A decision support system for personnel training needs assessment

ABSTRACTMSc THESISA DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR PERSONNELTRAINING NEEDS ASSESSMENTEsra GÜNDÜZUNIVERSITY OF CUKUROVAINSTITUTE OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCESDEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERINGSupervisor: Assist. Prof. Oya H. YÜREG RYear 2006, Page: 128Jury: Assist. Prof. Oya H. YÜREG RAssoc. Prof. Rızvan EROLAssist. Prof. Arzu UZUNNowadays, changes in internal and external environments, technologicaladvancements and international competition have forced companies to manage theirhuman resources more effectively and efficiently. A continous high-quality trainingsystem for personnel is needed to succeed in competition besides recruiting rightperson. The first step of high-quality training system is to assess true training needs.Training needs assessment is determining and prioritising training needs throughfilling gaps between current situations and desired situations of personnel.In this study, training needs assessment process is computerized by using MS-Access in order to analyze the training needs in a right, fast and systematic way. Forthis purpose, literature review related to training needs assessment was carried outand interviews with experts on this area were handled. For the training needsassessment decision support program, system analysis was done and conceptualmodels for process and data were prepared. Conceptual models were converted intothe physical models through Visual Basic programming-language and SQL query-language by using MS-Access. Developed MS-Access program was tested forvalidity and evaluated by three firms in Adana.Key Words: Training needs assessment, training needs analysis, humanresources, decision support, MS-Access.