Components of the SAP Learning Solution

Specific Outcome 1

Demonstrate an understanding of the SAP Learning Solution module and its components.

Assessment Criteria

You will know that you have achieved this outcome if you can:

1. Name and describe the Components of the new SAP Learning Solution.

2. Explain the SAP parts that are used by the SAP Learning Solution.

Introduction

1. What is the SAP Learning Solution?

Lifelong learning is the challenge that learners, employees and employers are faced with. Traditional classroom training ties up time and resources, takes employees away from their day-to-day tasks, and drives up expenses. This situation calls for new strategies. Internet and intranet provide the solutions. They lead directly to the work centres of employees. The employee's PC at work or at home becomes a personal training centre. E-learning can be used in a wide variety of areas. Companies and educational institutions can use it to greatly enhance their traditional training methods to cut the cost of training by providing more learners with easier access to training measures. The SAP Learning Solution paves the way for this development. It opens up new learning possibilities for learners, trainers, companies, and educational institutions. As it is a cross industry solution, it can be integrated into company software that is already installed. In this way, investments in existing training and personnel development systems are secured. Continuous development and the inclusion of current research results in the product ensure that the SAP Learning Solution is a safe investment for the future.

This course focuses on the Learning Management System component of SAP Learning Solution:

Training Administration

Course Catalogue

Reporting

The Components of the SAP Learning Solution

The SAP Learning Solution comprises of four main components:

1. The Learning Portal, the learners springboard into a learning environment, where they can access the course offering and information on personal learning data and learning activities.

2. The Learning Management System, controlling learning processes, managing and handling the administrative side of training.

3. The Authoring Environment, where learning content and tests are designed and structured.

4. The Content Management System, where content is managed and stored.

The SAP Learning Solution consists of a Web-based learning portal, Training Management in the R/3 System, and an Authoring Environment. Depending on your role in the company, SAP Learning Solution offers you the environment to enable you to competently fulfil your tasks.

The SAP Learning Solution includes:

1. The Learning portal:

If you are interested in training and education, the learning portal offers you functions to find and participate in suitable courses. It gives you individual, personalized access to the companys course offering in the course catalogue.

The Course catalogue can include classroom training, virtual classroom training, Web-based training, online tests or curricula. You search the catalogue for a suitable course, read about the course content, select the required course, book and participate in it. If required, you can rebook or cancel bookings. You can start Web-based training at any time, interrupt, restart, and complete the course.

A Learning Profile helps you keep track of activities and provides you with personal decision support at your PC. It gives you an overview of current, upcoming, and completed learning units. The profile match up feature provides additional help. By comparing the qualifications profile with position requirements, the SAP Learning Solution can automatically generate appropriate course offerings. A tutorial system, the Content Player, monitors your personal learning process. The learner is guided through the course depending on his or her progress and according to didactic strategies.

2. The Content Management System

All learning content is stored and administered in the Content Management System (CMS). Additional WebDAV-compatible folders (WebDAV = Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) can be used if necessary.

3. Training Management

Training Management supports both Web-based learning methods and classroom learning by providing access to the virtual learning environment in the learning portal. Training Management is an integral part of the SAP Learning Solution. Learning Content Management helps the training administrator to plan and design the course catalogue. There is direct link from the catalogue structure to the content stored in the Learning Content Management.

4. Authoring Environment

The author or instructional designer is responsible for the course content: He or she creates and structures the course content and tests. The created content is stored in the Content Management System. The author or instructional designer publishes the completed content in the application system so that the training administrator can find and assign the reference to the relevant course content when he or she creates Web-based training. The Authoring Environment contains tools that authors and instructional designers can use to create course content and tests. External authoring tools can be easily integrated into the Authoring Environment.

Integration

If you use the SAP Learning Solution integrated with the other SAP components, there is a direct exchange of data via the various interfaces, allowing efficient data maintenance in the SAP Learning Solution.

The SAP Learning Solution can be integrated with the following SAP application components:

Application ComponentDescription

Organizational ManagementOrganizational units can be booked as attendees and can organise courses

Personnel AdministrationPersons and applicants can be booked as attendees. Persons can be instructors of courses

Personnel DevelopmentCourse goals can be transferred to internal attendees as qualifications and checked as attendance prerequisites. Qualifications can be transferred to attendees. Users can also use the appraisal functions of Personnel Development component.

Sales and DistributionCustomers and their employees can be booked as attendees and invoiced

Cost AccountingPostings for course costs can be transferred in Controlling in Cost Accounting. Attendance fees can be cleared by means of internal cost allocation.

Time ManagementAttendance and absence data can be stored for instructors and attendees, and checked for compatibility with attendances and instructor functions

Materials ManagementMaterials from the Materials Master can be reserved as resources for courses; purchase requisitions and material reservations can be generated

SAP Knowledge WarehouseInfo objects (training materials, documentation, or videos) can be displayed directly from SAP Learning Solution and its Self Service applications

R/3 Appointment CalendarWhen employees are booked as attendees or instructors for courses, these appointments can be automatically generated in the R/3 Appointment Calendar (Workplace)