Development of Fiscal Services Training Online Training

At the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, many staff play a role in procurement, budget, contract management, and other administrative processes—but lack training in DPH-specific fiscal structures and procedures. To empower staff to support these processes more confidently and efficiently, the DPH Commissioner’s Office asked ERG to develop a suite of concise, self-paced online trainings that would provide foundational knowledge for all staff—as well as information for program managers involved in procurement activities. To support learning and reinforce key concepts, DPH also asked ERG to develop companion fact sheets.

ERG began by analyzing DPH staff fiscal services-related training needs and learning objectives, carefully considering budget and time constraints. Based on our analysis, we proposed four 10- to 15-minute elearning modules (and companion fact sheets) with an appealing interactive design to engage staff whose primary knowledge bases are not centered on fiscal services. Collaborating with DPH subject matter experts to ensure that the training content accurately conveys complex fiscal concepts, we prepared outlines, storyboards specifying all content (sound and visual) and interactivities, and mockups for DPH review. This iterative approach helped DPH visualize, prior to module implementation, how the trainings would unfold, enabling us to develop the materials quickly and cost-effectively. Using Articulate 360, ERG then produced four photorealistic interactive training modules and accompanying fact sheets: Introduction to Procurement, Introduction to DPH Administration and Finance, Introduction to DPH Contract Management, and Introduction to DPH Budget Process. We used AI tools to generate text-to-speech narration to incorporate a variety of voices. An ERG 508 Trusted Tester conducted a full accessibility review and implemented enhancements to ensure that the trainings and fact sheets are accessible to all learners.