Introduction {PMAIN-8} 

This is the User Manual for the ITS Skills Development Sub-System. It is one of a series of user and technical manuals that are available for the ITS systems.

The reader is referred to Section 3 for an overview of this sub-system.

It is assumed that the reader is already familiar with the general operation of the menu's and the keyboard.  These matters are fully discussed in the “Operational Aspects of ITS Systems - Integrator 1" Manual.

The reader is reminded that the copyright of the ITS systems and documentation remains with ITS, and that users thereof are contractually prohibited from providing information thereof to third parties, such as other educational institutions.

The ITS Skills Development Sub-System consists of the following modules:

1. Purpose



The main purpose of this module is to assist the institution in improving their performance and effectiveness through the development of the skills of personnel. The module will assist in following areas:

The module will also have facilities to record Job Analysis Information for each Post in the following areas:

• Key Performance Areas (KPA's).
• Tasks (Duties).
• Skills or Competencies Required.

2. Reporting in Terms of the South African Skills Development Acts

1. Some background on the South African Skills Development Acts 97 of 1998, 9 of 1999 and 55 of 1998:

The South African government constituted a SETA (Sector Education and Training Authority) to govern skills development for each sector in the economy. The education sector’s SETA is ETDP (Education, Training and Development Practices). A “Skills Levy”, calculated as a fixed percentage of the total remuneration expenses of an institution, is payable to the South African Government. Portions of the Skills Levy may be claimed back by institutions by submitting the following documents to the SETA:

• A Workplace Skills Plan (WSP).
• An “Annual Training Report”, the implementation of the Workplace Skills Plan. (referred to as the “Implementation Report” in this manual.)

The following information is quoted from the ETDP SETA Web site:

“The Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) is a very important document for your organisation and its employees; it is also important for the Education Training and Development Practices (ETDP) sector of the economy, and for the economy as a whole. The WSP, consistent with the intent of the Skills Development Act and associated legislation is a document that is designed to assist organisations to improve their performance and productivity through Skills Development. The WSP is one of the avenues through which the ETDP SETA can provide assistance to its member organisations in enhancing their performance. The formula is simple, if organisations in the Sector can perform effectively, then the performance of the sector will be enhanced, the economy will improve and the welfare of the nation as a whole will be advanced. Skills development is seen as one of the primary catalysts for this transformation. This document is the format for the preparation of Workshop Skills Plan. Its’ main purpose is to provide information on your organisation’s current employment profile and to indicate the training that you have planned for 2003 - 2004,in order to develop your employees’ and your organisation’s performance. The document also requests information on your Skills Development circumstances so that the ETDP SETA can render assistance and support to making your Skills Development initiatives work for you. “ A Legal Requirement “In compliance with the Skills Development Levies Act No.9 of 1999, employers who are registered PAYE contributor or whose remuneration for employees exceeds R 250 000 per annum should contribute 1% of its total payroll towards the Skills Development Levy. The funding regulations specify that employers who are up-to-date with their levy payments can claim back a portion of their levy as a grant from the ETDP SETA. Such claims can only be made if the organisation appoints a Skills Development Facilitator, and if the organisation submits a Workplace Skills Plan to the ETDP SETA before 31 May 2003. Upon submission of the WSP, the organisation is entitled to claim 15% of their levies paid and upon submission of the Implementation Report for that WSP, 45% of the levies paid can be claimed as a grant. Only organisations that submit WSP’s are eligible to submit Implementation Reports.

To enable the institution to claim back portions of the Skills Development Levy, they should familiarise themselves with the Skills Development Act as well as the ETDP SETA.  For more information, contact the Education, Training and Development Practices SETA.

Please note that some portions of the reports to be submitted to the SETA are not recorded in the system and should be added manually. They are:

• Workplace Skills Plan:
  

• Administrative details that do not exist on the ITS system.
• Some information on the In-House-Training Report.
• Learnership Report.
• Implementation Challenges Report.
• Process and Authorisation Report.
  

• Implementation Report:
  

• Administrative details that do not exist on the ITS system.
• Content of training related responsibilities of the Skills Development Facilitator.
• Information on the Skills Development Facilitator.
• In-house Training Facilities Report.
• Skills Shortages Report.
• Training priorities and Skills Intervention Report.
  

2. Reports from the system that will assist with the completion of reports in terms of the South African Skills Development Acts.

The following reports will assist and can be printed from the menu's as indicated:

1. Implementation Reports

1. Administrative and Organisational Detail
2. Actual Employment Profile.
3. Planned Training.
4. Course/Occupational Category.
5. Available Service Providers for Planned Training.
   

2. Workplace Skills Plan:

1. Planned versus Actual Training.
2. Details of Service Providers.
3. In-house Training Report.
4. Employees where the Level of the Highest Qualification Obtained is below 1.
   

3. System Setup



The ITS Skills Development module is highly integrated with the ITS Personnel Evaluation system and is linked to all other relevant ITS systems.

1. Code Structures

The Code Structure is a central aspect of the Skills System and the entry of the codes are the first step in the implementation of this system. Careful planning should be exercised to ensure that the desired statistical reporting will be achieved.  Below is a list of the structures:

The structures are discussed in more detail in the sections describing the maintenance screens of the structures.

2. Implementation Sequence

1. The successful implementation of this system is dependant on the personnel system being fully operational at an institution.


2. The definition of the code structures in options {PSDCS-1} to {PSDCS-15} should be completed as the first step in the implementation of the system after ensuring that the personnel system is operational. The main dependencies between the code structures are listed below.


3. Additional Codes in the operational menu {PSDOP-1} to {PSDOP-4} should be completed before Course Details and Bookings for Courses can be entered.


4. Personnal Development Plans can be entered for individual personnel members using {PSDOP-11, 12, 13 and 14}.  More detail is discussed in the sections pertaining to these options.
5. The Workplace Skills Plan {PSDOP-15} can now be set up.  This is a summary of training planned for a specific year.  In the Workplace Skills Plan Report, planned skills training is measured against actual training.


6. The Target Equity Figures {PSDMT-1} is a planning tool for equity objective figures.  The report “Employment Equity Targets” on {PSDMTR-1} is dependant on this information.