Over the past several years, IT Services has been working to bring together training data from CoSy with a comprehensive set of people data, and to make that information available to colleagues across the University who need to see it. Early work focused on producing accessible training uptake reports in Power BI and putting in place an approval process via the Oxford Service Manager (OSM) to manage access appropriately.
Once these foundations were in place, attention shifted to how compliance‑related training could be monitored more effectively. The emphasis was not only on identifying who had completed mandatory training, but also on showing who had not – a crucial requirement for meaningful compliance oversight.
Further integration work supported the Oxford Secure project, by incorporating MetaCompliance data on Information Security and Data Protection training to provide a more complete picture of mandatory training held across different systems.
Collaboration was central to this work. When the Training Management and Development (TMD) team and its precursors were developing this capability, they worked closely with the Data Reporting, Architecture and Modelling (DRAM) team in IT Services whose expertise and support were invaluable in shaping the reporting approach and ensuring data from different systems could be brought together in a usable way.
Improving the quality and reliability of the underlying data has been an ongoing focus since then. Training data at Oxford is inherently complex, sitting across multiple systems and shaped by local practices and requirements. The aim throughout has been to make this data as accurate, consistent, and reliable as possible, within those constraints.
Listening and iterating
The initial reporting approach intentionally exposed users such as Heads of Administration and Finance (HAFs) to detailed, data‑rich reports. This allowed people to explore the breadth of available data and understand what was there. However, feedback quickly highlighted a need for faster, more direct answers to straightforward questions – without the need to work through multiple columns or to apply complex filters.
By listening closely to how users were interacting with the reports and where friction was slowing them down, the team helped to shift the focus away from simply providing more data, towards delivering greater clarity and time savings.
A product mindset: purpose-built reporting
The new Mandatory Training Action Summary, recently shared with senior leaders across the University, shows, at a glance:
- who's completed the required training
- who hasn‘t completed it
- who's approaching a required refresher or renewal deadline.
It also includes email addresses to send reminders if needed.
The aim is simple: to make it quick and easy for users to find the information they need, enabling timely action and supporting effective compliance monitoring. Initially, it will play a key role in helping departments and colleges to know if staff have completed their annual Information Security & Data Protection training, for example.
Help us shape future reports
A short survey has been shared with current users, to gather feedback over the next few weeks on how well the new report is working and to help shape future improvements. If you have used the new Mandatory Training Action Summary, we'd love to receive your feedback on the new report.
Delivering this work has taken time, persistence, and collaboration across teams. It involved listening carefully to users and turning that insight into practical solutions Thanks go those teams and to all report users whose ongoing feedback continues to shape our next steps.
