This guide follows the 4 stages of job instruction (TWI's JI), which are widely used in new employee training: prepare the learner, explain the job, try it out, and follow up. It shows which Dive features to use at each stage. It also explains how to measure and evaluate training effectiveness using the Economic Impact / ROI in the usage report.
This guide assumes you are using automatic evaluation in your skill map. As new employees complete courses and SOPs, their skill levels automatically rise, with the reasons automatically recorded in development records. People only need to input the initial linking and any corrections discovered during assessment. SOPs, courses, assessment tests, and linkages are drafted or suggested by AI, so people mainly review and correct them.
Courses (assessment tests), questions per step, skill maps (automatic evaluation), and qualifications are available in Core, Pro, and Enterprise plans. Work analysis (SOP comparison, time analysis) and report links are available in Pro and Enterprise plans. Team-wide settings for automatic evaluation and Economic Impact / ROI in the usage report can be configured and viewed by the owner or team administrator.
When you need this
| Challenge | What to see in this guide |
|---|---|
| Teaching content and methods vary by instructor | Setup: create SOPs from work, set up automatic evaluation / 2. Explain the job |
| You want to reduce the time spent keeping records (reduce evaluation input) | Setup: set up automatic evaluation / 3. Try it out (assessment) |
| Experienced staff get stuck helping new employees, and their regular work stops | Stages 2–4 (consolidate where people are needed, focusing on assessment) |
| You cannot see where new employees are struggling or what they understand | 3. Try it out |
| You don't know how to measure training effectiveness or set goals | Decide on metrics |
| You want to show training effectiveness as return on investment (ROI) internally | Calculate return on investment |
| You don't know how to decide whether to continue or expand | Make decisions |
What is "Job Instruction" (TWI-JI)?
TWI (Training Within Industry) was a training program run by the U.S. government from 1940 to 1945 during World War II for supervisors in companies. As experienced workers left for military service while production demands increased, factories needed a way to quickly train new workers. Job Instruction (JI) was one of the courses and organizes job training into 4 stages: have the learner get ready, explain the job, let them try it, and then follow up. It emphasizes showing the critical steps, their reasons, demonstrating the work, having the learner try it with corrections, and gradually reducing instruction.
After the war, TWI was brought to Japan by the occupying forces and introduced in 1950. The Ministry of Labor (now the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) promoted it. In 1955, the Japan Industrial Training Association was established by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Japan Business Federation. The association still provides courses and materials. Toyota adopted and adapted it as TTWI (Toyota Training Within Industry), and by 1995 nearly 100,000 TWI trainers had been certified in Japan.
JI emphasizes the principle: "If the worker hasn't learned, the instructor hasn't taught." The idea is that learning should not vary by instructor. This is the same thinking behind how Dive uses SOPs to standardize teaching methods. For references, see "References" at the end of this page.
4 Stages and Dive Features
| Stage | What the instructor does | What to do in Dive | Features used |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Prepare the learner | Tell them what work to learn and by when. Check what they already know. | Organize SOPs into a course with a deadline and assign it. New employees see a list of their tasks. Show them the skills to gain and the target level. | |
| 2. Explain the job | Go through main steps one by one, tell and show them. Emphasize critical points. | Show the work through a video SOP. Use step descriptions and critical point fields to tell them what to watch for. Use assessment tests to verify understanding. When they pass and complete the course, their skill level automatically rises (for example, to Lv2). | |
| 3. Try it out | Have them try it, correct mistakes. Ask them to explain critical points. Verify they understand. | Step questions immediately redirect to the correct method if answered wrong. They record their own work and compare it with the SOP to verify. Their skill automatically rises when they complete all related SOPs solo (for example, to Lv3). During assessment, verify that the automatic level matches actual job performance. | |
| 4. Follow up | Put them to work. Decide who to ask when questions arise. Check on them often, gradually reduce instruction. | Make the relevant SOP easy to open on the job. Designate a development staff member. Monitor through automatically recorded records. |
In traditional training, experienced staff accompany new employees through all 4 stages. They explain what to learn, show them how to do it, stay nearby during practice, and answer questions once they start work.
With Dive, the explanation (stage 2) is handled by video SOPs and assessment tests, and repeated practice (stage 3) is handled by step questions and SOP comparisons. This means experienced staff no longer need to stay nearby during these two stages. New employees can watch videos repeatedly and immediately get corrected when they answer wrong, so practice moves forward even without someone watching.
