How do I become a training organization?

By Grégory Coste.

Published: November 5, 2024

How to set up and register a training organization? How to become an independent trainer? A few years ago, it was very easy to obtain a trainer's number.

It would seem that the public authorities wanted to "clean up their act" and weed out the charlatans abusing the training funding system, a financial windfall supposedly easy to attain for certain unscrupulous individuals.

More stringent rules now govern the training profession: from now on, all training activities must be provided by a training organization, i.e. a company holding a business registration number, whether the trainer is self-employed, a self-employed entrepreneur, an employee, or the founder of a company providing professional training.

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How Hélène Desliens created her training organization

appvizer interviewed Hélène Desliens, co-founder of Experteez, an organization offering digital training courses (design thinking, data management, digital marketing, e-commerce, etc.).

In answering our questions, Hélène explains how to set up her own training organization. Her shared experience is accompanied by useful tips and insights for newcomers.

How do you become a training organization?

A big question! Being a training organization is no trivial matter. You have a very important responsibility to your learners (and to companies).

When people commit their time and budget to improving their skills, there's no question of disappointing them and passing on knowledge that they can't or won't be able to apply.

We don't have the right to make mistakes, because the learner doesn't either.

We need to understand the need, identify how to meet it, implement it and, finally, verify it, so that we can correct or improve our know-how in the future.

Once you've understood this, the administrative procedures, which may seem cumbersome, start to make sense.

What steps do I need to take?

The first step is to contact the DIRRECTE (Direction des Entreprises, de la Concurrence, de la Consommation, du Travail et de l'Emploi).

This is where you submit your application for a training activity registration number within 3 months of the first training event.

The organization must provide a number of administrative documents (CERFA, Kbis, etc.) and details of the first training course. The company's articles of association may be dedicated to training, or it may have another principal activity.

It's the company that gets the declaration number, not the trainer.

This number is mandatory, and must always be followed by the words "Enregistrée sous le numéro" ("Registered under number").

Does the registration number mean that the organization is state-approved?

No. This registration "does not imply approval by the State" (article L.6352-12 of the French Labor Code). But this can create a certain amount of confusion in the minds of learners: is it an authorization, an approval?

In fact, it is in no way a number that certifies the quality of the training organization, let alone the training courses it delivers. Moreover, in the vast majority of cases, government approval doesn't really exist. It's a declaration of activity.

In addition, to retain this number, the organization must draw up a pedagogical and financial report each year.

You have to justify that you have indeed carried out training activities, and what proportion of your sales this represents, etc. In short, these administrative formalities are not very complicated.

In short, as you will have understood, these administrative formalities are not very complicated, but you don't do them for nothing, nor do you improvise yourself as a training organization.

What are the obligations of your business?

To run training courses, all you need is a registration number (except for certain sectors, such as the medical sector, which have specific obligations).

Financing, on the other hand, is a different matter. You first need to identify the status of the trainees. Are they private individuals? A job seeker? A company employee? You'll be organizing "intra-company" or "inter-company" training courses.

More concretely, are you going to offer a training course, indicating the subject, the date and leaving it up to the participants to sign up and finance (inter), or are you addressing a company wishing to train all or part of its staff (intra)?

In-house, you do BtoC, in-house, BtoB. And all the consequences that entails.

What is common and compulsory, however, are the terms and conditions of the training action; in particular, you'll need to :

create a training syllabus (a sort of detailed plan), including the objective, a list of the main skills to be acquired, the prerequisites (experience, qualifications or minimum level required to follow the training course), the duration of the course in hours and the location;

hand out a welcome booklet and a set of internal rules (or use the company's rules if the course is to be held on the company's premises);

have each learner sign in* for each half-day;

send them a training certificate at the end of the course, certifying attendance and skills acquired.

*The attendance sheet, known as the "feuille d'émargement", is a legal obligation: both the trainee and the trainer must sign it. This document constitutes legal proof under the French Labor Code.

How do I get training financed?

If an OPCA (Organisme Paritaire Collecteur Agréé) provides funding, there are a few additional steps.

First of all, the training organization must be accredited (by the OPCA) on DATADOCK, a common platform that qualifies training organizations according to qualitative criteria. If this is the case, a file must be completed by the learner prior to the training action.

Since the last reform in 2014, this subject has evolved considerably, with numerous changes both in the methods and amounts collected and for funding. A new reform is currently underway.

What are the criteria for a training course to be eligible for the CPF?

For a training course to be eligible for the CPF (Compte Personnel de Formation - Personal Training Account), and to be financed within this framework, it must be qualifying, leading to a diploma, or certifying:

Qualifying corresponds to the specificities of each branch (building and civil engineering, medical, etc.);

Diploma-awarding means that there is an RNCP (Répertoire National des Certifications Professionnelles) diploma at the end of the course (which is rarely the case with short courses);

And certifying... this is where the administrative procedures become very complex. I'll leave you to delve deeper into the subject, but at the very least, you should know that any training organization can run a training course that is already listed under the CPF if it meets one of the 3 above criteria, even if it's another organization that has taken the necessary steps. But only the latter can certify. Otherwise, no CPF.

Finally, a training organization can be awarded a "quality" label by the OPQF (Office Professionnel de Qualification des Organismes de Formation), for example.

This is not an obligation, or at least not at present.

In conclusion, remember that, on the one hand, there are business obligations: before training, you must explain what is going to be learned and attest to it. Logical.

Secondly, you must be considered as an organization (i.e. you must have a business registration number), so that the training courses you deliver are included in your company's training plan and, in some cases, are partially covered by OPCAs.

Finally, for a training course to be eligible for the CPF, it must lead to a diploma, qualification or certification.

