6 HealthRoster users describe their accreditation journey to become Allocate Certified Professional’s (ACP)

The exam, the benefits, and some advice from our recently accredited ACP customers:

Allocate Academy training and accreditation programmes are designed to ensure administrators, users and even sponsors of Allocate’s HealthSuite software are empowered with knowledge, in-depth understanding and confidence, and are rewarded and recognised their skills and achievements.  The Academy training and accreditation programmes focuses on the development and empowerment of individuals, so that their expertise can benefit their teams and ultimately the organisations that they work for, in striving to drive best practice and use of the software for maximum benefit. In this article 7 recently accredited ACP’s describe what it is like to take the exam and some of the benefits they have felt so far.

“When discussions first arose regarding my attending the Allocate accreditation day I knew very little of what to expect. The spot offered to my trust was originally going to be taken by a colleague who then decided to move on to a new role; so the position on the day was offered to me. From the first contact between myself and Allocate, I found the team pleasant and received a thorough information guide along with confirmation of my attendance.

Upon arrival at the Allocate offices, I was taken through the plan for the day and began to familiarise myself with the documents provided.

I joined my trust’s eRostering team some months into the roll out of the system so had missed a lot of the initial start-up stages. Obviously the day was based around proving that you are capable of setting up a new unit and completing all necessary steps to get them ready to go to payroll, so I had to use my initiative for large parts of the morning as I was doing tasks that I had never actually completed before in a live system. This proved to be the most challenging part of the day so I used it as a chance to explore aspects of the system that I was not previously very familiar with.

As the day wore on, I became more confident as the tasks were processes that I was very familiar with in my day to day role. I completed the test exactly as I would have in a live system, intrigued by whether or not the system’s software owners approved of how I manage it.

Having passed the accreditation, I feel that I am a more confident system user, knowing that Allocate feel I can manage all aspects of the HealthRoster system.

Prior to the accreditation, the Allocate representative informed us of some of the benefits of having the ACP status, one of which was how appealing it is for trusts who are new to eRostering to have somebody on board who has proven they are capable in all aspects of the system.

I am glad I undertook the accreditation examination and look forward to it further benefitting me in the future.”

“By and large the assessment did not throw any major surprises, which is good as it did give a fair chance to demonstrate skills and knowledge.

I found a few challenges here and there -there are some areas of the system which I use more often than others – it had been a while since I had set up a unit from scratch. Also, at the Trust we use the NHSP interface and we do not have internal Bank, which many other Trusts use instead.

When I got back to the office I looked again at how we had set up things, especially the organisational settings and rules, so it  helped me to  consolidate my knowledge in that respect.

I tried to work my way carefully through each single task, although having the whole day sounds like a lot, in practice time flies.

Ideally I would have wanted to go back and check where perhaps I had left some gaps but I just ran out of time (and stamina perhaps!).

So my recommendation would be to keep an eye on the clock, avoid agonising too much on things you are not sure about  and pick up marks somewhere else. Having said that, there is a sequential logic to the task, so you cannot just work randomly of course!”

“It was great to meet the people I have been speaking to at Allocate for year, especially Matthew (Ayrton – Senior Customer Support Analyst) and Kate (Holmes Senior Manager Customer support). It’s wonderful to put a face to the name/voice. It was also really valuable to meet other people from other Trusts and talk to them about common issues and share resolutions.

I liked that Allocate employees did the exam alongside NHS employees – the dynamic is really interesting as to how the questions were approached.

I like having an official certificate proving my expertise in HealthRoster to display on my wall and on my CV”

“My name is Kiri Hargreaves and I am a Customer Success Analyst for Allocate Software. Previous to this I was an eRoster Lead for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. Whilst I was in that role I was lucky enough to be asked to take part in the initial pilots for the Allocate Academy ACP Accreditation for HealthRoster Administrators.

In autumn of 2015 I was sent an email asking if I would take part in an exciting new pilot for Allocate training, I of course said yes! It’s always exciting to be involved in an Allocate project and the prospect of additional training on the system was very enticing.

I had had the initial implementation training but was always on the lookout for a way to validate that I was actually using the system in the right way.

I went down to the Allocate Head Office in Richmond for the day, and with 3 other candidates, completed the ACP accreditation exam. It was very challenging, and quite a test of my eRoster knowledge. As it was still in the pilot stages it was quite intense, but ultimately very rewarding. It highlighted some areas of system functionality that I hadn’t used for a while – mostly around the gateway; and some gaps in my knowledge.

It was a brilliant way to really test what I knew, and pick up on the areas that I needed more learning on. I also picked up a fabulous time saver around Annual Leave entitlements – we had previously been updating these manually, however from the ACP exam I took back the knowledge of how to do this all via the gateway. This was a small thing but made a massive difference to our use of the system.

I was awarded my certificate and ACP Accreditation badge at the national user group conference last year; that was a special moment. I feel since having the accreditation I have become much more confident on the systems – having that outside validation that I was using the system correctly was brilliant.

It’s also a great thing to have on a CV, a recognised eRostering qualification. Before the Academy there wasn’t anything to really quantify eRoster knowledge or skills by. It also highlights to others that you have the right skills and knowledge to really make a difference using the system.”

“When the chance came along for me to take my ACP exam, I was very excited and keen to demonstrate my skills and understanding not only to others, but also to myself.

I’ve worked with HealthRoster for over 7 years in a variety of roles, and felt confident in my ability to successfully pass the exam. However, I was unprepared for the amount of work required, and just how much of a challenge the test would be!

The tasks within the test cover all aspects of the system, and require a good all round knowledge not only of system use, but the processes and methodology behind it.

Despite it being a real challenge, I enjoyed the day, which was very well facilitated by the Allocate team.

The wait for the result was difficult, but worth it when I heard that I’d passed, and with a 93% pass rate too which was extremely satisfying! 

My hope is now to continue my career in implementing and supporting the Allocate products, progressing through the Allocate Academy levels to Allocate Certified Specialist (ACS) and eventually Allocate Certified Expert (ACE).”

Jaye Ferrigi, ACP & e-Rostering System Administrator, Homerton University hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

“Although I work on HealthRoster on a daily basis, there are functionalities in the system that are not used regularly in my day to day work life, which can cause you to forget certain aspects. However, I feel it’s a necessity that you know the system inside out due to any queries that may arise.

Before going through the HealthRoster Administrator ACP test, I was aware that my biggest challenge in the system is in regards to the gateway and understanding the error messages when uploading reports and this is what I found the biggest hurdle within the test. When completing certain tasks in HealthRoster, if these are not done daily, it is easy to miss out steps. Completing the test allowed my memory to be nudged on certain aspects I may have forgotten about.

I am thrilled that I had the chance to complete the test as this is something that will support me in the future and shows that I have an expanded knowledge on the system.”

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