But instruction is still needed in these situations. Consolidate the time people spend with new employees, focusing on stage 3 assessment (skill verification).
- Stage 3 assessment: Attend to verify that the level the automatic evaluation set matches actual job performance. Review comparison results first to narrow the focus before attending.
- Initial greeting in stage 1: Tell them why and by when they need to learn, and listen to concerns.
- Stage 4 follow-up: Answer questions when needed, monitor with automatically recorded data, gradually reduce instruction.
Showing videos alone leaves practice time where staff must still be nearby. The key is setting up step questions and comparisons so new employees can verify their own work.
If your company has decided on stages like "watch the video → comprehension test → practice → skills test → deployment," then video watching and comprehension test are stage 2, practice and skills test are stage 3, and deployment is stage 4.
Setup: Create SOPs from work and set up automatic evaluation
Create SOPs from work
- Create one SOP for each item (item number) from your work standards or checklists. Record an experienced worker doing the work correctly, and also record common mistakes if applicable.
- When you upload the video, AI splits it into steps and creates step descriptions and questions. People only review and correct the content. (See AI processing options and how to choose them.)
- If you already have work standards (PDF/Excel/Word), you can upload the video and select a reference procedure during AI analysis to have the video divided into steps matching the document's number, order, and headings. (See Specify a reference procedure during video analysis (beta).) For work without video, you can create an SOP from the standards file, and AI will write up the work, tips, cautions, and safety, then create questions. (See Create SOPs from files (Excel/Word/PowerPoint supported).)
- Critical points go into step-level fields: "Quality caution" (things that affect the result), "Important safety information" (things that can cause injury), and "Work tips" (ways to make it easier). Review what AI wrote, add any missing critical points and explain why—this helps ensure they are followed.
- Place examples of incorrect work right after the relevant step to make the difference from the correct method clear.
- Arrange SOPs in folders in item-number order. Usage reports and usage records for each SOP display the steps in this order.
Set up automatic evaluation (one time only)
Create linkages that automatically raise skill levels based on course and SOP results. Once set here, you won't need people to reassign levels as training progresses. (See Automatically update skill level when courses are completed, qualifications are earned, or SOPs are completed.)
- In a course's "Skills gained" field, select the skill and "Target level on completing all" (for example, Lv2 "Can perform under instruction"). When they pass the assessment test and complete the course, their level automatically rises to this level.
- In a skill's "Linkages" tab, select related SOPs and "Target level on completing all" (for example, Lv3 "Can perform alone"). When they complete all linked SOPs solo, their level automatically rises to this level.
- You don't have to select related SOPs one at a time. Use "Edit skill map" → "Other" → "Link SOPs in bulk with AI" to have AI suggest SOPs for each skill. Just review the candidates and "Confirm." (See Have AI link SOPs in bulk in your skill map.) You can create the skill map itself from industry templates. (See Create a skill map from industry templates.)
- Under "Team management" → "Development" → "Common settings" → "Automatic evaluation," you can use the defaults. ("Use automatic evaluation": on, "Raise from related SOP records": only when completed solo, "How to update": confirm the level automatically.) If you prefer people to set levels, change "How to update" to "Keep only the development record and let a person confirm the level."
- If you want stricter solo completion, in the same section, set "Times needed for solo completion" to "2–5 times on separate days." Then one correct attempt on the same day won't count; the person must succeed on different days.
- Describe in evaluation standards what each level should be able to do. Set team standards in "Common settings" → "Evaluation standards" and skill-specific differences in each skill's edit screen. (See Define team skills (Skill Map common settings).)
Automatic evaluation only raises levels and never overwrites a level set by a person. Which course or SOP was the basis for a raise is automatically recorded in development records.
1. Prepare the learner
|
Features used in this stage |
- AI helps you build courses from existing SOPs. Click the robot icon next to "SOPs" (Suggest procedures with AI) and AI will suggest SOPs to add to the course. (It starts with "Please suggest procedures useful for this course.") You can also generate the course name and description using the robot icon next to "Course name" (Generate course name and description with AI) based on the SOPs you added.
- Gather the SOPs you want them to learn in a course, and use "Order: cannot open the next procedure until the previous one is completed" to lock the viewing order. (See Training features: How to create, assign, and view courses and progress.)