Do I need to train to be a trainer?

You don't need to have a trainer's diploma to run a training course.

On the other hand, learner satisfaction questionnaires will enable you to quickly assess the teaching skills of your trainers if you've made a mistake in your recruitment!

Knowing how to pass on knowledge, know-how or interpersonal skills is a real skill. And it can be learned.

At Experteez, we're convinced that teaching methods can be learned, but that it's above all a posture you need to have (already).

The ability to express oneself clearly, to speak dynamically and to treat learners with kindness form the basis of our selection criteria - in addition to business criteria, of course.

If a candidate trainer doesn't already have these qualities, we won't recruit him or her. On the other hand, we work with our trainers on teaching methods and encourage the exchange of best practices between them and with us.

How is Experteez organized?

When we created Experteez, we started from two observations: on the one hand, the management and implementation of a "digital transformation" required teams to develop their skills (culture, skills, methods), and on the other, the training on offer was often too theoretical and didn't sufficiently encourage the appropriation of skills.

We therefore decided to help organizations acquire the skills and methods they needed to succeed in their "digital transformation", through tailor-made training solutions co-constructed and led by "business" experts, with a focus on practical application.

Experteez is founded on three principles: our training courses are all made-to-measure and contextualized (100% in-company), we bring together over 60 industry experts who work with us to co-construct accelerator courses and workshops in response to the needs expressed by our corporate customers, and we strongly encourage collaborative workshops to put the skills we impart into practice.

We take on the role of training organization: commercial and administrative procedures, quality of learning and teaching methods.

Our expert trainers run the training courses. It's a good dynamic.

Do you use software to manage your organization's operations?

We are organized into 4 divisions. The first deals with Experteez strategy and development, the second with sales and marketing, the third with recruiting, managing and training our expert trainers, and the 4th with administration.

We don't yet have any major software needs for the part dedicated to training registrations and schedules, as we don't organize inter-company training courses.

Otherwise, I think this would definitely have been one of our priorities when we set up our company!

What problems can software help you solve?

It is true, however, that the creation of the various training certificates and the preparation of training materials can quickly prove time-consuming.

All tasks that can be automated and for which we don't provide any real added value are or will be managed by tools or service providers. We're at the beginning of a wonderful adventure.

Passing on is undoubtedly one of the most exciting and rewarding functions. At Experteez, we will continue to evolve our offering to ensure that we remain relevant and close to both learners and expert trainers.

Software dedicated to training center management

Hélène Desliens drew our attention to two time-consuming triggers for the need for dedicated software:

in the case of inter-company training activities, the use of software is essential to better manage all training calendars, trainer schedules, registrations, procedures and related documents,
The larger your organization, the more time-consuming administrative procedures you'll have to deal with, with no real added value for your business.

Here we present you with solutions adapted to different needs and sizes of organization, to solve all the problems inherent in a training center.

Queoval Formation simplifies administrative procedures

Queoval Formation is a SaaS software package that meets all the needs of a training organization.

VSEs and SMEs appreciate the SaaS aspect: the management software is used online, offering all the advantages of collaborative functionalities.

Queoval formation simplifies administrative procedures for VSEs and SMEs involved in training.

The software's strengths lie in its intelligent combination of an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool: in other words, the solution enables users to manage all aspects of project management, administration and customer relations within the same interface.

all users, staff and trainers have access to an online collaborative workspace where information is updated in real time: everyone has access to the same information;

you allocate tasks according to your resources: they are integrated into training schedules, which are shared with the whole team, along with agendas (synchronization possible with Google or Outlook tools);

integrate your document database to exchange, share and archive important documents such as attendance sheets, agreements, certificates, etc. ;

CRM functionalities cover the key points in customer relations, such as generating quotations, invoices and email prospecting; - you can track the progress of your training and sales activities in real time;

the system enables you to easily calculate the Pedagogical and Financial Balance Sheets.

The system also provides outstanding support for editing ANDPC documents: you automatically generate administrative documents such as program registration letters, attendance sheets, professional training agreements, DPC attestations, and so on.

An undeniable asset for Training Centers certified by the ANDPC (L'Agence Nationale de Développement Professionnel Continu):

The Queoval solution now benefits from the 400 orientations 2016-2018. This update enables you to enter the national orientation of your training sessions, the ADELLI/RPPS number of participants and generate certain documents linked to these standards.

AppliRH: a software suite for large-scale needs

AppliRH is a human resources management software suite designed for training centers of the ETI type (up to 5,000 employees) and/or for HR managers who need to manage large numbers of training plans.

AppliRH brings together 2 facets of professional training to be used according to your needs:

the CentreRH solution, to simplify the management of a training organization,
the FormationRH solution, for managing training plans.

The AppliRH software suite eliminates the slowness and cumbersomeness of administrative management that can weigh heavily on training companies and educational establishments.

Focus on CentreRH's strengths
You concentrate on the quality of your training, not the quantity. The software helps you save time and increase productivity by facilitating all the seemingly laborious aspects of running a center:

easier administrative management, including agreements, invitations, attendance sheets, certificates, etc,
commercial and financial management, including invoicing to multiple payers,
logistics management, including availability of trainers, rooms, equipment, etc,
centralized, shared document management with over 100 pre-configured templates (certificates, agreements, etc.),
simplified editing of mandatory documents such as the Pedagogical and Financial Report.

A special feature is the web portal, which facilitates communication with all your contacts: trainees, customers, trainers and administrators.

identifies needs,
runs simulations,
manages schedules, room availability, trainer availability (...),
receives alerts (configured in advance) to anticipate needs and availability,
tracks costs and training sessions in real time,
integrates OPCA file management into the tool, etc.