Ensuring compliance in a web-development environment is critical from a business perspective because, in case of failure, personal user data and company reputation are put at risk.Compliance may refer to different aspects; some of them are legally bound with data protection laws like GDPR, or CCPA, and others are field-specific compliances like HIPAA or PCI. We can also speak about compliance in following internal security rules like regular code reviews, managing an API, or adhering to certain code policies. All of them need to be taken into account when developing the business logic of the software, planning updates, and for sure during onboarding.
Let’s see how company leaders can improve compliance training for your development team.
Assemble the Initiative Team
Process success is largely determined by people contributing to the initiative. The team should include a project manager responsible for training program delivery on time and on budget, a methodologist to categorize the material so that it’s put in a comprehensive way, and a subject matter expert who will validate the course content. Usually, it’s a tech lead or an architect when it comes to internal compliance.
When it comes to external compliance like GDPR, it’s recommended also to involve an independent consultant to assess your readiness and suggest the list of requirements to follow and provide advice on compliance.
Outline the Main Learning Needs
Usually, the content preparation starts with the analysis of the latest compliance standards, theory, and explanation of the terms. Then, goes the process of preparing practical tasks and tests to check and confirm the progress.
At this stage, you need to take into account the background of your employees, their current knowledge, and company-specific information on compliance rules. You can prepare and send out questionnaires to gather the learning preferences of your team or outline the learning needs by auditing incidents related to compliance to reveal existing gaps.
Choose The Best Learning Management System For You
The quality of material is the most important, but presentation does matter. Even if the most useful content is poorly presented, the final results will not be satisfactory. Here’s where a Learning Management System (LMS) comes in handy. With its help, you will be able to make your content easy to digest, while supplementing it with visuals like graphs, images, and videos. It can also include interactive elements like hints, analytics, and inbuilt progress checkers which make the training consistent and interesting to participate in.
Encourage Learning
Make the learning easy and fun by adding gamification like leaderboard, badges, and certificates. You need to make the compliance training obligatory though without putting pressure on employees. Include this activity into sprint planning so that teammates know their capacities when planning other tasks. It’s a common practice to allocate several working hours per week so that your development can dedicate them for learning and development.
Measure the Results and Gather Feedback
Make sure to include an assessment at the end of the training program in the form of a test or a practical task. This way, people engaged in the learning process development to measure the effectiveness of the course. Asking employees for feedback during the learning process and upon completion will contribute to the training program improvement. A thorough feedback analysis will help you to outline the major difficulties your team faces during learning, and adjust the content adding or removing some materials from the course.
Keep Materials Up-To-Date
The laws may undergo changes, as well as security requirements because these are dynamic fields. It’s not enough to come up with proper learning materials and compile the training program just once and for good. If you want the training program to be effective, you need to monitor changes and plan regular updates, so course content remains relevant and useful for your team.
Following these simple steps will help you to maintain the highest standards and employee engagement during the learning process. With properly organized training, you can rest assured that your company is safe and sound when it comes to meeting all compliance needs.
