HAI Group Online Training has proudly supported the public and affordable housing industry for the past three decades. Today, more than 30,000 users from 3,000 organizations nationwide trust HAI Group Online Training for professional development, certifications, and the skills needed to excel in the field. Our training platform offers the convenience of learning at your own pace, from any location, at a time that suits you best.
HAI Group Online Training continues to innovate and enhance its offerings for subscribers and HAI Group insurance policyholders, who have access to dozens of free courses. Its latest feature—the Assign and Buy Tool—reinforces the platform as a top-tier online training resource.
The Assign and Buy feature combines the existing training assignment and purchase tools into one comprehensive system that provides convenience and accessibility.
“The Assign and Buy functionality is efficient and effective at delivering training at scale,” said Joseph Edelstein, an HAI Group Online Training customer success specialist.
Before getting started with Assign and Buy
Administrators should ensure their learning roster is current before fully taking advantage of the Assign and Buy feature. Online Training staff can assist with reuploading team lists for current subscribers, ensuring you maximize your time savings when using the tool.
“If you feel that your roster is out of date—individuals who are no longer employed at your organization are on your list, or staff who are missing from your roster—we are happy to reconnect with your lead on your subscription to reupload your list,” says Edelstein.
Once your roster is updated, visit the course you wish to purchase and assign to team members. The Sexual Harassment: Education and Prevention course, updated annually, is one of the more in-demand courses available on the online training platform to assign to staff.
Bulk assigning courses
To assign courses to team members in bulk, access the Manage tab at the top of your browser. From here, you can create training assignments. Edelstein strongly suggests:
- Renaming assignments to include the course name, date (YYYY-MM-DD), and the assignee’s initials for consistency.
- Having a completion due date in mind before making a purchase.
You can edit content, assignees, due dates, and effective dates within each training assignment.
Setting a due date—identified in the above image—dramatically increases the odds that assigned team members will complete the required course or certification. The Assign and Buy feature allows administrators to set up to five reminder emails to keep the coursework at the top of the team members’ minds. You can also implement a rolling due date for new employees assigned to the training.
The Select All feature is available if you want all employees to take a specific course. As noted earlier, ensure your team roster is current if you plan to use this feature.
When you are ready to create your training assignment, select Add Users to Cart to finalize your purchase and activate your training assignment.
Once your purchase is complete, your training assignment will move from Draft to Assigned, and your assignment will be live. If you navigate to your receipt, you will see a line-item breakdown of each person assigned to your recently purchased course.
Many longtime HAI Group Online Training users will notice that the new Assign and Buy feature eliminates assigning course keys to team members. Traditionally, administrators had to assign keys to each team member who needed to take a course, a rather time-consuming process for program coordinators at housing authorities, who already have an ever-increasing workload.
Assigning free courses
If you subscribe to HAI Group Online Training, you receive an additional benefit: you can assign free courses to team members. Assigning free courses eliminates the need to checkout, allowing you to assign courses directly from our course catalog to your team. You may also assign free courses using the Manage tab through the traditional assignment tool method.
Excellent options for free assignments include HAI Group Online Training’s New Employee Orientation for Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and the Cyber Awareness Essentials courses.
To assign a free course, select Assign on the right side of the browser while on the course page. You must create a training assignment for the chosen course before you can assign it to a team member from this page.
“This tool helps to reduce redundancy within your organization if you have training assignments already established,” says Edelstein.
Bottom line
The new Assign and Buy feature is easy to use and saves time. Setting a due date and implementing reminder emails for training eliminates the need to manually remind team members, increasing the likelihood they finish their course within the allotted timeframe.
Receipts detail who benefits from the training purchase, though this does not apply to standard purchases.
If you are an administrator and have questions about the Assign and Buy feature, please contact one of our Online Training specialists.
Interested in learning about more courses? Check out our 2024 Catalog.
This article is for general informational purposes only. HAI Group makes no representations or warranty, express or implied. Your use of the information is at your own discretion and risk. HAI Group nor any of the authors, contributors, administrators, or anyone else connected with HAI Group, in any way whatsoever, is responsible for your use of the information contained herein. Our purpose is to provide an overview of the specific subject matter, and our recommendation is to play it safe and consult with a professional specializing in the specific subject matter for guidance.
