A study investigated the processes Wisconsin's businesses and industries use to identify training and retraining needs and the mechanisms they use to communicate these needs to the state's vocational, technical, and adult education (VTAE) system. Data were collected by a survey questionnaire sent to a representative sample of 361 Wisconsin firms. The questionnaire had been developed after interviews with training or human service directors at a selected number of Wisconsin firms. The sample was equally divided between service and production-manufacturing firms and reflected those firms with either 1-19, 20-99, 100-499, or 500 or more employees. Among the major findings reported were that: (1) many companies are familiar with and use the training resources available in Wisconsin's technical colleges; (2) the characteristics that companies believe are important in good training programs are practical content, knowledgeable instructors, timely course offerings, and cost-effectiveness; and (3) the barriers to technical colleges providing training for firms are that the colleges lack programs or expertise in some areas, firms do not know whom to contact at the college, employees cannot be released to attend classes, some companies fear that they will not receive the same level of training in all VTAE districts, the colleges' schedule-calendar does not match all companies' training schedules, and some companies do not have a well-defined training or human resource development unit. (The document includes recommendations, detailed survey results, and a copy of the questionnaire.) (CML)