news

Skillwise is delighted to launch its new mobile application, VQMobile. (01/11/2012)

In effect, VQMobile allows an assessor to take an off-line version of VQManager with them whilst they're out and about. Learners' progress can be seen, evidence can be added straight into learmers' portfolios, assessment plans can be viewed and amended.... Most significantly, this opens up the use of VQManager for the assessment of learners in challenging environments such as outdoors, kitchens, workshops. In fact, anywhere where a laptop may be too cumbersome or an internet connection may be unavailable.

Online resources bring 25% productivity increase to ICON TRAINING assessors. (20/01/2012)

ICON TRAINING has launched a new online resource to help learners hoping to qualify as health and fitness professionals complete their Active IQ accredited NVQ qualifications. Implemented by SkillWise in conjunction with Active IQ, the e-portfolio system has had a fantastic effect on the delivery and assessment of NVQ qualifications for ICON and has seen the productivity of assessors increase by up to 25% in the first six months.

The e-portfolio works as a digital archive that allows information to be stored with both efficiency and ease. Paul Greenhalgh, Director of SkillWise explains: "The system contains a pre-mapped checklist of objectives that learners are looking to complete. Learners can log work or evidence onto their own e-portfolio, which can then be compared and assessed against the checklist. Not only does this allow learners to monitor their own progress, but it provides both assessors and the internal quality assurance team with instant access to the work."

One of the most obvious benefits of the e-portfolio is the comparative efficiency of the system in relation to the old paper-based methods. Instead of having to maintain an ever-growing paper trail of evidence and documentation, everything is neatly organised in the digital archive, and available at the click of a mouse. SkillWise estimates that this allows assessors to increase their productivity by up to 25%, which itself translates to a significant cost saving measure.

From the perspective of the learner, the ability to upload work at any point, and the fact that assessors can also access the work, means that they can receive frequent feedback even between face-to-face meetings. Similarly, they do not need to worry about maintaining a file. ICON TRAINING has reported positive feedback in this regard with learners commenting on the extra support that has been available since the introduction of the e-portfolio.

Laura Vale, the Skills Deveopment Manager at ICON TRAINING, comments: "The e-portfolios have been a fantastic innovation for the centre, really improving the resources that we are able to offer to our learners. The Active IQ qualifications are really important to health and fitness professionals, and now we can precisely track the progress of the learners in a manner that is both quick, effective and convenient. The whole project has been a huge success, and every single learner is currently on target to meet their planned qualification completion dates."

SkillWise presents at Regional JISC events.

Following the success of SkillWise's presentation at the Northern JISC event last Autumn, you have another opportunity to see the SkillWise "Successful e-Portfolio Deployment" presentation when we present at the JISC South East event at Langley on the 27th February. The presentation talks through some of the most common pitfalls experienced when deploying an e-portfolio and, more importantly, how to anticipate and manage them. To find out more, visit http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/southeast/events/2012/feb/wbl-workshop.aspx

Congratulations to Westminster Kingsway College!

SkillWise would like to offer its congratulations to Westminster Kingsway College. As part of National Apprenticeship Week, Ofsted has highlighted some examples of best practice in its Learning from the Best report. Westminster Kingsway College was selected for its Young Chefs' Academy programme. To read more about National Apprenticeship Week please visit http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/46410

Apprenticeship Provider of the Year chooses SkillWise. (15/12/2011)

Skillwise are delighted to have been chosen by Acorn Learning Solutions to provide e-Portfolio software for their UK-wide Apprenticeship delivery programme. Acorn has recently won the highly coveted 'Apprenticeship Provider of the Year' at the Apprenticeship Awards Cymru for their work in Wales.

Acorn delivers Apprenticeships in a number of sectors, including insurance and banking, management, customer service, administration, retailing, logistics and warehousing distribution, learning and development, IT and telecommunications, manufacturing, care, engineering and contact centre work.

Commercial Director Sarah John said "We have tried other e-Portfolios in the past, but they proved disappointing and we eventually abandoned them. By contrast VQManager from Skillwise offers clear, simple interfaces and a host of time saving features and functionality. We are genuinely excited at the opportunity to roll out VQManager across our UK-wide provision".