- Assign the course to new employees or groups with a deadline.
- On the top page's "Learning" tab (or the "Training" tab on their personal page), new employees see their incomplete courses in order of deadline.
- In the skill map, show the skills to gain and the new employee's current level. When they open a skill, "How to gain this skill" shows the courses and target level to gain it and the status of each related SOP, so they can see what they need to do to rise in level.
2. Explain the job
|
Features used in this stage |
- Use a video SOP to show an experienced worker doing the work step by step. Use step descriptions and critical point fields to explain what to watch for. New employees can watch again anytime.
- Add an assessment test to a course with a passing score and turn on "Assessment test: require passing to complete the course" to verify understanding. The assessment test questions are generated by AI from the SOPs in the course (use the robot icon "Generate questions with AI" on the assessment test). Turn on "Shuffle the order of the choices on every attempt" to prevent people from memorizing answer positions.
- When they pass the assessment and complete the course, automatic evaluation raises their skill to the "Target level on completing all" (for example, Lv2). No person input is needed.
- Scores and attempt history are saved per new employee. If you already use a separate system for written tests, you can add those to the assessment test so the results link to each person's records and the skill map.
- Questions with many errors show where the SOP explanation is incomplete. Use those areas to improve the SOP.
For how to use step questions and assessment tests differently, see Use step questions and assessment tests to evaluate skills differently.
3. Try it out
|
Features used in this stage |
Repeated practice
- AI creates step questions when you create the SOP. To add the same type of question to many steps, use question templates to apply them all at once. (See How to create and use question templates (apply to multiple steps at once).)
- Open the SOP beside the practice equipment and work through the steps, verifying with step questions. By default, questions don't let people move to the next step until they answer correctly, so mistakes immediately lead back to the right way. (See Step question settings.)
- Completing all steps without any mistakes counts as one solo completion (how many it takes to be solo is a team setting; the default is one). Turn on "Completion rule: do not count as complete if an SOP question is answered wrong" in the course to make completing without mistakes a course requirement.
- When they complete all related linked SOPs solo, automatic evaluation raises their skill to "Target level on completing all" (for example, Lv3 "Can perform alone"), and the reason is automatically recorded in development records.
- Put QR codes on equipment so the SOP opens quickly. (See Print QR codes or copy the share URL.)
- Record your own work and run "SOP comparison" to check each step for completion, omissions, or wrong order. Results are also visible on the "Comparison" tab of the person's page. (See SOP comparison: check if steps are done correctly.)
- See which verification points trip up how many people in a SOP's usage record "Stumble map." Make high-error steps a focus of practice or a target for improving the SOP. (See Check usage records per SOP.)
Assessment (skill verification)
- Before observing, compare the person's work video with the model using work analysis time analysis (comparison with target). This lets you spot time differences, omissions, or wrong order in advance and focus your observation. (See Work analysis STEP 6 Comparison: compare the trainee's work video with the standard.) Comparison results are guidance; the observer decides pass or fail.
- The passing standard is the skill map's 4-level evaluation standards. The defaults are "Lv1 Can help," "Lv2 Can perform under instruction," "Lv3 Can perform alone," and "Lv4 Can instruct." Assessment means checking that the level automatic evaluation set (usually "Lv3 Can perform alone") matches actual job performance. Compare against what you wrote in evaluation standards about "what that level should be able to do" (how much faster than standard, which critical points to follow, etc.) to keep judgment consistent.
- Create a record form for skill verification with the same item numbers as the SOPs, so you can match it with comparison results.
- If it matches, no input is needed. Automatic evaluation already set the level, and the reason is in development records.
- Only if they fall short, open the skill on the person's "Development" tab, change the level back with "Change level," and add the needed corrections to "Add development record." Person-set levels are never overwritten by automatic evaluation. After another assessment, raise the level again with "Change level." The person who made the change is also recorded, visible to group admins and above, same-group members, and the skill's development staff. (See Set a member's skill level.)
- People who made a solo completion but then failed, or those who haven't yet tried the version after an SOP was revised, get a "Needs re-check" mark. Use this when choosing who to observe. (See skill map cells, personal page "Development" and "Mentees" list.)
- When using person-only evaluation (set to "Keep only the development record and let a person confirm the level"), you only confirm the level for people who passed during assessment. When there are many, use skill map "Select and bulk change" to confirm multiple at once.
