Training Needs Analysis
Decide what each role needs to learn next, and show why.
Training plans are often pieced together once a year from a completion report, a survey and a compliance calendar. Training Needs Analysis (TNA) builds that picture from what Salalem already records. It lists each need, shows the evidence behind it, and keeps a record of what your team decided and why.
Every capability also works on its own. Connect more of your work through TNA as your practice develops.
How it works
It starts with needs and the evidence behind them.
A need is one thing a role may need to learn, such as complaint handling for relationship managers. Evidence is what each source says about that need. Everything else in TNA works from those two.
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Evidence
What one source says about a need: for it or against it, and how many people are behind it. Completions, deadlines, searches, requests and survey answers all count.
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Needs
One thing a role may need to learn, with all its evidence side by side. Needs are ranked by how many people are affected, how close the deadline is and how much demand there is.
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Decisions
A person chooses what to do about each need and records the reason. Not a training problem is one of the five choices.
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Responses
The decision is carried out: a program for the people affected, an article in the knowledge library, or an action for an owner outside L&D.
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Review
Later evidence appears next to the earlier decision, so your team can see what changed and decide what comes next.
A formal review keeps a fixed record of what was decided and why. Later reviews can revisit the reasoning without rewriting that record.
A worked example
Does this need another course?
In this fictional example, complaint-handling training is nearly complete, yet people still ask for help. The evidence gives a reviewer a reason to investigate before assigning another course.
Needs review
Retail banking, third quarter
Relationship manager48 people
Customer due diligence
P1- Completed
- 38%
- Training due in
- 61 days
- Asked for it
- 23
Sources agreeDecision TrainComplaint handling
P2- Completed
- 92%
- Training due in
- None
- Asked for it
- 41
Sources disagreeDecision Not a training problemDigital onboarding tools
P3- Completed
- 64%
- Training due in
- None
- Asked for it
- 9
Sources agreeDecision Awaiting decision
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Evidence you can inspect
See the source and the people behind a signal. Check what it supports before deciding what to do.
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A decision someone owns
Record the response and its reason. AI can help draft a suggestion; a person makes the decision.
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A record you can return to
Follow the linked response and return to earlier decisions when reviewing later evidence. Completed training alone does not prove a business result.
Where evidence comes from
Most of it is already in Salalem.
Each source answers a different question about a need. Every figure names its source and the number of people behind it, and none of them rates a person.
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What people have completed
Your Role Learning Matrix lists the activities each role must complete, assessments included. TNA counts how many people in each role have completed each activity. Where some have not, the activity becomes a need that shows how many people still have to complete it.
Role Learning Matrix · Courses · Assessments · External learning
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What needs to be completed
Bring required training, upcoming renewal dates, and expiring certifications into the same prioritization conversation.
Compliance · Certifications
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What people are looking for
Look at what people request from the catalog and what they search for without finding an answer. Repeated searches can point to a missing article as much as a missing course.
Catalog requests · Knowledge gaps
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What people are telling you
Managers propose learning for their team, or say none is needed, and name what stands in the way. Learners answer an anonymous pulse and the evaluations of the courses they take. The manager questionnaire and the learner pulse both ask about topics your team chooses. Anonymous responses are shown only in aggregate, and only once enough people have answered.
Manager proposals · Surveys · Evaluations
A source appears only when it is connected, you have access to it, and enough people have answered. An empty source does not mean there is no need.
Five possible decisions
Choose the response that fits.
Give every need a considered response, with a reason and a record of what happened next.
AI may help draft the reasoning. Your team records the decision and controls what is published or assigned.
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Train
Build or extend a learning program, then review and publish it for the intended audience.
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Already covered
Link the program that already addresses the need instead of creating duplicate learning.
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Defer
Record why the need can wait, so it remains part of the next review.
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Knowledge fix
Connect the need to a knowledge article or policy update and record the follow-through.
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Not a training problem
Record that the response belongs outside training, name an owner, and track the action. Conflicting evidence prompts investigation; it does not diagnose the cause.
One platform
The rest of Salalem feeds it and acts on it.
This is why TNA ties Salalem together. Each capability works on its own, with no needs review required. Connected, each one either supplies evidence to TNA or carries out a decision recorded there.
What feeds it
- Learning Journeys Your Role Learning Matrix: the activities each role must complete, and how many people in the role have completed each one.
- Assessments & Proctoring Assessments your Role Learning Matrix requires of a role, and how many people in the role have passed each one.
- Salalem Compliance Packs Required training and its deadlines, expiring certifications, and training a pack requires that your organization has not adopted yet.
- Surveys & Course Evaluations The anonymous learner pulse, the manager questionnaire in which managers propose learning for their team, and course evaluations.
- Knowledge Base Searches that found no answer, shown only once enough people have run them.
- Learner Experience What learners request from the catalog.
- Integrations When your HR system records a joiner or a role change, that person gets their own item for your team to decide on.
What acts on its decisions
- Learning Journeys A train decision becomes a program for the people the need is about, or links an existing program that already covers it.
- Knowledge Base A knowledge fix points the need at an article or policy in the library, and is marked done when the update is made.
- Salalem AI Drafts the reasoning and a suggested decision when asked. A person accepts it, changes it, or writes their own; nothing is recorded automatically.
- Learner Experience The program reaches its audience in the learner app. When a formal cycle closes, managers who answered the questionnaire are told what was decided.
- Salalem Compliance Packs Decisions, and whether their follow-up is finished, can be exported in your downloadable pack of proof as a chapter of their own.
Questions before you begin
Do we have to use TNA to use the other features?
No. Courses, programs, assessments, surveys, compliance, and knowledge management have standalone workflows. Use the capabilities you need, then connect more of your work through TNA. Feature access follows your plan and permissions.
Do we need a skills framework before we start?
No. Training Needs Analysis does not use a skills framework. It works from your Role Learning Matrix, required training, catalog requests, searches that found no answer, and questionnaires about topics you choose. If you keep a framework in Role Readiness, it stays there, and needs analysis does not read it. We’ll confirm which sources your organization can use.
Is needs analysis only an annual exercise?
No. Needs update as your records change, with no formal review required. Run a formal review when you want a fixed record of what was decided, for example for the annual plan.
Can we import our existing spreadsheet of needs?
Not today. Training Needs Analysis starts from records already in Salalem and from questionnaires.
Does AI decide what training to assign?
AI can draft a rationale and suggest a response. A person records the decision, reviews the content, and publishes learning through the normal workflow.
Start with a real learning question.
Bring a learning priority, a planning question, or a decision your team needs to make. We’ll walk through the relevant evidence, response, and follow-up for your organization.
Book a demo