Continuing Professional Development Online Programme

Continuing Professional Development Online Programme

User Reference Manual

The online CPD system has been sponsored by

Institute of Financial Planning The Choice of the Professional Practitioner

Contents Page

1. Introduction 1

1.1 CPD Monitoring

1.2 Downloading the CPD Scheme details

2. Security 2

2.1 User Account Setup

2.2 Logging In

2.3 Logging Out

3. Getting Started – How to Use CPD Online 4

4. Navigation 5

5. Personal Development Plans (PDPs) 6

5.1 Viewing Personal Development Plans

5.2 Creating a Personal Development Plan

5.3 Adding objectives to your Personal Development Plan

6. Working with Activities 8

6.1 Adding a personal activity

6.2 Viewing/Editing details of a personal activity

6.3.1 Via the diary

6.3.2 Via the Activities list

7. Working with the diary 15

8. Resources 17

9. Reports 21

10. Adding special circumstances 22

The Institute of Financial Planning Limited. A company limited by Guarantee. Reg. in England No. 2109630. V.A.T No. 489 2013 33 Page 1

1. Introduction Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the mark of a true professional. This new on‐line system has been created by the IFP to help you and all IFP members to record your CPD activities effectively, saving you valuable time compared to traditional paper or spreadsheet based methods. You can view details of organised events, workshops, conferences, meetings etc and decide which associated activities you wish to undertake. This makes it the ideal way to search for appropriate training opportunities from a large range of providers which will meet your needs. You can also log your personal activities alongside structured learning, so that all your activity is stored in one place via the CPD Diary. Where appropriate, members can work with their supervisors to create a programme that works for them individually as well as meeting the needs of the firm overall. The IFP will be the CPD System Administrators and will keep the shared activities up to date, growing the list of resources, events, meetings and other training options from which members can select to help you develop your career as a professional Financial Planner or paraplanner. IFP will use its connections with providers of education and training to ensure that members have access to appropriate and relevant material, in a way that suits each person’s individual learning requirements. CPD Online is a user friendly system, which you will find intuitive in its functionality if you are used to using computers in the workplace. However, initially you will need to spend a short time familiarising yourself with the programme and how it works, time which will be well worth your while over the longer term as you benefit from the considerable opportunities that it presents.

1.1 CPD Monitoring This system will allocate points for completed CPD activities so you can keep track of your continued learning. You will be required to complete a review form when the activity has been completed which, where appropriate, your supervisors and managers can also access to monitor your progress and to assess the success of the T&C programme as a whole.

1.2 Downloading the CPD Scheme Details CPD Online has been designed to support you in your activities under the new CPD scheme introduced for all members in April 2009. A copy of the CPD guide is available to download from the CPD system Help page.


2. Security

2.1 User Account Setup The IFP will set up each member on the system. Your user name and password will be your usual member login that you use to access the members’ section of the IFP website. If you have a problem logging on to the programme then please contact the IFP office on 01179 452470 or email [email protected] 2.2 Logging In Enter the CPD address http://cpd.financialplanning.org.uk in your browser's Address Bar and press Enter

• The LOGIN page will be displayed

• Enter your Username and Password

• Press Enter or click on • If you enter the incorrect Username or Password the following will be displayed :‐

• If this happens try entering your Username and password again, if it fails again contact the IFP • When you have logged in successfully the CPD Home Page will be displayed


• Once logged in you are able to move between you CPD record and the ‘course searcher’

Alternatively you can go directly to the ‘course searcher’ via http://events.financialplanning.org.uk

2.3 Logging Out When logged in, the CPD Home Page displays your user name with a logout link next to it Click logout

A confirmation message is displayed ‐ Note: Your CDP session will end automatically if you do not use the system for some time (40 mins is the default). The LOGIN page and a message “Your session has timed out – you must re‐login” will be displayed when you attempt to carry out an action.


3. Getting Started – How to use CPD Online

Once you’ve logged in, then you can start to use the facilities that CPD Online offers. You may wish to start by inputting the details of your Personal Development Plan (PDP), then progress to add the activities you will undertake to help you achieve those aims and objectives outlined in your PDP.