Step questions, assessment results, comparison results, and the reason automatic evaluation set a level all save automatically. People only record what they noticed during assessment. Results appear on the person's page in one place, so you can review the path to competence later.
4. Follow up
|
Features used in this stage |
- Make the relevant SOP accessible from the job floor or forms. You can use QR codes or use "Open from the specified step" in share settings to make a URL for a specific step. You can also automatically add links to existing forms (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF) for each item to open the related SOP. (See Automatically add links to existing Excel, Word, PowerPoint, or PDF forms.) For electronic forms on an app, use the app's link-opening feature.
- Decide who to ask for help and set them as the development staff for the skill. Development staff can see their "Mentees" list to check status. (See Plan skill development (period and staff).) Use the "Needs re-check" filter in the list to find mentees who got stuck after solo completion.
- Monitor using automatically recorded data. Floor viewing, solo completion, and automatic evaluation development records appear on the person's "Development" and "Usage record" tabs. Only add to development records if you notice something.
- If they complete related SOPs solo after starting work, automatic evaluation reflects it in their skill level. "Lv4 Can instruct" is set by a person when putting them in charge of training others.
- SOPs that are frequently opened on the floor still have unclear areas. Strengthen those in the next new employee's training.
Decide on metrics
New employee training effectiveness is easiest to measure and hardest to ignore when centered on "the time each new employee's mentor spent on the floor with them." Also track time to competence and quality of teaching (stumbles and solo completions).
| Metric | How to measure | What to see in Dive |
|---|---|---|
| Mentor time per new employee | Measure the time mentors spent with 1–2 new employees before and after launch, broken down by stage. (No need to record every time.) | The estimated time SOPs freed up is shown in Usage report Economic Impact (calculated automatically from viewing records). |
| Time to competence | Calendar days from assignment to reaching the target level (for example, Lv3) | Personal page: course assignment and completion date, assessment test pass date, solo completion date, skill level rise date (automatic evaluation change history) |
| Quality of teaching | Stumbles at verification points and percent who complete solo | SOP usage records, Usage report error rate, stumbles, self-completion rate |
| SOP creation time | Compare with the time it took to create using older methods | Usage report creation time (time spent editing) |
Break current time into stages and set targets
Write out the mentor time spent in the 4 stages for recently trained new employees. When you decide what "Dive handles" at each stage, what remains becomes your target. Next is a one-person example. Replace the numbers with your own data.
| Stage | Current mentor time (example) | Dive handles | Target (example) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Prepare the learner | 2 hours | Course assignment, deadline, skill map communication | 1 hour |
| 2. Explain the job | 12 hours | Video SOPs and assessment tests; people answer questions | 2 hours |
| 3. Try it out (practice) | 10 hours | Step questions and SOP comparison; new employee verifies their own work | 3 hours |
| 3. Try it out (assessment) | 4 hours | Use comparison results to narrow focus before observing | 3 hours |
| 4. Follow up | 2 hours | Open SOPs on the floor; development staff monitor using records | 1 hour |
| Total | 30 hours | 10 hours (about 67% reduction) |
After launch, measure mentor time for 1–2 new employees the same way and compare with your target. There's no need to record every time. All other numbers (time to competence, stumbles, solo completions, economic impact) are collected automatically by Dive.
Calculate return on investment
Mentor time itself cannot be measured in Dive. Measure the time before launch and enter it into the usage report "Economic Impact / ROI" tab assumptions, and SOP teaching time becomes calculated as hours, money, and ROI.
1. Enter measured values into assumptions
| What to measure | Where to enter (assumptions) | Default | Example of measurement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time a mentor spent teaching one SOP from start to finish | "Initial Training Substitution" "First viewing O items × O minutes" | 30 minutes | Divide the current time in "Explain the job" by the number of SOPs taught (example: 12 hours ÷ 18 SOPs = 40 minutes) |
| Time per question when someone asks during work (person waits, mentor stops, mentor explains) | "Question Substitution" "Re-viewing O items × O minutes" | 15 minutes | Track how many times you're asked and how long for 1–2 weeks; average them |
| Hourly labor cost for floor staff | "Effect breakdown" upper right "Hourly rate" | 3,000 yen | Use your company's standard rate if you have one |
| Time it used to take to create one SOP (step) with old methods | "Creation Efficiency" "Traditional SOP creation O minutes" | 90 minutes | Average the most recent ones you created |
Enter values by clicking the blue numbers (pen icon) in the Usage report "Economic Impact / ROI" tab "Effect breakdown," then save. Assumptions are one set per team. Update them whenever you remeasure.
