3/9/23, 5:26 PM Learning Analytics Blueprint - Administrate

How to Build a Learning Analytics Blueprint

Explore the four foundational reporting strategies and key qualities and themes necessar
architecting a training data-driven approach to operational resilience.
3/9/23, 5:26 PM Learning Analytics Blueprint - Administrate

Since the beginning of 2020, change in enterprise business has

been accelerating at an exponential rate.
Technological advances are increasing the rate at which disruptive forces, both positive and
negative, impact society, markets, and regulatory requirements. As a result, organizations
have to make decisions quicker, while relying on data-driven insights to provide more
accuracy and relevancy to the critical pivot points that define organizational resilience

The Intersection: Mission-Critical Data and

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Organizational Resilience
265-7163Training sits at the intersection of the majority of pivotal inflection points, like workforce
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About responding to an increasingly digital world, and supply chain issues, to name a few.
131 460
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7350 The rapid change that is happening at these key inflection points requires more than just a
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reactive response.

GET IN DISRUPTION IS HERE TO STAY

How to Navigate it with Intentionality
TOUCH
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Anticipating change and responding proactively is now an organizational imperative, and

training leaders and teams possess the ability to provide the mission-critical data that can
forecast where and how to adapt. Building a learning analytics blueprint is a good place to
start.
Most enterprise leaders expect disruption to become a part of the ‘new normal,’ but they face
significant challenges in being prepared long-term, and accessing data-driven decision
making that can combat this new reality. A lot of that data sits within the grasp of the training
team and maximizing it has significant implications for the future of business.

Key Elements of Learning Analytics Architecture

ELEMENT 1
Catalyzing Change

ELEMENT 2
Descriptive Analytics

ELEMENT 3
Diagnostic Analytics
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ELEMENT 4
Predictive Analytics

ELEMENT 5
Prescriptive Analytics

ELEMENT 6
Futureproof

ELEMENT 1
Catalyzing Change
Operational Efficiency, Rapid Decision-Making, and Scalability

The challenges inherent in this new reality we’ve all become accustomed to will continue to
complicate strategic planning and the accuracy of decision making unless technological
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changes are made to support operational efficiency and the rapidity with which decisions can
be made. We’ve seen this type of change before in business – and also in culture – whereby
long-standing principles have faced the need to change.
In 1842, the word blueprint originated. It refers to a print of white lines on blue paper and was
widely used for over 100 years to rapidly produce specification drawings, while providing the
foundation for architectural design. Now, the process itself is obsolete, giving way to CAD,
software applications, and more advanced forms of printed architectural specifications.
This change happened because less expensive printing methods and, eventually, digital
displays made room for better and more accessible representations of the elements of a
blueprint. However, the word itself is still widely used, and a popular representation of how
the foundation for advanced operations is built. Often the basis for the way we do things,
even it’s become popularized, paves the way for innovation and optimized response to long-
standing ideologies. In this way, our traditional understanding of data capture in training, and
its reach, is evolving.
This transformation is all in service of efficiency and scale. Being able to handle unexpected
changes in training volume, delivery formats, and your organization’s market requires a
different outlook on the impact of training data and how we operationalize its reach to inform
the effective use of training resources.

Let’s explore the key elements of that change by dissecting the

traditional four types of data analytics – descriptive, diagnostic,
prescriptive, and predictive analytics – and how they’ve informed
adaptations in training ROI reporting.
ELEMENT 2
Descriptive Analytics
The Foundation of Learning Analytics Architecture
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Descriptive analytics provide the foundation for your learning analytics architecture. These
are the training metrics that rely on a historical outlook of the performance of your training
program, and the basis by which further data inferences are informed downstream. Think of
this data as the structural pieces your training ROI leans on, but not the decor by which your
impact on the business is measured.

MAIN THEMES
Accessible and Relevant
The very basis of this data relies on its accessibility. By its nature, it is the easiest to
capture and share with key stakeholders and has long been a staple of L&D reporting. It
certainly informs learning analytics, but activity metrics alone can’t tell the complete
story of training’s impact on the business, as leaders in training are fully aware.

