs attributes of the participant not just the training to be identifiable and actionable. In figure 9
we see data for the impact training had on the job several months later sorted by job function at a
typical organization. The R&D group has had little job impact compared to the HR and IT groups.
This can help the L&D management understand which areas of their business have significant
performance improvement opportunities.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
We suggest that every L&D organization create a set of organized steps to ensure there is a
metric focus on waste reduction and performance improvement.
1. Integrating easily with any LMS to automatically retrieve L&D related and participant
related data to tabulate activity metrics (ex. student enrollments by course) and
performance metrics (courses with low learning effectiveness)
GeoLearning Analytics will also identify performance improvement opportunities. The technology
can facilitate this by:
1. Allowing the manipulation of L&D data by multiple filter parameters (class, course,
curricula, program, instructor, location, delivery, job function, years of service, business
unit, client, etc.)
2. By tracking the data against a balanced set of performance indicators (quality,
satisfaction, effectiveness, impact, results and value)
The first step in business result analysis is to understand those results important to management
and which drive the business and create shareholder value. Profitability analysis focuses more
directly on shareholder value. Secondly, tracking these results for a key program is necessary to
ensure a strategic, visible, or costly program was in fact aligned with the business results driving
the need for the program. Thirdly, tracking macro results on a continual basis and being able to
link the results to training can help an L&D manager understand where a learning intervention
positively, negatively, or neutrally affected the end result. This not only helps an L&D manager in
future resource allocation but also helps the L&D manager in emphasizing to his or her
stakeholder the predicted or actual effect training had on the result (this is known as isolation and
will be discussed further in ROI analysis).
Business results analysis faces several challenges. It is essential that the L&D manager clearly
recognize the challenges before engaging in business results analysis. Common challenges to
business results analysis include the following:
L&D does not have the appropriate competencies to consult with the stakeholder and identify
the results then analyze the L&D effect on them.
L&D does not have the money or time to allocate to a comprehensive analysis of business
results tied to every key program.
There is not a direct and clear link to a specific business result for the L&D intervention. For
example a leadership program may be established to increase delegation skills and coaching
skills but it is not intended to then increase sales growth directly.
The stakeholder does not have or is not willing to provide the resources to work with L&D to
perform a business results analysis (yet the stakeholder wants to know the business result
link anyway).
The actual business result data does not exist or does not exist in a clean format that is
acceptable to use for analysis purposes (i.e. garbage in would be garbage out).
There is no formal system or database that houses the business result to then automatically
pull into an analytics system on a regular basis for analysis.
To overcome the aforementioned challenges of measuring business results HCCM™ will present
a practical, scaleable and repeatable way of measuring business results. HCCM™ has a
recommended set of core business results ANY L&D department should consider tracking,
regardless of what specific programs or micro business results you may track. Using our
experience in financial analysis with personnel from banking and accounting who understand how
to read and interpret financial statements to derive the recommended Actual Business Results.
Based on this collective wisdom, we believe that by building data feeds or simply inputting five
data points on a quarterly basis a robust scorecard can be generated that illustrate real income
statement impacts in terms of growth, productivity and profitability, derived from L&D
investments. These business results: growth, productivity and profitability are the metrics that
matter to senior managers.
The inputs necessary for growth, productivity and profitability business results only require five
simple inputs which are as follows:.
1. Revenue – directly from income statement financial data or from sales/financial systems
2. # of Employees – directly from notes to financial statement data or from HRIS systems
3. Labor cost- total payroll expense directly from income statement financial data or notes to
financial statements or from payroll systems
4. # learners – directly from LMS information or registration data
5. Actual L&D expense – L&D organizations should have this as it is necessary to provide to
accounting departments as an expense when closing general ledgers
As a result of inputting or establishing a regular data feed for these inputs between the feeder
system and the analytics technology an L&D manager can derive:
Growth: [{Current period revenue – Prior period revenue} / Prior period revenue].
Growth is a key indicator that shows revenue change against goal or period to period. This allows
an L&D manager to understand fluctuation in revenue and ‘alert’ themselves once this reaches a
critical point.
This particular productivity indicator is revenue per employee. Best practice organizations should
be able to increase revenue with steady or fewer employees due to better process, technologies
and a well-trained workforce. Analyzing productivity defined as revenue per employee can be a
significant factor in understanding both the revenue and the cost side of the profit impact
equation. Revenue is inherent in its numerator and # of people in workforce used in the
denominator. The monetary value of personnel is an expense on the income statement. Business
decisions should be made with revenue per employee in mind. If the number is declining, it
means revenue is not at pace with employee additions. If the number is improving it indicates the
processes, technologies and people are generating more revenue without increasing human
capital at the same rate.