2. Narrow to new employees
In the Usage report above, set the "Period" to the training period and "Group" to the new employee group, and only viewing from that range is calculated. If you group new employees together (for example, "2026 new hires"), training effect comes right out.
3. Read the results
- "Initial Training Substitution": new employees' first SOP views × teaching time. Read this as an estimate of the time mentors didn't have to spend.
- "Question Substitution": the same person viewing the same SOP again × the time they used to spend being asked. Read as an estimate of time mentors' schedules weren't blocked.
- Divide the sum of these two times by new employee count to get per-person time savings. Compare with the "current time − target time" from your metrics.
- "Creation Efficiency": the difference in time to create SOPs. Read separately from training effect.
- "Savings amount," "ROI multiplier," "④ Payback Period": ROI multiplier is savings ÷ subscription cost. 1.0× breaks even; 3.0× is 3 times the value. Payback Period is the number of days to recoup the subscription cost. Because the subscription cost covers the whole team, the ROI and payback are shown for the whole team. When you narrow to new employees, read savings time and savings amount.
Example: 3 new employees viewed 54 SOPs for the first time during training and re-viewed 120 times, with teaching time 40 minutes, question time 10 minutes, and hourly rate 3,000 yen. The initial training substitution is 36 hours, question substitution is 20 hours, totaling 56 hours or 168,000 yen. That's about 19 hours per person, close to the example target (30 hours → 10 hours = 20 hours saved).
"Excel output" "Economic Impact / ROI" sheet has the same numbers and assumptions. Use them directly in internal reports. (See Check implementation effectiveness in the Usage report.)
Make decisions
- Once a month or on a set schedule, arrange numbers under the same conditions (period, group).
- Compare the estimated economic impact with the actual mentor time you measured. If the difference is large, update the assumptions to the actual value, and future estimates will be closer.
- Arrange the 2nd and 3rd new employee side by side using the same scale. Then variation in time to competence and stumble points becomes visible. If variation shrinks, you can say teaching quality is consistent regardless of who teaches.
What to check when you fall short of targets
| What's happening | What to check | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 2 explanation still has mentor involvement | Assessment test questions with many errors. SOP viewing records showing people who haven't viewed yet. | Add text and critical points to the step with the most errors. Contact people who haven't viewed. |
| Stage 3 practice needs a mentor nearby | Stumble map showing verification points that are failing | Add an example of incorrect work to that step. Review the question. Set up so new employees check their work against the SOP. |
| Assessment observation takes a long time | Comparison results (omissions, wrong order, time difference) | Check the difference before observing to narrow your focus |
| Called for help repeatedly in stage 4 | SOPs most frequently opened on the floor (Usage report and usage records) | Strengthen that SOP's explanation. Set up QR codes and form links so they open right there. |
| Skill level doesn't rise | Skill's "How to gain this skill" (courses completed, solo status for each related SOP) | Re-assign incomplete courses and SOPs. If solo completion is blocked, check the stumble map for causes. |
| Economic impact is small | Number of views, unwatched SOPs. Check that assumptions aren't still at defaults. | Set up assignment and QR codes so SOPs are visible. Update assumptions to actual values. |
Related
- Training features: How to create, assign, and view courses and progress
- Use step questions and assessment tests to evaluate skills differently
- Check usage records per SOP (who viewed, records, stumble map)
- Check implementation effectiveness in the Usage report
- Personal page (see one person's training, development, qualifications, comparisons, and usage all in one place)
- How to use Skill Map during operation
- Work analysis overview and how to start
- Automatically update skill level when courses are completed, qualifications are earned, or SOPs are completed
- Set a member's skill level
- Define team skills (Skill Map common settings)
References (Job Instruction and TWI)
- Japan Industrial Training Association "About the association"
- Japan Industrial Training Association "TWI" public courses
- TWI training (Wikipedia)
- Training Within Industry (Wikipedia English)
- Jim Huntzinger "The Roots of Lean: Training Within Industry — The Origin of Japanese Management and Kaizen" (Lean Enterprise Institute, English, PDF)