REDESIGN AND COMBINE

RETAIL LEGAL AND RETAIL

TRANSFERS
INSTRUCTOR-LED TRAINING
COURSES
FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE
RETAIL PROCESSING OPERATIONS MANAGERS,
DEPARTMENT MANAGER AND DIRECT REPORT

Submitted by:
Michelle Ollmann
Instructor-led Training Manager
March 30, 2016
Michelle.Ollmann@usbank.com

September 26, 2016

Dear Retail Processing Department Managers:

As the Instructor-led Training Manager, Im seeking your approval to redesign and combine
the current Processing Retail Legal Trades (Legal) and Processing Retail Transfers (Transfers)
Instructor-led Training (ILT) courses.
Currently, Legal is the fourth of six ILT courses that Retail Processors and Quality Control
Representative (QCers) must complete in their learning plan. Legal is a nine-day course that
focuses on processing shareholder redemption requests such as IRA distributions,
redemptions via check, and redemptions via automated clearing house (ACH) or Wire.
Although the course includes over one hundred practice liquidations, it often finishes in only
seven days, and the practice is somewhat repetitive.
The Transfers course is a two-day course that covers the processing specifics for
reregistering accounts in the case of death, marriage, or other instances of ownership
change. Processors and QCers attend this course more than a month after theyve attended
the Legal course. Within that timeframe, they may receive Legal requests with
corresponding Transfer items. Furthermore, the Transfers course often feels rushed, and
feedback indicates that both groups feel they have not had enough practice with these
important trade types.
Redesigning and combining these courses will reduce risk and streamline onboarding by
preparing new Processors and QCers to process and review legal trades and transfers during
the same course. As noted above, these requests often come in together and can
inadvertently be reviewed by someone who has completed Legal training but hasnt yet
attended the Transfers course. Mistakes could result in complaints, adjustments and
incorrect tax reporting.
Furthermore, scheduling additional time off of the floor reduces processing time and
instructor availability. Redesigning the courses to be combined would allow us to balance the
content and fit it into one ten-day course. While this would be equal to the current training
hours scheduled, it would make better use of those hours by providing more practice on
Transfers and a less repetitive practice of Legal items. It would also ensure Processors and
QCers have a better understanding of how these items are the same and how they are
different. A more balanced approach to the content and practice will allow us to slowly build
upon the concepts and their understanding, while using the practice to emphasize, rather
than repeat, processes.
I appreciate your consideration. I believe this approach will reduce risk and make a more
effective use of the time allotted to training; subsequently, providing trainees with the
knowledge and tools they need to be successful. Ultimately, I look forward to working
together to improve resource management and reduce risk in the Transfer Agent.
Sincerely,
Michelle Ollmann
Instructor-led Training Manager

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September 26, 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BACKGROUND......................................................................................................................... 4
ISSUES AND CONSIDERATIONS................................................................................................ 5
PARTICIPANTS.......................................................................................................................... 7
PROPOSED ACTIONS................................................................................................................ 8
Training will use the Course Creation Checklist to:...............................................................8
Training will use the Course Evaluation and Assessment reports to:....................................9
Training will continue to maintain the new Legal and Transfers course by:..........................9
TIME...................................................................................................................................... 10
OUTCOMES............................................................................................................................ 11
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION................................................................................................12
APPEDICIES........................................................................................................................... 13

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September 26, 2016

BACKGROUND

In an effort to reduce risk and continuously improve our training courses to accommodate
the learning needs of the Transfer Agent (TA), the Training department has been discussing
ways to improve ILT courses. As you know, the Instructional Designers on our team have
been working hard to write training content that focuses on the why behind TA processes.
Collectively, we have learned that it is more important for people to understand the financial
industry, the logic behind processes, and the risks and results of shareholder complaints,
than it is to blindly-follow work instructions. We have been incorporating this new balanced
approach to content and practice, and overall we have seen a higher level of understanding
and processing accuracy during training. We want to model this approach in all of our
classes while also remaining flexible in scheduling ILT courses; however, courses that include
more concept review and discussion naturally take longer. This has led us to review our
course content, our practice examples, and the processes covered in our various courses, in
order to find creative solutions for the learning needs of the departments responsible for
those processes.
Going forward we will develop courses that meet the needs of multiple departments, and we
will group similar processes together whenever possible. As a result, we have identified a
few courses that should be combined in order to reduce risk, streamline on-boarding, and
increase Instructor availability. Among the courses identified were the Processing Legal
Trades and Processing Retail Transfers courses.

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September 26, 2016

ISSUES AND CONSIDERATIONS

1. In their 2016 Learning Needs submission, Quality Control requested an ILT be created that
combines Legal and Transfers training, in order to reduce risk within their department.
2. Because many Transfer requests are attached to liquidation requests, QCers that have
completed the Legal course and are waiting for Transfer training have missed processing
errors associated to Transfers.
3. In 2015, the Training Department led the:
Legal course five times
Transfer course five times
4. In 2015, a total of:
5 Processors attended the Legal course
6 QCers attended the Legal course
14 Processors attended the Transfer course
No QCers attended the Transfer course

2015 Legal and Transfer Course Offerings

5. According to Adjustment reports provided by the TA Reporting Group:

175 Transfer errors were missed in 2015.
Of those, eight were associated with a Legal trade.
33 Transfer errors were missed to date in 2016.
Of those, one was associated with a Legal trade.

o
o
o

6. The current nine-day Legal course is unnecessarily repetitive and often finishes early.
According to our records, the Legal course averaged just over seven days in 2015.
The Legal course contains the following practice using the Transaction screen (F3):
52 AOR Redemptions
17 Special Handling Redemptions (Overnight)
27 Special Payee Redemptions

