Frequently Asked Questions

 

What is the Process Industries Skills Passport? 

 

The Process Industries Skills Passport is a web based learner database which can provide all employees and contractors within the process industry with a physical record of their industry specific training and qualifications to agreed industry standards.

 

What can I do on the Process Industries Skills Passport system?

 

For the employer/system user:

• View detailed employee training records.
• See where the skills and skills gaps lie in your organisation through benchmarking against Gold Standard job roles.
• Manage your training programmes
• Access to a series of reports on skills and training within your organisation.

 

For the employee/skills passport holder:

• Keep track of the training you've had to date.
• Add unverified training and qualifications to your record, including your CV.
• Benchmark your existing training and qualifications against industry standard job roles (i.e. Gold Standards)

 

Access to information on Skills Academy training programmes, qualifications and providers.

 

What is Gold Standard and how is it relevant to my organisation?

 

The Gold Standard is a national framework for continuous professional development setting out the skills required for world class performance in key job roles in the process industries.  More details are available from

www.cogent-ssc.com/Gold_Standard/index.php

 

What training and qualifications can I put on the Process Industries Skills Passport?

 

The Process Industries Skills Passport can be used to record industry transferable training and qualifications from entry level to apprenticeships, foundations degrees and above i.e. training that is aligned to industry training standards/Gold Standards/nationally recognised qualifications.

The Process Industries Skills Passport can also be used to record non-transferable training i.e. training that is not currently aligned to industry standards/supports CPD etc. This could include company specific/in-house training and/or SQEP training.

 

Can my existing training records be captured on the Process Industries Skills Passport?

 

Existing transferable training such as qualifications can be recorded on the Process Industries Skills Passport and any new training undertaken. In addition, you will be able to record in-house and/or SQEP training. You will only be able to record training as being aligned to industry training standards following an externally managed assessment of the training. This forms part of the Academy ASET service. For more information on ASET contact enquiries@process.nsacademy.co.uk

 

Can I use the system to record my own company In-House training?

 

Yes - the Process Industries Skills Passport is a flexible system which can record both training that aligns to industry standards and company in-house training where required. This may assist an organisation in building up a Competence Assurance portfolio for its employees.

 

Some of the training my staff undertakes has a validity period associated with it. Does the Skills Passport support training validity periods?

 

Training validity periods and reminder alerts can be set for all training that an organisation records on Skills Passport. The system offers reports on expired training and training that is due to expire.

 

How can data be uploaded onto the skills passport system?

 

The Skills Academy have developed a bulk data import function which organisations can utilise to transfer training and qualification data relating to the process industries into the Skills Passport system.

 

Can Skills Passport be integrated to my internal IT systems?

 

The Skills Passport supports bulk import of data from an externally generated csv or xml file; however the system is not currently set up to automatically exchange data with an external system.

 

How secure will the data be?

 

The data will be hosted on a secure site to 128bit encryption standards as used by commercial organisations such as banks.

 

Who will control the data on the system - is it the Skills Academy? Can they guarantee they will not utilise the data for commercial gain?

 

The Skills Academy has the overall responsibility for securing the data in the system. The organisation has responsibility for ensuring the data that is put on the system complies with the terms and conditions of the Skills Passport contract

The Skills Academy can guarantee that this information will not be passed onto any other bodies other than those users identified in the Privacy Policy as this would be against its legal requirements under the Data Protection Act.

 

Can I store evidence of training on the Skills Passport?

 

The organisation can add evidence to the training records that they have added to an individual's passport.

The Passport Holder can also attach a file to a record of unverified training that they have added to the Skills Passport. This file may be a scanned copy of a certificate, a reference or any other document.

 

What is the difference between verified and unverified training?

 

Training which is added by an individual is unverified. An individual can add supporting evidence such as their CV to their training record.

Training which is added by an employer is verified and supporting documented evidence can be attached to such training records by the employer.

 

What is the Skills Passport Card?

 

Organisations can opt to offer Skills Passport cards to passport holders. There are two card types: basic and chipped. The chipped Skills Passport card holds a photo, name and system ID number of the passport holder. No other data from the system is held on the chipped card.

An organisation may opt to use a contactless smart card reader that supports the Process Industries Skills Passport application. The Skills Passport card contains a mifare chip that can be read by the card reader. This allows the user to swipe the card when it is presented by the passport holder and view the passport holders training record on screen.

The basic passport card shows the photo, name and system ID number of the passport holder, but it cannot be read by a card reader.

 

Can I customise Skills Passport to reflect my organisation's branding?

 

Skills Passport supports customisation of the home page for different user types. This allows an organisation to tailor the information that the user sees when they log on to the application. It is also possible to add a company logo to this page.

 

What will it cost me? Is there a charge per passport to the Skills Academy?

The Skills Passport is offered as a subscription service with a fee paid annually to use the system.

Administrative costs, following the initial set up of the system for your organisation should be minimal; in particular, if your organisation opts to use the bulk data import function which the Skills Academy has developed as part of the Skills Passport system.

Contact NSAPI customer service for further information, passport@process.nsacademy.co.uk

 

What help can I get to implement the Process Industries Skills Passport within my organisation?

 

NSAPI have developed an implementation guide to help you get started with Skills Passport.

To discuss a bespoke implementation service contact NSAPI customer service for further information, passport@process.nsacademy.co.uk

 

I am a training provider, how can I get the training that I provide for the sector recognised on the Process Industries Skills Passport system?

In order for training provision to appear on the Skills Passport system you must either be an accredited member of the provider network, or a subscribing member of the employer network.

For more information on Provider Accreditation or Employer Membership please contact, enquiries@process.nsacademy.co.uk