Case Study: How we've built a Training Management System for a USA Real Estate company

It’s no secret that training and developing employees is critical to the future success of any company. The American Society for Training and Development found companies offering extensive training generate 218 percent higher income for each employee than those that don't. Also, investing in training programs has brought companies a 24 percent higher profit margin. Moreover, 94% of employees say they won't quit if they have the opportunity to learn and develop.

Since real estate agents come from various backgrounds, they may lack the sales and marketing experience needed to be successful. With that in mind, business owners should enhance the knowledge and skills of their agents through training. Providing relevant and consistent training and boosting the agents’ hard and soft skills will improve companies’ performance and increase results in the workplace. Sounds impressive, right? Let’s delve into the details below!

What exactly is a training management system?

A training management system (TMS) is designed specifically to deliver online courses and perform back-office operations that break down into administration, running of courses, surveys, reporting and analytics, etc. Acting as a CRM, it captures the entire learners’ (potential employees) lifecycle from registration to certification. We also want to mention that the training management system is used interchangeably with the learning management system. However, there is a major difference between them - TMS focuses on managing all the administrative training processes while LMS concentrates on course delivery and management.

Why do you need a training management system?

Below are the reasons why a training management system may be a necessity for your organization:

• The need to deliver consistent training and learning to your employees.
• The need to improve the performance of your real estate business and employees.
• The need to store all the courses in one centralized location and access them quickly and easily.
• The need to collect users’ assessments through surveys quickly, analyze and adjust knowledge base efficiency.
• The need to meet regulatory compliance and satisfy legal and regulatory requirements.
• The need to manage data storage and save time and resources.

What’s the idea of the training management system?

Real estate agents’ training and development are critical to the success of any brokerage firm or real estate agency. As workplace technologies and processes evolve, lack of effective training programs leads to employees’ inability to meet current-day challenges. Neglecting to implement training in your organization affects productivity, safety and the overall bottom line of your organization. Moreover, as new policies, requirements and practices arise, you need to train your agents to avoid running into legal issues that can be extremely costly. Having that in mind, we have developed a training management system for a real estate agency. Not only does it help you deliver great learning experiences to your agents, but you can also create a more qualified workforce that puts out high-quality work.

The development process of the training management system

Let’s delve into the details on how we created a training management system.

Team

When working on the training management system, our team included the following specialists:

• 1 Business analyst (BA)
• 1 Project manager (PM)
• 2 UI/UX designers
• 2 Front-end engineers
• 2 Quality assurance engineers (QA)
• 2 Backend engineers

Methodology

When working on a training management system, we applied Agile-driven software methodology. We made a choice taking into account the following factors:

• We could prioritize the client’s needs over the requirements in the development plans.
• Our team could adapt the potential project to any changes in the client’s requirements.
• Results were more important than established processes.

We implemented 24 sprints during which the development team created a training management system and attained established goals.

Development Process

At the very start, a Business Analyst conducted a meeting with a client to clarify the problem a client wanted to solve with a training management system. Only by gathering all the essential information about the business processes, potential users, their actions could the team identify key roles and features for the potential solution. Once it was done, the team defined the roles of the users - a user, a manager and an administrator. In addition to that, we came up with the following features:

• Course management
• Learner portals
• Compliance reporting
• Attendance management
• Reporting and analytics

Based on this information, a Business Analyst created a project specification document that outlined the overall look of the desired training management system and functional specification specifying how the client sees the appearance and capabilities of the upcoming solution. Once it was done, a Project Manager provided a preliminary estimate to the client and created the roadmap for the development process. After it was confirmed, the planned scope of work (so-called Backlog) was divided into 2-week sprints. Generally, the development consisted of 24 sprints and lasted 12 months. Before each sprint, the entire team of designers, front- and back-end engineers, and QA specialists reviewed which backlog feature they would be working on and committed to achieving a certain result by the end of each sprint. Also, the team presented the results to the client during demo sessions. When the training management system was ready and free of bugs, we launched it and made improvements and upgrades as necessary.

Project Structure

Below you can find out what technologies were used to create a training management system. Let's dive into the details below!

User Roles

Let’s discover the user roles within the training management system.

• User: a person (Auctioneer, Sales agent, Property manager, Valuer, etc.) with basic permissions within the training management system; he/she can attend courses and get certificates once the course has been completed successfully.
• Training Manager: a user who evaluates employees' skills and identifies their weaknesses in order to enroll them into appropriate courses; tracks and evaluates the effectiveness of training courses.
• Administrator: has visibility to all features and functionality within the training management system and can make changes in the system configuration.

User Dashboard

After you log in as a User, you will be redirected to the Dashboard page. It is your home page where you can find all the essential information such as:

• Courses to do
• Certificates
• Latest forum messages
• Leaderboard

Also, you can see a progress bar of the last course in progress.

Courses

With the Courses feature, you can see all the courses you have been enrolled to or completed. On this page, you will see two tabs - enrolled and completed. You can switch between them and see the course progress. By clicking on the course, you will land on the course page and see all the detailed information about the course content.

Calendar

With the Calendar feature, you can obtain information on all the events within the real estate agency. Whether it is a meeting with a new client or signing a contract - all the events are in sync with events in Google Calendar and displayed here. If you place your mouse over any field, a little bubble appears to display more detailed information about events.

