Case study 03
One front door
One way in for every learning request, and licences paid for only when used
Before
Allianz Technology’s learning portfolio had about nine systems for 10,000+ employees, each with its own rules. Some were free, some needed a manager’s approval, and each had a different way to sign up. Employees didn’t know which rule applied, so they emailed. Every request was solved one email at a time, with no triage and no record, and complaints grew that the offer was large, confusing and hard to reach.
Licence renewal was a second problem, once a year. It ran by email for about two months, with no record of who had answered, and some people genuinely didn’t know a renewal was needed.
My role covered both. I promoted the whole portfolio and managed the vendors of four platforms (Degreed, LinkedIn Learning, O’Reilly and Learnlight).
Decisions
Build with what was already there.
The L&D team wasn’t part of the company ticketing system, and adding it wasn’t in scope. A ticketing tool also wouldn’t have reduced the complexity employees faced. Microsoft Forms and Power Automate were already licensed and easy to use.
Show the rules in the form.
Branching by platform and request type meant employees saw straight away whether a service was free or needed approval, and what the steps were. Requests that needed a manager’s approval were routed to them.
Announce the renewal first.
Before sending the renewal form, I announced it in the newsletter and sent two reminders, so not knowing about it was no longer a reason to miss it.
Decide renewals on usage.
A monthly learning-hours report showed which platforms were actually used.
What I built
- One request form on the L&D site. Employees gave their name, email and cost centre, chose the platform and request type, then saw the steps or described the issue. Each request was logged automatically in that platform’s tab, with an email and a Teams notification. About 20 requests a month across 8 categories.
- A renewal process for three licensing models: O’Reilly’s fixed pool of 300, LinkedIn Learning’s pay-per-user seats and Learnlight’s on-demand training. It started with an announcement, then a scheduled yes-or-no form for each licence, with responses logged by cost centre and date. Unclaimed licences were revoked after a 3-week grace period.
- A monthly learning-hours report in Excel, by country and region, for the global Head of Learning and Head of People and Culture. It combined the employee data feed with usage from five platforms, and was used to decide platform renewals and to grant a day off to employees who reached the yearly learning-hours target.
- Step 1Pick a platform and a request type
- Step 2The form shows the rulesFree, or manager approval needed
- Step 3Approval goes to the managerOnly when it’s needed
- Step 4Logged in that platform’s tabWith an email and a Teams notification
- Announced in the newsletter
- Two reminders
- Yes-or-no form for each licenceLogged by cost centre and date
- 3-week grace period
- Unclaimed licences revoked
About two months by email before. One month after.
Results
Measured
- Renewal cycle cut from about two months to one.
- Half of LinkedIn Learning users removed as idle, counted against the licences available.
- 75+ of the 300 O’Reilly seats freed.
Observed, not measured
- Requests that arrived one email at a time became automatic, sorted and easy to handle.
- Complaints about a confusing offer dropped, and employees knew who to ask about what.
What I’d do differently
Plan the handover from day one.
The process worked while I ran it, but I don’t know if it outlived my time there. Next time I’d write the runbook and name a second owner while building it, so the system doesn’t depend on one person.
Recreated for Meridia Health, a fictional medical-device company, with invented data.
Try it
One front door for learning requests, recreated for Meridia Health’s L&D team, with the request form, its routing and a learning-hours report on invented data.