Frequently asked questions

Yes, absolutely. Provided the main system annual licence is renewed, all your licensed users can continue to access the system without further user fees.

At the end of each month, we look at how many new Learners have been added during the month and raise an invoice. If you don’t add any new Learners during the month, there is no invoice.

No, only for users who are selected to complete a pathway or programme.

A Learning Management System (LMS), or a Learning Experience Platform (LXP), is setup to deliver content. The traditional LMS focuses more on the needs of administrators, and the LXP focuses more on the needs of the learners. It’s important to remember that there is so much more to achieving behaviour change than delivering content, however well that is done. A Learning Workflow Platform (LWP) focusses on delivering activities and tasks to people to ensure that learning is translated into effective new behaviours, and therefore tangible results.

Learning Management System (LMS) vs Learning Workflow Platform (LWP) – all you need to know

An LMS is good at delivering content and keeping track of who has consumed that content. If you want that content consumption to turn into changes in the way employees do their jobs, they need to do something with it. They need to experiment and practice their new knowledge to turn it into embedded skills that result in sustained behaviour change. An LWP can deliver content, but takes the process to its logical conclusion by also delivering activities to ensure the content gets used. Find out more…

A learning workflow is a sequence of learning and related activities that result in not just gaining knowledge, but also putting that knowledge to use by generating skills and new behaviours. Find out more…

The learning outcomes we are usually looking for are changes in behaviour so that people are doing their jobs more effectively and getting better results for the organisation. The only way you will get reliable and sustained behaviour change is to get people started on doing things differently, and then ensuring they practice so the changes become embedded habits. For this, you need to provide a sequence of planned activities spread over time, and this is exactly what a LWP does.

In a Chief Learning Officer magazine article in 2017, Robert O. Brinkerhoff describes an LTP as “a cloud-based software platform that wraps custom-designed interactions and learners’ engagements around and into more traditional employee development workshops and seminars. This creates a learning/performance improvement journey for each participant.”

The acronym LTP was coined a few years ago to refer to a Learning Transfer Platform. The People Alchemy Learning Workflow Platform has wider range of uses than an LTP but does encompass all the features you need for learning transfer. So yes, the People Alchemy platform is also an LTP.

Learning Transfer occurs when training course delegates use their new learning in their work setting. Arguably, if they don’t do this, then the time and money invested in the training course was wasted. So, Learning Transfer is required if you want to avoid wasted money, time and resources.

One of the definitive books on Learning Transfer was written by Paul Matthews, founder and CEO of People Alchemy. He has spoken at conferences and run workshops around the world on this topic. In short, at People Alchemy, we know what we are doing regarding Learning Transfer and our platform reflects this deep understanding of supporting and ensuring behaviour change following a training course.

Some people in L&D use the term ‘training transfer’ interchangeably with ‘learning transfer’. If someone uses the term ‘training transfer’ it is worth asking them what they mean to ensure clarity in your discussion.

The technical implementation of People Alchemy is quick and can be done in a few days or even quicker with default settings and off-the-shelf pathways. Having said that, there is usually some different thinking needed to implement the platform effectively and integrate it with new or existing learning programmes. We will help with that process as part of the implementation fee and can advise on likely timescales when we have a better idea of your needs.

Technically, not long at all. A simple pathway can be designed, built, and assigned to learners in a day although we would not recommend rushing it. The design stage can take time if the pathway is complex and remember, this is an innovative and different way of delivering learning which often requires a shift in thinking. People Alchemy is always on hand to help you get it right.

The short answer is yes. Any content can be updated after the pathway has been assigned to learners who are progressing through it. The system has several update settings so you can update only content that users have not yet encountered, or update everything. You can even hide future content from learners so you can get them going on a pathway that isn’t yet fully designed and built.

We often say that coaching skills are useful because this helps with the philosophy of People Alchemy in terms of tasking people to promote change. Also, like any implementation, some project management skills are useful. You don’t need technical skills other than general IT literacy. We can help as much or as little as you need from providing advice and training through to building pathways for you. We see ourselves as your solution partner.

It’s easy to see how critical managers are to the success of learning programmes. People Alchemy is setup to support the delegates’ line managers with what they need to in turn support the delegates. The Learning Workflow Platform (LWP) will also hold the managers to account for doing what they need to do to support their learners as they progress though the assigned activities in the learning workflow.

Learners will need a computing device with a browser and the internet to access People Alchemy. If the delegates don’t have access to a computer, you could provide some loan tablets they can use while they are on a programme, or they could use their phone if they are willing to do so. As for notifications, these can be sent by SMS, or email, or both.

We will help you design your programme, pathway and activities so they integrate into the delegate’s workflow. We will help you ensure your pathway has balanced and sustainable activity and cognitive loads. It is obviously also important that delegates are supported to prioritise their development so you will need to work with their line managers.

The licensing is typically based on an annual license with optional plugins for features like extra languages, and then a once-only fee per Learner as they are added to the system. Given the pay-as-you-go SaaS pricing model, this makes People Alchemy very affordable to implement, and you are only paying for actual usage.

Unlike a Learning Management System (LMS) where all employees are typically given access, you would only make People Alchemy available to staff on a programme-by-programme basis. You can start with a pilot project and roll it out at a speed that suits you and your employees.

Yes, you can add your logo. Further changes can be made with a skin feature and also the system can be hosted on your own or a custom domain.

