Hosting and Course Agreement

  • Approval Criteria
    The decision for the Ability team to approve a new request for hosting or developing training is guided by:
    • Rationale - Fit with ORRS mission for delivering and tracking training that is required by regulation, policy, or to reach best practice in research or other MSU endeavor.
    • Scope -  the complete list of requirements and big picture of the training program has been carefully considered and documented to avoid re-work or post-project change requests or insufficient support to ensure it will be successful. 
    • Time - urgency relative to other projects and expected demands on development team 
    • Cost/Benefit -  investment of resources required to maintain a successful program without reduction in service to other stakeholders using the system. The right balance of institutional resources to have a good impact without overinvestment. Consider the size of the audience, the potential likelihood and potential extent of cost-savings, injuries/prevention, or legal liability amelioration. All lower cost alternatives are considered including purchase courses or sharing/trading development with other units or institutions.
    • Readiness - how prepared and invested is the requestor to contribute to a training project, as evaluated from the project proposal documentation and follow-up conversations; demonstrated willingness to plan for improving on-the-job performance rather than nice-to-know information that can be accessed outside of the training process. Demonstrated willingness to apply incentives if requirements are ignored. 
    • Fit - the support the course provides to other subjects within the larger curriculum, the use of instructional designer and recommendations from Ability team, use of templates and standard default features rather than forcing new development, and flexibility against other projects currently scheduled. 

    Requesting units are expected to have conducted a performance problem analysis and/or training needs assessment. Verify need and document rationale for new training. 

The approval process may include meetings to further investigate your project requirements and internal readiness. 

The AbilityLMS support team will ask for agreement on the scope of the project, the process for development and requests for changes, and for responsible. Initial agreements will be added to the project proposal request for further your leadership to review. See also Project Roles and Roll-Out information. 

Budget

If approved or tentatively approved, you'll be provided with a budget estimate and may receive recommendations to move the project forward. 

It is important to communicate your current and potential future training needs early. There are extra costs charged at a higher hourly rate for significant changes and new hosting fees are charged for each new proposal.

List of potential line-items

 

Schedule

If approved or tentatively approved, you may be provided with a proposed schedule that will serve as a baseline of tasks which can be modified as needed based on evolving requirements and availability.

Common tasks include: 

  • Migration of legacy training records 
  • Course/s development - with its own deliverable schedule
    • Course titles and descriptions reflect details on the instruction transferred, the mode of instruction, any assessment, special equipment, pre-requisite courses, or abilities needed to succeed, and directions for assistance.  
  • Staging environment access and orientations and the testing of course versions during development (or from files sent by a vendor)
  • Track design, set-up, and approvals - In association with the Ability team, titles and descriptions are authored and approved. 
    • Track - Title may identify the risk or responsibility leading to the requirement. Description includes details about how training is assigned and further defines who is required to complete the training and may include details about retraining schedules, and program contact. Useful to helpdesk or for supervisors. Default due dates are either 30 days for online programs, 45 or 60 days for programs requiring advanced enrollment for scheduled events.   
  • Migration of program into Ability production system including final testing
  • Access for the training program owners/administrators and any trainers must be set-up in the live environment
  • Track and reporting review
  • Roll-out communication planning
  • Final Sign-off

 

New Training Requests