CVS Group tackled diverse, complex training needs for veterinary staff

CVS Group is the largest provider of integrated veterinary services in the UK with over 500 surgeries in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands.

The Challenge

CVS Group is a large organization with diverse and complex employee training needs. Far from having a straightforward need for linear training, the workforce includes vets and nurses as well as other supporting staff with widely differing training needs including:

• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for both clinical and non-clinical staff
• Compliance training in an array of different forms
• Curriculum-based learning
• Student placement training and more

Each of these come with their own distinct learning paths across numerous curricula and subject areas. Before the implementation of their Totara Learn solution, CVS Group was using an outdated version of another LMS, meaning the administration of training was hampered by technological constraints and labor-intensive administration.

The Solution

CVS Group cast the net wide in their search for a new e-learning solution. This included comparing both off-the-shelf platforms as well as the possibility of developing a platform in-house. Their analysis of the market showed that a Totara Learn solution from Totara Platinum Partner Hubken Group met a rigorous list of requirements which included:

1. Reduced system administration – a singular, centralized platform based on up-to-date and easy-to-use functionality, reducing the man hours needed to administer training.
2. Delivering on compliance objectives – a platform enabling them to hit critical compliance targets in subjects such as GDPR and health and safety.
3. Data standardization – streamlining and standardizing learner data across 500+ veterinary practices to provide a coherent, company-wide view of learning performance against uniform measures.
4. System integration – for the first time enabling their in-house HR platform to talk to their e-learning platform.
5. Management of renewable certifications – a system enabling them to centrally issue essential certifications.
6. To manage face-to-face training – maintaining an element of blended learning required a solution enabling face-to-face training sessions to be booked through a streamlined, automated booking process (with integrated manager approvals).
7. To manage user permissions – to establish role-specific rules to grant permissions and restrictions to ensure their diverse audiences have access to appropriate learning content.

The assessment process demonstrated that Totara Learn was able to deliver on all these requirements. Above all though, CVS Group needed to be able to produce creative, modern learning content that was engaging and interactive and to distribute it with minimum effort. Moving away from passive, webinar-based learning, Totara Learn opened the possibility of delivering much more tailored and interactive forms of learning to diverse audiences with specific learning requirements.

The powerful features and smooth integrations enabled by Totara Learn, combined with the integration, ongoing support and value-add services of Hubken Group enabled CVS Group to successfully roll out their learning programs to 500 veterinary practices across the UK, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland.

The Results

CVS Group went live with their new Totara Learn solution at the end of 2019. They quickly saw huge improvements over their previous LMS with ongoing positive feedback from employees across the organization. Improved outcomes included:

• Increased course completions – centrally recorded course completions in essential compliance training increased from 339 in 2019 to 22,566 in 2020 to date
• Simplified course booking process – enabling employees to easily book training sessions with manager approvals, greatly streamlining a previously disjointed process
• Reduced login fatigue – Hubken Group enabled a single sign-on (SSO) process enabling employees to log into Totara and other in-house platforms with a single set of log-on credentials
• Improved user experience – with slick workflows and learning presented in clear user-friendly interfaces positive employee feedback demonstrated an improved learner experience
• Easy to develop content – Totara’s course creator function enabled learning administrators to easily create and distribute learning, something that had been difficult and time consuming previously

“One of the biggest strengths of Totara Learn is the connection it enables between managers and teams, being able to see who has done what and managing their learning processes as you go.”