The profitability metric is referred to as the Human Capital Contribution Margin. Financial analysis
relies on margin analysis to tell us what is left over from sales after expenses are covered. To an
This calculation should be monitored by L&D managers closely. It helps them understand how
much revenue is left over after human capital expenses (that directly hit the income statement)
are covered. Organizations with high human capital contribution margins are indicative of
productive organizations that generate the most revenue without increasing human capital
expenses at the same rate as revenue increases. On the contrary, lower margins indicate
opportunities for improvement. They tell us that sales growth is not aligned with human capital
growth. It indicates that human capital performance is not optimized.
A visual dashboard can be generated that illustrates these vital business results as well as some
complimentary metrics that should be reviewed in conjunction with growth, productivity, and
profitability. See Figure 10 for a visual of this dashboard that can measure actual results period to
period or against goals. The dashboard can be generated from an analyst inputting the data into
templates or setting up a system link to feeder systems that automatically populate the input
templates.
To round out the dashboard, in addition to growth, productivity, and profitability, we review L&D
actual expenses and L&D activity. If learners completing training is increasing while L&D budget
is held constant or decreasing and while human capital contribution margin is increasing, that
suggests a highly effective L&D organization optimizing its resources. So these additional two
metrics are part of the standard GeoLearning Analytics Actual Business Results Dashboard.
By tracking these actual and recommended business results and computing KPI’s tied to real
financial statement results an L&D manager can directly see how his or her budget and the
actions taken with the budget can influence the income statement and profitability of the
organization.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Not withstanding the actual business results recommended in the prior section that links to the
income statement and ties to profitability, there are potentially hundreds if not thousands of micro
business results an L&D manager could track or be held accountable. For example, a macro
result such as quality has micro results such as reduced transaction errors, lower safety
incidents, or improved evaluation scores for courseware ratings.
Beginning with a macro set of business results and tracking those against key programs is a
valuable way to understand where L&D is aligned with results. KnowledgeAdvisors research
1. Increased revenues
2. Decreased costs
3. Increased productivity
4. Increased quality
5. Decreased cycle time
6. Increased customer satisfaction
7. Increased employee retention
8. Decreased risk
Any manager with a significant budget should be held accountable for the budgets link to results
that drive the business. Accountability is a key driver in resource allocations in business today. It
is so critical that the U.S. Federal Government renamed the General Accounting Office (GAO) to
the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
So the question is how does L&D obtain business results when challenges (like those mentioned
previously) exist? The answer is there are many ways to do this. We will explore them now.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
2. Use technology to create conditional questions that show the significance to business
results. Figure 12 shows how a technology company was able to understand in more
detail how business results linked to technology training improved on the job
performance. In the example below productivity, quality and customer satisfaction are
most impacted by the training. The GeoLearning Analytics technology factors into the
result the training effect and the adjustment for bias in analysis (more of this is covered in
the ROI Analysis section.)
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
3. Compare actual business results against goals and trends. L&D managers should be
aware of key drivers. Understanding the trends are important. To add to the analysis,
color-coding it to facilitate interpretation and action is just as important as the data
collection itself. In Figure 13 the L&D Manager is able track actual results important to the
organization. It trends the inputs period-over-period and against goals. The color coding
shows where variances exceed 10% in a positive or negative direction (with red for
negative and green for positive and yellow neutral.) If the result is going to be analyzed
on a regular basis the inputs can be imported into the learning analytics technology via
pre-arranged data feeds.
Figure 13: Actual Business Results Scorecard with Trends, Goals and Color Analysis
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
4. Track the business results specific to each strategic, visible or costly program. This
ensures that in addition to tracking results at a macro/organizational level, L&D is able to
drill into key results for key programs. Figure 14 illustrates how an L&D manager can link
a sales program to sales revenues by tracking sales before and after training. To make
the analysis more credible additional analysis is also tracked. Additional analysis includes
control group comparison and a root-cause (isolation) analysis as well as a bias factor
adjustment. A tool like Figure 14 is an excellent consultative tool for L&D to use when
partnering with lines of business to understand L&D effects on business results.
