Checklist for a Skill Centre Before Moving Off Paper Registers

Start with a plain list of the trades you run. Under each trade, list current batches with start date, end date, timetable slots, room or workshop and trainer. Include batches that are about to start.

This list decides how the system is set up. Two batches of one trade at different hours are separate batches. A trainer who teaches two trades appears once, linked to both.

Registers often hold the same trainee twice, with different spellings or phone numbers. Merge these before anything is loaded. Check each active trainee’s ID, contact number, batch and fee status.

Decide which old batches move at all. Completed batches can stay in a scanned archive. Active trainees and those awaiting certificates matter most.

Theory and practice may be marked differently. A trainer can mark a batch from a phone, or a biometric device at the gate can record arrival. Some funders ask for device records, so check what each one expects.

Choose one method per batch and keep to it. Practical tasks need their own record. Note which tasks each trade expects and who signs them off.

Fee-paying trainees carry an instalment plan. Scheme-funded trainees usually carry none, but their attendance and assessment records matter more. Mark each trainee’s funding type at admission.

Gather the columns each scheme or funder asks for in its reports. Uploading to a scheme portal is normally done by the centre, so the system’s job is a clean export. Confirm the details in the scheme’s own guidance.

Placement is more than the first offer letter. Decide what the cell records: employer, role, joining date, and whether the trainee was still there after a set period. Name who makes the follow-up calls.

Run the first month with paper and the new system side by side. Compare attendance and fee totals for one batch. Then retire the register for that batch.