Chief Learning Officer - December 2007 - (Page 69) VENDOR: CUSTOMER SERVICE Gold Prometric Silver Performance Impact Founded in 1933, the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) is one of 24 certifying boards that comprise the American Board of Medical Specialties, and it is tasked with certifying general pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists to ensure high-quality care for infants, children and adolescents. The certification of medical providers by the ABP, via the careful review of professional credentials and administration of continuous evaluation of practitioners’ core competencies, provides a layer of protection for the American public in its efforts to ensure that ABP board-certified physicians are maintaining their competence in the field. As a way of continuously evaluating the skill sets of physicians, the ABP administers more than 5,000 recertification examinations each year as part of the Maintenance of Certification Process. When the organization made the decision to move the recertification exam from paper-based to computer-based testing, it needed a testing vendor that was global, secure and willing to work with it as a true partner throughout the entire exam conversion and maintenance process. The ABP found that partner in Prometric, a leader in testing and assessment services. Prometric provided the ABP with the secure facilities needed to support their mission to protect the public good, along with the global availability required for candidate accessibility. The ABP was also assured of having the right number of seats at the right time, thanks to the flexibility of Prometric’s online scheduling software and the individual test centers within the Prometric network. One issue that could have derailed the start and the continuation of the project was the test driver itself. Due to the complex and scientific nature of the exam, the ABP sought to develop and maintain its own test-delivery driver, so that they could maintain complete control over the exam’s content and format. For many networks, the implementation of such a nonstandard piece of software could create utter chaos and throw the entire operation in jeopardy. But Prometric’s team of developers worked with the ABP’s internal development team to ensure that whatever challenges arose could be quickly dealt with. The ABP and Prometric also worked together to effectively communicate and prepare candidates for changes within the testing environment. When a new biometrics initiative was due to be launched within testing centers for the recertification exam, Prometric and the ABP worked together to educate candidates about the process and what they should expect when they entered the center. Prometric even provided candidates with online demonstrations of format changes, including sign-on procedures and sample questions, to increase familiarity with the process and the software prior to the actual administration. The partnership is continuing to grow, with Prometric aiding the ABP in the continued evolution of its CBT program. This is being achieved in part through the implementation of Prometric’s proprietary item banking technology, known as Intelitest, which will allow ABP to more efficiently manage its own test items, quickly refresh test content, and enhance the examination development and delivery process for all of its CBT examinations. With all of these solutions, the relationship between the ABP and Prometric has grown beyond “client-vendor” to a true partnership. Performance Impact won the Silver Award for the development, implementation and support of Merck & Co.’s flagship program for new manager development, Managing@Merck (M@M). The program is the company’s most complex and challenging learning program and reaches global audiences in more than 24 countries. When Merck realized its new manager orientation program did not equip managers with necessary skills, Performance Impact helped the company define and develop M@M. The new training program facilitated early development of management skills such as leadership and coaching through a comprehensive, blended program featuring media-rich situational case studies, video scenarios and on-the-job activities that realistically depict the managerial role to ensure instructional relevance. Last year, Merck and Performance Impact embarked on an effort to extend the program across global operations and to update it for several new strategic leadership initiatives. Performance Impact revamped the entire threemonth management training course to meet rolling launch dates in Europe, Asia and South America. All program components were reviewed and updated to ensure they met specific localization requirements. The five-phase blended learning solution includes two facilitator-led classroom sessions with videos and computer simulations, seven Web-based modules, 12 virtual classrooms, 36 manager/mentorguided activities, and countless online job aids and tools — all supported through a dedicated M@M learning portal. To date, the M@M program has been translated into four languages (and will be available in nine languages by the end of 2007). Performance Impact also manages the translation efforts of the globalization vendor, trains all of the trainers and coaches around the globe, supports the hardware requirements for all classroom facilities globally and maintains the master classroom schedule. Additionally, Performance Impact rolled out Merck’s HR training for managers to the global research community last year. The vendor team also developed and implemented other learning solutions for Merck last year, including a software application training for performance management processes globally, a classroom training with competitive computer simulations to promote understanding of what it takes to work well in the organization, and a highperformance organization (HPO) strategic initiative for all Merck employees. 69 December 2007 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer http://www.clomedia.com
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