By: Bruno Cozzi - Managing Director - Bluegem Software
The epiphany hit me when I started my little business back in the early ‘90s. For starters I discovered that my industry was changing as fast as I could Google and print PDF documents. Night after night I’d tuck myself up in bed with a nice cup of Chai Latte and a good PDF Download. That was all good, but in no time at all I had a bedside table littered with tea stained print outs. And I’m damned if I could remember what page related to what. So the first lesson I learned in my new business was ‘lessons learned’ - how to store and accumulate them? knowing what learning material to look for when? knowing how to index learning information so that it would be relevant and easily retrieved when I needed it?
Information today comes in three forms: electronic media as documents or bookmarks, email form a trusted source and good old-fashioned books and magazines. Your first job as an RTO is to recognise how information comes to you and integrate it into your business system. A Resource Library or Document Management System was the first investment in my Integrated solution. It allowed me to catalogue and index my book marks, store my electronic media into neatly organised folders, and even create a library catalogue for my books and magazines. Now I have ‘Document Search’ built into all my business applications and with a click and half I can pull up any document in my library. As an RTO I don’t need to stress the benefits of a system like this to you. Imagine being permanently linked into the information sources that drive your industry. NCVER tools and information, AVETMISS, AQTF, CRICOS, RAPT, DET, AQFTrainingPackages, - all making constant changes and updates. Why not have your own Resource Library storing and alerting you to new information, giving you the most up-to-date and accurate information you need to make business decisions early and effectively.
What is a resources Library?
It’s not that dissimilar to a traditional library, except it uses latest web and internet technologies to make it easier to search and retrieve documents or links, and to alert you on new or changed information. The resource library also works in integrated unison with your customer relations management system to provide a source of documents or electronic media that can be either attached to emails that you send out to your students or employers. It can act as a repository for assignments for students to download, or as a storage area for scanned information gathered for Pre-requisite or RPL Assessments. And unlike a traditional library you can decide who can see what when by setting access rights. A good resource library includes all the necessary tools to upload and index your content and set alerts.