Contract Training
The Professional Development Center often provides specialized training for individual agencies and organizations. We have served a variety of public and private organizations in Montana.
The PDC can arrange the presentation of most courses in this catalog on demand. If your organization has a need for any course offered and a group of people available to take it, contact the PDC. The Center will tailor the program for your "in-house" needs and help you stretch your training budget.
The PDC will also design courses on topics specified by an agency. The Center staff will research the subject, consult with agency managers, and deliver the course.
In addition, if you need a specific course or instructor, the PDC can handle the administrative details for you, including contracts, facilities, flyers, printing, and press releases. This service greatly simplifies the process for you and your agency and can save valuable time.
Contact the Director (444-3855) to find out more about any of these services and how to go about arranging them.
Needs Assessment
Even with your strong commitment to training, it's sometimes hard to know how to best invest your training dollar. The Professional Development Center can help you assess the training needs in your agency or organization - or any part of it.
Working with your specialists and managers, we will conduct three stages of assessment: (1) describing perceived problems and needs, (2) gathering data economically and without disruption, and (3) analyzing data and recommending action.
We Appreciate Your Help
The Professional Development Center tries to anticipate and meet a wide range of training needs. However, our equipment inventory does not include a crystal ball.
That's why we like to hear your ideas for needed training courses or other services we can provide. How can we better serve you and your organization?
In addition, we greatly appreciate your comments on courses you attend. Do they meet your needs and satisfy your expectations? Written course evaluations are valuable to us; we hope you will make use of them. And feel free to give us a call - we're always ready to listen.
About Our Fees
You probably have noticed that we charge for our services. This is due to the unique nature of our operation. The Professional Development Center is a part of state government. We are subject to the same policies and restrictions as other state agencies, including our budget.
The big difference is that we operate on a "proprietary fund". The Legislature authorizes a budget for the PDC each biennium. The budget is an empty shell; it sets permissible levels of spending authority, but lacks any appropriation of general fund or earmarked money. When we collect fees for our services, the money goes into a state account to fund the budget.
The PDC has the normal expenses of any operation, public or private. We have to pay salaries, rent space, buy supplies and equipment, send mail, pay phone bills, and so on. All our expenses are paid under budget approval with the money in our fee account.
Our fee structure works three ways. (1) For open enrollment courses, announced regularly, we charge a set fee for each participant. (2) For agency-direct training, we charge a flat "contract" fee, regardless of the number of people attending. (For training conducted outside of Helena, we add travel expenses.) (3) For all other services, we charge an hourly fee of $60 or less (plus travel expenses outside Helena).
If you have any questions about our fees and the costs of our operation, please call the Director (444-3855).
