Resources are facilities, people, or equipment that you require to run any educational or learning programs in an enterprise.
Managing the learning needs of your employees includes tasks such as scheduling and managing classroom and instructor resources. You need to define the required resource types (the trainer and venue types are predefined) and assign resources to various learning programs. You must also create resources and assign each one to a resource type. To manage resources effectively, you can also:
Add resources to an offering to create a resource checklist
Book resources for a class
Set up suppliers and customers
Create supplemental bookings
Update and delete resources
Note: For backward compatibility, we predefine 'Trainer" and "Venue" as resource types. However, when you define resources of these types, you use instructor and room. Instructor is a person in charge of delivering a synchronous offering. Room is the physical room (identifier) where a class takes place.
The following key concepts enable you to manage resources:
OLM enables resource management for both classroom and online classes.
You can specify a resource checklist at the offering level, and book at the individual class and session level. At the offering level, you can search for resources and create a checklist needed for the particular delivery mode.
Yes. OLM provides the following predefined resource types:
Trainer
Venue
To add user-defined resource types, you create new structures in the Training Resource key flexfield.
Specify that a particular resource or resource type is required for an offering if you must book the resource before you can start the class. After specifying a resource as Required, you can easily book the resource later on the Add Resources page.
If you specify a resource as Required, ensure that the start and end dates for the resource cover a wide enough period to enable you to book the resource for classes in the future. The resource must be available on or before the start date of the class, but not necessarily on the booking date. For example, if you run a class from December 16th to the 19th, the resource dates you specify for the course could be from December 1st to 20th. The resource in this example is available before the start date of the class.
For each resource type, you set up a structure of the Training Resource key flexfield, giving you control over content, formatting, and validation. The name of the structure must be the same as the name of the resource type.
Important: Do not use the seeded resource structures provided by the application. Build new structures as detailed in the implementation steps.
To enable users to select instructors already entered as people or contacts (rather than letting them enter new instructor names when they define resources), set up a segment of the Training Resource key flexfield structure for instructors to hold an instructor's full name. Then you define a table-validated value set to provide a list of instructor names from the appropriate table for this segment.
Setting up flexfields is normally a job for your system administrator. You can define up to 30 segments for each flexfield structure and choose how to validate each segment, including cross-validation between segments.
For example, you can set up the Full Name segment for the Trainer (instructor) resource type.
For the Venue resource type, for example, you can define the following segments:
Name
Center
Capacity
You can define the same segment in multiple structures. For example, duplicating the Center segment in the structures for all resource types enables you to report on all resources held at your training centers.
If you define more than one business group, the Training Resource structures are shared across the groups. However, you can use only the structures that correspond to resource types defined for the business group you are using. If necessary, you can define multiple structures for, say, training guides, and use one structure in each group. Each structure and corresponding resource type must have a different name.
Resource types enable you to categorize your resources, such as classroom locations, instructors and equipment for synchronous classes, or additional physical materials for asynchronous classes. Each resource you create must belong to a resource type. You define resource types as values for the lookup type RESOURCE_TYPE.
See Adding Lookup Types and Values
Note: You can enter your centers as values for the lookup type TRAINING_CENTRE if your Training Resource key flexfield structure includes a segment for training center.
Depending on how you set up the Training Resource key flexfield structure for the Trainer resource type, you may have to add instructors as persons before you can select them as resources. You can enter instructors as individuals with their own addresses. Alternatively, you can simply record that a certain supplier provides a certain number of unnamed instructors. Note that this alternate method does not enable instructors to use the OLM Instructor interface.
To enter instructors, use the HR People window to enter your instructors, training administrators, and managers.
See Entering a New Person, Oracle HRMS Workforce Sourcing, Deployment, and Talent Management Guide
You can create resources and assign them to catalog objects such as classes, sessions, forums, and chats or to supplemental bookings that represent time reserved for non-catalog activities. From the Resources page, you can create and display all your resources. You can search for resources available between specific dates or of a specific type, or for one specific resource name. During resource creation you can:
Check Allow Overlapping Booking if the resource has multiple copies, such as a course manual, that you can book for more than one object at the same time. This option is not available for resources of the types Trainer or Venue.
Enter a cost value and cost unit against the resource, to enable you to manage resource expenses such as instructor and location costs for scheduled classes.