Figure 14: Technology Template for Inputs of Actual Business Results by Strategic Program
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
We suggest that every L&D organization create a set of organized steps to ensure there is a
metric focus to track and trend business results
At a high level, the following are some basic process steps for Business Result Analysis:
1. Identify the business results that are financial statement drivers (most significant results).
We suggest the following:
a. Growth
b. Productivity per employee (as measured by revenue per employee)
c. Profitability (as measured by human capital contribution margin discussed in the
Profitability Analysis section of this paper)
2. Identify macro business results that drive investments in L&D or any other resource
allocation. We suggest the following:
d. Increased revenues
e. Decreased costs
f. Increased productivity
g. Increased quality
h. Decreased cycle time
i. Increased customer satisfaction
j. Increased employee retention
k. Decreased risk
3. Identify the most strategic, costly and visible programs and identify the business results
that should be outcomes of those programs.
4. Once all financial, macro, and program specific results are identified, determine, with
regard to available financial, physical and human resources, how the data will be
collected.
l. Collect data on evaluation forms
m. Collect data using action-plan templates (see ROI Analysis for further details)
n. Collect data via templatized, consultative input forms
o. Collect data via automated data imports from feeder systems (sales, finance etc.)
5. Identify a central database for storage of the data
6. Automate the processing of the raw data into KPIs by program
7. Review the KPI’s on a regular basis against 1) trends of prior periods, 2) realistic yet
challenging goals, and 3) internal and external benchmarks.
GeoLearning offers technology tools, learning consultant templates, and professional services to
help organizations design, develop, implement and maintain business result analysis in L&D
organizations.
GeoLearning Analytics has specific tools within it to aide in business result analysis:
1. Business Results Scorecards – Allow for linkage to business results through a
series of estimation, isolation and adjustment questions on specific end of
program, post program follow up and manager evaluations. The results show, in
a practical manner how the program tied to specific results.
2. Business Results Question Constructs – On basic evaluation forms (now
containing over 200 million external benchmark points) the macro business
results discussed in this paper are evaluated for significance to the learning
intervention.
3. Analyst Worksheet – A template within GeoLearning Analytics that guides
learning consultants through the process of forecasting and actualizing business
result linkage to a specific program. The tool has control group, root cause, and
adjustment analysis to ensure conservatism and credibility with input variables
for actual business results at the program level both before and after the learning
intervention.
4. Actual Business Results Scorecards – Templates and integration conduits for
L&D managers to input or import key business results to track against trends and
goals over time. Default KPIs within this tool include suggested profitability
metrics (discussed in Profit Impact Analysis).
5. Business Results Dashboards – graphically displayed versions of a subset of the
Actual Business Results Scorecards. Can display activity metrics, performance
metrics, profitability metrics and business results.
6. GeoLearning has professional services with expertise in data analysis and
statistics. Professionals who can ask the right questions to find appropriate data
sources to analyze business results.
In most departments there is a need to justify or validate the training cost. In L&D it is no different.
If an organization has limited resources, ROI Analysis can help the organization validate the
investment.
In the mid 1980’s Dr. Jack J. Phillips developed the Phillips ROI Process. It has since helped
hundreds of organizations prepare ROI analysis on strategic, visible and costly L&D programs.
Figure 16 shows the flow of the Phillips ROI Process. It begins with organizing what, how and
when data will be collected, followed by an isolation of results to training, a conversion to
monetary value and the ROI calculation itself.
Phillips has a set of best practices referred to as ‘Guiding Principles.’ A key guiding principle to
the ROI Process is Estimation, Isolation, and Adjustment. This has added tremendous value to
ROI Analysis for L&D Managers.
Investigating each element of this principle we can see that Estimation is merely stating the
change in the business result. In the Business Result Analysis section of this paper we discussed
the need to constantly track core results and to track results on a program by program level. The
Business Results Analysis is a feeder into the ROI Analysis.
Isolation is a next step. There are many variables that drive the change in a business result. If an
L&D organization desires to show a specific ROI on a business result it must factor out the
variables that impacted the result but were not L&D related. GeoLearning has tools to help in the
isolation exercise and has identified some major root cause factors for isolation which include the
following:
1. People
2. Process
3. Technology
4. Culture
5. Externalities
6. Measurements
7. L&D Program
The training variable is the piece to focus on in an L&D ROI Analysis. The other factors may drive
the business result as well but an L&D manager is interested in his/her part of the result variance.
Dr. Phillips also discusses various isolation techniques. The more rigorous techniques are
preferable but less frequently used because they are more costly and time consuming. Isolation
techniques include the following:
The fourth isolation technique is most frequently used but not as credible as the others. Thus the
ROI Process takes into account a final factor: adjustment. Adjustment is to account for
imperfections in the analysis, self-reported bias, lack of confidence, and conservatism. It is a
factor by which the impact from L&D on a business result is reduced.
