The employment market is tight in Australia.  It is becoming more critical to manage the most critical supply chain keeping your business viable and growing…..qualified people.    It is now critical that organisations have current data on competency and skill gaps, retention rates, resource planning and talent pools.  In my experience most companies have succession plans for the senior executive management team.  When one moves to line managers and below these succession plans are often not well documented if they exist at all.  The good news it seems boards and executive management teams are demanding workforce analytics to support their strategic planning.  A well developed online learning and talent project can deliver solutions for succession planning and retention of key staff.  In our client base we have a number of clients effectively creating talent pools within the organisation.  The talent pools are engaged in learning, development plans and collaboration with all areas of the business to ensure strong network links are forged on the interpersonal level.  The senior managers are able to access reports that pinpoint skills gaps in the organisation.  The individuals in the organisation are provided tools to take stewardship of their career paths.  The use of online performance reviews is ensuring reviews are completed and the results are assessed and aligned with development of the individual.