Programme in action
A 30-minute branched business simulation that placed fraud investigators inside a live case — navigating corruption, ghost vendors, and bribery schemes through decisions that actually mattered.
The organisation ran an annual, globally recognised fraud awareness campaign that had grown substantially in reach and reputation. But awareness campaigns, however well-intentioned, have a ceiling. Reading about fraud is not the same as recognising it. And recognising it is not the same as knowing what to do when you encounter it.
The organisation sought to complement its existing programmes with something different: an interactive learning aid that would put members inside a real investigation. Not a quiz, not a lecture — a simulation. One where the decisions learners made determined the story's direction, and where wrong choices revealed consequences rather than simply flagging an incorrect answer.
The brief was to build a "Choose Your Own Adventure" eLearning experience, set inside a fictional consulting firm called Poirot & Christie Consulting Services (PCCS), that would make fraud detection feel personal and immediate.
The development team operated across a significant time zone difference from the client, requiring structured collaboration, asynchronous review cycles, and disciplined version control throughout the build.
The programme had to speak to a remarkably diverse membership — from solo practitioners to officers within major global corporations — without losing the sense that it was speaking directly to each individual.
A business simulation set inside a fictional firm — where every decision by the learner steered the investigation forward, sideways, or off a cliff.
Branched learning is deceptively complex. Designing the decision points is only the beginning — the real challenge is ensuring that every path, however convoluted, eventually reaches the same destination. With 24-plus story nodes, multiple wrong-turn consequences, and three interweaving fraud storylines, the structural logic of the narrative had to be mapped in exhaustive detail before a single screen was built.
The most powerful design decision was to make wrong answers instructive rather than merely incorrect. A learner who backs down from challenging a corrupt executive does not simply receive a "wrong answer" prompt — they experience the downstream consequences: the fraud escalates, the culture deteriorates, and the learner is eventually forced out of the organisation.
This consequence-first design approach, grounded in business simulation theory, created genuine stakes — and genuine learning. Members were not just reading about fraud; they were feeling what it costs to mishandle it.
The programme was released as part of the organisation's annual awareness campaign and drew immediate engagement from members across industries and geographies. The simulation format — rare in professional association learning — generated strong word-of-mouth within the membership community, with many members replaying the module to explore alternate decision paths.
Completion rates were high and post-module feedback indicated a significant shift in members' confidence in applying fraud detection principles — particularly in recognising institutional resistance as a red flag rather than a reason to stand down.
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