program can be further defined. Resources are critical in every step of instructional system development, from the initial planning through training development, to operation and maintenance of an instructional system. During analysis, the identification of long-lead-time resource requirements such as training equipment and facilities is required in order to allow sufficient time to secure the needed resources or to develop alternatives in anticipation of resource constraints.
7.11.1 What are resources? Training resources are the supplies and support required to design, develop, implement, support, operate, and maintain an instructional system. Resources for an instructional system are categorized into five major areas as follows:
a. Equipment. b. Facilities. c. Funding.
d. Human resources.
e. Time.
7.11.2 Why analyze resources? Resource analysis allows for the identification and
estimation of the resources required to design, develop, support, operate, and maintain a training system. Resource analysis identifies:
a. Course development resources.
b. Quantity of resources required such as number of instructors, classrooms, bandwidth, and trainers.
d. Total cost of resources. e. Resource limits.
f. ROI.
g. Readiness.
7.11.3 Resource requirements considerations. When analyzing resource requirements, keep in mind the following:
7.11.3.1 Equipment. Identify new operational, system-peculiar, or unique equipment items required to support training as early as possible in the ISD/SAT process. Failure to identify requirements for training, support equipment, and test equipment to the operational equipment acquisition manager, early in the acquisition process, may delay training implementation. Order or procure equipment immediately after course objectives have been tentatively set and there is a valid requirement for the equipment. Develop a training system sustainment plan that outlines how operational equipment used in training will be modified as the configuration of the system it supports is modified. The training system needs to be upgraded before or at the same time as the system it supports to ensure personnel have training on the system configuration that is in use in the field. When selecting equipment, consider the following factors:
a. Suitability or appropriateness. b. Usability. c. Reliability. d. Maintainability. e. Cost. f. Delivery time. g. Maintaining configuration.
7.11.3.2 Facilities. Identify facility requirements as early as possible to allow sufficient time for budgeting and allocation of funds. A long lead-time may be required to build new facilities or modify existing facilities.
7.11.3.3 Funding. Prepare or revise a budget and get funds appropriated to allow for
procurement of equipment, construction or modification of facilities, and personnel costs such as payroll, and TDY for instructors or students. Budgets are normally submitted and approved long before money is actually spent. Therefore, managers and instructional developers must
determine, as early in the ISD/SAT process and as precisely as possible, what resources will be required for the instructional system.
7.11.3.4 Human resources. Lead-time for additional personnel such as instructional developers, instructors, student allocations, and maintenance support can be lengthy since it involves budget and personnel authorizations. When requesting personnel, such as instructional
developers and instructors, allow sufficient time to properly train them to do their assigned duties. Identify additional support personnel such as typists and hardware fabricators, if applicable.
7.11.3.5 Time. Allow sufficient lead-time to: a. Obtain the necessary equipment.
b. Build new or modify existing facilities.
c. Get personnel authorizations approved and personnel properly trained. d. Secure the required funding.
e. Design, develop, and implement an effective and cost-efficient training system. f. Schedule equipment maintenance and updates.
7.11.4 Analyzing resource requirements. When analyzing the resource requirements for the instructional system, ask the following questions:
a. Equipment:
(1) What types of equipment will be required (e.g., training, support, test, etc.)? (2) Will training equipment need to be developed?
(3) Is the equipment classified?
(4) What is the lead-time for equipment and parts?
(5) What equipment will be required (e.g., simulators, computers, maintenance stands, multimeters, etc.)?
(6) Where and how will the equipment be obtained? (7) How will the equipment be used in the course? (8) What quantities will be required?
(9) What is the life cycle of the equipment?
(10) In case of an equipment constraint, can alternative equipment be used? If so, what equipment?
(11) Will safes be required to store classified documents? (12) Who will maintain the equipment?
b. Facilities:
(1) What types of facilities will be required (classrooms, laboratory)? (2) Will a vault be required to store classified material?
(3) Will it be necessary to have secure classrooms? (4) How much space will be required?
(5) Are Government facilities available?
(7) Who will do maintenance/housekeeping of facilities (contract or in-house)? (8) Does the facility meet environmental requirements, if applicable?
c. Funding:
(1) What are the initial costs of equipment, facilities, and personnel?
(2) What are the recurring costs associated with operating the instructional system? (3) Are there TDY costs associated with training development or the conduct of the
course?
d. Human resources:
(1) How many instructional developers will be required to meet the training delivery date?
(2) Will qualified instructors be needed? If so, how many? What specialties?
(3) Will maintenance support be required? If so, will additional maintenance personnel be required?
(4) What are the student allocation requirements?
(5) Will the instructional system require additional overhead personnel?
e. Time:
(1) What is the training delivery date?
(2) How much time will be required to develop the training?
(3) Are there any equipment lead-time requirements? If so, for what equipment, and what are the lead times?
(4) If new or modified facilities are required, how long will it take? (5) What is the estimated course length?
7.11.5 Resource constraints. Resources needed to support the training requirement may not be readily available. When faced with a resource constraint, consider the actions/alternatives listed below:
a. Equipment:
(1) Borrow equipment belonging to other training organizations or organizational units. (2) Secure equipment from bases no longer in need of it.
(3) Share equipment with other training organizations or organizational units. (4) Use prototype equipment.
(5) Use a trainer or simulator rather than the operational equipment. (6) Increase group size on the equipment.
(7) Operate multiple shifts. (8) Increase class intervals.
(9) Temporarily remove items from the training requirement. b. Facilities:
(1) Use temporary facilities.
(2) Use other training organizations or organizational unit facilities. (3) Operate on multiple shifts.
(4) Decrease the group size. (5) Increase the class intervals. (6) Delay start dates for classes. (7) Outsource.
c. Funding:
(1) Reduce the resource requirements. (2) Seek alternative funding sources. (3) Predict ROI, readiness and costs. d. Human resources:
(1) Reduce the number of graduates produced.
(2) Borrow instructional developers or instructors from other training organizations or organizational units.
(3) Reduce the multiple instructor requirements. (4) Outsource.
e. Time:
(1) Borrow additional personnel such as instructors from other training organizations or organizational unit.
(2) Reduce course length.
(3) Select alternative methods or media. (4) Outsource.
7.11.6 Updating resource requirements. Resources required to support the instructional system are identified during the initial planning and analysis. As training development progresses through the design and development phases of ISD/SAT, it will be necessary to continually redefine and fine-tune system resource requirements. Updating resource
7.12 Design lessons. The purpose of lesson design is to provide a transition from analysis