Training Tracks Save Time, Improve Onboarding: A Southern Pipe Case Study

The Challenge

Southern Pipe enjoyed being able to assign and track online training using the BlueVolt platform, but it was tedious to assign every individual employee the same individual onboarding courses, and there was no easy way to know how many of those courses a learner had completed. How could they simplify this process?

The Outcome

Southern Pipe worked with BlueVolt to create Training Tracks, allowing them to assign sets of courses to groups of learners with just a few clicks. Not only that, but Training Tracks allow them to track completion of full sets of courses, and not just individuals.

The Story

Previously, we described how Southern Pipe and Supply uses BlueVolt to build a culture of learning at their company. Southern Pipe, a wholesale distributor based out of Meridian, MS, has been involved with BlueVolt for about two decades. Over that time, they’ve had a hand in shaping what BlueVolt looks like today.

New employees—called “family members” because of the family-oriented nature of the company—receive a Training Track when they start to work at Southern Pipe. According to Ron Black, Director of Human Resources, he was one of the people who suggested the idea of a Training Track in the first place.

A Training Track is a set of courses that admins can assign to a learner or group of learners simultaneously. Black described it as a list of required classes at a college.

“A good way to look at a Training Track would be like if you go to college and [choose a major], they basically give you a list of courses and say, here’s what you take your first semester freshman year, here’s what you take second semester [and so on],” Black explained. “That’s what our training track is—it’s where you can group courses together.”

When Southern Pipe started with BlueVolt, Training Tracks weren’t an option. If you were assigning 20 onboarding courses or wanted a group to take the same training, you assigned it separately. Additionally, the platform tracked completions separately, making it difficult to tell how many onboarding or job-specific courses a learner had completed.

“If you’ve got 20 courses [in] a Training Track, it’s a few clicks to assign that Training Track,” Black said. “If you had to go through and assign all 20 courses, it would be a lot more cumbersome… And then you’re only tracking the completion of each individual course.”

Knowing it would be easier if courses could be grouped, assigned, and tracked simultaneously, he proposed the idea to BlueVolt.

“My involvement was in suggesting, ‘hey, I think it’d be great if BlueVolt could allow you to build Training Tracks.’ And then they looked at it and said, ‘Yeah, we think you’re right,’” Black explained. “And I helped them [as] they asked me a lot of questions of how I would see it working.”

Now, Training Tracks are one of the most used features of the BlueVolt platform. 

“If we have new warehouse family members starting with absolutely no experience, they’re assigned to a Training Track. That includes different product knowledge courses, different safety and OSHA regulation courses, courses about the history of the company, courses about their benefits, and all that bundled into one Training Track. All we have to do is assign this Training Track, and then the BlueVolt software tracks their completion,” Black explained. 

Not only that, but the software monitors how far a learner has moved through a track, keeping learners updated if they’re falling behind and supervisors appraised of how much a learner has completed. Use Training Tracks for professional development, too, to identify and nurture leaders. 

The Conclusion

Black noticed a way that the software could be even more beneficial for his company, and he came to BlueVolt with a suggestion—one that hundreds of customers and thousands of learners continue to benefit from today. Now, instead of assigning individual courses to every learner, admin are able to assign learner groups to sets of courses.

“Really the point [is] that BlueVolt listens. If you have ideas, suggestions about how to make things better, they will listen to you,” Black said. “That’s not to say they will make every change that every customer suggests; that’s impossible. But they absolutely listen… they will listen, and they will consider what you bring to the table.”