Specify a Person value if the resource needs to access the instructor interface. For example, if you are creating a resource of the type Trainer and do not specify the Person value, this resource cannot access a class from the instructor interface even if booked as an instructor for the class.
Once you have created a resource, you can assign it to an object by creating a resource booking.
See Resource Booking
Suppliers are internal or external agencies who supply an enterprise with goods or services. In OLM, you enter the names, addresses, and contacts for the suppliers who provide training resources, such as rooms or equipment for training. You can enter only these names and addresses on payable finance headers.
Customers are the external organizations for which you run classes and enroll learners. This includes internal or external agencies to whom you supply goods or services.
You set up as customers:
The names and addresses of the organizations where external learners work, or through which they can be contacted.
The names and addresses to appear on invoices for learner enrollments.
Any third-party agencies through whom you handle enrollments.
The customer learners for which you run private classes and those for which you create special enrollment agreements.
You must also set up your internal organizations as customers if you do not use Oracle Human Resources and you want to enroll internal learners. You enter your employees as contacts for these customers.
Organization, supplier, and customer information is shared with other Oracle Applications.
Use the Training Provider Contracts window to enter details about contracts that the selected establishment has with training providers. You can have any number of training contracts for each establishment. Before you do this you must define the training provider as a supplier in the Supplier page. See: Entering Suppliers Manually, Oracle Payables User's Guide
To enter training provider contracts
Select the training provider, and start and end dates of the contract.
Select the type of contract, for example, annual, and enter the details of any payments made relating to the contract.
Save your changes.
Use the Resource Bookings page to book resources for catalog objects such as classes, sessions, forums, and chats and to create supplemental bookings. For catalog objects, you can also book resources by accessing the object from the Catalog and selecting the Resource Booking link or, for classes, the Resource Checklist page.
Note: Ability to book resources for category forums, category chats, classes, class forums, class chats, and class sessions depends on access to the category. See: Administrator Groups
You can book relevant resources that are available for the booking period you have specified. Resources that are already confirmed at any time during the period you specified do not appear unless the resource type allows overlapping bookings. The selected resources receive an initial booking status of Planned. If the resource type does not allow overlapping bookings and the selected resource has an overlapping booking, you cannot change the booking status to Confirmed.
You can book resources for a specified period or for the entire booking period of a class by selecting Book For Entire Period. For example, a class may require two venues for two different sessions conducted at different times on the same day. You can decide not to book the venue for the entire day, which makes the venue available for booking for the other session at a different time on the same day. The Display to Learner field enables learners to view resources booked against a catalog object when they view the object details from the learner interface. The Maximum Usage field enables you to specify the maximum number of learners who can use a resource (such as a venue).
Note: When you book a resource against a session, it must have an end date equal to the session date or later. If you need to book the resource for some time prior to the session start, create a supplemental booking.
When you book a resource of the type venue, the application automatically identifies the venue as the primary venue, provided that a primary venue does not already exist. You can designate only one primary venue for a class, but you can change the primary venue.
This automatic designation does not prevent you from assigning multiple venues to a class, but it does reduce the chances that no venue is defined as primary.
If you delete a primary venue and save without identifying another venue as the primary, a warning message appears. This message does not, however, prevent you from saving your changes.
You can make a resource unavailable for booking by creating supplemental bookings, for example, to account for instructor holiday or illness, or room unavailability. When you create a supplemental booking, you do not book the resource against any object.
By definition, you can use each named trainer (instructor) or venue (room) for only one scheduled class at a time, so the application prevents you from creating overlapping bookings for those resource types.
Check Allow Overlapping Booking to enable overlapping bookings for any other non-unique resources. The application assumes you have an unlimited stock of such resources, such as books or overhead projectors, so you may need to keep track manually, should you allow overlapping bookings.
You can define the resources and quantity required to run classes for a particular offering.
Important: You can access this functionality only through the Book Resources window, not through the Resource Bookings html page.
If you define resources as Required, you can book them in two ways:
Automatically
Individually
If you do not define resources as Required, you must manually book the resources for a class.
Use this short cut to list and book all the resources marked as Required for a class. As you book the class or session, you can delete any or all of the required resources from the resource list.
Use this method to list the resources that are required to run classes before you book them. Required resources in the resource checklist display the value Y(es) in the Required column.
You can then select the resources you want to book from the list.