We recently spoke with Peter Lambourne, Managing Director of Ecordia, the company we’ve been working with to deliver our new e-portfolio software, and Philip Harper, who runs CCTS an LCL Awards approved training centre in Belfast. Philip has tailored Ecordia’s software to meet the specific requirements of his centre.

Peter Lambourne was previously an experienced assessor, IQA, and manager of training in the care sector. He was very impressed with Ecordia and the software they’d been developing and bought into the company a number of years ago. Peter said:

“The Ecordia system is used by lots of sectors – from the NHS through to training providers like LCL Awards. The system facilitates the building of evidence-based portfolios for vocational training, so it’s beneficial for a wide range of businesses and services. The software is very reliable and has been designed to be flexible. We encourage our customers to build upon it - to tailor it to their own specific needs.”

One such customer is Philip Harper, of CCTS in Belfast, Co. Antrim, who has adapted the software to suit the needs of his training centre and its learners.

“We wanted to use the Ecordia system as a workflow management tool so we could closely monitor the individual learning plan for each candidate. With the detailed instructions provided with the package plus a little help from Ecordia support, we’ve been able to modify the basic default set-up to meet our own specific needs.”

“A lot of the learning inputs of the MLP modules matched those of a number of short courses and on-line blended learning packages we were already running. As our existing TMS (Training Management System) was designed around the certification process, we decided to use this – our tried and tested QA process – as a record of achievement, wherever possible, for each in-centre training and assessment session.

“This meant we could create default programmes for the MLP as ‘Work Templates’ in Ecordia and link all learning evidence against the appropriate module learning input. We have found the process of creating an electronic record of each candidate’s progress to be very helpful, particularly as these can now be reviewed electronically/remotely and we are notified as and when evidence is presented by the learners.

“Our learners like the system too. We found that they were more content as they now have complete access to records of their achievements and are getting feedback in a more-timely manner. Our QA team is able to issue completion certificates for formative and summative assessments quickly and efficiently as these are uploaded electronically against each training and assessment session.

“Once we were happy that things were running effectively from our end, we devised an ‘Ecordia handover session’ for the learners. In this, we take them through the basics of the software and the Supervised Work Practice (SWP) process. We show them how to upload and record digital evidence using the portal so that they can upload their SWP reports, photographs, testimonies, Gas Certificates, analyser print outs etc. etc. 

“The system is secure as all information is digitally protected and use the contact log within Ecordia to cover the duty of care aspect of the MLP.

“We are very happy with how the software performs for us. The key benefit is that it allows us to spread centre resources and allocate the time required to the Assessor or IV. For us it’s a very useful tool”

To find out more about how Ecordia’s e-portfolio can help your centre, please contact Tracy Harker, tracy.harker@lclawards.co.uk.

For more information on CCTS and the training courses and assessments the centre offers learners in Northern Ireland’s building services and construction sectors, please click here