Royal Caribbean Group is one of the world’s largest cruise line operators. Based in Miami, Florida, Royal Caribbean Group (The Group) owns four global brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara and Silversea. Together, The Group’s brands operate 61 ships, with an additional 15 on order as of December 21, 2020. The Group has been a Remote Learner client since 2006. As one of the company’s longest standing clients, Remote Learner has partnered with them through several evolutions of their training goals. “As a partner of more than 10 years, with over 80,000 users from over 100 different nationalities, (The Group) has benefited from the unique and tailored approach that Remote Learner provides,” said Chuck Frady, Manager of Learning & Development for The Group.
Recently, The Group wanted to add an additional layer of reporting on the performance and growth of crew members working on each of their ships, which are deployed around the world, to their current Remote Learner-hosted Totara™ Learn site. After learning about The Group’s goals, Remote Learner collaborated with them on the design of a solution that would not only meet their requirements but make an impact.
The Challenge
The Group’s desire for better insight into the performance and growth of crew members came with a number of requirements. They not only wanted a way to craft meaningful reports on rich data associated with crew members but also a reliable and simple way to record the data itself. They wanted a single platform that was accessible on each of their ships and preferably one familiar to their users. Finally, it was imperative that the data collected be easily associated with each crew member and could inform future training and development goals for individuals and ships alike.
The Solution
The Group’s overall satisfaction with it’s Totara™ Learn solution and their desire to stick with something familiar to its users made it natural to explore expanding the capabilities of Totara™ Learn, which is an open source solution. Crew members were already active on Totara™ Learn, earning necessary certifications and completing required compliance training, so quickly rolling out the new initiative within their existing Totara™ Learn site was identified as the goal. “As a company with numerous interconnected but separate business units,” Frady shared, “(The Group) benefits from the specific focus that Remote Learner provides to address the individual requirements of each unit. Of note in recent years is the successful redesign and migration from the Moodle LMS to the Totara™ Learn LMS across four separate business units.”
After meeting with stakeholders from various teams at The Group, Remote Learner identified the two main deliverables required to meet their requirements:
- A simple and flexible interface that would allow for the required data to be recorded.
- A way to aggregate and filter the recorded data into meaningful reports.
(Note: Images contain mock data, not actual performance.)
For the first deliverable, Remote Learner presented stakeholders with the option to create a series of Feedback activities in a course. The Feedback activity is a plugin with a number of use cases that allows for the quick creation of a questionnaire-like interface that can be filled out multiple times by an observer or manager. Because the Feedback activity was already present in the system, it could be implemented quickly and easily, providing an opportunity to start gathering the information necessary almost immediately. Further enhancements to the layout of the interface could be made later on in the project through the site theme, if desired.
For the second deliverable, Remote Learner proposed the use of a third party analytics platform, Zoola Analytics, to rapidly achieve the required reporting capabilities. By customizing the data sources available in Zoola Analytics, Remote Learner was able to create a new reporting interface that allowed for the aggregation of data through filtering options. Remote Learner’s experience with utilizing data tables in Totara™ allowed for the configuration of the Feedback activities in a manner that maximized the data that could be utilized. Once created, the custom reports are embedded back into Totara™ Learn on dashboards and pages designed for stakeholders to view the progress of crew members. Finally, because the data is tied back to the learners on the site, it’s possible to create processes which automate the enrollment into additional training needs that are identified in the future.
The Results
(Note: Images contain mock data, not actual performance.)
While still in the early stages of its rollout, the solution’s quick implementation has been well received by The Group. The ability for data to be populated ahead of time makes it easier for them to see patterns and ways in which the data should be visualized and presented which weren’t known before. As the data continues to grow, the reports and graphs will continue to take shape. Frady expanded on their early success. “(Our) specific requirements are not able to be fulfilled by an out-of-the-box solution, and as such Remote Learner is approaching this with the same tailored and strategic approach that has led to our long-term success. By incorporating a combination of Remote Learner-specific products and services, as well as Zoola Analytics, Royal Caribbean has seen proven success in tracking and improving complex processes.”