Yes. There are several ways to add notes that are visible to the learner, or hidden from the learner but visible to admin users.

The pathway can be paused if the learner is on sick leave or on holiday, or is just behind their schedule and needs some time to catch up.

The LWP is designed so that each learner has one nominated mentor, but further ‘mentors’ can be added if required. The nominated mentor can also be changed at any time by Admin.

Each learner, in addition to their assigned mentor, can optionally have other people assigned as observers, mentors, verifiers, assessors etc. These additional assigned people can add comments, and even act as the final signoff for QA purposes.

People Alchemy is hosted in a secure top tier secure data facility in the UK. All data at rest is encrypted. Our systems are regularly penetration tested and maintained in line with industry-wide data security best practice. Each user has a defined role and permissions which ensures they can only access the information that they need. People Alchemy complies with all relevant legislation including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Yes, the web-app is fully responsive and works very well on smartphones and other mobile devices. Also, when logged in on a mobile device a user can directly access the camera and upload video assignments to the system.

We have found that there are very few people who cannot use the simple and intuitive system. People these days can use Facebook and other social systems. If they can do that, then they can use People Alchemy.

If you think about it, the onboarding process is largely a list of tasks to do from filling in the right paperwork (even before the start date) through to collecting a laptop from IT and attending orientation sessions and training courses. Even if you have an onboarding training programme, there is probably a checklist of things somewhere that new starters need to do. The reason that People Alchemy is a great fit for onboarding is that it is a workflow tool. In essence, it is a platform to take users through a defined set of activities and make sure they get everything done, and give you great visibility of their progress.

Feedback from onboarding users

We do have some, but we generally find that each organisation has unique requirements for programmes like onboarding, and an existing set of materials. It’s usually better to repurpose and rework any existing material to fit within the People Alchemy framework. The off-the-shelf programmes are based on 26 Steps wo we have been working with closely since 2013.

Yes. We can help you make sure the programmes reflect your organisation’s values, procedures and other aspects of your organisation that are essential for an effective programme.

The simple answer is yes, but it makes sense to check through the content of both programmes to ensure consistency. The 26 Steps content can be customised to suit your specific requirements.

There are 26 Steps programmes for both supervisor and line manager level and for blue-collar and white-collar roles. As an example, the weekly topics for the supervisor level 26 Steps programme cover: Your role as a manager, Keeping legal, healthy and safe, Your management portfolio, Dress and speech, Company values, Problem solving, Money and fraud, Holidays, sickness and other absence, Management techniques, Using your manager, Building relationships, Appraisal and disciplinary actions, Statistics and reporting, Feedback and informal review, Empowerment and delegation, Objective setting, Planning, Serving customers, Creating personal impact, Team meetings, Getting people to listen, Managing conflict, Motivating and understanding people, Developing colleagues, Using technology.

You are welcome to make minor changes to the content. If you want changes that are more than tweaks we would recommend you ask us to work with you on the changes. We are very familiar with the content and can provide a customisation service to change the content to suit your organisation’s values, vision and operational requirements while maintaining the programmes effectiveness and internal consistency.

Most people, before they become a manager or supervisor, don’t have a clear idea of what it involves or how their responsibilities will change. We would recommend using our off the shelf Aspiring Talent pathway prior to other management development initiatives to qualify ‘wannabe’ managers for further development.

People Alchemy has an optional qualifications addon that provides features that make running a programme linked to a qualification easy. It caters for extra users such as assessors and verifiers and provides a space for them to see the entire programme and e-portfolio, and to hold their notes and comments in a single place. No more juggling of emails, lost assignments and paper folders.

Yes, the platform has an optional plagiarism checker plugin

Find out more…

Yes. People Alchemy has several different logging functions where Learners can log their time against different requirements. The logs can be configured to capture different data points and even set up so the entries can be related to knowledge, skills and behaviours that are the primary programme outcomes.

Yes. Files can be uploaded from a PC after recording or uploaded directly after capture from a mobile phone. The maximum file size is 1 Gb.

This is a definite yes. The driver for this conversion so far has been COVID, but it also makes sense just to get better results than traditional face to face programmes usually provide. This has already been done so successfully that the client has said they do not want to go back to traditional delivery. The results in terms of behaviour change when using the People Alchemy platform have been far better than they achieved with the same programme delivered in traditional classroom style.

That depends on several factors. If you want to provide a highly customised programme that is unique to the needs of each individual leader, then you are likely better off using a coaching approach and People Alchemy would not be the right platform. If you want the group of senior leaders to go through a similar programme and customise it along their journey for their needs, then People Alchemy may well be a fit. Let’s have a chat to find out.

You can use People Alchemy to focus your attention on a small group or on larger programmes made up of many cohorts. One of our customers uses People Alchemy to run a leadership programme for 200+ delegates every year for a large client. By the way, this used to be a face-to-face training course before COVID. The client has said that the results with the new blended online programme are much better and does not want to return to the old face to face programme even when COVID restrictions are eased.

Yes. Like other Trusts, you will already have your own programme and delivery method. We will help you transfer your programme onto People Alchemy, so you retain the essentials and gain the benefits of full digital delivery and programme oversight.

Yes. Like other Trusts, you already have your own programme and delivery method. We will help you transfer your programme onto People Alchemy, so you retain the essentials and gain the benefits of full digital delivery and programme oversight.