Client Profile

Customer Name: London Borough of Brent

Sector: Public Sector (Local Government)

Brent Council serves one of London’s largest and most diverse boroughs, delivering critical services across housing, education, public health and regeneration. Following the implementation of Oracle Cloud ERP and HCM, the Council selected Version 1 to build on this foundation and optimise its learning capability.

Brent already used a learning solution from Learning Pool but wanted to leverage Oracle Learn to deliver a seamless, fully integrated learning experience. The goal was to simplify learning for employees, improve visibility for managers and reduce manual effort for administrators, all within a challenging timeframe.

Overcoming learning platform challenges

Brent needed a modern learning platform that worked effectively for employees, managers and administrators.

Employees required a simple, intuitive learning experience. Managers needed clear, real‑time visibility of their teams’ progress. Administrators needed processes that reduced manual effort and removed the risk of inconsistency.

A key challenge was establishing a decentralised administration model, where departments could manage and maintain their own learning content, while global administrators retained full oversight. At the same time, the system needed to be easy to use and robust enough to support Brent’s core learning scenarios and governance requirements.

Learning and compliance challenges

  • Manual and inconsistent compliance management

    Mandatory learning was managed manually, making it difficult to apply consistent rules across roles, joining dates and renewal cycles. Tracking new joiners, managers and course renewals relied heavily on manual processes.

  • Limited line manager visibility

    Line managers lacked real time insight into their teams’ learning status and relied on HR and Learning teams for course assignment, progress tracking and reminders.

  • No structured learner feedback or evaluation

    There was no consistent approach to capturing evaluations, assessments or learner feedback, limiting Brent’s ability to measure impact and improve learning programmes over time.

  • Governance and access challenges

    Brent required stronger role based controls to balance central oversight with departmental ownership, reducing governance risk while enabling decentralised administration.

  • Microsoft Teams and Calendar integration

    Scheduling training sessions, issuing Microsoft Teams invites, tracking attendance and managing calendar communications was difficult due to the lack of seamless integration.

  • Fixed, non negotiable delivery timeline

    The legacy learning system licence was expiring, leaving just five months to implement and go live without disruption or additional cost.

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Why Brent Council chose Version 1

Version 1 took the time to understand Brent’s goals, challenges and the practical realities of its learning processes. Working closely with the Council, the team developed a clear, realistic delivery plan that covered the full scope of the implementation while meeting the tight deadline.

Particular focus was placed on system administration, user experience and reporting. Rather than building new reports from scratch, we made effective use of existing OTBI reports already developed, refining and consolidating them to provide accurate, reliable and fully tested insights from day one.

Beyond the technical build, we considered wider business processes, ensuring the solution aligned with how employees, managers and learning administrators worked across different departments. This approach demonstrated a strong understanding of both Oracle Learn and Brent’s organisational needs, giving confidence that the final solution would be complete, logical and future‑proof.

Working with Version 1 as our implementation partners was a fantastic experience. Their team brought deep expertise and were able to hit the ground running with a highly collaborative approach. From the outset, we had clear milestones, formal governance, and weekly progress updates that gave us total confidence in the project lifecycle. Not only did they handle business changes seamlessly, but they also delivered the Oracle Learn module on time and within budget. Thanks to Version 1, we now have a completely seamless system that requires no complex integrations. It has enriched our user experience and provided our managers and employees with intuitive information and reporting, all while saving money over our previous application.

Vik Kapoor, Head of Oracle Cloud Support

Delivering Oracle Learn quickly, simply and without disruption

The implementation was delivered using Version 1’s Maximise Cloud Methodology, which supports transformation programmes by delivering change in a predictable, low‑risk way across the Oracle Cloud lifecycle.

Work was organised into clear streams, including functional design, data migration, integrations and technical environment setup. These streams worked closely together throughout the project, coordinated by the project manager and supported by functional and technical leads to maintain alignment and momentum.

The programme began with product walkthrough sessions, allowing Brent’s team to fully understand Oracle Learn’s capabilities. Alongside this, Version 1 shared a structured questionnaire to prepare for deep‑dive workshops and focus requirements gathering on key areas such as renewal policies, automatic course assignment, access controls, assessments and evaluation forms.

A series of deep‑dive workshops followed to confirm requirements and capture them in a comprehensive design document. Once approved, configuration proceeded in line with the agreed solution design. Version 1 also delivered on‑site training for administrators, supported by clear training materials, ensuring teams were confident using the system ahead of go‑live.

User acceptance testing was closely managed, with issues tracked and resolved through a structured log. Following successful UAT and sign‑off, the solution was deployed to production with delivery remaining on schedule from start to finish.

The implementation was completed within five months, enabling Brent to go live before the legacy system licence expired. From day one, the focus was on building a learning platform that was simple to use, required less manual effort and gave the organisation confidence that learning was running smoothly.

Outcomes and benefits

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Automatic renewal and assignment of mandatory learning

Compliance management has been transformed. Mandatory courses are now automatically assigned based on agreed rules. New joiners receive the right learning as soon as they join, new managers are automatically assigned relevant leadership courses and departments have learning pathways triggered automatically. Course renewals now run without the need for manual tracking or intervention.

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Improved visibility and ownership for line managers

Line managers now have access to a dedicated learning dashboard, providing real time visibility of their teams’ learning status. Managers can view completed and overdue courses, assign learning directly, recommend training during check ins and send reminders through the platform without reliance on HR or Learning teams.

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Structured evaluations and assessments

Evaluation forms, assessments and learner feedback are now embedded within Oracle Learn, enabling Brent to assess effectiveness and continuously improve its learning programmes.

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Appropriate access and governance

The new administration model delivers both control and flexibility. Global administrators retain full oversight, while departmental administrators can manage only the employees and courses they are responsible for. This strengthens governance while supporting decentralised ownership.

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Microsoft Teams and Calendar integration

Training delivered through Microsoft Teams is fully integrated with calendar invites. Meeting links and reminders are generated automatically, reducing administrative effort and supporting smoother delivery of learning sessions.

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Reporting and dashboards

Reporting has been simplified and improved. Seven existing OTBI reports were reused and consolidated into a single dashboard, making learning data easier to access without technical support. Users can filter insights by hierarchy and department, providing clearer visibility across the organisation.