Figure 17 shows an ROI calculation from the Human Capital ROI Card. The technology derived
the monetary benefit in Figure 17 by automatically performing an Estimation/Isolation/Adjustment
calculation on the input data, in this example evaluation data received at the end of a program.
The user of the technology then input the cost of the program and the average salary levels of
program participants (the monetary value of human capital) to then derive the ROI. Technology
wrapped around credible process and methodology make the ROI Analysis easier to do. Once
the ROI is generated, comparing it by program, vendor, client, line of business and learning
delivery helps in the resource allocation decision-making.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Dr. Jack Phillips has worked closely with KnowledgeAdvisors and GeoLearning to author specific
tools and templates into the GeoLearning Analytics Learning Analytics Technology. The primary
elements that can save significant time in conducting ROI Analysis are in the automated
tabulation of costs, benefits and summary scorecards while maintaining the integrity of the ROI
Process.
Figure 18 illustrates a key feature to ROI Analysis, the tabulation of costs. Costs are typically
comprised of the following components.
• Tuition Costs
• Analysis Costs
• Development Costs
• Acquisition Costs
• Delivery Costs
• Evaluation Costs
• Overhead Costs
• Participant Opportunity Costs
Conservatism in cost analysis is a best practice. A wizard not only prompts for all costs to ensure
conservatism but it can tabulate costs in multiple currencies, necessary for L&D organizations
that are multinational in scope.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
A second ingredient of ROI Analysis is deriving and monetizing benefits. The Phillips ROI
Process recommends Action Plans. Action Plans are methods by which an L&D consultant
gathers the business result data for program participants and isolates the impact of the data
specific to the program and applies the adjustment factors.
Figure 19 illustrates the results of an Action Plan exercise for a strategic program where multiple
participants contributed to an action-planning exercise. Each participant’s annual improvement for
their specific results accruing from the program are stated and the isolation (contribution from the
program) and confidence (adjustment factor) are computed to arrive at the adjusted value. This
makes tabulating and monetizing results more methodological and process oriented versus ad-
hoc and inconsistent.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
We suggest that every L&D organization create a set of organized steps to ensure there is an
organized process for ROI Analysis.
At a high level, the following are some basic process steps for ROI Analysis:
1. Identify strategic, visible, and costly programs where ROI Analysis is needed.
2. Derive a data collection plan that outlines the data inputs (cost and benefit) needed,
when the data will be collected, and how.
3. Identify a central database for storage of the data (cost and benefit)
4. Where feasible, automate the processing of the raw data into total program costs and
adjusted benefit data where benefits have been estimated/isolated/adjusted.
5. Compute financial ROI calculations for the program by computing an ROI percentage, a
Benefit-to-Cost Ratio, and a Payback Period ratio.
6. Review the ROI calculations at the 1) end of program as a forecast, 2) post program as a
more accurate estimate. Forecasting can help in making decisions on whether to
continue the program through the end and what adjustments to make during the course
of the program.
7. Analyze ROI calculations by drilling down into data to pinpoint the profiles of high
performing ROI programs and low performing ROI programs. Drill down by:
• Class
• Course
• Curricula
• Instructor
• Vendor
• Learning delivery
• Location of delivery
• Attribute of the participant (years of service, job role, business unit, area of the
world)
8. Prioritize where strategic, costly, visible programs should be expanded, contracted or
remain the same.
GeoLearning offers many technology tools, templates and professional services to aide in ROI
Analysis:
1. Human Capital ROI Card. A tool within GeoLearning Analytics that automatically
calculates the financial and non-financial ROI on L&D programs.
2. Phillips ROI Cost Wizard and Templates. Tools to ensure conservatism and
completeness in the tabulation of program costs.
3. Phillips ROI Action Plan Wizard and Template. Tools to consultatively gather individual
program benefits and tabulate a net benefit based on estimation/isolation/adjustment.
4. Phillips ROI Scorecard. A tool within GeoLearning Analytics that automatically calculates
the financial ROI tied to specific program action plans. It also has over twenty other KPI’s
for the program as defined by Dr. Jack Phillips.
5. Impact Study Templates. Reporting templates to take results of ROI Analysis and build a
final, professional report in the format recommended by Dr. Jack Phillips.
6. Impact Study Analysis Services. Professional services dedicated to performing analysis
on a strategic, visible or costly program to derive ROI and illustrate L&D impact resulting
from the program.