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September 26, 2016

o
o
o

o
o
o
o

14 ACH Redemptions
18 Wire Redemptions
43 Rejects
7. The current two-day Transfers course feels rushed and needs more practice.
The Transfer course contains practice items that introduce and enforce the following:
9 BIN Transfers
11 Non-Fid Death Transfers
2 Divorce Transfer
9 Rejects
8. Last year your department requested that all Retail Processing courses be updated with
a more balanced approach to the content and practice.
Historically, Retail Processing courses were designed to emphasize practice rather
than conceptual understanding.
Our current environment has presented new challenges:
o Lower tenured staff
o Initiatives to reduce risk, continuously improve, innovate and evolve
9. Creating a separate course that reviews the same concepts and processes for the
Quality Control department will inevitably mean less Instructor availability for other
courses and Learning Needs.

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September 26, 2016

PARTICIPANTS
ILT Training Manager
Instructional Designers
SMEs from the Retail Processing and Quality Control departments.
Manager(s) who will be designated decision maker(s)
Manager(s) who will provide final sign-off on the project
Quality Control Reporting department

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September 26, 2016

PROPOSED ACTIONS
TRAINING WILL USE THE COURSE CREATION CHECKLIST TO:

Identify SMEs from the Retail Processing and Quality Control departments.
Identify Manager(s) who will be designated decision maker(s) during the course design.
Identify Manager(s) who will provide final sign-off on the project.

ANALYZE THE EXISTING COURSES AND IDENTIFY ANY GAPS IN THE CURRICULUM
BY:
o Conducting an Instructor Immersion to observe and interview SMEs.
o Reviewing department documentation. Our analysis and design includes review of
supporting documentation because the documentation is likely a central piece of
the final course. Documentation updates may be necessary to complete the
project and delays in updating them will extend project timelines.
o Rewriting course objectives to align with new combined course needs.
o Obtaining Stakeholder sign-off on rewritten course objectives from designated
decision maker(s).

DESIGN AND DEVELOP A NEW COURSE BY:

o Identifying additional resources needed to research and create new examples.
o Creating a Project Task list to outline the course and specify which examples and
practice will be needed to meet the objectives of the course.
o Researching and creating new training examples and practice.
Decreased number of Legal practice examples.
Increased number of Transfer practice examples.
Increased concept and TA process discussions, practices, and reinforcements.
o Drafting new course materials, including:
Instructor Guide
Trainee Guide
Course Schedule
Peer Mentor Tasks
Course Prepping Documentation
Learning Evaluation
UPLOAD AND SCHEDULE THE NEW COURSE IN TA DEVELOPMENT CENTRAL.
DELIVER NEW COURSE.

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TRAINING WILL USE THE COURSE EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT REPORTS TO:

Monitor the transfer of learning

Assess Trainee satisfaction
Monitor and adjust the course schedule as appropriate

TRAINING WILL CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN THE NEW LEGAL AND TRANSFERS

COURSE BY:

Monitoring department documentation for process updates

Reviewing Adjustments Reports provided by Reporting to determine if content is
balanced and making a measurable impact on errors and adjustments related to
Legal and Transfer items.
Continuing to update course material to remain accurate and relevent to processes
and examples found in production.

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September 26, 2016

TIME
ILT courses will take precedence over any learning need projects, include course redesigns.
Currently the primary Account Services Instructional Designer, Andrew, is mentoring his
counterpart; therefore, staff limitations will be the primary constraint. Andrews availability is
limited during the second quarter of 2016; however, by the end of the second quarter, our
additional Account Services Instructional Designer will be leading the Processing Retail
Trades course on her own, which will increase Andrews project time during the third and
fourth quarters of 2016.

Account Services Instructional Designer Second Quarter ILT Schedule

Based on historical and current ILT training needs during the third and fourth quarters, the
estimated completion date for this project would be year-end 2016.

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September 26, 2016

OUTCOMES
As a result of this project we will be:

Completing Legal and Transfer training during the same ILT course.
Eliminating thirty-day time period between the Legal and Transfers course.
Introducing Legal and Transfer items together to assist Processors and QCers in
identifying how these items are similar and different. The blended approach will allow
for curriculum to build and reinforce over time, rather than feeling rushed or
repetitive.
Eliminating adjustments and errors attributed to Processors and QCers that are Legal
trained but not yet Transfer trained.
Adding practice and reinforcement of difficult Transfer trades.
Reducing ILT courses to schedule, prep, and facilitate each year.
Combining courses to meet the needs of multiple departments with one ILT,
inevitably ensuring more Instructor availability for other ILT courses and learning
need projects in the future.

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Combining the Legal and Transfer course would reduce errors in production by eliminating
the risk associated to Transfer requests that are often attached to Legal items. Furthermore,
it would make better use of training resources by reducing the total number of ILT courses
offered.
Ultimately, it is our primary objective to work closely with all departments within the TA to
deliver the training needed to best equip employees to provide positive experiences to our
clients shareholders. Courses that have a balanced curriculum that emphasize concepts, as
well as processes, provide the foundation needed for new employees to contribute to our
continuously evolving processes, and identify ways to reduce risk within processes and their
own work.

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APPEDICIES

2015 Legal and Transfer Course Offerings...............................................................................5

Account Services Instructional Designer Second Quarter ILT Schedule...............................10
Adjustments Reports Provided by Reporting........................................................................5, 9
Course Creation Checklist....................................................................................................... 9
Project Task list........................................................................................................................ 8

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