Continuous Professional Development (CPD) System

The customer is a leading provider of interactive teaching and online courses for healthcare professionals in UK.

With an aim to develop eLearning packages that meet the CPD requirements, the customer wanted to develop a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) System which, besides functioning as a Learning Management System, would help learners to carry out an online purchase.

A CPD system enables a medical professional to have a continuing process of learning, upgrading knowledge and skills and personal professional development throughout his working and professional life.

As per the customer's multiple requirements, a web-based system developed using PHP 5.0 with MySQL 5 as the database was offered.

The system was designed to have two roles - admin and learner - each having its own login and set of functionalities. The admin had the ability to manage courses (SCORM compliant or proprietary courses), manage learners, control the subscription flow, and generate reports. While the learner's end included ability for the learner to add points of prior completed CPD courses.

Each course was designed to have CPD points. These points were meant to be awarded to the learner on successful completion of the course. Besides, the system was designed to have the capacity to handle communication between proprietary courses residing on the end client's server and track the same so as to eliminate discrepancy in the data on the LMS. An e-commerce engine with shopping cart functionality and integration with a payment gateway to handle online purchases was also made available.

Additionally, a Content Management System (CMS) to manage the front end like Home Page blocks, Terms & Conditions, Privacy, About Us, News and FAQs, etc., and integration with an external system as part of the login process was provided.

For the login process, the integration with an external system was done by checking the URL data sent by the external system, while the integration with the payment gateway was done using the HSBC API.

For the proprietary courses, the course launch and data updation on the LMS was done using web services; one web service to launch the course and another to update the LMS database.

The CPD cycle was designed in such a way that each cycle would have duration of 5 years and the CPD would specify the exact points that the learner needed to earn in order to get certified.

The system allowed the customer in:

1. Effective online tracking of the learners
2. Precise allotting of points and generating CPD certificates
3. Selling its courses online smoothly and easily through an ecommerce module
4. Bringing about collaborative learning between the learners

The system allowed the customer in:

1. A web-based system was developed using PHP 5.0 with MySQL 5 as the database.
2. The LMS was SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 compliant.

The system allowed the customer in:

1. SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 compliant
2. Supports non-standards content
3. Extensive MIS reporting module
4. Integrated e-commerce engine
5. Efficient Content Management System (CMS)
6. Automated certifications on course completion
7. Collaborative learning through Discussion Forum

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