All roads lead to an end. In analytics the Holy Grail is in reporting how an investment in L&D ties
to bottom line impact. We already discussed recommended business results critical to this
analysis: growth, productivity, and profitability. Now the business results that are tracked and
trended are further analyzed here. Profit impact analysis encompasses:
To achieve the above, GeoLearning recommends a template that can receive automated data
feeds from feeder systems or be used to manually enter actual and projected profit impact
variables.
Figure 21 shows a completed profit impact analysis. The template is organized like the income
statement of a financial statement. Revenue then cost then the computation of a contribution
profit and margin. Like financial statements projected statements are used to aide in forecasting,
and sensitivity analysis. Just like a sales manager forecasts sales, the L&D manager can set a
goal for human capital profit using payroll and revenue as inputs and base their L&D budget on
what is needed for human capital profit contributions.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
Figure 22 below shows another form of profit impact analysis. It illustrates how L&D managers
can use the analysis to forecast future years’ investments with and without proper L&D
investments.
Source: KnowledgeAdvisors
We suggest that every L&D organization create a set of organized steps to ensure there is an
organized process for Profit Impact Analysis.
1. Create a template to house the key data inputs for profit impact. We suggest revenue,
labor cost and L&D costs.
2. Where feasible create automated data feeds from feeder systems to track on a scorecard
these profit impact inputs. If not feasible, have manual input fields for an L&D manager to
input these actual figures at least quarterly.
3. Derive the human capital contribution profit and margin:
a. Projected
b. Actual
4. Through sensitivity analysis determine the optimal L&D investment to achieve the desired
human capital contribution. Use this as a benchmark to determine if L&D is too high, low
or on track to support revenue and human capital expenses (payroll).
We have thought extensively about the drivers of profitability and assembled them into an income
statement-based input tool to help clients derive the human capital contribution margin.
In addition the template, GeoLearning Analytics includes a benchmark database of human capital
contribution margin ratios of leading corporate training organizations. This database will help the
individual learning organization understand if its human capital contribution margin is above, at, or
below industry or overall norms. This is similar to how a CFO or controller would analyze gross or
net profit margins.
GeoLearning also has the technical expertise to integrate ERP, LMS, HRIS, and financial
systems with the GeoLearning Analytics learning analytics technology to routinely gather these
data points in an automated manner. However, realizing that every organization and system is
unique, GeoLearning provides data input templates to allow L&D managers with the tools
necessary to plug in data inputs.
Finally, GeoLearning’s analysis services teams can work directly with organizations looking to do
profit impact analysis and consult with them on design, development, and implementation of
custom dashboards and one time studies of profit impact analysis.
Conclusion
There are five critical elements to the human capital contribution model. These are:
Each analysis is important. Taken as a whole they are comprehensive. The right templates, tools
and integration points will yield the most effective use of these analyses. GeoLearning’s learning
analytics technology—at the cost of a rounding error in a training budget—can help automate this
process.
GeoLearning, Inc.
4600 Westown Parkway
Suite 301
West Des Moines, IA 50266-1000
800.970.9903 or 515.222.9903 (P)
515.222.5920 (F)
info@geolearning.com
www.geolearning.com
The purpose of this appendix is to demonstrate the kind of return on investment an organization
should expect when implementing GeoLearning Analytics.
Most organizations see a return between $2 and $29 for every dollar it invests in GeoLearning
Analytics. The following analysis is based on a standard Level 3 implementation of GeoLearning
Analytics for an organization that has at least 1,000 employees and has not implemented a fully
automated Level 3 solution.
A typical organization should see three primary benefits from using GeoLearning Analytics:
Assumptions:
• 1,000 employees
• 3 courses per employee per year
• 3,000 evaluations per year (1,000*3)
• $6,000 annual cost for GeoLearning Analytics standard Level 3 Solution
• $2 cost per Level 3 evaluation ($6,000/2,000)
• $3,600 average monthly cost per employee (FTE) including benefits
• 20 business days per month
• $180 compensation cost per student day ($3,600/20)
• $180 training delivery cost per day including trainer, facility, curriculum, etc
• $360 investment per student day ($180 + $180)
• 33% of FTE time to replicate GeoLearning Analytics using off-the-shelf-technology
• 3% of FTE time to administer GeoLearning Analytics (one hour per week)
• 30% FTE benefit by using GeoLearning Analytics (.33-.03)
• 1% of training wasted
• .5% of total training investment invested in GeoLearning Analytics ($2/$360)
An organization should expect to see a return of 2 to 29* times on every dollar it invests in
GeoLearning Analytics. In certain cases, the benefit to cost ratio can be significantly higher;
particularly if GeoLearning Analytics is used to find ways to help employees become as
productive as possible.