Once the exclusive preserve of the nation’s gaming grans, bingo is grabbing a wider audience today, prompting significant growth within the sector. One of the UK’s leading bingo brands is Mecca Bingo, where fast-moving expansion and development is being managed using a learning management system (LMS).
Mecca Bingo has 120 clubs spread throughout the UK and a workforce of over 5,500, so implementing and monitoring staff training is a vital part of the business.
“We maintain a high degree of customer-staff interaction with over five million Mecca Bingo members, so the need for high performing teams is always crucial,” says the company’s IT manager, Joanne Elliott.
“With the company expanding so quickly, we found that training and managing a growing workforce over such a wide geographical area presented some problems. We needed to implement a programme that gave us control over the learning process.”
Dual approach
The Mecca LMS solution, developed by Adval Learning Solutions, uses a dual approach to learning: individuals learn locally via a "club" server that records management information about their training activities, their progress and assessments.
All management information is available at Mecca Bingo’s head office, which allows the training department to both monitor the organisation's entire learning delivery by accessing performance data for all the staff and to administer updates to the course content.
The company's central server in Maidenhead holds user details, course information, progress reports and other data for all staff across the UK that require training. The central LMS enables Mecca to:
• register new clubs/locations and staff (as appropriate)
• register new learning materials for distribution
• schedule updates to learning materials for distribution
• schedule updates of staff progress with learning materials received
• schedule and synchronise central and local data
• manage reporting for all staff or selected queries/filters on the data set.
The local servers are located at each club/location and hold the information required employees at that location. The local Club Server enables local management to:
• register new staff (if not administered centrally)
• receive updates on learning materials from the central server
• manage reporting for staff or selected queries/filters on the data set.
Progress
The LMS enables staff to access the learning materials allocated to them and automatically records their progress, including the results of any assessments they undertake. It also records the time spent using the learning materials, which are delivered on user workstations located within each branch.
The business benefits of implementing the LMS for Mecca Bingo are that it gives real control and feedback on learning delivery by providing accurate, up-to-date reports on the situation in every branch throughout the UK.
Joanne Elliott comments: “This system provides us with up to date information regarding each individual employee's training status as well as full club, marketplace and regional training statistics.
"The detail and accuracy enables us to react quickly to changes in the market and gives the company a real competitive edge in a rapidly changing environment."