London. (18/11/2011)

SkillWise is pleased to announce that it has acquired the exclusive rights to SmartWorx from Focus Consulting. SmartWorx helps organisations who are delivering Apprenticeships to significantly reduce the related assessment costs and simultaneously improve the quality of delivery. Mrs Stephenson, MD of Focus said "We are pleased to be working with SkillWise as their leading edge technology enables the SmartWorx approach to be delivered at an even lower cost to training providers. This should revolutionise the delivery of apprenticeship frameworks"

Skillwise is recruiting. (03/05/2011)

SkillWise continues to expand as a company, and urgently needs talented people to become part of the team.

There are two posts available in sales - one a senior role with a remit of establishing contacts and closing sales with certain large key organisations, the other being a field sales role. In either role, experience of the sector and assessment/verification experience will prove very valuable.

There is also a position available for a marketing / office assistant role, based from our Bracknell headquarters.

If any of these roles appear attractive to you and you would like more details, please drop an e-mail (preferably with a CV attached) to Wayne Soutter (waynesoutter@skillwise.net). Your interest will of course be treated in the strictest confidence.

He made it! (05/09/2010)

Wayne Soutter, MD of SkillWise, completed the swim of the English channel in 20 Hours and 1 minute and managed to raise over £3000 for Sparrow Schools (http://www.sparrowschools.co.za) in South Africa. He was the 813th person to ever swim the channel. When I asked him "would you do it again?", I only received a glare...

Skillwise, has linked up with Learning at Work to explore mutually beneficial opportunities within the sector. (01/09/2010)

Skillwise, has linked up with Learning at Work to explore mutually beneficial opportunities within the sector. Learning at Work specialise in supplying a range of services to Further Education providers including support with identifying and responding to tendering opportunities, sourcing priority learners, advice and guidance with OFSTED and PFA audits new and return on investment strategies. The link up will explore innovative ways in which qualifications can be delivered thus improving the quality of training and allowing greater flexibility for people to access the programmes.

activeIQ signs strategic relationship with SkillWise (20/8/2010)

SkillWise is delighted to announce the signing of a strategic relationship with the awarding body, Active IQ.

Active IQ is the leading provider of active leisure and learning qualifications in the UK. As such, SkillWise is particularly delighted to have committed to a strategic agreement.

SkillWise's Commercial Director Paul Greenhalgh says, "Under this agreement, activeIQ will be able to offer its customers a bespoke state-of-the-art e-portfolio which is pre-populated not only with the activeIQ qualifications, but also its learning content and approved cross referencing. In these days of reducing funding and increasing need for efficiency of delivery, this will provide centres offering Active IQ qualifications a significant advantage over their competitors".

Walsall Council - Post-pilot reaction ( 5/7/2010)

Walsall Council - Post-pilot reaction Overview – This is an example of an e-portfolio being deployed at an embryonic stage of a larger deployment. Although the e-portfolio has a wealth of functionality to automate every step of the assessment process, it also has the exibility to, alternatively, allow it to fully support an organisation’s existing process. Here we see VQManager being used in a manner which does not take maximum bene t from the e-portfolio’s functionality, but in a way which was easy to adopt and which still adds significant value to the users.
Click here to read the full article.

Solo Channel swim for Charity (03/2010)

At the end of September this year, Wayne Soutter, Managing Director of SkillWise will attempt to swim the English Channel solo, to raise funds for Sparrow Schools, a vocational school charity based in South Africa.

Wayne will be battling against the cold, adverse tides, jellyfish, darkness and probability – the fact is that the majority of channel attempts are unsuccessful, it’s a cold fact that far more people have stood at the summit of Everest, than have swum the Channel.

Wayne says “the thought of raising much-needed money for the charity will be something I can draw on when things get tough”. We wish him all our best!

Thames Valley Probation Service adopts SkillWise e-Portfolio (07/2010)

In taking the decision to adopt SkillWise’s VQManager e-Portfolio, Thames Valley Probation Service (TVPS) has ensured that probation services as a whole now has an even louder voice in the world of e-portfolio provision.

Already, much of the recent development of VQManager has been driven by the specific needs of Probation Service providers such as the notably proactive West Midlands Probation Services (WMPS), but with TVPS adding its voice, Probation Services in general can be assured that their needs will receive very close attention.