DEFINED QUALITIES
Solid, Visible, Points in Time Easily Traced Back to Occurring Events
While not inherently capable of demonstrating training ROI, descriptive analytics are still
important because they’re easily traced back to quantitative and qualitative responses,
represent seat time, attendance records, completion rates, and achievements – among
other metrics – and provide a high-level outlook on the performance of training
programs.
This is the data that innovation and optimization hinges upon, where the journey from
outdated learning analysis to modern training business intelligence begins.

You’re probably already running reports to capture activity metrics like learner attendance and
satisfaction, and you might even be running reports on demographical data across
departments and locations; however, even descriptive analytics can go deeper for many
training teams.

With a deeply connected training operations platform, like Administrate, it’s possible to bring
learning and business data together in one interface and begin to transform the impact of
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training reports.

Partnering with Administrate allowed us to bring more robust data

collection and reporting to our internal operations. We’ve improved
our reporting capabilities, our ability to track the entire learner and
account journey throughout our training, and streamlined our
operations to better pursue opportunities for growth in the future.
Merav Yuravlivker
CEO at Data Society

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYTICS
Next Level Reports
Here are some additional reports your training team could be running to capture deeper
insight into descriptive analytics:
Cohort-driven reporting. Role or population context of learners versus how behaviors and
trends perform at a population level to identify gaps and opportunities.
Course cost correlation. Cost-per-learner implications of course activity to monitor how
and where your training ROI emerges.
With the proper learning analytics structural design, it’s possible to access this crucial context
and begin to trace the data correlation between separate events. For example, you may have
a course that performs really well with one group of learners, but the same course doesn’t
perform well with a separate group of learners. Why? With the foundation of descriptive
analytics, you can begin to pinpoint inflection points and take the next step toward diagnostic
analytics, where potential answers to investigative queries are formed.

DIVE DEEPER
Explore How to Move Beyond Activity Metrics
In this article, discover how to leverage your activity metrics in more a correlated
fashion, so you can transform the way your organization makes decisions.
Access the article.

ELEMENT 3
Diagnostic Analytics
Drilling Down to Reveal Correlating Results
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Diagnostic analytics drill down into the data of descriptive analytics to unearth correlations
between why training outcomes happen and what those outcomes could mean for your
organization moving forward. Identifying variables and rates of change is a good place to
start. Going back to the example above: why did the same L&D content that performed well
with one group not perform well with another? Did the job roles change amongst the two
learner cohorts? Were there any differences in the location of the training, or the format in
which it was delivered? Did the same instructor lead both instances?
With diagnostic analytics, training leaders can start to identify trends and insights in their
data that have broader implications on organizational objectives and business goals.

MAIN THEMES
Functional and Pinpointed
Drilling down into activity metrics to identify why something happened is how training
leaders begin to tell the story of what their data means to the organization at large. In
order for this story to be quickly disseminated to key stakeholders, and for the
implications of what the data means to be impactful, the questions asked about training
data must necessarily be practical and direct.
When pinpointed questions are asked about what happened, it’s easier to incorporate
the answers into a plan to reach a desired future state. This is how training leaders get
closer to diagnosing, with more accuracy, the correlation between training outcomes
and business objectives.
Access the article.

DEFINED QUALITIES
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Perceived Results Based on Reoccuring or Correlating Events

Let’s say you’ve identified an issue with your onboarding program. As expected, you
start to ask questions about where the gaps are. Where are people losing engagement
most frequently? What concepts are they having trouble understanding? Who are the
instructors responsible for various learning milestones?
As you reveal the answers to these questions, you can dive deeper and begin to
uncover answers to more complex queries. What percentage of learners are applying
the concepts from a key onboarding course to their daily work environment? Is there a
practical element missing in some of your critical onboarding courses? How are learners
performing when they have a practical learning experience involved? As more questions
are asked over time, the picture of training analysis becomes clearer, and iterative
responses to the story behind the data become more complex.

Your training team is likely running reports on certificates, achievements, and their expiration
date, version control on course content, and the timeliness of training as it relates to learner
performance outcomes. Yet, there are some additional reports that correlate the “why” behind
results to pivotal business information even further.

