Case study: bespoke continual professional development e-learning training programme

We all know that accountants are good with numbers. Not surprisingly, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) boasts some pretty impressive numbers. With 296,000 students and 115,000 members in 170 countries, ACCA is the largest and fastest-growing global professional accountancy body*. So, how does it provide professional development training to members? The answer: e-learning, from Transition.

Learning is especially important to ACCA's members: it is a requirement of membership that members undertake relevant and appropriate continuing professional development (CPD) each year. Because ACCA is a global organisation, for some members attending courses can be problematic, expensive, or both.

E-learning was the obvious answer. ACCA commissioned Transition to design and develop its online learning facility ACCAdemy.com. ACCAdemy.com needed to be self-service (requiring zero administration) and take payments online - but developed without the need for ACCA to implement a new IT infrastructure.

Transition was responsible for all elements of the project, including developing the technical infrastructure (based on Lotus Domino and LearningSpace), developing the course materials (with support from ACCA's subject-matter experts), implementing the e-commerce engine and sourcing a suitable hosting partner.

Learners don't have to be ACCA members, but ACCAdemy.com has been designed so that access to courses is easier for members, who just have to enter a membership number (the system is linked to ACCA's membership records) and payment details. The server then automatically adds the learner as a LearningSpace user. The process is fast - learners are using their courses within minutes.

After payment, learners have access to courses for three months, and are also provided with on-line support from an expert. Courses cover many accounting and related business topics, including 'managing conflict' to 'worldwide accountancy standards'.

Hosting was provided by Transition's hosting partner BT, which built the required server within 24 hours.

The project broke new ground: it was the first end-to-end Lotus LearningSpace/Lotus Domino e-commerce-enabled e-learning portal in the world. ACCAdemy.com changed the way that ACCA offers learning, enabling the organisation to reach all of its members - wherever they are. It also provides a more flexible way to learn, enabling fee-earners to minimise impact on their revenues.

*2006 figures