During the approval process with TVPS, certain very specific requirements were highlighted. Within 10 working days, SkillWise was able to modify its interface to provide the required functionality – another example of SkillWise listening to its customers and basing its development activities directly upon their needs.

SkillWise and RFU in Partnership (8/10/2009)

SkillWise is delighted to announce its partnership with the Rugby Football Union's (RFU's) England Rugby Academy. The England Rugby Academy (ERA) has representation within each of the Premiership clubs, and is a key part of the RFU's World Class Performance Plan - aimed primarily at producing better quality England players.

Through the AASE programme, The ERA provides promising young players with the technical, skills and educational backup they need both for their playing, and their post-rugby careers.

Peter Johnson of the RFU says, "Adopting VQManager will streamline the assessment process and allow the easy deployment of pre-mapped assessment plans. Ultimately, this means that assessors can spend more time on the training paddock, and candidates will have a greater ability to track their progress through the exciting new technology".

Paul Greenhalgh of SkillWise says "We are absolutely delighted to be associated with the RFU, and look forward to seeing the future successes of the AASE candidates".

SkillWise launches BTEC Management (12/10/2009)

e-portfolios have traditionally focused on NVQ type qualifications, but what about all of the other qualifications you may be delivering?

Monitoring different qualifications through different systems introduces all kinds of managerial issues.

Some of the issues that have prevented these qualifications simply being slotted into existing e-portfolios, include the varying structures of different qualification types, the different ways in which they are assessed or graded, the different types of submission/observation and assignment approval processes. Colleges have, therefore, traditionally run multiple independent systems to manage their different qualifications.

VQManager has been developed to be all-qualification friendly.

Qualifications of almost any type can be pre-populated into its flexible qualification area. Outcomes can be cross-referenced, not just within the BTEC, for instance, but also across other qualification such as NVQs. This allows very smooth and efficient cross referencing of course work or evidence from one qualification to the next.

The tutor grades the learners submissions, the e-portfolio will automatically sum up the points allocated to those outcomes to generate a suggested grade per unit, and in turn per qualification, which the tutor can then confirm. To further assist the tutor and save them time, they have the ability to enter grades into the system in bulk i.e. not just one at a time.

Using the VQManager e-portfolio to manage a broad range of different qualifications has many advantages. Not least of these, is the fact that a college needs just one system to manage all of its qualifications. That means there's just one system to purchase, maintain and train staff on and every student's progress can be seen by the tutor or centre administrator through a single, common reporting interface.

Those students who are capable of attaining a higher grade can be easily identified, early enough to encourage them to raise their performance sufficiently benefiting both student and college.

In summary, the multi-qualification capabilities of VQManager mean that a single system will now address all of a college's qualification presentation and tracking requirements. This reduces financial outlay on software, reduces the training impact and provides a single point of reference for the tracking of every student's progress.

SkillWise Channel Swim raises £4,050 for charity (08/09/2009)

On the 8th of September at 2 am, somewhere near Dover, Wayne Soutter and Paul Greenhalgh Directors of SkillWise, jumped into a pitch black sea to start the SkillWise 5 man Channel relay attempt.

The attempt had taken 12 months of planning, and was conceived as a way of raising much-needed funds and awareness for two charities.

Wayne's chosen charity was Katharine House Hospice in Oxfordshire, a facility that cares for the terminally ill whilst Paul's was the Ichthyosis Support Group, an organisation that provides support for people suffering from the awful Ichthyosis skin condition. (You can find out more about the charities by following the links below).

Having delayed the start of the swim for over two weeks due to storms in the Channel, on the day the team was blessed with great conditions - a reasonably flat sea and sunshine!

The delay meant that rather than swimming during the easier 'neap' tides, they swam on a spring tide. This proved to be a major factor in the difficulty of the attempt - the rising tide kicked severely off the French coast, making it very difficult to achieve the last few miles of the swim.

But, after 13 hours and 8 minutes, they made it and triumphantly waded ashore in France.

