1. Who are you?
Who are you? What do you do? Where are you heading? What are your mission and vision? Why do you exist?
Describe your company in a few sentences. This will allow the provider to quickly assess whether they can work effectively with organizations like yours, of a similar size or from a similar industry. Already at this stage, the first points of contact and the relationship between both companies begin to emerge.
2. What experience do you and your company have with e-learning?
Have you personally taken any online courses before? Does your company already have a training platform? Or perhaps you work with strong opponents of digitalization and face significant resistance to e-learning?
Describe your experience so that the provider knows how to prepare the offer materials and which elements of project communication should receive the most emphasis. If this is your first encounter with e-learning, take a look at the 14 most common questions HR departments ask about online training.
3. What is the idea behind the project?
What do you ultimately want to achieve? What kind of change will these online development tools help you introduce? What sparked the idea of implementing e-learning? Which process in your organization created this need?
Summarize the vision of your e-learning project in a few words. Every insight from the originator of the idea can be extremely valuable. Indicate what kind of transformation you want to bring about in your organization. Explain what roles and functions you expect e-learning to perform.
4. What are the business objectives of the online training?
Is your goal to increase revenue by improving the quality of customer service, or perhaps to improve sales of a specific product through product training? Do you want e-learning to be a direct source of profit, or an investment in non-wage employee benefits?
Explain what business conditions the final product must meet for you to feel that it has brought real value to your organization. What return on investment do you expect? If you are wondering how to measure the profitability of e-learning and whether it pays off, read one of our articles on this topic.
5. Who is the target audience?
Is the course intended for your employees, or perhaps for customers visiting your stores or service points? Who are the recipients? How old are they? How often do they use mobile devices or computers?
Understanding the target audience of the training is an absolute foundation for the creators before work can begin.
6. What technical requirements should the project meet?
Should it run smoothly on Android or iOS? Will it be used on desktop computers or mainly on smartphones? What is the maximum number of users who will use it at the same time?
Before sending the brief, check which devices are most commonly used in your company. Determine how many employees will complete the training and where they will do it: at work or perhaps at home.
7. What is the project budget?
In most cases, you know the maximum amount you can allocate to a single training course or to an entire platform with ready-made training materials. Are you unsure whether to disclose this amount to potential providers because you are concerned they may inflate the costs?
Yes, it is definitely worth doing. From the very beginning of the cooperation, both the provider and the client will know whether an agreement between the companies is possible. This also makes it possible to determine early on how interactive and technologically advanced the product dedicated to your company can be. Perhaps it is worth increasing the planned budget in order to use VR or AR technology, meaning virtual or augmented reality.
8. What is the timeline?
When do you want the training to be ready? Is there a specific deadline?
Define the expected completion date of the project.
9. What are your most important criteria for choosing a partner?
What do you pay attention to? Who do you prefer to work with? What qualities should this person or company have? Are you convinced by relevant case studies, or perhaps by good service and convenient communication?
With this information, it is easier to personally match you with a specialist whose working style fits yours and with whom cooperation will be smoother. E-learning projects can last for many months, so it is worth having a reliable and trusted person on the other side of the table.
10. Which functionalities of your training and/or platform are essential?
Do you need to prepare a report for the CEO every month? Do your employees say they prefer listening to audiobooks but dislike reading? Does headquarters frequently use webinars in daily communication?
Think about what types of reports you will need to analyze the effects of the training. Suggest content delivery formats that will best fit your organization. Check your team’s preferences through internal surveys, just as OCHNIK did. You can find the case study here.
11. What examples of similar solutions do you know?
Is there already a similar product on the market? Have you heard of a training course like this before?
Include examples and inspirations in the brief that helped shape your e-learning idea. Such reference points make it easier to estimate the scale of the project and define the overall vision more accurately.
12. What post-implementation support and platform service do you expect?
Do you have an in-house IT department?
If so, discuss the entire project with them before sending the brief and determine at which stages they will be able to support it. If not, clearly state in the brief that you will need a project partner who will stay with you throughout the process, not just a provider whose only task is to prepare the software.
13. Who should be contacted about the project, and in what form?
How should feedback be provided? Who exactly from your organization is part of the project team working on e-learning? Who is the decision-maker in this matter?
This information will significantly improve effective cooperation, help you move through the next milestones, and streamline approvals and the analysis of your comments.
Want to learn more about preparing the right brief?
We will be happy to help you free of charge with preparing your brief and implementing e-learning in your company. Contact us and let’s talk.