4. Navigation On your CPD Home page you have a tool bar at the top of the page to navigate throughout the whole site. A drop down menu will appear when hovering over the tool bar options at the top of the page.

You can also navigate via your homepage by clicking on the underlined titles.


5. Personal Development Plans (PDPs) As part of your firm’s T&C scheme, it is likely that you will already have created your personal development plan for this year. This outlines your key objectives in terms of developing your knowledge and skills and also the ways in which you aim to maintain your hard won competence across all current areas of activity. Your PDP will therefore identify your high level goals and objectives, which can then be broken down into distinct activities as part of your CPD scheme to help you reach those goals. It is not mandatory but your PDP can now be stored online on the new CPD platform.

5.1 Viewing Personal Development Plans Access the list in one of the following ways EITHER

• Click on and click on OR

• Hover over and from the menu choose The PDP page is displayed

5.2 Creating a Personal Development Plan Create the PDP in one of the following ways EITHER


• Hover over and from the menu choose The CREATE A NEW PLAN page is displayed, enter details as required – the fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required fields and must be completed


• Click

• A confirmation message will appear

5.3 Adding objectives to your Personal Development Plan

• List your Personal Development Plans • Click the PDP description link

• Click The ADD PDP OBJECTIVE page is displayed, enter details as required – the fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required fields and must be completed

• Click ‐ • Repeat the process to add more objectives to your plan


6. Working with Activities This is the heart of the CPD Online programme – the selection and entering of your chosen CPD activities. CPD Online will allow you to select from pre‐loaded activities across a broad range of topics and in different learning styles which are provided by a large range of organisations, not just the IFP. These activities will cover workshops, conferences, training sessions, meetings etc. You can also add any other activity to your personal log, using the personal activity function which will allow you to enter unstructured learning via activities such as professional reading etc.

6.1 Adding a Personal Activity


• Hover over and from the menu choose The ADD PERSONAL ACTIVITY page is displayed, this page is used to enter details of a new activity or to edit the details of an existing one Enter details of the activity – the fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required fields and must be completed

.

• Click :‐ .

This is better than using the button as it will help to link your activity to the different CPD categories, ensuring that your summary sheet or report shows how your activity has been broken down – a requirement of the reporting to IFP. If you don’t know which categories the activities come under at the time of entering the activity, you can save it and amend it at a later date.


• Click to expand and collapse the lists

• Tick the categories that the activity should be linked to

• Click

6.2 Viewing/Editing details of a Personal Activity This can be achieved in one of two ways :‐

6.2.1 Via the Diary

• Locate the activity in the Month, Week or Day view and click on the name of the activity • The VIEW PERSONAL ACTIVITY page is displayed

• If changes are required, click • If any changes are made, click to save the changes OR • Where applicable, click to add/remove linked categories

6.2.2 Via the Activities List Access the list in one of the following ways EITHER


• Hover over and from the menu choose The PERSONAL AND SUBSCRIBED ACTIVITIES page is displayed


• Click on any heading which is underlined to sort the list by that column • In the example above the symbol shows that this list is sorted by Start Date with the oldest

activities at the top • Clicking on the heading will reverse the sort order so that the oldest activities will be at the

bottom of the list • The Review column indicates whether a review has been added or not – once the activity has

been completed a review should be added – click on the name of the activity in this list to access the EDIT PERSONAL ACTIVITY page and complete the review

• Use the Delete checkboxes followed by to remove activities

If the list is very long it will be displayed on more than one page – use the numbered links 1 / 2 etc to go to a particular page, or next /previous ‐ > or < to move forwards/backwards In a long list, use the FILTERS panel to specify which activities you are interested in displaying

• Choose to view Personal or Shared activities using the Origin drop ‐

down list, use the FILTER BY DATES lists to view activities for a particular month and/or year, or enter dates From and To

• Once you have specified your criteria click • Click to remove your settings and view the entire list once

again

6.2.3 Removing a Personal Activity There will be occasions when you have planned to undertake a particular task or activity, however circumstances meant you weren’t able to complete it. In such instances, you can easily remove the activity from your log. Access the list in one of the following ways EITHER


• Hover over and from the menu choose

The PERSONAL AND SUBSCRIBED ACTIVITIES page is displayed

• Tick the checkbox in the Delete column next to the activity to be removed

• Click

A message is displayed to confirm deletion


6.3 Adding Shared Activities and Events If you are looking for events or activities that may help you in required areas of learning or development, CPD Online offers a range of opportunities. You can access this in two ways.