After the swim, Paul said "We'd like to express our very sincere thanks to everyone who supported the event, especially those kind enough to donate to the charities. And no, we're not going to swim back to England!!! "

You can find out more about SkillWise's chosen charities at www.ichthyosis.org.uk and www.khh.org.uk. You can make a donation at either www.justgiving.com/paulgreenhalgh2 or www.justgiving.com/WayneSoutter

LIG5 Funding to help E-learning uptake announced by ALP (4/09/2009)

The £3 million Learning Innovation Grant 5 was announced today by ALP. Supported by LSC and the Dept for Business Innovation and Skills, it is designed for consortia of (or individual) private training providers (one must lead) and Colleges to work collaboratively to aid the digital uptake and smooth the efficient integration of new technology to drive improvement. As a recent Becta survey identified, 60% of WBL providers are still to develop their electronic teaching and learning resources - competition for this will go to the best and most innovative tenders.

Individual consortia will need to put forward tenders of between £50K and £150K, with a contribution of 7.5% plus vat collected from the lead. Many ptps and colleges recognise a need for new technology, but it comes at a cost - this fund potentially represents the solution to that hurdle.

The deadline for submission is midday on the 7th of October, with announcement of successful applicants in November so a rapid, well coordinated approach is required. You may have already decided to use an e-portfolio, or you may still be thinking about it and wish to pull along others who are not as well travelled down that particular road. If you wish to find out more please contact us and we will be happy to either help establish consortia with similar aims, or just point you in the right direction.

SkillWise Awarded 5 Star Rating (17/11/2008)

SkillWise is proud to announce our 5 star rating following an independent evaluation by the East Midlands Development Agency. The aim of the assessment is to enable publicly-funded business support organisations such as Business Link, the Learning and Skills Council, and UK Trade and Investment to work with reliable suppliers.

Wayne Soutter managing director of SkillWise UK said "We were thrilled to have achieved the 5 star rating through an independent assessment" The 5 star rating is based on the feedback from existing clients to a questionnaire designed and managed by the East Midlands Development Agency.

SkillWise are working with a large number of organisations in the midlands area including recent clients (past month) Derbyshire Chamber of Commerce and a pilot at West Nottinghamshire College.

RSC (JISC) South East Publish E-portfolio Case Study (10/2008)

Introtrain at the cutting edge of WBL e-Portfolios

The introduction of e-portfolios into work-based learning (WBL) environments represents one of the biggest challenges to this increasingly important strand of e-learning. In just two years, WBL training provider Introtrain has progressed from ground-breaking initial trials to a fully integrated e-portfolio system encompassing all 150 learners in 60 different employer locations.

Introtrain is a private work-based learning (WBL) provider delivering apprenticeships in hairdressing in the Oxfordshire area. In July 2006, with growing numbers of students, Introtrain decided to trial an e-portfolio system.

For the NVQ assessors, the potential benefits of not having to carry heavy portfolios around with them – plus the prospect of no more lost paperwork – were incentives enough to consider alternative methods of portfolio building. For the training provider, the issue was all about increased effectiveness as well as adding value.

Managing Director, Carolyn Della-Ragione explains: "We wanted to be ahead of the game; we also wanted to be able to offer our students something different. We are now starting to feel the effects of faster throughput of City and Guilds knowledge and Key Skills as well as better overview of progress for assessors and learners."

Having looked at a number of different e-portfolio systems, Introtrain chose SkillWise. The SkillWise e-portfolio was trialled by 20 hairdressing students and the feedback was 100 per cent positive from learners, assessors and employers alike. For Carolyn Della-Ragione, one of the keys to this success was flexibility. She observes: "Skillwise took time to learn about our company, and the way we work, so that the e-portfolio fitted our business processes, and not the other way round."

Feedback from learner surveys shows that students who have Internet access at work prefer the e-portfolio and use it more because it is online. They find it quicker to use and easier to view their progress. The home page gives them an up-to-date snapshot of their progress with a clear picture of the NVQ units completed: finished units are displayed in blue and those remaining to be done are in white.

According to Carolyn Della-Ragione, "The e-portfolio has had a massive impact on monitoring and progression for the workbased assessors." The visibility of learner progress and assessor activity provided by the system has been a major advantage, with the assessors now able to log onto the system at any time for a snapshot of learner progress.

