Overall, the IRS has more than 100,000 far-flung employees plus tens of thousands of seasonal hires with training needs. Several learning alternatives will make the transition to new desktop environments easier, McCormick said. Many people will use Desktop Trainer 3.0 from MicroVideo Learning Systems of New York. Its CD-ROM courses teach Microsoft Access 97, Excel 97, Exchange Client 4.0, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, PowerPoint 97, Windows 95 and Word 97. IRS officials designed further types of instruction for them.
Employees can enroll in interactive video training classes broadcast by satellite downlink.
They sign up for one-hour help sessions and can view IVT class videotapes for help. Agency officials are experimenting with newsgroups so that users can discuss specific subjects online. For example, SVi Training Products Inc. of San Diego provides workbook courses that can be delivered to users as electronic files by intranet or e-mail. When field office development specialists decide that classroom training will work best, the National Learning Center provides materials, and the field offices usually hire one instructor for every six employees, McCormick said. She said IRS commissioner Charles O. Rossotti has set a three-year PC lifecycle as a goal for the agency.