The turnover report we’ve built within Administrate helps us track

turnover, automatically, every 30 days all the way to every 365
days. This helps us identify stresses and causes of turnover. It also
allowed us to pinpoint exactly when our highest turnover was
taking place.
Brandon Beck
Vice President of Global Talent
Brunswick Corporation

DIAGNOSTIC ANALYTICS
Next Level Training Reports
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Pressing the inquiry to the discovery of business trends is where training leaders begin
leading the business:
Business KPI outcomes mapped to training of individual contributors. How did their
training (or lack of learning) contribute to the success or failure of the goal?
Correlation versus causation of training impact. Where did training of key populations
not only meet the demands of the business but demonstrably contribute to success?
Maximizing understanding of diagnostic analytics is a key step in transforming the reach and
breadth of the impact learning analytics can have on organizational objectives. This further
layer of optimization on activity metrics reveals a window of opportunity into forecasting
change with data.

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN ACTION

How Boston Whaler Dramatically Reduced Employee Turnover
Boston Whaler, a subsidiary of the Brunswick Corporation, was onboarding rapidly and
also losing talent at an alarming rate during a period of high growth. They pinpointed the
issues and reversed the trend.
Read their story

ELEMENT 4
Predictive Analytics
Forecasting the Future With Trends in the Present
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Predictive analytics takes the trends identified in diagnostic analytics and further applies
mathematical models to them to forecast likely future scenarios that could happen. There is
also an element at play here that relies on key PESTLE indicators, and external developments
in your organization’s industry, as well as the training industry as a whole. Leveraging data
from your internal operations and factoring those against external indicators of change or
innovation allows you to begin forecasting how to innovate and optimize your training
operations and initiatives.
The trouble is, the average enterprise training team relies on 9-12 different systems to
manage their training operations, with each system representing yet another disconnected
data source. So, managing disparate data sources and the influx of incoming external data in
an efficient and transformative way is difficult, yet all the more important and we’ll dive into
that a bit below.
Regardless, with predictive analytics, training leaders can begin to lead their organizations in
identifying why, where, and how to focus efforts to maintain a competitive advantage. And,
the training team’s ability to do so is mission-critical, as “70% of CEOs and senior executives
do not have confidence in their organizations’ ability to adapt and transform in response to
disruptive events”.

MAIN THEMES
Sustainable and Multifunctional
Training is at the epicenter of change’s reverberating impact on business. Enterprise
learning and development teams are uniquely positioned to lead change, and predictive
analytics provide a compass for navigating an unforeseen future with greater certainty.
Modeling training metrics for future needs requires the ability to connect disparate data
sources with one another and to external drivers, so you can maximize your ability to
iterate.
A sustainable learning tech stack that can support growth and interconnectivity, and
multipurpose training initiatives that reveal data on dynamic variables is paramount. This
means data that has longevity backed by correlating relational outputs that stand the
test of time – data supported by multifunctional training initiatives that reach across
departments and learning objectives that align with the agile ways in which learners
engage with training.

DEFINED QUALITIES
The Extent of Data Limits as They Relate to Your Industry and Business Goals
When you reach the stage of implementing predictive analytics, your data will take on a
new limitation or challenge – depending on how you look at it – and you may ask
yourself the question: how far can we extend the links between training outcomes and
business objectives? You’ll bump up against the obstacles defined by tech limitations,
the complexity of your data pipeline, and the speed at which you can process and
define the meaning of your data.
That last point is the key indicator here: does your access to data afford you the ability
to infer incoming change, quickly, or are you constantly relying on outdated processes
to reveal what you can expect in the future, based on the trends you’ve revealed? This is
the efficiency of training operations is more important than ever, and why leading
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training teams are beginning to redefine their learning tech stack with a platform
approach.

Many training teams have made it to the plotted location right before this fundamental state
of an exponential operating environment, but not into and beyond it. When you make it to this
state, your data and the questions you use to interrogate it should rely on rapidity more than
anything else – the data you intake should quickly inform a future you can anticipate.
For example, this could entail reports on the forecast of your onboarding program and what
this means for your business moving forward, regulatory changes on the horizon, and even
the ways in which you reach learners in an ever-changing digital environment. Yet, there are
reports that ask more from your training data as well.