E-portfolios seem to be going down well with employers too. Introtrain has gone to great lengths to encourage employers to use the e-portfolio on a regular basis, including supplying some with laptops so that salon assessors could use them to record observations and upload evidence to the e-portfolio. This way, the eportfolio would be available for employers and students on the laptop at any time.

Although, there has been an initial set-up cost to the business in providing laptops for assessors and employers, Carolyn Della-Ragione believes that the purchase of these items has set the company up for the future. The benefits of better tracking, monitoring, visibility and convenience have significantly reduced the workload for assessors.

As for the students, Introtrain has found that they feel ‘at home’ with the e-portfolio interface and they like the technology that has been incorporated into their learning. Out of 45 learners surveyed, 43 said that they were comfortable with the assessment procedures and understood how the e-portfolio works.

For any WBL training provider considering the e-portfolio route, Carolyn Della-Ragione offers three pieces of advice: "Train your staff, keep employers well informed, and monitor Internet and PC access. It is vital to ensure all learners are getting the best out of their e-portfolio. A lot of people will have invested a great deal of time, money and effort into your e-portfolio system. Make sure it is being fully used."

Source: http://www.rsc-southeast.ac.uk/uploads/1222858882_2008_Autumn_(Final_Proof).pdf

SkillWise lead the market with mobile phone integration (08/2008)

Although mobile phones have for years offered a useful and portable mechanism for collecting evidence (capturing pictures, video and audio), the ability to actually use the phone as a mechanism to view and edit a learners e-portfolio has been clunky and difficult to navigate at best.

Graham Wolfson, product manager of VQManager says, “we have invested heavily in R&D over the past year to now release a product that works seamlessly on mobile phones. Users can now use their phones to access their e-portfolios and have exactly the same fully functional experience as if they were working on their own computer. We don’t expect users to work on the phone all the time as screen resolution and keyboard size is always going to be a limiting factor, but they can now use their phones to access VQManager if they are in a situation where PC access is difficult.”

The mobile phone operating systems currently covered are:

Windows Mobile:

Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC

Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone

Windows Mobile 5/6 PPC, Professional

Windows Mobile 5/6 Smartphone

Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC

Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC

Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone

Symbian:

S60 3.x

S60 2.x

RCVS Appoints VQManager as only Accredited e-portfolio (31/08/2008)

SkillWise is pleased to announce that the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has accredited the VQManager e-portfolio as being suitable for the delivery of its NVQ qualifications. VQManager is the only e-portfolio to achieve RCVS accreditation.

Following the accreditation, VQManager is now available pre-populated with the RCVS’s current qualifications, as well as a broad range of associated land- and animal-based qualifications.

Exciting Customer Services Initiative (8/08/2008)

SkillWise is delighted to announce a pioneering venture which will revolutionise the delivery of customer services qualifications. In partnership with acknowledged customer services experts Customer 1st, the new product takes the exceptional learning content from Customer 1st's Best Practice Guide and embeds it at the relevant points within the NVQ structure.

This means that any assessment plan created within the e-portfolio will automatically have all of the relevant learning content and knowledge checks built in, delivered as a distance-learning resource. Furthermore, the content from the Best Practice Guide has been mapped against the Knowledge and Understanding aspects of Customer Services NVQ Level 2, so candidates completing modules within the Best Practice Guide will automatically see which areas of their NVQ they map against.

Customer 1st and SkillWise are aware that very often, the knowledge and understanding aspects of an NVQ are the most difficult for assessors in the field to deliver. We believe that the new combined delivery will save training providers money, improve the quality of their delivery and help them to offer a high quality qualification experience.

If you are interested to learn more about this initiative and how it could support your organisation please contact us uksales@skillwise.net

Plumpton College opts for VQManager (08/2008)

Following a rigorous assessment process, Plumpton College has selected VQManager as its preferred e-portfolio. Mark Syrett, Work Based Learning manager at Plumpton said, “based on a detailed search of the market, we short listed down to 2 products, but at the end there was really only one choice and that was SkillWise's VQManager. The main decision criteria were superior functionality, ease of use, solid company credentials and unmatched levels of support”

Based in East Sussex, Plumpton College offers a broad range of land-based qualifications, as diverse as Landscaping, Veterinary nursing and Wine & Viticulture.

