This paper describes assessing the effectiveness of training programs using the Study of Organization Opinion (SO3) methodology which has been developed in the course of performing multiple assessment projects for the Army and joint community. SO3 is based on concepts that are foundational to Customer Relationship Management (CRM). SO3 is effective in extracting tacit assessment knowledge from training stakeholders and analyzing the knowledge to provide actionable information to decision makers.

The SO3 methodology uses open-population surveys of training stakeholders. Organizational objectives (study goals) are disaggregated to derive deliverable questions and the likely stakeholder population is studied to choose respondent groups. Questions are linked to respondent groups to create questionnaires. Questionnaires are delivered via multiple means, including via the web, interview, focus groups, and written surveys. Once questionnaires are complete, the data is aggregated using various analysis methods to provide various levels of findings.

The paper provides numerous practitioner lessons learned, such as: the importance to the assessor of knowing the targeted organization, the importance of treating assessment as a cross-organizational competency, and the emphases on response quality. Finally, the paper recommends assessment improvement objectives, such as seamlessly integrating assessment into the training program, persistent assessment, and inter training-modality metrics for measuring training competency required and supported.