broker ASSESS Overview

1. broker ASSESS Overview This walkthrough aims to provide an overview of the main features available in broker ASSESS with examples of how these can be used to effectively manage the system.

2. When administrators first access broker ASSESS they are logged in at user level. The Organisation Administration area can be accessed using a drop down menu in the top right hand corner of the screen.

3. Within the Organisation Administration area there are a range of features, giving flexibility and control over the management of users. A comprehensive set of reports are available, many of which are available at a glance using the ‘Dashboard’ reporting feature.

4. Selection Groups of users can be created to monitor usage, assign assessments and run reports for specific groups of staff.

5. The ‘Organisation Hierarchy’ can be structured in the same way as a company’s hierarchy, to allow for meaningful reports. Groups and users can easily be created and moved as and when necessary.

6. Administrators have access to view individual users profiles, which include details of the courses and assessments users are enrolled on. From here administrators can store personal details and qualifications for HR purposes, enrol users on to courses and check a user’s learning and assessment history.

7. A key feature for administrators is the Knowledge Assessment System (KAS). Companies can create their own company assessments to test their staffs knowledge. broker ASSESS can also give you a helping hand and allows you to ‘clone’ an existing or ‘pre-set’ assessment, or create an entirely new one.

8. There is a wide selection of pre-defined assessments available, for which questions and parameters have already been selected, covering various subject areas. Pre-defined assessments are ready to be assigned directly to users, saving administrators valuable time.

9. Alternatively new assessments can be created from scratch, enabling administrators to select questions from required subject areas. Assessment creation is simple, using a 5-step Wizard. First, set the test parameters – time limit, passmark etc.

10. The next step is to choose the assessment package/s from which questions are to be selected. The packages available contain over 3000 questions, some of which are linked to the learning modules available in broker ASSESS, enabling Recommended Learning to be set for the assessment.

11. Step 3 is where the subject areas and questions are selected. Questions can be either randomised across a range of competence areas, or explicitly chosen or excluded. There are 3 levels of questions: foundation, intermediate or advanced. Full details of each question, including answer options, can be viewed at this point.

12. The assessment can be weighted across the different competence areas chosen – eg. 20% on one subject, 40% on another.

13. Finally, the assessment can be allocated to a previously created user Selection Group or individual candidates and specific organisation units can be added directly.

14. Once an assessment has been created reminders can be set – e.g. to inform candidates the assessment is open or to advise the test creator which users have not yet attempted the test 1 or 2 days prior to its close

15. Another key function is the ‘Group Planner’ feature. This feature enables a manager or administrator to add a selection of modules to staff planners and set a completion date if required e.g. if everyone is required to undertake training on ‘Data Protection’ and ‘Financial Crime’ prior to taking an assessment.

16. Creating a group plan is easy. As with assessments adminsitrators can either create a new plan following the simple 4-step wizard or use one of the pre-set plans which group together recommended modules aimed at induction staff (I), common industry based job roles (JR) and specific product types (P).

17. broker ASSESS offers a comprehensive suite of reports, which are housed in the ‘Report Centre’, and which enable administrators to report on subject/module usage, CPD and assessment results for all your users.

18. Under the ‘Report Centre’ tab administrators have the ability to create bespoke reports, which can be scheduled to run on a weekly or monthly basis, and the results sent by email to the report creator.

19. Reports can include varying details such as user, time and date assessment taken, score, and subject/competence areas passed or failed, for example. All reports can be printed or exported to a spreadsheet for further analysis.

20. Finally administrators have access to an Email Centre which can be used to send messages relating to the system to individuals or groups of users i.e. informing staff mandatory training plans have been made available.

21. When a user first logs into broker ASSESS they are presented with the user homepage, which gives quick and easy access to key areas of the site, including My Learning, My Assessments, My Planner and the Learning & Development Log. From here users can also view recent news items relating to broker ASSESS, access the Discussion Forum and take a 5 minute tour of the system.

22. Under ‘My learning’, all learning content within the system can be accessed. ‘Insurance Essentials’ and ‘Regulatory Essentials’ are prioritised, as they contain the basics for everyone.

23. For those looking for more in-depth learning on a specific aspect of insurance, the Technical Learning Modules are grouped into relevant subject areas.

24. The quickest way to find content on a given subject is via the ‘Search e-learning’ feature. Items can be added to ‘My Planner’ and a completion date set.

25. In addition, the course index provides an ‘at a glance’ overview of all the subjects covered and enables ‘quick links’ to the learning modules.

26. ‘My Planner’ contains items added by the user, as well company set training plans which have been created by the user’s manager or administrator.

27. ‘Planner options’ enables the user to choose whether or not to receive email notifications and set the frequency (daily, weekly and monthly). The planner notification email contains a summary of items included on a user’s planner, including overdue items, with active links to the learning. All learning undertaken is then fully tracked by the system.

28. The 200+ interactive e-learning modules use text, questions, feedback, examples, graphics, animations and exercises to teach the key learning points.

29. Within the Technical Learning Modules users can opt to receive a number of the non-interactive modules by email enabling the learning material to be downloaded and studied offline.

30. All formal ‘company assessments’ set by the organisation are found under ‘My Assessments’. From here users can see assessment parameters set by the assessment creator, such as time limit, number of questions, pass mark and number of attempts.

31. Where available, users can also see details of the ‘Recommended Learning’ modules prior to taking an assessment, which helps them to prepare. This is automatically generated by the system based on the questions in the assessment and their associated learning.

32. Assessment questions are presented in a multiple choice format. Users can work forward and back through the questions using the Previous and Next buttons. An option is available to review all questions in one go or only those left unanswered.

33. At the end of the assessment, if the assessment creator has enabled feedback, the user is told their score, the questions they got wrong and presented with ‘Recommended Learning’ based on any wrongly answered questions.

34. The ‘Recommended Learning’ can then be added to ‘My Planner’. This completes the assessment cycle and ensures that competence gaps identified by the assessment can be filled.

35. All learning and assessments completed online are automatically tracked and recorded in the ‘Learning & Development Log’.

36. Learning activities completed online are awarded CPD credits inline with the CII’s CPD scheme. This is recorded under the ‘CPD’ tab in the Learning & Development Log. CPD activities completed offline can also be recorded here. CII members can import their L&D log entries directly into the CII’s CPD online system for submission to the CII.

37. In the ‘My Documents’ area users can upload documents which support their learning and development i.e. certificates or CPD records from previous employment.

38. Under the ‘Report’ tab users also have access to a series of learning, CPD and assessment reports which can be printed or downloaded to a spreadsheet.

39. Finally users have access to a variety of additional resources in the ‘Resource Centre’, such as an insurance glossary, links to the CII’s online information service and information on how to use broker ASSESS to help meet regulatory objectives.

40. That concludes our walkthrough of broker ASSESS. We hope you found it useful. If you require further information or access to an evaluation account please contact BIBA on 0844 7700 266. If you are an existing broker ASSESS administrator and require further assistance using the system, contact the broker ASSESS Support Desk on 0844 800 3316 or email directly from the system using the Contact Us page and the team will be on hand to answer all your queries.