Plumpton College hopes that the e-portfolio will help to reduce the costs of engaging remote learners, and will also provide the College with management-level tracking of its rapidly expanding programmes.

ALPS announces Phase 4 of Learning Innovation Grant (06/2008)

The Association of Learning Providers (ALP) has announced a further phase of its Learning Innovation Grant (LIG)

Aimed at improving and encouraging the uptake of technology solutions and e-learning in work-based LSC funded programmes, a sum of £4 million has been made available. Any independent provider holding a current LSC contract is eligible to bid for capital funding amounts of between £50,000 and £100,00 (individual) or £200,000 (consortium).

It is hoped that LIG4 will replicate some of the sustainable successes of previous LIG initiatives, but this time specifically focusing on the Train to Gain area.

More information is available at http://alp.qia.oxi.net/lig4

LSC clarifies acceptability of e-Learning in Train to Gain (11/02/2008)

In its Requirements for Funding Train to Gain document (published 10 February 2008) the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has provided clarification around the question of acceptability of different styles of training delivery.

The document clearly provides that when trying to ascertain whether specific learning qualifies under the Train to Gain scheme, “Learning/training includes blended, distance and e-learning providing suitable evidence of learning hours is retained.“

Therefore, as long as training providers can substantiate that the learning has been carried out, they are free to deliver the actual content via a broad range of media including electronically-delivered content.

Wayne Soutter, MD of SkillWise says “This is great news for VQManager users. Using the editable areas within assessment plans (either at PC or Unit level) a provider can create links to existing e-content, delivered in granular form and to the specific areas where it’s required.“

From the provider’s point of view, content developed once and accessed repeatedly will continue to satisfy the requirement for 20 hours of underpinning knowledge and understanding for multiple candidates, thus cutting the costs of delivery substantially.

Please contact SkillWise for a full copy of the LSC publication

SkillWise e-portfolio added to EDI approved supplier list (19/10/2007)

Following a detailed review of SkillWise's e-portfolio product VQManager, EDI has approved VQManager to be added to their approved e-portfolio supplier list. Paul Greenhalgh, Commercial Director of SkillWise said "This provides further confirmation that VQManager is a leading product in this market sector."

VQManager is now the UK's most accredited product.

SkillWise 10th Anniversary (20/7/2007)

London, July 20, 2007 – SkillWise is proud to mark its tenth anniversary.

During the last decade, SkillWise has helped a wide range of private and public sector companies on the UK mainland and overseas, to address their learning needs.

Reflecting on the past decade, Managing Director Wayne Soutter says “Over recent years we have seen tremendous changes in both technology, and organisations’ attitudes towards the development of their employees. Over the next five years, we anticipate that the most significant factors to drive our industry will be the Government's aims to increase the number of people completing apprenticeships and NVQs. To achieve the levels of completion that are being targeted, organisations such as FE colleges and private training providers are going to need management and assessment software solutions that are both robust and powerful.

SkillWise’s future lies in continuing to expand its range of reliable and innovative solutions in this arena“.

City College Birmingham opts for VQMT (10/7/2007)

In order to manage its NVQ programmes on-line, City College Birmingham has recently committed to becoming a candidate site for the SkillWise/Capita Education Services VQMT product. VQMT brings together CES’s UNIT-e student record system and SkillWise’s VQManager® to create a fully integrated system enabling single sign-on, and full NVQ progress/results tracking in UNIT-e. City College Birmingham’s Anthony Gribben expects to see an increase in efficiency from using the system, as well as a significant paper and storage saving.

VQManager – trainee assessor functionality upgrade (28/6/2007)

VQManager®’s functionality has again been upgraded. In response to client feedback, VQManager® now enables an assessor to be identified as a trainee. In this case, a learner’s evidence comes through to the assessor as usual, but once the assessor has assessed it, rather than being returned directly to the learner it is sent through to a qualified assessor.

Only once the qualified assessor has signed off the assessment, does it appear on the learner’s home page. This enhanced functionality will ease the process of bringing on trainee assessors, without compromising the quality of learner assessment.

