How Compliance Training Software Powered the City of Brownsville’s L&D Success

Compliance training is a must in the public sector, but for many organizations, keeping up with regulations while ensuring employee engagement can be an uphill battle. The City of Brownsville, Texas, faced similar challenges — juggling a complex workforce, managing regulatory updates, and delivering effective compliance training that goes beyond “checking a box.” Yet, this forward-thinking government administration transformed its mandatory training into an engaging, efficient program with the help of the GoSkills learning management system (LMS), which has been their go-to compliance training software since 2020.

Here’s a sneak peek into how the City of Brownsville revolutionized its approach to employee training, achieved a staggering 99% course completion rate, and set a new benchmark for public sector learning and development (L&D).

The challenge: Streamline compliance training for a diverse workforce

The City of Brownsville’s mission to create a safe, inclusive, and thriving community depends on a skilled workforce across multiple departments, from public safety to community development. Ensuring employees remain compliant with regulatory requirements and equipped with professional skills is essential to meeting this mission.

However, training in the public sector brings unique challenges:

• Frequent policy updates: Regulations are constantly evolving, requiring organizations to update their compliance content annually.
• Low engagement: Government employees often face “training fatigue,” with compliance courses feeling more like a chore than an opportunity.
• Time-intensive processes: The City’s reliance on SCORM files for importing and managing courses made course deployment a manual, tedious process.
• Diverse training needs: Beyond compliance, leaders and employees across various departments required customized professional development tailored to their roles.

As Miranda Ruvalcaba, Talent and Development Coordinator at the City of Brownsville, put it:

Previously, we spent a lot of time managing SCORM files and other technical aspects of training that took focus away from the content itself. We needed a platform that could help us deliver training more easily and empower employees at every level.

The solution: An all-in-one compliance training software

In 2020, the City of Brownsville adopted the GoSkills LMS as its compliance training software. Unlike traditional platforms or tools limited to compliance, GoSkills offered an all-in-one learning solution that empowered the City to design, deliver, and track engaging employee training programs with ease.

With features like an AI-powered authoring tool, a library of off-the-shelf compliance content, and robust reporting capabilities, the GoSkills LMS enabled the City to streamline course creation and management while keeping learners engaged and motivated throughout their training journey.

1. Simplified course creation with the course builder

The GoSkills course builder allowed the City to move away from cumbersome SCORM file imports and instead create customized, interactive compliance training content directly on the platform. Its user-friendly interface enabled the team to easily:

• Update compliance courses each year to reflect changes in regulatory compliance.
• Add dynamic elements, like quizzes and videos, to improve learner engagement.
• Tailor training content to meet the specific needs of different departments and roles.

For example, Sarai Madrigal, Senior Project and Business Analyst at the City of Brownsville, highlighted how the platform’s bite-sized courses transformed her learning experience:

The training used to feel longer and overwhelming. Now, it’s broken into smaller, manageable chunks. I can complete a section, take a break, and come back to finish the rest without feeling overloaded.

2. AI-powered efficiency with Genie

With GoSkills’ AI content assistant, Genie, creating impactful courses from scratch became even faster. By simply entering a few key prompts — such as audience, industry, skill level, and course subject — Miranda and her team could quickly generate course outlines, lesson content, and even complex quiz questions.

When it comes to quiz questions, I used to spend over an hour drafting them. With Genie, I can generate well-aligned, challenging questions in about 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Comprehensive reporting for compliance tracking

For a government organization, tracking training completion is critical to ensure your compliance training meets its goals. The reports on the GoSkills platform provided Miranda with real-time data to keep track of learner progress, including:

• Course completion rates
• Learner progress and test scores
• Engagement metrics, such as time spent on each course

These insights allowed the City to identify gaps, celebrate successes, and ensure training efforts stayed on track.

4. Access to a robust course library

In addition to their custom courses, the City of Brownsville leveraged the GoSkills course library, a collection of over 120 expert-led business courses. Employees across departments benefited from training in:

• Soft skills: Ideal for customer-facing roles in finance and airport administration.
• Technical training: Such as Excel courses, to support the needs of administrative staff.

This combination of custom and off-the-shelf content provided employees with a broad range of professional development opportunities tailored to their unique roles and responsibilities.

5. Seamless transition with dedicated customer support

Adopting a new training platform can be a daunting task, but the City of Brownsville found the transition to GoSkills smooth and hassle-free, thanks to the dedicated support from the GoSkills customer success team.

Missi, the City’s assigned customer success manager, provided ongoing guidance and quick responses that helped Miranda and her team get up and running with the platform. This support continued as the team customized their courses and explored new features.

Whenever we ask Missi a question, she gets back to us in minutes. Her support made a world of difference during our initial setup and as we continue to customize our courses.

The results: Record-breaking completion rates and engagement

With GoSkills, the City of Brownsville transformed compliance training into an engaging and impactful experience. By leveraging tools like the course builder and Genie, they streamlined processes and achieved measurable success:

• Higher course completion rates: Completion rates skyrocketed from 92% in the second year to 98% in the third year and an all-time high of 99% in 2024 — far exceeding the 5–15% industry average for online courses.
• Efficient course creation: The City developed a library of over 90 custom courses using the course builder and Genie. These tools significantly reduced design and creation time while enabling the team to deliver engaging, up-to-date training materials with ease.
• Detailed reporting for compliance tracking: Real-time reporting tools simplified the process of tracking course completions, test scores, and engagement metrics. These insights not only ensured compliance deadlines were consistently met but also enabled the team to refine course content and keep training aligned with organizational goals.
• Increased learner satisfaction: Employees appreciated the engaging course formats, and many proudly shared their certification of completion on LinkedIn, reflecting their pride in their development.

What can you learn from the City of Brownsville?

The City of Brownsville’s story proves that compliance training doesn’t have to be tedious — it can be meaningful and engaging. By adopting the right tools, strategies, and compliance training software, they streamlined regulatory processes while empowering their workforce like never before.

Want to learn more? Download the full case study to uncover three best practices you can apply to improve your own training programs.

Don’t wait to elevate your learning and development programs. Create a free GoSkills account today or book a demo with Missi and see how GoSkills can empower your team—just like it did for the City of Brownsville.

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