Certificates

The Certificates feature allows real estate agents to gain an edge over the competition in the real estate market. This feature allows you to see a list of electronic certificates you have received after course completion, but you will also see the total marks obtained after completion of the particular course and download a certificate.

Forum

With the Forum feature, you can discuss different topics and interesting matters important to the learners. Not only can people discuss all kinds of topics and give advice, but they can also share specific knowledge and experiences they have. Moreover, you can search for answers, tips and tricks and receive notifications when updates occur.

Account Settings

This feature allows you to change settings in your account. Not only can you adjust several basic options, but you can also reset logins to ensure there is no unauthorized access.

Training Manager Dashboard

As a Training Manager, you will land on the Dashboard page once you log in. Here you will find all the essential information in terms of your account. In the header, you can discover the action icons that allow you to quickly check different items in the system. These icons are always present in every area of the training management system.

Users

With the Users feature, you can see all the employees of the real estate agency. All the information is in a well-structured table that includes the following columns - ID#, Full Name Enrolled, Last visited, Course completion (%), Actions. Moreover, you can determine who among the employees lacks some skills and needs training.

Courses

With the Courses feature, you can choose a course based on your needs - whether you want to diversify your knowledge or change your career path completely. With that in mind, you can look through all the information about the courses you would like to join and enroll in it. On this page, there are varieties of courses to choose from.

Calendar

With the Calendar feature, you are in the know on all events within the real estate agency. Not only does it help you know the time and date your training course starts, but you can also maintain open communication and stay on the same page with your colleagues about any event in the agency.

Certificates

Here you will be able to know which of the employees has received a certificate as a reward for completion. All the certification information is presented in the table where you can easily navigate. Thanks to the Certificates, you can make training more interactive and provide your employees with benchmarks of their success.

Reports

With the Reports option, you can see all the details about the training process. Not only can you monitor individual performance, but you can also provide employees with more personalized learning and training activities. Here you will see the following information:

• Attendance
• Total Events
• Trainings
• Webinars

This will help you to cautiously consider all of the pros and cons of the training process and make a decision that will directly impact the timeline and learning objectives of the training courses.

Admin Dashboard

Once you logged into the training management system as an Administrator, you can access all the areas of the system such as Users, Courses, Calendar, Certificates, Reports, Integrations and System Settings.

Below we’re going to dive into the Reports, Integrations and System Settings functionality that is different or not presented in the Training Manager module.

Reports

The Reporting feature allows you to run several types of reports to view information about users, courses, certification, events, etc. All the data is automatically refreshed for all reports in real time that provides Admin with statistics to review how the real estate agency is utilizing a training management system.

Integrations

This allows you to connect multiple separate components such as CRM, social media, analytics, etc. Not only does it help you better analyze business processes, but it enables you to boost up productivity and improve the workflow of the agency.

System Settings

You can reach the System Settings option from the corresponding option in your main menu. Not only does it help you make changes in all areas within the training management system, but you can also configure the global settings within the training management system taking into account business needs.

Key features of the training management system

The following are the key features and functionality you can find in the training management system:

• Course management: with this feature, you can combine multiple courses and create a path of courses that leads your employees straight to meet their training goals.
• Learner portals: this feature allows you to view and access information about all learners and their learning plans.
• Compliance reporting: this feature simplifies compliance training in the real estate agency by automating enrollment and course delivery that allows your employees to improve their skills and knowledge.
• Attendance management: this feature allows you to record learners’ details, attendance, and certificates in a centralized database of the training management system.
• Reporting and analytics: this feature allows you to visually render your data that makes it simple to explain and easier to understand the behavior of the learners.

Benefits of the training management system

• Adoption of new methods and technologies: you can provide training and development to upskill your staff consistently. Not only does it help you quickly adopt the latest technological developments, but it allows your agents to apply new methods and tools to speed up business processes and drive more revenue.
• Improved productivity: only by delivering well-versed training courses to your employees can you increase productivity and show higher quality of work-output. Thanks to the training, your agents can hone their skills that will lead to an improvement in performing their job.
• Keeping pace with changes in the real estate industry: continuous development is essential for modern real estate agencies. Training allows your agency to keep up with industry changes and be in the know about rules and regulations in the real estate sector. Only by delivering consistent training can you stay ahead of the competition and provide up-to-date knowledge and skills to your employees.
• Bridging staff skills gaps: only by taking regular practice can you effectively close the skills gap. Thanks to training courses, you can help your staff maintain skills and knowledge or sharpen the ones they have already learned. Not only does it help you develop and support your staff, but you can also retain a skilled workforce longer.
• More satisfied workforce: most employees prefer ongoing development and training that impact their career growth. Only by demonstrating your willingness to invest in their development and help them succeed can you increase their job satisfaction and morale.

Bottom line: Are you ready to build a successful training management system with DDI Development?

Training and development open up a wide range of opportunities for your employees to develop the right skills and gain the right knowledge. Not only does it help you experience a sharp increase in profits, but you can also have a high level of staff retention and satisfaction. In today's competitive world, employee training is no longer just an offer, but a growth engine that contributes to the success of your business. With that in mind, having a training management system in place is a must for your real estate business. Only by delivering ongoing training can your staff build new skills and knowledge, respond to industry changes quickly and easily and outperform your competitors. We, at DDI Development, have vast experience in delivering a plethora of software solutions for different business verticals. Let us know if you want to bring any idea to life.