For certification and accreditation bodies to ensure continuous improvement, the first step is to create an environment and infrastructure that enables learning opportunities to be realized. Typically, this will involve establishing or identifying a series of approved learning resources that certificants can take advantage of. Creating these opportunities is paramount in keeping up with the latest trends and techniques and helping to ensure that entire industries continue to raise standards. To maintain a thriving environment such as this, many organizations require Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to ensure ongoing success for all involved.
Within the certification and accreditation sector, CPD nomenclature comes in various forms. Some call it continuing education (where continuing education units – CEU’s – are earned), some name it maintenance of certification. In the medical field, many certification bodies use the term continuing medical education.
Whatever it is called, CPD is the perpetual process of learning and development that keeps professionals current and competitive in their field. It’s essential for keeping up with the latest trends and developments and can help individuals remain at the forefront of their profession and keep businesses thriving.
Within this article, we’re charting how CPD is used and how ARMATURE Fabric can help certification and accreditation bodies to track and monitor CPD progress.
What Is Continuous Professional Development (CPD)?
Continuous Professional Development (CPD) refers to the ongoing process of learning and development that professionals undertake in order to stay updated and knowledgeable in their field. CPD can involve attending formal training, conferences and workshops, taking courses, reading industry publications, or anything else that helps individuals learn and grow as a professional.
In our world, several of our customers leverage their CPD program to ensure that their certification and accreditation constituents stay at the forefront of their professions. Several, for example, produce regular educational webinars that their members can attend to earn continuing education (CE) credits. Others build several CPD elements into their annual conference program by running workshops and seminars that their members can attend. A certificate is often generated as evidence of attendance.
Similarly, some of our accreditation customers require their auditors/reviewers/assessors to obtain a certain amount of continuing education credits in order to maintain their reviewer status. It is particularly important to them that they do this as these reviewers are responsible for conducting accreditation site visits and reviews, so having the most up-to-date knowledge is critical.
What Is CPD Tracking Software?
Once a CPD program is established, the next step is to determine how to track and monitor units or credits efficiently and effectively. This can often be a challenge without a robust infrastructure in place. That’s where ARMATURE Fabric comes in.
ARMATURE Fabric is the world’s leading provider of accreditation management software and certification management software. A critical element within ARMATURE Fabric is our CPD module which enables organizations to track their constituents’ training, conferences, workshops, courses, books, and other resources, as well as capture the applicable data and evidence required for validation purposes.
ARMATURE Fabric offers an innovative way to keep track of continuous professional development (CPD) requirements. Our software product is intuitive and enables our clients to configure their own CPD module (the ARMATURE team is, of course, on hand to help). Configurable features include:
- Training pathways
- Tracks available (including effective period)
- Training categories (type of training)
- Required or optional training
- Credit types
- Selection weight
- Expiration dates
- Evidence capture/Type of evidence
Once configured, users can visit their self-service portal to make updates to the courses, events, or workshops they have attended, upload the applicable evidence, and keep track of their progress.
If you’re looking for a way to track CPD activities for your constituents, ARMATURE Fabric can offer you an effective, streamlined solution. We invite you to take a brief look under the hood.
ARMATURE Fabric and Continuous professional development Tracking
ARMATURE Fabric’s CPD module can make it easier for organizations to manage and observe their certification and accreditation continuous improvement activities. Certification leaders can easily track all CPD activities in one place, and set goals and deadlines for their constituents, and initiate reminders when it’s time for professionals to complete an activity.
Our software can be used to generate management reports so executives can view and monitor team performance and completion. It is a great way to stay abreast of constituents’ CPD progress, identify trends and gaps, and help ensure organizational success.
Over the last two decades, ARMATURE has served a wide variety of industries including education, healthcare, clinical laboratories, tissue banks, welding, medical imaging, environmental, law enforcement, and mechanical engineering.
If you’re looking for a way to streamline your business’s CPD tracking, we invite you to learn more about how ARMATURE Fabric can help.
What Are The Benefits of Using ARMATURE Fabric for CPD Tracking?
ARMATURE Fabric offers many benefits for organizations who want to track their continuous professional development (CPD) requirements. These include:
- The ability to track CPD progress for your constituent base easily and effectively
- Making it easy to upload and review data and evidence
- Ensuring approved CPD providers are used
- Straightforward to set up
- Highly configurable to your CPD program
- Easy to use and update
Still Have Questions about Continuous Professional Development Tracking?
If you are interested in learning more about ARMATURE Fabric, or if you want to start tracking your constituents’ CPD today, get in touch with our team through the “Contact Us” button below. We’d be happy to answer any of your questions and help you get started.
Thanks for reading. We hope this information has helped you better understand what Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is and why it’s so important. Be sure to check out ARMATURE Fabric if you’re looking for a way to streamline your organization’s CPD tracking.
