Tech Tips

Employee Training Database

Challenge:

The Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP) suggests that one of the best ways to measure employee skills and training is to maintain a training and qualification database. Mainsaver has a function for maintaining such data.

Methodology:

There are four methods to record contractor costs in Mainsaver.

1. Develop a set of craft codes. System Administration, References, Craft and Time Slot Codes Lists. A minimum course list may be developed for each craft code.

2. Ensure each skilled trade has a personnel record. Change the status of employees no longer employed to ‘TER’.

3. Add a set of standard training courses and qualifications. Personnel Module, Tools and Options, Training Courses. Training courses may also be added on-the-fly in the Personnel module edit.

Course ID – Name of Course
Description
Instructor – text field
Supplier – link the course to an existing Supplier
Status – User Defined 1-character field
Certification – Checkbox indicates if user will or has received certification

4. Edit employee Personnel records. Proceed to the training tab to enter past and/or future training courses.

Course ID – use double click lookup or add a new course on-the-fly
Ranking – required to enter something in this field such as PASS or NA
Date Completed – enter last completion date if applicable
Training Next Due – Next date for scheduled training
Qualification - Checkbox
Training First Completed – First time course was completed .

5. Create a query. In the Personnel module, create a nested query using the emtr table which contains employee training records. This query can indicate employees with training scheduled in the date range provided.

Here is an example of a subquery to find all personnel records that are associated with training courses due to be expiring within a specific date range:

In the Personnel module, click on Retrieve, then Define query. Create a query that you will be saving. It can be anything for now, so you can use 'Status like ‘ACT’ if you want. Under “Sort By” choose ‘Employee Id’ and leave the default “Ascending” checkbox ON.

Click the SAVE button and give it a name like ‘EE exp training due’ or something like that. The important thing is to save a query that can be edited.

a. In the Description, type in instructions on how to fill in the date prompt boxes that will be appearing here. Suggestion would be for instructions to the user, such as (you can copy/paste this Description example into Mainsaver as well):

Type in date range for expiring Training Courses. In 1st box, type in the BEGIN date, for example 1/1/17, in 2nd box, type in ENDING date, for example 12/31/17.

Example:

b. Click OK. You should be back at the table view again. Go back to Define Query and click on Query list.

c. Select the ‘EE exp training due’ or 'dummy' query you created. Delete the Where Clause statement and replace it with = exactly = what is here (copy and paste) :

WHERE (em.status like '%ACT%' and em.empl_id in (select empl_id from emtr where train_next_due >= '???' and train_next_due <= '???'))

Example:

You must have 2 spaces between the 'in' and the '(select..' in order for this to work. Click OK to save the change, then CANCEL out of the Define Query screen.

Note: you may get a “date/time conversion” error after the initial save. Ignore that only for the first time. If it continues after re-running the saved query, contact Mainsaver Help Desk for assistance: 800-467-6270 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

d. Back in the Table View, choose the saved query drop-down and choose the new query just created

Fill in the date range with a Beginning Date and Ending Date and click OK to run the query.

6. Create a custom report. Using Infomaker or some other report writer, a report might be created to list all employees and upcoming or past courses.

Mainsaver offered a variety of CMMS solutions that matched the way our business works. They provided customizable solutions and integration options that effectively manage our maintenance requirements and save us quite a bit of money in the process.