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS
Next Level Training Reports
There is a revolution occurring in learning tech, whereby training is being served the same
level of analysis traditionally reserved for Marketing, Sales, and Finance teams via learning
tech that operates on the foundation of a platform. Here is an example of a report that is
defining this new era in training operations:
Real-world models. Often, training teams are forced to rely upon contingency plans for fixed
scenarios in an uncertain time. This means problems are expected, but probably not solved.
Utilizing AI-powered analysis that considers resources, capacity, and costs can provide
immediate insight into needs and opportunities that arise.
Leading training teams are taking a critical step toward dynamic reporting by deeply
connecting learning and business systems in one data pipeline, thereby limiting the
complexity of accessing multiple sources for mission-critical data. By further utilizing AI, and
automation within this training software, training teams are beginning to forecast future
scenarios with even more accuracy.

TRAINING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE MOBILITY

The Path to Better Reporting
Architecting a more comprehensive reporting structure often happens in stages. In this
article, explore the organizational attributes of each stage in the training business
intelligence journey, and the levers to pull to reach new milestones.
Access the Article
3/9/23, 5:26 PM Learning Analytics Blueprint - Administrate

ELEMENT 5
Prescriptive Analytics
Modeling the Future with Data Patterns

The most advanced analytics stage for training business intelligence is prescriptive analytics.
If predictive analytics is the process of formulating insights on trends and forecasting what
could happen in multiple scenarios based on those trends, then prescriptive analytics goes a
step further. Prescriptive analytics applies patterns to those trends and seeks to model the
most likely outcomes as a result of what’s being revealed in the patterns. From there, the best
possible actions are suggested for optimization in response to the data. Essentially, if
predictive analytics compile the trends that tell us what could happen, then prescriptive
analytics seek to inform us of what should happen.

MAIN THEMES
Enduring and Transparent
With prescriptive analytics, it’s possible to tell more than just a training ROI story; in fact,
it’s possible to define what ROI can look like for your organization in the future. This is
where the longevity and transparency of data, and learning analytics modeling come
into play. Instead of spending hours poring over spreadsheets, pivot tables, and
leveraging manual workarounds to connect your data sources, your exponential
operating environment is intaking the data from all sources while a powerful reporting
engine makes it possible to quickly build training reports that showcase how to adapt.
Ultimately, we never know when our daily lives will be abruptly disrupted. However, with
clear visibility into the intersecting correspondence of multiple data sources, it’s
3/9/23, 5:26 PM Learning Analytics Blueprint - Administrate

possible for training leaders to craft calculated responses to perceived threats and
changes, and design enduring training initiatives to support organizational resilience.

DEFINED QUALITIES
Optimized Operational Efficiency Leads to Seamless Data-Driven Decision
Making
A learning tech infrastructure is the scaffolding to a learning analytics architecture.
Without clear and concise connections between the disparate tools in your operating
environment, it’s impossible to leverage the operational efficiency necessary for
effortless data modeling.
For example, for a training team operating in a manufacturing company, the coordination
of complex training logistics supports rapid decision-making. So, this training team
needs to be able to quickly surmise how resources are allocated across locations, the
shift schedules of employees, the classroom space, the certificates up for renewal, and
any of the special equipment needed for training. If they’re able to coordinate this
complexity with one scheduling tool, then making decisions about the employees who
need critical training in the future to help the company remain competitive becomes that
much easier.

True training business intelligence isn’t only about the data points that demonstrate the
response to training, or the qualitative understanding of how learners engage with training. A
true learning analytics architecture relies on the symbiotic relationship between the tech used
in the operating environment and the complexity of delivering training to support
organizational objectives. By understanding the correlation between these two ideas, we can
begin to craft the ways in which we pull data from the operating environment in order to
demonstrate the valuable role training plays in reaching key organizational objectives.

