Automated Briefing System (ABS)The Automated Briefing System (ABS) enables anyone with average computer skills to develop and deliver automated briefings or training. No programming skill is required. You may create the briefing or training by entering into the ABS program links the material you have asked your personnel to read, along with questions designed to test that they have completed the required reading and learned the key points. The Department of Defense Personnel Security Research Center developed the ABS system in response to requests and comments from users of the Customizable Security Guide. In order to meet their security awareness briefing requirements, these users needed to be able to confirm that their personnel had actually read and learned from designated sections of the Security Guide. You may also use the ABS to brief/train your personnel on any other topic about which information is available electronically. For example, it can be used for Ethics, Sexual Harassment, or Workplace Violence briefings, to familiarize personnel with your Employee Assistance Program, or to train personnel on new organization policies. As compared with many other types of computer-based briefing or training programs, ABS has these advantages: · No Cost: The software is free to all elements of the U.S. Government and to U.S. Government contractors on condition that it be used only for a U.S. Government purpose. · Quick and Easy: A person who is familiar with ABS and knows the subject matter to be covered can create an automated briefing/training session in one day. Programming skills are not needed. ·
Flexible: Once a briefing/training session is prepared, it
is very simple to update it occasionally or adapt it to different target
audiences. ·
Records of
Employee Performance: The software
maintains a record of everyone who has taken the briefing/training and how
they performed on the quiz, so employees can be held accountable for what
they are supposed to have learned. ·
Customizable:
Several elements of the program
are customizable by the user. For
example, the title Automated Briefing System could be changed to XYZ Corp.
Briefing System and the Defense Security Service (DSS) seal can be replaced
with the user's seal or logo. The disadvantage of ABS as compared with
other computer-based briefing or training programs is that the briefing
developer has no control over the format of the content. The briefing developer only provides the
links to other materials that form the briefing content. The material on these other sites cannot be
imported into the ABS program and edited or otherwise modified. For those who prefer to develop their own
PowerPoint briefings, the benefit of ABS is to develop and present a quiz on
the PowerPoint briefing, maintain automated records of those who pass the
quiz, and print out certificates of completion. ABS will be especially useful for two
quite different types of organizations: ·
Small
organizations that lack expertise or resources to develop their own
briefings/lessons and lack the funds to pay someone else to perform this
function. Using the Security Guide as
source material, such organizations can prepare a security or threat
awareness briefing quickly and at no cost. ·
Larger
organizations that develop their own PowerPoint or video briefings/lessons
but want to test their personnel to confirm they have learned from the
briefing/lesson, and/or who want to maintain automated records of who has and
has not taken the briefings/lessons, can do this with the ABS software. ABS consists of two programs that are
downloaded together -- the Developer Program for developing the
briefing/training and the Presentation Program for delivering the
briefing/training in either a web-based environment or a client-server
environment. Installation of ABS on
your computer creates two separate icons -- one for the Developer Program and
the other for the Presentation Program. Developer Program
You use the Developer Program to create
the briefing/training session. A "Briefing
Profile" defines procedures to be used in each session. Each session involves a series of questions. You formulate and input the questions, add
links to materials that respondents should read before answering the
questions, and add feedback to be given for correct or incorrect answers. In creating a briefing/training session,
you have the following capabilities: ·
Ask
respondents to link to the reading material before answering any of the
questions, before each question, before a set of questions, or after the
wrong answer to a question. ·
Ask four types
of questions -- true-false, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, or short
answer. ·
Ask questions
in a fixed order or randomly select a specified number of questions from a
larger list questions and present these in random order. ·
Provide
feedback to the respondent after each answer or only after all questions have
been answered. ·
Maintain
records and print out reports on who has taken the briefing/training and
whether they passed or failed the quiz.
Also transfer these records to an Excel file that can be sorted,
analyzed, and linked to other records such as personnel records. ·
Set the
program so that the briefing/training developer can print out all
certificates of completion, or each employee can print out his or her own
certificate. ·
Export and
import briefings so that they may be e-mailed and shared with persons in
other offices or organizations who are also using ABS. ·
Maintain a
library of briefings and briefing questions. ·
Maintain
statistics on relative difficulty of each question. Presentation Program
The briefing/training recipient logs on to
the Presentation Program with name, User ID or employee number (if
appropriate), and unit/office designator (if appropriate). The Presentation Program then delivers the
briefing/training, and, if the recipient completes it successfully and the
program is set to do so, it prints a certificate of completion. The Presentation Program is designed to
work in either a client-server environment (i.e., delivery will not
be via the Internet or an intranet) or in a web environment (i.e., the
briefing/training will be delivered via the Internet or an intranet).
Either way, you will need assistance from your system administrator or
webmaster to put the briefing/training on your organization's server in order
to make it available to those whom the briefing/training is intended to
reach. ABS comes with a First-Time User Tutorial
and a Help menu that can be printed out in its entirety as a User Manual. Obtaining the ABS
The ABS is available at no cost to all
units of the Department of Defense, all other U.S. Government agencies, and
all contractors working for the Department of Defense or other government
agencies. It may be downloaded at www.rjhresearch.com. The ABS software meets all requirements of
the Defense Information Systems Agency's Application Security Checklist,
Version 2, Release 1.7. It has been
reviewed and found to be virus-free and contains no “trojan horse” code, no
“spyware,” or any other similar harmful programming code. It has no “mobile code” (such as JAVA
applets) and no Active X controls. ABS users are asked to register with the
project manager in order to be advised of future updates. Questions may be directed to the project
manager, Richards J. Heuer, Jr., at the Defense Personnel Security Research
Center (PERSEREC), e-mail [email protected] or phone (831)
657-3008. |
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