Canvas, built on the reputation for providing creative solutions for technical problems, has found an innovative way to combat the shortage of schedulers in the government contracting industry.
James Brede, Canvas Director of Army Programs and Project Manager for Canvas PEO Missiles and Space contracts, spent the last few months working with a team of Canvas schedulers and software engineers to develop a Scheduling Bootcamp, the first training module housed on the new Canvas Learning Management System (C-LMS).
“Canvas’ engineering expertise allows us to apply a technical disciple to the scheduling process,” explains Brede, a veteran scheduler. “So, while schedulers have become a hard-to-find commodity, our in-house Scheduling Bootcamp allows our employees to gain new technical skills while benefiting our customers.”
After completing the Scheduling Bootcamp, employees are prepared to obtain a Microsoft Project Certification and are ready to go on site as a basic or intermediate scheduler.
“Based on previous mentorship programs, we’ve been very successful equipping our employees to excel in their job performance,” explains Canvas COO, Larry Couvillon. “Our Scheduling Bootcamp builds on this past performance and benefits our customers by ensuring their contract workforce is fully trained and qualified to support their mission. It’s a win-win.”
The C-LMS is just getting started, further details Couvillon. Future trainings, designed for Canvas employees who support customers on contract, include modules on Acquisition, Model Based Systems Engineering, and Test Execution.
“Every day we’re trying to come up with ways to be innovative and diversified,” states Brede. “As a company, it’s not in our culture to sit back and wait for things. If we can think of a better way to do something, we are going to figure out how to make it happen. Most of the time, it’s before our customer even asks for it.”
Since creating the Learning Management platform, Canvas plans to leverage this capability to create a similar, external platform for a current customer. Ultimately, the platform will house a training module for the customer to prepare their workforce for mission execution.
“I’m incredibly proud of everyone that worked on this product,” touted Couvillon. “The team saw an opportunity for Canvas to grow our internal talent, create a new product collaboratively, and build a product that ultimately benefits our customers. This is a prime example of what it means to be Canvas.”