With implementation of TMS, some designated officers have assumed the roles of "Superuser", including "Training Authority (TA)", "Regional Training Coordinator (RTC)", "District Training Coordinator (DTC)" and "General Registry Personnel (GR Staff)" to handle enrolment and nomination procedures through the system.

To find out more about the operation of TMS, OffBeat has talked to two officers about their views and experiences of using TMS - Women Senior Inspector Beatrice Chan Wai-ling from the Police College and Assistant Clerical Officer Abby Li Po-ling from the New Territories North (NTN) Regional General Registry.

WSIP Chan, a TA user, is working in the unit that arranges Police Constable Continuation Training courses. After introduction of TMS, dissemination of all training course information and notifications of successful candidates, as well as capturing of the trainees' training records are made through the system. As an RTC, ACO Li is regarded as an important link between the TA and the DTC of NTN. Her major functions are to disseminate training course information to the DTC, collect and consolidate their nominations for onward transmission to the TA concerned.

Speaking of the benefits of TMS, both WSIP Chan and ACO Li have high regard for the "Report Generation - List of Eligible Officer" function.

Said WSIP Chan: "A constable has to take continuation training after a certain period of service. In the past, we had to go through many files to identify eligible officers, but now support staff are able to get an electronic list of these officers through TMS in a few minutes by simply inputting the required criteria."

ACO Li added: "In the past, if officers asked on the phone about their training records or statistics, we had to enter the 'Personnel Information Communal System', but we can now quickly compile the officers' training record through TMS with the 'Report Generation' function, thus saving a lot of time."

TMS is environmentally-friendly. In the past, nominations, enrolments and notifications were handled in paper form, and dispatch of paper documents to and from various stakeholders was time consuming.

ACO Li pointed out that as both the RTC and DTC could handle nominations and applications electronically via TMS, the whole process has become more efficient and smooth. She has seen a substantial reduction in the number of reminders issued by the Regional General Registry since implementation of TMS.

WSIP Chan finds that the system allows her to monitor the work of her staff more easily. She can spot and rectify their mistakes, if any, through TMS quickly as they are working on the same platform, unlike in the past she could only do that with reference to paper files while dissemination of the revised correspondences to Regions or Districts was time consuming. As a result, not only the accuracy of information is maintained but also work efficiency has been much enhanced.

From a general user's point of view, ACO Li considers that TMS has enhanced the officers' rights to information. She explained, "In the past, all information on training was passed via memos or e-mails from one level to another. As a result, officers could have missed the enrolment deadlines. But nowadays, all officers can have a clear picture of all available training courses through TMS, and take the initiative to seize the training opportunity."

ACO Li and other General Registry staff have from time to time received telephone enquiries from the users on how to operate TMS. "At the beginning, officers - no matter they are superusers or general users - had doubts about the new system, but after more practice and usage, they knew the system better and there were fewer telephone enquiries," she said.

In fact, there are several avenues for TMS enquiries, including the User Guide and FAQ, both being available on TMS website which is accessible by clicking into POINT -> Index->T->Training Management System, i.e. (http://point.hpf.gov.hk:8088/english/trg-wing/tms/index.htm), calling the Enquiry Hotline 2860-3891 and emailing the Help Desk (email: tms-helpdesk).

Police College Woman Senior Inspector Beatrice Chan is working as a "Training Authority"user under the TMS in a unit arranging Police Constable Continuation Training courses