STARS

STARS is an acronym for “Staff Training and Records System”, providing an efficient manner to keep track of the training programs employees in a company are attending, have forwarded requests for or are already registered in.

Relying on Microsoft Access, the application features a ribbon Office-like interface, where all the options are displayed in the top tabs, one click away. Organizations can use STARS to keep track of present, past and future training records. The application makes it possible for the responsible training department to arrange courses and create a list of attendance employees can apply for.

STARS enables users to manage locations and departments in the company, as well as grades, teams and the roles of all the staff members. Additional employee details can also be stored in the STARS database, along with the list of managers and supervisors for each department.

The training department can use STARS to register new courses employees can attend, keeping close track of training suppliers and trainers as well. It records courses’ validity period, their aims and objectives, creating a comprehensive list for all the staff to read.

Based on the records in the data tables and the course tables, STARS can help users create a job training matrix for each grade. Managers can build up lists of courses that are mandatory to a certain grade and add new attendees for each course. This way, all the details about training sessions is immediately available and easy to keep updated.

One interesting feature in STARS is the possibility to automate course attendance requests. For instance, a first aid course that becomes available might trigger STARS to request all the staff to attend it.

An application such as STARS can be efficiently used in many organizations that have a strong employee training policy. It comes with many features that can be exploited to enhance productivity when managing courses and training sessions for a company’s staff members. Working with it is quite easy but it is true that the Access-based interface might not appeal to some. Overall, it is a good staff training management tool that can be of help to many companies.