Testimonial: Totara implementation at Provincie Antwerpen
To support all employees of Provincie Antwerpen in their professional development and growth, the department of Talent and Organisational Development was looking for a modern learning solution.
In the overarching project ‘HR-digital’, in which HR applications are being updated, the payroll engine and personnel database have already been given a new look. The implementation of a digital learning platform was therefore fully in line with this path of innovation.
The challenge
In the past, learning software was already used to manage and enrol participants, but it turned out not to be very user-friendly and did not have a module for knowledge sharing, social learning or the possibility to import e-learning. As the licenses for this tool expired at the end of 2020, there was now a real window of opportunity to invest in a future-oriented solution where user-friendliness and efficiency are a priority.
At the end of the tender procedure, Totara Learn was chosen as the optimal solution because it met the expectations of Provincie Antwerpen. The Learning Hub was given the responsibility to guide the implementation of the new digital learning platform.
After the LMS was launched within the organisation, Provincie Antwerpen remained committed to enhancing their site to improve the user experience with new features. In 2024, they initiated an internal project to refine the onboarding process within the organisation. After some internal research, Totara Perform was chosen to streamline the tasks involved in welcoming new employees.
The solution
Based on the agile methodology, the project was divided into several sprints to configure the learning platform. This started with a kick-off workshop, after which the final schedule could be drawn up. The project team of Provincie Antwerpen gained a lot of knowledge about Totara because they took the available Totara Academy courses. With this knowledge and the additional guidance from our learning consultants during the sprint demos, they became proficient owners of the platform in a really short time.
To enhance user-friendliness, a Single Sign-On (SSO) was set up. Subsequently, an integration with the personnel database was set up. This transfers personal data such as name, e-mail address, position, department and manager on a daily basis to the LMS, resulting in a platform that is always up-to-date and less time consuming to manage.
We also added a personal welcome message to the homepage. This makes the entire user experience more personal. The new learner platform was internally named ‘LEO’ and was launched at the beginning of 2021. In this way, the entire organisation was immediately able to start the new year well, the first reactions are therefore only positive.
One of the most important requirements was managing classroom training (ILT) and webinars (VILT). In addition to following up on registrations and registering attendance, the option to declare interest was also added. This allows administrators to draw up their training offer in a finely meshed manner, based on the employees’ interest. Finally, the standard notifications were also adjusted so employees would receive the link to the webinar location straight away in their mailbox when they enrolled for a webinar course.
After a course is completed, feedback is regularly gathered from learners through the standard feedback activity. Automatic reminders help improve the submission rates and encourage learners to revisit the course page after some time. This feature allows Provincie Antwerpen to assess whether learners have applied the knowledge and changed their behaviour after completing the course.
A few years later, Provincie Antwerpen established a comprehensive and diverse learning offer for their employees. They offer variety both in terms of content (IT, welfare, management, safety and environment, work efficiency, …) and in terms of learning methods (classroom session, e-learning, webinar, group courses). Employees can browse this learning offer in Totara catalogue where the length of each course is indicated by an hourglass icon. Quotes from other learners are used in the course descriptions to activate other learners to enrol.
To streamline the onboarding process, performance activities from Totara Perform were introduced. Whenever a new employee joins Provincie Antwerpen, a performance activity is automatically created based on a dynamic audience. All relevant stakeholders gain access to the activity; offering them a clear overview of their task (and the status of other tasks!). User tours guide them through this new process, helping them adjust to the updated system.
Great service through The Learning Hub: streamlined communication through the ticketing system, and technical advice and support tailored to our needs.