Swedish Road Administration

The Swedish Road Administration, SRA, has built a corporate university together with Sirius IT based on e-learning over the Internet. The project has been a success, both financially and in terms of knowledge advancement.

“The main advantage of e-learning is that we can reach a high number of co-workers quickly and cost-effectively,” says Ann-Marie Snäll, head of the Road Sector Training and Development Centre, one of the SRA’s profit centres.

The Swedish Road Administration is the authority in Sweden which has a government and parliament remit to ensure the road transport system maintains a high standard of quality and accessibility for everybody. Within the SRA’s role as a public authority and its commercial profit centres, there are some 6,000 employees across Sweden. In addition there are also a number of external contractors and operating partners within the road sector, who also take part in training run by the SRA.

The large number of employees and their widespread geographical distribution were two reasons why the SRA considered e-learning as a viable option for competence development. However, the main factor that appealed to the Administration was the system’s interactivity, which educates users and enables them to build up an understanding of different connections and relations.

It has given us great peace of mind to be working on the project with such an experienced business partner
Ann-Marie Snäll
head of the Road Sector Training and Development Centre

Some of the aims of the solution were to secure knowledge, facilitate the generation shift and increase mobility within the organisation.

“The SRA is a knowledge-based organization and it is strategically important that we can meet the specific knowledge requirements of each individual. E-learning enables us to better gather, spread and activate knowledge,” says Anna Torgny, controller at the SRA’s environmental section, the initiator and ordering client in the first phase of the project.

Development of the SRA’s digital corporate university was carried out in three stages. Following procurement, development and project launch, 350 personnel were offered the chance to take part in a pilot course. The assessment showed some excellent results, and the SRA decided to proceed.

In the second stage, e-learning was established as a permanent tool with its own operational plan and organisation. At the same time a technical platform was acquired. In stage three, an environmental foundation course was introduced for all personnel. The course will mean that the SRA can apply for environmental certification to ISO 14001 standards. It will also act as a good example and illustrate the potential of e-learning for all the Administration’s employees.

The project has been a success for the SRA financially as well. A cost analysis shows that online self-study is far cheaper overall than conventional training, despite the required investment in digital teaching aids and administration of the tool. For example costs fell for travel, accommodation and hire of premises, and there was also less of a loss in production.

“If the target group is large enough, as it is for us, the investment pays for itself,” says Ann-Marie Snäll.

She does however stress that e-learning is not the solution for everything, and that online self-study should be used to complement rather than replace conventional training. Classroom teaching with instructor guidance, direct contact and group discussion is sometimes necessary if people are genuinely to take the knowledge on board. Having said that, even then certain elements can be covered by e-learning. For instance, course participants may prepare online ahead of the physical course, or return to the digital solution once the course has finished. The SRA uses the new tool to manage both digital and conventional training.

Lennart Olausson at Sirius IT has been involved in the project from the start. As principal project manager he is responsible for all aspects of the project, including procurement, course development and implementation. He has also provided support for responsible managers and has helped build up an administrative organisation for the new tool.

Lennart Olausson has previously built up TietoEnator’s own e-learning system ‘TE Academy’, which was one of the reasons why the SRA placed the order with TietoEnator.

“Working with TietoEnator and now Sirius IT has gone very well. It has given us great peace of mind to be working on the project with such an experienced business partner,” says Ann-Marie Snäll.

“They have helped increase knowledge within the Administration and helped us see the opportunities offered by e-learning.”

For his part, Lennart Olausson says that the SRA clearly understand that introducing e-learning has to be given time – and that technology is not the only issue:

“You also have to demonstrate the benefits to senior management, motivate course participants, produce attractive training programmes and promote them within the organisation.”

For further information: info.se@siriusit.com