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New Year 1998
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One of the biggest investments organisations can make in their personnel is training. Identifying the right training programmes and providers can often be a minefield and if you get it wrong it can prove financially very costly. It can also have dire effects when planning the introduction and upgrading of services and product offerings.
I hope this article will not only help you make the right decisions but also assist you in finding at least some of the companies offering the levels of training you are seeking.
Before we look at who the players are let us examine what a company needs to do prior to sending its personnel on any form of course. I have detailed a few helpful steps below.
Having asked and gained answers to the above questions your next problem is to find an organisation to deliver your requirements.
With today’s skills shortages more and more companies are expecting their staff to be multi-disciplined and are looking to training organisations to fill the gaps in their employees’ skill sets. The MultiValue environment is no different and there are a number of companies offering a variety of courses for all levels of expertise.
I have listed below some of these along with a brief outline of the courses they are running.
APT SOLUTIONS (0171) 704 8006
Contact Tracy Toussaint
APT Solutions identifies that the market place needs both training and consultancy,
very often working hand in hand. They offer a number of courses including a
technical introduction to Advanced Pick and Pick system management for analyst
programmers. They also offer an introduction to Basic and advanced SB+. These
courses are conducted from offices in London, Telford and Sheffield.
DATAWORKS (01494) 755200
Contact Jo Pykerman
Dataworks offer training courses that fully support clients of their Infoflo
products. They also offer integrated courses covering Windows NT, Powerplay,
Unix, System Builder and Novell. All can be carried out either in Manchester
or High Wycombe at their training centres, or alternatively at client sites.
JAC (01442) 235515
Contact Clive Ketteridge
JAC offer bi-monthly training courses that run for between two and five days.
Each course is tailored to the client’s requirements and can be conducted
either at JAC’s premises or on client sites. Training courses include Unix,
jBASE, Windows NT and Microsoft Visual Basic. JAC has conducted courses all
over the world.
MB TRAINING (01484) 713577
Contact Malcolm Bull
Probably one of the best-known names in MultiValue-related training. MB Training
offers a wide range of courses for all levels of staff from end-user to technical,
in Pick, Advanced Pick and Pick-like environments.
MDIS (01442) 274026
Contact the training administrator
MDIS conduct all their training from specially designed facilities at their
Hemel Hempstead offices or on site at your own premises. Their courses include
training in Reality/X databases, Reality/X programming, Unix, SQL and English.
These courses are run for analyst programmers and all support personnel. MDIS
also have partnerships with a number of other training organisations which include
Oracle Education, NETG and Tower Education.
PICK SYSTEMS LIMITED (01753) 891800
Contact Pick Systems Limited
Pick Systems offer a number of different courses from their base in Buckinghamshire.
These include the “small footprint programme” aimed at fast-tracking
attendees’ knowledge of Open Systems and D3 technology. They also run a
regular course in Unix and D3, and they have a business school programme. Plans
are afoot to develop a sales school, focus groups and a development forum. All
these courses are carried out at their Chalfont St Peter offices.
SOS LIMITED (0191) 483 9650
Contact Tony Coutts
SOS have over 75 years combined experience in the MultiValue arena and a wealth
of expertise gained ‘at the sharp end’ developing and supporting applications
on almost every MultiValue platform. They offer a range of training courses
including system administration and troubleshooting, DATABASIC, structured programming
techniques and ACCESS. All courses can be tailored to suit specific requirements
and conducted at either the client site or one of SOS’s three regional
offices in Tyneside, Bedford and New Barnet.
UNIDATA (01494) 684444
Contact Dianne Shayler
Unidata recognises that is has to offer a variety of different training products
to meet the needs of a diversified customer base. This assists Unidata clients
to maximise the power of the products they have provided. These include ad-hoc
reporting packages, various levels of Unibasic programming, System Builder courses
and wIntegrate workshops all carried out in customised training facilities based
in High Wycombe.
Whilst we have tried to identify some of the players and the educational programmes they offer this is by no means an exhaustive list of the options available. Do not hesitate to call these organisations to discuss your requirements in more detail - they may be able to custom-build a course to suit your specific needs. Your system vendor or reseller may also be able to make recommendations beyond the scope of this article. Wherever you go for your training, we strongly recommend that you gain satisfactory answers to the six questions above before making any financial commitments - and don’t be afraid to shop around!
Soo Langley
Last Updated: 30 June 1999