Computerized employee certification and training system

• US 6,157,808 A
• Filed: 07/16/1997
• Issued: 12/05/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Capital Analytics, Inc. (Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp.)
• Original Assignee: GPU, Inc. (Firstenergy Corporation)
• Inventors: Hollingsworth, Gerald T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrison, Jessica J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Clayton, Sheila
• Application Number:
  US08/893,258
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• Field of Search: 434/362, 434/322, 434/323, 434/219, 434/350-353, 434/118, 434/64, 434/65, 434/66, 434/69
• US Class Current: 434/350
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

Disclosed is a computer system and a method for a computer-based data integration and management processing system and a method to support an efficient management of employee development, training and performance improvement in a performance-competence based organization. The present invention includes an integrated system that provides an ability to develop training material, career paths or to determine an employee'"'"'s qualifications and performance. The present invention provides comprehensive support for job and task analysis; learning objective development; standards and processes; objective, reference based test items; examination and evaluations; training program identification and content description; training scheduling; training-evaluation documentation; and reporting. Each job defined in the current system has specific duties, tasks and skills associated with an identified job. Because the specific skills can be represented by accepted standards of certification; the system is able to establish an association between the certifications and employees responsibilities. This association permits the system to instantly identify the level of qualification of any employee and verify that the employee is qualified to perform the duties assigned.

Claims

1. An improvement in a computerized training system for use in industries wherein a person operating an industrial system is required to have at least one certificate or license issued by a government, the computerized training system being of a type having therein:

(a) a qualification module comprising personalized input data indicative of personal information of at least one employee, the qualification module includes performance information, compliance information, certification information, and evaluations;

(b) a job module having at least one job description having a job identifier, each employee having a link to at least one job identifier;

(c) a training module having training material and at least one training lesson, at least one course having at least one lesson plan, the course is linked to at least one training lesson and associated with at least one employee, the training materials are associated with at least one training lesson for facilitating access to the training materials, the training module having a compliance means for evaluating the compliance information as it relates to each employee;

(d) a cycle having at least one lesson that is to be presented in at least one scheduled session, and a cycle means for linking the employee to one of the scheduled sessions; and

(e) a task module having at least one task linked to the job identifier, the task containing at least one skill, at least one optimal training method and at least one enabling objective, the enabling objective is linked to at least one question such that the enabling objective provides a link from a particular task to a particular question, procedures and references and an exam, the procedures and references are linked to the questions and the questions may contain a link to an exam, the improvement in the system comprising;

(f) an associating module for associating one or more skills with a certification, associating one or more certifications with a job wherein an employee must possess the associated certifications in order to be qualified to perform the job.

2. An improvement in a computerized employee training system of the type having:

(a) a qualification module comprising personalized input data indicative of personal information of at least one employee;

(b) a job module being associated with the qualifications module;

(c) a training module having training material and at least one training lesson, the training module being associated with the job module and the qualification module; and

(d) a task module having at least one task linked to the job identifier, the task containing at least one skill, at least one optimal training method, and at least one enabling objective, the enabling objective is linked to at least one question the improvement in the computerized training system comprising;

(e) an associating module for associating one or more skills with a certification and associating one or more certifications with a job whereby the employee must possess the associated certifications in order to be qualified to perform the job; and

,

(f) a certification checking module for periodically checking employee certifications having a status to identify and report a change in the status of the certifications, whereby the computerized training system is transformed into a computerized training and certification system.

3. A system as claimed in claim 2, further including

procedures and references and an exam, the procedures and references is linked to the questions, and the questions may contain a link to at least one exam.

4. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein

the qualification module includes performance information, compliance information, certification information, and evaluations.

5. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein

the job module includes at least one job description having a job identifier, and each employee has a link to at least one job identifier.

6. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein

each course is linked to at least one training lesson and at least one employee.

7. A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein

the training materials are linked to at least one training lesson for facilitating access to the training materials, the training module further including a compliance means for evaluating the compliance information for each employee.

8. A system as claimed in claim 6, further including

a course including at least one training lesson, each training lesson further including an exam, the exam further including at least one question, and a lesson plan containing at least one course.

9. A system as claimed in claim 8, further including

a cycle having at least a single lesson that is to be presented in at least one scheduled session.

10. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein

the cycle is to be presented in at least two scheduled sessions.

11. A system as claimed in claim 9, further including

a cycle means for linking the employee to one of the at least one scheduled sessions.

12. A system as claimed in claim 4, further including

a means for generating reports based on information available to the system.

13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein

one report identifies compliance information associated with a selected employee.

14. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein

one report contains information needed to create independent schedules making it possible to assign employees to selected jobs based on the job requirements.

15. A system as claimed in claim 2, further including

a means for identifying the skills that are necessary for the employee to become certified for a specified job.

16. A system as claimed in claim 2, further including

a means for modeling data, the means for modeling permits a display of data that exists in the system in varying degrees of detail.

17. In a computerized method for training employees having the steps of:

(a) storing job positions including associated duties and each certification required by a government for each stored job position;

(b) storing tasks and associating each of the job positions with from zero to many tasks;

(c) storing standards and associating each task with a standard;

(d) storing an enabling objective for each of the tasks, the enabling objective being the result of correlating multiple related skills into the enabling objective, the enabling object representing skills that are required to successfully perform the associated task;

(e) validating an employee'"'"'s mastery of the skills that are associated with the required tasks;

(f) storing training methods and associating each task with a training method;

(g) delivering training to employees which includes the steps of creating a cycle, scheduling instructional events, enrolling students, documenting attendance and documenting performance of each employee who receives the training;

an improvement in the method comprising the additional step of certifying the employee, said certifying step further comprising the steps of;

(h) storing job positions including associated duties; and

(i) storing and associating each certification required by a government for each stored job position with an employee; and

(j) assessing the training material for compliance with user provided requirements.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the user provided requirements are government regulations.

19. A method as recited in claim 17, further including assigning at least one certification to at least one employee based on the mastery by each last said employee of one or more skills;

associating one or more skills with a certification, associating one or more certifications with a job; and

periodically checking employee certifications to identify and report a change in status of the certifications.

20. A method as claimed in claim 18, further including assessing skills of a prospective employee to determine which skills need to be learned by the employee in order to successfully perform an identified job;

and assessing skills of current employees to locate the employee who possesses the most skills that are required to perform an identified job.