6.3.1 Via the Diary Locate the activity in the Month, Week or Day view and click on the name of the activity

• To subscribe click on the button

• To unsubscribe click on the button



• Hover over and from the menu choose The AVAILABLE SHARED ACTIVITIES page is displayed

• Click on the activity name • To subscribe click on subscribe button

• To unsubscribe click on the unsubscribe button

6.4 Viewing Planned Activities Access the list in one of the following ways EITHER


• Hover over and from the menu choose The PLANNED ACTIVITIES page is displayed with all the subscribed activities which will take place in the future


6.5 Viewing Past Unsubscribed Activities This will allow you to retrospectively add an event to your personal log which you attended, but had not used CPD Online to select previously. Access the list in one of the following ways EITHER



The PAST UNSUBSCRIBED SHARED ACTIVITIES page is displayed with all the past unsubscribed activities

6.6 Reviewing a CPD Activity The review process is a very important part of CPD Online, as it is of CPD schemes generally. Logging activities is of course important, but the post‐activity review is crucial in linking that activity with the all important learning outcomes, directly to your PDP and overall career development plans. As you will expect, you cannot review an activity until after the date it has occurred. As part of the review, CPD Online will help you to work out the CPD points accredited as a result of the outcomes. You will not see your points in your summary report until you have reviewed you activity.

6.6.1 Via the Diary Locate the activity in the Month, Week or Day view and click on the name of the activity The VIEW PERSONAL ACTIVITY page is displayed

• If changes are required, click • Use the fields available in the ADD ACTIVITY REVIEW area to add information regarding how the

activity went, what was learnt etc. • Click to save the changes



• Hover over and from the menu choose The PERSONAL AND SUBSCRIBED ACTIVITIES page is displayed

• Click on the name of the Activity to be reviewed


The VIEW PERSONAL ACTIVITY page is displayed,



6.6.3 Via the Unreviewed Activities list Access the list in one of the following ways EITHER


• Hover over and from the menu choose The UNREVIEWED ACTIVITIES page is displayed

• Click on the name of the Activity to be reviewed The VIEW PERSONAL ACTIVITY page is displayed,



6.6.4 Reviewing the Activity You can only review an activity once it has ended.

• Click on and select the title of the activity you wish to review

• Click on and check • Enter details as required – the fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required fields and must be

completed


• Click

A confirmation message will appear


7. Working with the Diary CPD Online is the ideal way to co‐ordinate all your CPD activities in one central area and to be able to review these in line with your PDP, and overall goals and objectives. The diary section gives you access at a glance to range of training options that are available via the platform in a range of different categories and from a host of different providers.

7.1 Viewing the Diary

• Click The MY DIARY (BY MONTH) page is displayed, the diary page shows all Events and Activities for the selected month the activities are colour‐coded: Events: Each Event can cover a range of activities in different CPD areas. The IFP will break down shared activities into the different categories such as ethics, professional development, technical etc. as are required within the context of the overall CPD scheme. You can therefore easily monitor your points totals in each category as well as your progress towards achieving the overall totals required. Available Shared Activities: Shared Activities are those events, workshops,.training options etc. which are supplied by a large range of different organisations and which are available to members. All those posted on the system have been accredited by IFP for inclusion in an appropriate CPD scheme for Financial Planners or paraplanners. Subscribed Shared Activities: These are Shared Activities which you have subscribed to. Section 4 for information on adding the Activities to your diary. Personal Activities: These are your own Personal Activities which relate to CPD. They cover the unstructured learning activities you will undertake, which range from professional reading or internal meetings, through to website research and other sources of research and learning. See section 4 for how to add Personal Activities to your diary. 7.2 Showing and Hiding Events and Activities

There may be a lot of activities showing in the diary so by checking/unchecking the boxes you can refine what activities are shown.

