No fooling around – MTCS (UK) Ltd are all set to launch the latest version of MTCS Online on Monday 1st April, 2019.
Offering clients a ‘state of the art’ learning and development platform, the new MTCS Online allows users across the globe access to the industry-leading training and competence certification.
Over two years in development, MTCS (UK) Ltd have worked closely with digital training software developers, Synergy Learning.
Richard Warburton, Managing Director of MTCS UK Ltd: “Our primary objective was to embrace best practice in Virtual Learning Environment’ (VLE) software to best suit the requirements of personnel and organisations in the offshore energy sector.”
“The team at Synergy Learning have an impressive track record of building VLE applications for diverse industries academia and the public sector so were identified as being the right people to work with for MTCS Online.”
“Much of Synergy’s previous work had also been tailored to users all being based in relatively close proximity, perhaps on university a campus. Our users are also diverse, typically highly skilled professionals working in operations that are business critical and their competence is something which lives can depend upon.”
“Another key difference in our requirements was that many of our users are based in remote and harsh offshore environments across the world, where access to the internet can be patchy at best.”
MTCS Online is specifically designed for use at offshore locations and therefore takes poor internet connectivity into account. The system allows personnel to download courses and competence documentation for use at the worksite, information can then be saved and uploaded by to the system once internet access is available.
Personnel working towards an MTCS Certificate of Competence will be aware that the process requires them to collect evidence for final verification by MTCS. Evidence may typically include records of:
- Observed assessment;
- Underpinning knowledge;
- Operational and maintenance logs;
- Witness testimonies;
- and appraisals.
The latest version of MTCS Online provides a portfolio where specific evidence can be uploaded and stored prior to final verification. The ‘Private Files’ area provides a secure area for storing information required for assessment and verification. Mandatory documentation such as Offshore Survival, Medical and MIST certificates can be stored in a dedicated area of the users portal.
MTCS Online provides a sophisticated method of tracking progress through various courses and competence certification packages – essentially an ‘evidence check list’.
Providing an enhanced user experience for managers responsible for coordinating competence in companies who have personnel registered with MTCS Online, they are able to access a range of reports on each of their employees, including:
- Notification of certificate expiry dates
- Progress of candidates through various online courses
- Progress of candidates working through competence programmes
- Feedback from MTCS verifiers
- Candidate certificates
This next generation of MTCS Online offers a much more enhanced user experience than the previous incarnation; now fully responsive, it can be accessed via mobile devices such as iPad and iPhone, Android phones and tablets.
“Data protection is core to our values and, for this reason, the platform on which MTCS online is based is fully compliant with GDPR regulations.” continues Richard.
“We had originally scheduled the launch of the system in late 2018 but made the decision to push back as we wanted to ensure the information security was as robust and resilient as possible. The process meant a significant re-visit of the software but we believe the delay was fully justified in order to ensure personal and organisational data is fully secure.”
Acknowledging the growing need to check the authenticity of certificates at the worksite, the new system enhances the authenticity of certificates based around QR code technology.
“The requirement for competence certification continues to grow across the industry and further confirms the need for robust and high-quality assessment, conducted by trained and qualified Skills Assessors.” Concludes Richard.
“The launch of MTCS Online is just the first stage in ongoing investment we are making to better connect with assessors throughout the world to provide support, feedback and guidance. From Q3 2019, we shall be publishing a programme of webinars to help users get the most from the system and the full suite of training and competence certification services available from us.”
“We look forward to hearing feedback from all users of the new MTCS Online system and welcome input on how we may continue to improve the service for all our customers.”