UF Health and UF launched a new system for faculty and staff Wednesday that will offer online professional training.
The myTraining portal system, developed by Gainesville company SumTotal Systems aims to provide management of training records, training schedules, registration for professional and required classes as well as online training to both sets of employee groups.
The myTraining program costs $200,000 a year, something Greg Hollingshead, director of human resource development at UF Health Shands Hospital, said is worth the investment.
“I know that sounds like a very large number,” he said. “But, when you consider the audiences we serve, that’s a very large number as well.”
The two groups entered into an agreement with SumTotal Systems in January. The idea for a training program benefiting faculty and staff of UF and Shands began a year ago.
Jodi Gentry, assistant vice president for human resource services at UF, said the myTraining portal was an opportunity for the two groups to improve the way they offered training services to their respective employees.
“We were frequently asking faculty to complete training sponsored by UF or by UF Health Shands,” she said. “We saw it as an opportunity to share resources and improve our overall delivery of training.”
Before the program, it was not uncommon for either group to send employees to various locations to receive professional training.
The new system will streamline access to both employee groups and provide easier access for new employees to access job training immediately.
University faculty are employed by UF, while employees working in the hospital are employed by UF Health.
Hollingshead said before the adoption of the new system, it was difficult for the university and UF Health to manage the training of university faculty along with hospital staff.
“We have two employee groups that we’re including that we haven’t had to manage before,” he said. “The program will make it much more simple and reliable for us.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 10/2/2014]
