...Online learning reaches workers located in harsh and demanding environments throughout the world...

Tuesday 11th May 2010 - ILX Group plc, the best practice training company, today announced that it has won a major global contract to help KCA DEUTAG, a major international drilling contractor, to deliver project management training across 22 countries. ILX will host a secure e-learning platform to deliver both the APM Introductory Certificate in Project Management and PRINCE2® Foundation and Practitioner courses to remote geographic locations such as the arctic conditions in Siberia and Kazakhstan and offices based in the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa. KCA DEUTAG is one of the world's largest international drilling and engineering contractors working onshore and offshore with a focus on safety, quality and operational performance. KCA DEUTAG employs about 8,000 people and operates worldwide. The company has a history of over 100 years of drilling and engineering activities across the globe, and undertakes projects in some of the most harsh and demanding environments in the world, the Middle East and North Africa, West Africa, Siberia and Kazakhstan, and the challenging offshore conditions in the North Sea and offshore Sakhalin Island, far Eastern Russia. KCA DEUTAG has ambitious growth plans in 2010 and believes Best Practice Project Management skills provide a critical link to ensuring business success. 

Based at KCA DEUTAG's headquarters in Aberdeen, Scotland, Ian MacKenzie, Director of Projects, Technical Services and Business Excellence said, "Our staff often work on 28-day or 35-day rotation, either on a rig or in a remote geographic location which makes traditional classroom training unworkable.  Very few people within our organisation were formally trained as project managers and many learnt their key skills whilst on the job so we took the decision to invest in helping individuals gain formalised best practices through an introductory APM Certificate and the PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner. Our philosophy is very much geared towards continuous improvement and excellence in project management.  We believe that by deploying world class training to our remote workforce in a flexible and cost-efficient manner we will ensure consistency in our quality of work and ensure that all members undertake best practice methods in whatever they do.

KCA DEUTAG has a commitment to investing in our greatest asset - namely our employees - and we are confident this approach will help us meet our ambitious business objectives." In any one year, KCA DEUTAG has a number of on-going rig maintenance projects, upgrading and modification projects and expansion into new regions. This includes the expansion of the rig fleet by six new-build rigs - each a significant project in itself. Amidst its ambitious growth plans in 2010, KCA DEUTAG is also embracing a number of change management programmes within the organisation which will involve a number of geographically dispersed stakeholders and project managers within Human Resources, IT and Finance departments.  The new online courses are available to all senior or supervisory managers who are currently managing projects or are likely to do so. MacKenzie continues, "We selected ILX for two key reasons. 

First their ability to deliver the APM certificate and PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner courses in e-learning format with materials that were well presented and easily understood by everyone. 

Second, ILX's easy user interface encourages people to use the web-hosted training.  In fact, we ran an initial test across some of our remote bases and found that individuals wanted to start the course immediately. In just one month of launching the programme, over 240 people registered and started the online courses and we are expecting this number to further increase during the course of this year. PRINCE2 provides a consistent framework around which KCA DEUTAG will initiate, execute and complete projects throughout its global business - the KCA DEUTAG way." Eddie Kilkelly, Chief Operating Officer at the ILX Group, commented, "We are delighted to be supporting KCA DEUTAG in delivering fast and flexible project management training. This specific programme illustrates how e-learning can be rapidly rolled out to a geographically dispersed team without negatively impacting productivity.

Experience has shown us that e-learning also fits with employees' interest levels and attention spans. Bite-sized modules will also make the process easier for users to access the specific elements of the training when they need it. The appetite for e-learning and multimedia is here - it is therefore now up to Learning and Development professionals to put the right strategies in place and to maximise new learning tools."

-Ends-

NOTES TO EDITOR 
APM (Association for Project Management) Introductory Certificate in Project Management offers an insight into this exciting and challenging discipline. No prior knowledge or experience in project management is required for this certificate. It is designed for anyone looking to start a successful career in project management or those wanting to understand the principles of project management excellence. PRINCE2® is a process-based approach for project management, providing an easily tailored and scalable project management methodology for the management of all types of projects. The method is the de-facto standard for project management in the UK and is practiced worldwide. 

About ILX Group plc
ILX Group plc (ILX), founded in 1988, provides flexible training services through a blend of traditional classroom, workshops, innovative multimedia e-learning and implementation consultancy involving real life case studies and scenarios.  Courses are provided in programme and project management, IT service management and business finance and are aligned to the best practice of the Office of Government Commerce and the Association for Project Management, primarily in PRINCE2®, MSP™, ITIL® All of its training materials and quality systems are accredited by The APM Group, ISEB, CMI, APM and EXIN as appropriate. ILX has trained over 100,000 people this year with clients in 97 countries and these include BP, Ernst & Young, HM Prison Service, Home Office, NatWest, Norwich Union, Royal Bank of Scotland, Staffordshire County Council, T Mobile and Vodafone.  The company, which has offices in London, Cheshire, Berkshire and the US, was quoted on AIM in 2000.  For further information visit www.ilxgroup.com PRINCE2® is a Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce. MSP™ is a Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries. 

About KCA DEUTAG Drilling Ltd
KCA DEUTAG is one of the largest international land drilling contractors outside the Americas, and one of the largest platform drilling contractors in the North Sea. The company also operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units (3 wholly owned jack-ups and 7 part-owned Self Erect Tender Barges). KCA DEUTAG employs about 8,000 people and operates in over 20 countries worldwide.RDS, KCA DEUTAG's Engineering Division, has been a leader in the design of drilling facilities for offshore units worldwide for over 30 years. The company's 400-strong workforce provides a range of engineering services from pre-project and Front End Engineering Design (FEED) through detail design, construction support, hook-up and commissioning. The company also executes projects as an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Drilling (EPCD) contractor to provide platform drilling rigs on a turnkey basis from concept to operations. 

PR contact for KCA DEUTAG
Alex Christou
Corporate Communications Manager
Tel: +44 (0)1224 299863
Email: alex.christou@uk.kcadeutag.com 
Website: www.kcadeutag.com  

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© Press Release 2010