One of the most common problems, when you’re running things

manually from spreadsheets, is scaling your operation. The
standard response is to expand the team and hire new staff.
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Actually, the answer should be to invest in your system

infrastructure. The answer is Administrate.
Kevin Streater
Vice President of ForgeRock University
ForgeRock

For example, your training team may already be building reports to demonstrate the
implications of future regulatory changes and the investment needed to prepare learners for a
perceived compliance eventuality. Or, you may be leveraging environmental factors and
organizational trajectory to identify the content that needs to be created or renewed to
support learners in remaining agile and adaptable. Here are some other examples of
prescriptive analytics reports:
PRESCRIPTIVE ANALYTICS
Next Level Training Reports
Training Surge Forecast: What training will be needed when to matriculate new hires from
on-boarding to optimal performance, and how long will that take to render positive
business impact?
Resource Impact Forecast: If your training resources (equipment, instructors, etc)
increases by X, what will the measurable impact be to the business based on that change?
If a bottleneck is removed, how will business outcomes change?
A prescriptive data framework can empower the autonomy of your training team, and allow
you to make business intelligent decisions with more speed, accuracy, and relevancy. Instead
of choosing to rely solely on the wisdom of the crowd, prescriptive analytics embolden the
insights received from the crowd, and expert staff perspective, to further drive sustainable
growth and success for your organization.

TRAINING AND ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE

The Importance of a Durable Learning Tech Stack
Reclaiming your learning tech infrastructure to better inform data-driven intelligence is
possible. In this guide, explore the three must-have attributes of learning tech
infrastructure, and how they impact organizational resilience in the short and long term.
Get the guide.

ELEMENT 6
Future-proof
How to Future-Proof Training Operations with Learning
Analytics
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Ultimately, a learning analytics architecture is all about remaining future-proof to disruption

and change. Each of the four types of analytics we just walked through provides an increased
level of interaction with training data, and makes new insights available to executive
leadership in enterprise business.
Here are three ways you can use the insights revealed throughout the process of crafting a
learning analytics architecture to support your organization’s future-proof actions.

1.
Empowering the Bottom Line of Organizational Change
In enterprise business, an organization’s ability to rapidly and flexibly adapt how it positions
its offering in the marketplace is the key to success. This is why training teams are uniquely
set up to support the bottom line of organizational change. Training teams are capable of
revealing new ways to monetize product offerings, reskilling and upskilling key employees to
impact growth in new ways, and determining value statements from the ways in which
customers are interacting with your products and services.

DIVE DEEPER
Scalability and Stability
How MDBriefCase Rapidly Entered Four New Markets

2.
Demonstrating Training ROI in the Present, and Defining Future ROI
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Training ROI has historically been one of the most difficult numbers to quantify. However, with
new learning tech, it’s now becoming even more accessible. More importantly, it’s not only
possible to demonstrate ROI in the present, but also lead conversations around how
organizations should adapt to an uncertain future, an ROI that catalyzes change on an
exponential scale. With prescriptive analytics, training leaders are starting to lead business
change and identify anticipated opportunities where training metrics play a pivotal role.

DIVE DEEPER
Designing Data for Decision Support
How to Evolve Training Operations to Empower Data-Driven
Decision Making

3.
Aligning Training Outcomes to Business Objectives to Lead
Resilience
One of the critical expansion areas learning tech is undergoing is its ability to deeply integrate
with existing proprietary, legacy learning systems, and also – most critically – business
systems. With this transformation in learning tech comes new and exciting opportunities
founded on the principle that training should always be deeply connected to the goals and
objectives the organization has labeled as key indicators of success, and ultimately, market
durability. By including data from critical business systems like Finance tracking software,
HRIS tools, and LXP software alongside training data, the training function is now catalyzing
organizational resilience.

DIVE DEEPER
Revolution/Evolution
Success Strategies for Enterprise Training Digital
Transformation Projects

SCALE AND ORIENTATION

Establishing a True North for Your Learning Analytics Blueprint
If you’re interested in seeing a lot of these conceptual arguments in action and curious
as to how other CLOs are approaching these fundamental conversations internally,
check out a recent webinar with Bill Magagna, the Global Head of Digital Infrastructure
at Siemens Healthineers.  
Get the On-Demand Recording
3/9/23, 5:26 PM Learning Analytics Blueprint - Administrate

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and we’ll help you evaluate your existing learning tech.

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