Capturing Learning Outcomes and Organisational Debriefs in AMS

Background

AMS was originally designed to provide a space for storing hot debriefs. Over time, services have increasingly adopted the platform for wider learning capture, including more structured feedback and organisational debriefs.

This article explains the practical limits of using Learning Outcomes (LOs) within a debrief and outlines the recommended process for capturing broader or more complex debrief content.

Using Learning Outcomes in Debriefs

• A single debrief can include Learning Outcomes (LOs).

• To keep each debrief usable and effective, we recommend a maximum of 10–15 LOs per debrief.

• Importantly, a debrief is not expected to capture every perspective from an incident:

  • One firefighter may raise the key points they identified.

  • Other personnel can then submit their own debriefs for the same incident with additional LOs.

This approach avoids overloading a single debrief while still allowing comprehensive coverage of the incident.

When Learning Extends Beyond the LO Limit

Some debriefs or reviews (e.g., organisational audits, best practice reviews, or national learning exercises) may require capturing information that extends beyond the practical LO limit.

In these cases, we recommend using Tasks with assigned Sources.

Tasks and Sources: Recommended Approach

The Tasks feature allows actions and updates to be tracked over time. Each Task can be linked to a Source, which acts as a hierarchical label for grouping related learning.

For example, you might create Sources such as:

• National Learning > Grenfell

• National Learning > Manchester Area

• Organisational Learning > Annual Audit > Fleet Management Meeting

• Organisational Learning > HMICFRS > 2025–2026 Audit Feedback

Tasks created under these Sources can then:

• Provide context directly within the Task description,

• Be assigned to responsible users,

• Be updated as actions are taken or completed.

This structure allows AMS to support both individual incident-level learning and wider organisational or national learning projects.

Summary

• Use Debriefs with Learning Outcomes for incident-level learning (≤15 LOs recommended).

• Encourage multiple personnel to submit their own debriefs rather than overloading one.

• For broader or scalable learning capture, create Tasks and assign them to hierarchical Sources.

• This ensures learning can grow beyond incident-level capture while remaining structured, trackable, and actionable.