M3CA / Staff learning

AI at Work: Staff Practitioner Course

Six practical lessons take a safe business task from first brief to an evaluated workflow. This is the core syllabus for a tailored, instructor-led M3CA programme; dates and delivery are agreed with your team.

Request this programme Training overview

Programme outline

From safe practice to a working process.

Level: Foundations to practical workflow design
Format: Instructor-led, remote, in person or hybrid
Core workshop time: Suggested 7.5 hours across six lessons; tailored before booking
Entry requirements: A laptop, approved tool access and anonymised practice material
Assessment: Reviewed task outputs and a demonstrated final workflow
Recognition: M3CA practical programme, not vendor-accredited certification

Six-lesson syllabus

Lesson 01 / Suggested 60 minutes

Choose a worthwhile task

Define a bounded task and a baseline before introducing AI.

Lesson plan

10 min: map one role and its recurring tasks
15 min: classify task risk, data and approval needs
25 min: record a manual baseline using safe material
10 min: agree success criteria and an accountable owner

Practice

Use an anonymised enquiry to produce a brief manually. Record elapsed time, missing facts and the checks you performed.

Takeaway

A completed task brief and baseline example.

Review criteria

A colleague can identify the input, expected output, owner and conditions under which AI must not be used.

Lesson 02 / Suggested 75 minutes

Prompt with structure

Create a reusable prompt that makes constraints and uncertainty explicit.

Lesson plan

15 min: compare vague and structured prompts
15 min: add context, examples and an output schema
30 min: test the prompt on two different inputs
15 min: review errors and revise the template

Practice

Ask an approved assistant to summarise the enquiry as facts, unanswered questions and a draft next action. Require it to mark information not provided.

Takeaway

A versioned prompt template and two reviewed outputs.

Review criteria

The prompt avoids invented facts and remains useful when required information is missing.

Lesson 03 / Suggested 75 minutes

Protect information and verify answers

Apply data boundaries and independently verify important claims.

Lesson plan

15 min: distinguish public, internal and restricted data
15 min: review account settings and provider terms
30 min: test citations and a deliberately incomplete document
15 min: write escalation and approval rules

Practice

Using a fictional company policy, check every material claim against the source. Reject a plausible but unsupported answer and record why.

Takeaway

A source-check log and responsible-use checklist.

Review criteria

No restricted material enters an unapproved account; unsupported claims are flagged instead of accepted.

Lesson 04 / Suggested 90 minutes

Compare ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok

Select a tool using the same task and a documented review rubric.

Lesson plan

15 min: agree a shared test and scoring rules
30 min: run identical safe inputs in available approved tools
30 min: score correctness, evidence, usefulness and review effort
15 min: choose a tool or decide the task is unsuitable

Practice

Compare a document summary or research brief. Verify current-information claims at their original sources. If a tool is unavailable, document that gap rather than inventing a score.

Takeaway

A task-to-tool decision sheet, including plan and access limitations.

Review criteria

The recommendation follows evidence from the test, not a vendor preference or an unsupported claim that one model is best.

Lesson 05 / Suggested 90 minutes

Build a reviewed company workflow

Connect an input, AI output, human check and handover into a repeatable process.

Lesson plan

15 min: map the workflow and access boundaries
20 min: demonstrate Studio AI, Atlas or CNC where access is agreed
40 min: build a prompt-based workflow or a Lovable prototype
15 min: test a failure and the human approval step

Practice

Design an enquiry-to-draft-reply workflow. Technical teams can prototype with fictional records; no live customer actions or production deployment are required.

Takeaway

A working demonstration and operating checklist.

Review criteria

The workflow stops on missing evidence, limits permissions and requires approval before an external action.

Lesson 06 / Suggested 60 minutes

Evaluate and hand over

Demonstrate quality, assign ownership and plan continued review.

Lesson plan

15 min: rerun the baseline and a difficult example
20 min: present results and inspect errors
15 min: agree ownership, monitoring and rollback
10 min: complete the adoption plan

Practice

Present your workflow to a colleague. Compare it with the manual baseline and report trade-offs honestly, including failures and extra review effort.

Takeaway

An evaluated workflow, evidence pack and adoption plan.

Review criteria

A reviewer can reproduce the result, explain its limits and operate the process without relying on the original author.

Course resources

Working documents, ready for your task.

Task brief

Use before testing any tool.

View worksheet

Role and owner:
Task and business reason:
Approved input data:
Expected output:
Manual baseline (time and quality):
Acceptance criteria:
Required approval:
Stop conditions:

Reusable prompt

Keep the source and constraints with the instruction.

View worksheet

Task:
Context:
Approved source material:
Constraints: use only supplied facts; flag missing information.
Required output format:
Example of acceptable output:
Checks a human must complete:

Tool comparison scorecard

Apply the same scale and inputs to each available tool.

View worksheet

Task / test date / tool / plan:
Correctness (0-3):
Source support (0-3):
Usefulness (0-3):
Missing facts flagged (yes/no):
Human review minutes:
Observed usage limits:
Failures and recommendation:
Scale: 0 unusable, 1 major correction, 2 minor correction, 3 meets criteria.

Responsible-use checklist

Complete before using company information.

View worksheet

[ ] Tool and workspace approved
[ ] Data classification checked
[ ] Restricted data removed or authorised
[ ] Provider retention and training terms reviewed
[ ] Material claims verified at sources
[ ] Output checked for bias and omissions
[ ] External action approved by named owner
[ ] Escalation and incident process known

Workflow and adoption plan

Leave a record another team member can operate.

View worksheet

Workflow name / version:
Owner and backup:
Inputs and permissions:
Prompt or integration steps:
Human approval point:
Failure and stop conditions:
Evidence from baseline comparison:
Monitoring measures and review date:
Rollback process:

Provider references

Read the source.

Provider features and terms change. Use approved accounts and fictional or anonymised data for exercises. Skills Hub courses are a separate offer.

Bring the syllabus to your team

Agree the roles. Choose the task. Set the dates.

Request this programme through the staff training form. We tailor access, lesson emphasis and delivery to your brief; submitting does not reserve a session.

Request staff training