Progress Platform

ProgressPlatform is an online system for recording, monitoring and reporting on student progression and skills training activity.

History
ProgressPlatform, eProg (Electronic Progression), and eGTP (Electronic Graduate Training Program) are all names for the same system. eGTP was developed in the Faculty of Life Sciences at The University of Manchester by Davina Whitnall back in September 2005 and the software to support process this was created by George Jeffries as a member of the Faculty Intranet and Communication Services team. It brought together various elements of student and staff management such as progression forms and policy information. Making the platform electronic involved the Life Sciences Graduate Training Program Committee chaired by Dr Paul Shore. The electronic system was then run for the first time in January 2006 and then fully launched in the faculty in September 2006.

The system proved to be successful and the demand for it grew within The University of Manchester, triggering plans to expand its implementation across the university in 2008. However, this introduced the problem of having to adapt the system in order to meet additional University-wide requirements, which gave rise to the eProg project which defined what the additional requirements were and developed the appropriate modifications. This project was jointly managed by Dr Helen Baker from the central Research Office and Davina Whitnall.

eProg, as eGTP was now known, was fully launched across the University of Manchester in 2009 with over 5000 postgraduate research students using the system. ProgressPlatform became the commercial version of eProg in order to accommodate the demand for the system from other universities and institutions. The system has so far been implemented at The Institute of Cancer Research, De Montfort University, City University London and Anglia Ruskin University.

Functionality and Purpose
ProgressPlatform's main purpose was to provide both students and staff with an electronic means to monitor their progression and skills training activity. The system was designed to bring together individual elements including progression forms, skills training, policy information and a personal development planning area.

Users can log in to the system using their institutional username and password and are presented with a personalised view of th