SkillWise signs agreement with Capita Education Services (24/5/2007)

SkillWise and CES have signed an agreement which will effectively allow CES to merge the functionality of SkillWise’s class-leading VQManager® product into its existing UNIT-e MIS (student record) system. UNIT-e is currently used by over 140 FE colleges, and the incorporation of VQManager® further enhances its functionality.

By blending the two solutions, UNIT-e will offer its users the extensive functionality of VQManager®, whilst at the same time avoiding traditional headaches such as multiple log-in, potential student data conflicts and multiple reporting interfaces.

Already, numerous FE colleges have commenced implementations of the enhanced solution.

London Project chooses VQManager (21/3/2007)

Capita APT once again selected VQManager® to help it deliver an NVQ programme to a consortium of London local authorities.

Having seen significant success in Scottish local authorities through the use of VQManager® (branded as VAMS for local authority use), VQManager® was selected for a subsequent Welsh project and now for the London Project.

SkillWise’s Graham Wolfson says “ by continually working with, and listening to, our local authority customers, we have been able to ensure that VQManager® has continued to deliver the functionality they desire“.

SkillWise awarded Gold Status (28/12/2006)

London, December 28, 2006 – SkillWise UK was awarded Gold status accreditation in Capita's supplier programme on the 12th December 2006. The Capita Supplier Programme carefully rates and investigates their suppliers against a rigorous list of criteria to ensure the quality and stability of organisations with which they contract.

Wayne Soutter MD of SkillWise said “We were thrilled to achieve Gold accreditation. This is a testament to the level of support, quality, and customer satisfaction that SkillWise provides to organisations with which we partner.“

SkillWise works with Capita in a number of areas including:

– Bespoke e-learning development: Capita APT and Capita Software Services

– Vocational Management Tools: Capita Education Services

Inca Software selects SkillWise to provide e-learning and presentation material (31/7/2006)

Inca Software is set to increase the speed at which direct and indirect sales staff become revenue generators with help from SkillWise

31 July 2006, Bracknell, UK – SkillWise today announces that Inca Software Ltd, providers of planning, reporting and analysis software, has selected SkillWise as their e-learning development partner.

The initial project covered two key areas, both firmly focused on increasing sales from Inca’s direct and indirect channels:

• An on-line sales training facility designed to enhance the selling abilities of Inca’s sales team and it’s worldwide partners.

• An informative and engaging rolling demonstration of Inca Planning’s features and functionalities. This will be used in conjunction with Inca’s direct marketing campaigns and will be available to access on the Inca Software website.

This project was developed and implemented in just two months.

“A comprehensive computer based training strategy is rapidly becoming crucial in our world – it is helping to take costs out of the business whilst increasing sales effectiveness. We fully intend to build e-learning into the complete Inca Software product suite for client training purposes; Skillwise very quickly understood our requirements and quickly translated them into an impressive working solution in a short period of time“, said Chris Kerrison, CEO, Inca Software.

“We are delighted that Inca has recognised the advantages and cost savings involved in communicating key training requirements and product features to its sales team and partner network. Traditional methods are fast becoming less appropriate in an increasingly competitive environment, and Inca now have an effective solution enabling them to stay one step-ahead of the competition“, comments Paul Greenhalgh, Commercial Director at SkillWise.

About Inca Software

Inca is a leading provider of planning, reporting and analysis solutions for organisations across all industry sectors, whatever their size or budget. Inca has built up an unrivalled sales, customer support and professional services team and continues to maintain its status as Cognos Partner of the Year by providing the Cognos range of products to organisations requiring an enterprise solution, whilst offering its own market leading products to the mid-market, specifically to finance departments seeking an affordable alternative to spreadsheets.

Inca serves over 400 customers across the UK and Europe enabling them to achieve planning, reporting and analysis success. More information can be found at www.incasoftware.co.uk

About SkillWise

By offering an alternative to traditional training solutions, SkillWise has brought substantial value to corporate clients worldwide. SkillWise’s focus has always been on the business, rather than the technological issues, remembering that the principal measure of any learning solution has to be the increase in competency of its users. Because our vision is one of tangible and sustainable business benefits brought about through increased user competencies, SkillWise does not embrace tried and tested educational principles merely as an afterthought, but as a foundation upon which all of its solutions are built.