Digital transformation of the national system for validating non-formal learning
- CLIENT
-
- Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training
- Ljubljana
- Slovenia
- YEAR OF IMPLEMENTATION
-
- 2018
Project in numbers
Following the system overhaul, the number of users doubled. These include providers, advisors, commission members, and administrators, who have their own profile in the application and access to all relevant data.
Users generate and manage all key documents for NPK (National Vocational Qualifications) via a central editor, including applications, notices, certificates, and minutes. This streamlines administration and shortens document preparation time.
There are currently 597 valid occupational standards and catalogues in the National Vocational Qualifications system, covering various professional fields and ensuring transparency and alignment of qualifications in Slovenia.
Challenge
The existing system was slow and difficult to navigate for users. The processes for validating knowledge and issuing certificates involved extensive manual work, emailing documents, and manual validity checks. This led to duplication, delays, and higher maintenance costs. The goal of the overhaul was to streamline processes and move them into a modern digital environment:
establish comprehensive digital support for all procedures and eliminate manual document emailing and validity checks,
shorten the time to issue certificates,
provide support for all documents and self-service editing,
improve the clarity of functionality for specific user groups,
ensure data is up to date and enable automatic user notifications,
reduce maintenance costs by increasing editorial autonomy.
Our solutions
Digital leap for the NRP system
The overhaul of the NRP system delivered a comprehensive digital leap. We streamlined processes that had previously been largely manual and, at the same time, enabled digital support for all key workflows. We established data interconnectivity across all systems, which ensured that data is always accurate and up to date, thereby increasing satisfaction among key users.
Connecting key building blocks into a unified platform
The NRP platform connects the key building blocks of the national system of vocational qualifications: occupational standards and catalogues, providers, certificates, and licences. This enables transparent and efficient management of the knowledge validation process and helps to harmonise processes from application submission to certificate issuance. With the system’s digital design, procedures are more aligned, traceable, and compliant with standards, which reduces administrative work and increases the quality and transparency of services.
- A NRP platform
- B Providers
- C Certificates
- D Licences
- E Occupational standards and catalogues
- F Harmonised processes for candidates and providers
Key solutions
each user has their own profile and access to relevant data (certificates, applications, registers of providers, commissions, advisors …),
the entire process is based on pre-prepared document templates that are automatically populated and generated via a central editor,
the processes of completing, reviewing, and approving or rejecting documentation are automated, including automatic validity checks of documents, status assignment, and notifications about expiry or changes,
an editorial workflow is defined for each procedure,
full traceability of all activities and changes is ensured, including changes to personal data, while ensuring compliance with GDPR,
an advanced search enables quick searching across databases of occupational standards, knowledge catalogues, providers, and commissions,
various statistics and reports support performance monitoring and decision-making.
Faster execution - less waiting
The digitalisation of processes accelerated NPK procedures, shortened waiting times, and reduced administrative work for all stakeholders. Providers can run the entire verification and validation process more smoothly, transparently, and in less time, while candidates obtain results and certificates faster.
Results
The digital overhaul of the NRP system enables centralised and transparent access to all key data on National Vocational Qualifications, including occupational standards, catalogues, certificates, and public tenders. Unified user profiles, automated workflows, and advanced search tools shorten document processing times, increase transparency, and ensure GDPR compliance. The system supports 597 valid standards and catalogues and thus effectively supports the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training in delivering on its mission, which is to provide a high-quality, transparent, and accessible system of vocational and professional education and lifelong learning.
