Imagine a learning experience that actually puts you in the role of a superintendent on a major construction project. You navigate through a virtual world with a 360-degree view of the construction worksite, identifying and resolving safety hazards by interacting with workers as you move through the site.
It was this vision that initially caught the attention of Bechtel executives. With the forceful leadership of Bechtel Environmental, Safety and Health (BESH), Research and Development (R&D), the political savvy of the e-Business Group, and strong support from Learning and Development, two staff instructional designers with a track record in simulation building were able to create the Bechtel Safety Simulator. But success came only after overcoming numerous setbacks and challenges. Here is the story.
Getting started
Bechtel is one of the world’s largest engineering and construction companies. Like many large corporations, Bechtel invested in an online university and learning management system as a means of delivering training. By the spring of 2001, Bechtel’s Learning and Development group were delivering both custom and off-the-shelf courseware to employees worldwide.
In the fall of 2001, the Learning and Development group started considering the idea of developing a safety training simulation. This was a high priority need, because safety is a leading corporate value at Bechtel. In fact, Bechtel had recently instituted a “Zero Accidents” program, so plans and activities aimed at achieving fewer accidents had a reasonable chance of getting support from senior management. At the same time, Bechtel’s e-Business Group was seeking to “incubate” innovative ideas that would use the Internet to improve Bechtel’s core business. These circumstances coincided with the fact that Paul Drexler and I were on staff and, as you will see, we had substantial experience in producing training simulations.
So a number of key factors came together — a high priority business need, an existing technical infrastructure, in-house expertise, and an internal funding source for developing a business case. The result was that we received funding to write a business case for the Safety Simulator that would be reviewed by the highest levels of Bechtel management.
The ghosts of simulations past
Paul and I began this journey before we became staff instructional designers at Bechtel. We had produced SFPD Homicide for Grolier Interactive in 1995. SFPD Homicide is a first person, story based true crime entertainment product that puts the user in the role of a homicide detective. (See Figure 1.) The game won critical acclaim and numerous awards including The Prize of the Professionals at Milia, the World Interactive Content Forum, in
FIGURE 1 The crime scene from SFPD Homicide.
Our simulation design and production track record gave us credibility with senior management at Bechtel. In addition, being able to show samples of our work proved useful throughout the selling and development process.
When the CD ROM game market collapsed, we adapted the design to produce Fair Lending Challenge for the Bank of America. (See Figure.) This CD ROM program trains Loan Officers and Underwriters in fair lending policies and procedures through simulating interactions with loan applicants and providing customized feedback. Fair Lending Challenge is considered a groundbreaking simulation and is cited by Ruth Clark and Brandon Hall in some of their presentations.
FIGURE 2 Fair Lending Challenge trains Loan Officers and Underwriters.
Paul later joined Oracle Corporation and again adapted the SFPD Homicide design to create a Web-based sales training simulation that could be delivered on low bandwidth without using plug-ins. (See Figure 3.)
FIGURE 3 The SFPD Homicide design was re-used in a Web-based sales training simulation.
Building the business case
But there were many aspects of the project that were new to us. We had never developed a detailed business case, and we had never been responsible for building executive support. As independent producers we were usually brought into a project after the business case had been made. Fortunately we were guided each step of the way by Allen Carr and Frank Glowatch from Bechtel’s e-Business staff.
The Safety Simulator business case needed to accomplish four key objectives:
- Tie the value of the Safety Simulator to key corporate strategies and values.
- Explain the value proposition including cost and return on investment.
- Present a well-thought out implementation plan.
- Provide “sizzle” — a vision that would get senior management excited.
In addition to the written proposal, we developed a demo and a PowerPoint presentation. An even more important part of the process was pre-selling key executives who could influence the senior managers who would make the final decision. In this process we worked closely with our executive sponsor, Kevin Berg, the Director of BESH, and the e-Business staff. We listened, we presented, we practiced, and we made changes. We also surfaced two key objections that we knew we would have to overcome. One had to do with the cost — the other had to do with the “sizzle.”
We knew that funding for new initiatives would be scrutinized very closely, even if the initiatives were deemed to be of value to the corporation. To address this issue we developed two approaches: a plan for producing the full 14-module product and a phased approach starting with a pilot. Our strategy was to present the full, more expensive package but to have the phased approach with a smaller initial budget in our back pocket.
We were not surprised by the cost concerns. But who would have thought that the “sizzle” factor could actually be a decisive issue? It boiled down to this: should the simulation use 3D animation or panorama technology to create the virtual world? Some of the key influencers wanted a more game-like, 3D experience. We felt that a 3D look would be more expensive to produce and would not perform as well in the Bechtel technical infrastructure. In addition we felt it would take away from the realistic “look and feel” that we believed would be more effective. Because we knew that this was a key issue, we developed an extensive comparison of the two technologies, noting pros and cons of each and recommending the panorama approach.
The big day finally arrived. We made our presentation to The Executive Committee... and walked out of the meeting with funding to produce a pilot using the panorama approach.
We hit the ground running
As soon as we were funded we began to work on the following deliverables:
- Detailed budgets and production schedules
- Hiring of vendors
- Audience/needs analysis
- Detailed content outline • Technical testing
We identified 30 well-respected representatives of our key audience groups (site supervisors, field engineers, and safety professionals). I conducted in-depth interviews to determine the root causes of hazards and of hazardous behavior. Paul worked with the subject matter experts to establish learning objectives, identify content, design meaningful scenarios and generate appropriate feedback. Paul also worked with the IT department to establish system-wide testing to determine the best media mix to deliver an immersive environment to 56K modem end-user machines worldwide on the Bechtel network. Norman Desmaris was our Technical Consultant and assisted us with these tests. We also directed and produced media for our prototype at a construction site in
We were in the midst of developing the creative approach and the prototype when we got the bad news: the company was cutting back on a number of discretionary projects. The plug was pulled on our project. We had to leave our beautiful bay view offices and return to our cubicles. We carefully documented all of our work so we could pick it up easily at a later date. Now Paul and I had to strategize with our executive sponsors about finding a new source of funding. Patience and persistence became our new mantra.
The hidden pot of money
Fortunately, our Project Manager, Allen Macenski, Environmental Safety and Health (ESH) manager of Bechtel’s government side, Bechtel Systems and Infrastructure, Inc. (BSII), told us of a little known grant program within Bechtel — the Corporate Funded Research and Development (CFRD) program. This program is part of the Department of Energy project management contract that Bechtel has with the Idaho National Energy and Environment Laboratory (INEEL). Funding is available for selected research-oriented projects with the majority of the funds to be spent at the