• Tick the checkboxes next to items in the column on the right hand side of the screen to show the category in your search, and untick the checkboxes next to items you wish to hide .

• Click


7.3 Changing the Diary View The Diary is an intuitive part of the programme, which you should find very easy to navigate around. It allows you to view CPD activity or training options over the time period you choose be that a week, month, year etc. A brief look at the diary page and test of the calendar options will be sufficient to allow you to view what aspects of your CPD programme you want and when you want them.


8. Resources In this section, you can list specific resources, typically documents, presentations and websites which you have used or intend to use to supplement and support your development and learning needs. It will also help in providing evidence of completion e.g. course certificates where these are required.

8.1 Personal Resources Adding personal resources can mean that over time you will generate a long list of items which can become unwieldy. Make sure you give each item an appropriate title and allocate it to a particular CPD category too, to help you to allocate it effectively as part of your overall plan.

8.1.1 Accessing Personal Resources Access the list in one of the following ways EITHER


• Hover over and from the menu choose The PERSONAL RESOURCES list will be displayed, this shows resources that you have added to the system yourself

8.1.2 Using the Personal Resources list

• Click on any heading which is underlined to sort the list by that column • Click on the heading again to reverse the sort order The Type column indicates whether the

resource is a file or a reference e.g. a web site address • To open the Resource click on the title of the resource • Use the Delete checkboxes in the Action(s) column followed by to remove resources • If the list is very long it will be displayed on more than one page – use the numbered links to go

to a particular page, or next /previous to move forwards/backwards

In a long list, use the FILTERS panel to specify which resources you are interested in displaying


• Choose to view File, URL or Reference resources using the Type drop‐down list, use the FILTER BY DATES lists to view resources added within a particular month and/or year, or enter dates From and To

• Once you have specified your criteria click or click to remove your settings and view the entire list once again

8.1.3 Add a Personal Resource Access the list in one of the following ways EITHER



• The ADD A RESOURCE page will be displayed, this page is used to enter details of a new resource or to edit the details of an existing one

• Enter details of the resource – the fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required fields and must be completed

• Click

• Click to expand and collapse the lists


• Tick the categories that the resource should be linked to

• Click

8.2 Shared Resources The majority of these entries will be posted centrally by the IFP, once they have been accredited as appropriate for a CPD programme for Financial Planners or paraplanners by IFP. However, in the event that in your CPD activities you discover a useful resource which you feel will be of use and interest to other members, then you can share that resource by posting it onto the system. Over time, this will build into a valuable library whereby professional planners and paraplanners can extend the sharing of ideas and experiences in a formal way to help with CPD activities. Such entries will be part of unstructured learning for members, as the content will not have been approved or accredited by IFP. IFP takes no responsibility for the content of shared resources which are posted by members. If you wish to access shared resources EITHER


• Hover over and from the menu choose The SHARED RESOURCES page will be displayed, this page lists the resources added to the CPD system which are available to you


Note: The headings and options on your screen may vary from those shown here due to changes made to customise the system for your specific requirements. Use the list as described

• Clicking on will bring you straight to the SHARED RESOURCES list.

8.2.1 Propose Shared Resource If you wish to share a resource such as a bulletin, research paper or website link with other members, then EITHER


• Hover over and from the menu choose The ADD A RESOURCE page will be displayed, this page is used to enter details of new resources.

From the Resource is viewable by drop down select


9. Reports The Reports section provides you with a range of options to view your CPD activity and Personal Development Plans.

• Point to and choose

• This list can be sorted and navigated ‐ use the “view activities” link to see a list of all activities linked to that category.


10. Adding Special Circumstances In certain circumstances, IFP members can take a break from the requirements to report CPD activities at the time of their membership renewal. These range from illness, maternity leave and other situations, for which details can be found in the IFP CPD Scheme Guide. Access to this section of CPD ONLINE is gained in one of the following ways EITHER


• Hover over and from the menu choose The SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES page is displayed

• Click The ADD SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCE page is displayed, enter details as required – the fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required fields and must be completed

• Click

Continuing Professional Development Online Programme

Documents

Transcript of Continuing Professional Development Online Programme