SignOn ICT Trainingen+, a smart solution for a smart client

Background

SignOn offers IT training. For over 20 years, SignOn has been an established provider of open enrollment and in-company IT training at every level. Their approach is demand-driven and practical, catering to government organizations and companies across the Netherlands. They work exclusively with top-notch, specialized trainers.

Project request

Franklin and Eveline from SignOn were the pioneers. Initially clients of a company “across the street”, they were referred to FBI Digital when their profile no longer aligned with the company’s DNA. This happened precisely when the need for a Coachview integration with their website arose. The assignment was to link a new WordPress website with Coachview’s course administration software.

Back in 2019, Coachview offered only limited options for website integration outside their own portal—essentially just a one-way queue connection via the outdated SOAP protocol. However, Franklin from SignOn was confident; he had researched and compared it with other providers thoroughly. For SignOn, this was the optimal solution. So, we embarked on exploring the possibilities for linking general training data to the website we would develop for SignOn.

Read more about our expertise and services in Coachview data integration.

Techniques & services

As with many things in life, the first implementation of data on the website involved finding the right combination of techniques. Structural choices had to be made regarding architecture, information structure, and data distribution, along with planning for user experience and user interface design. We began by gathering the client’s wishes and vision to create a Minimum Viable Product. With this foundation, we conducted research into the possibilities of a direct connection with Coachview data to ultimately build a prototype. We wanted to ensure we weren’t promising “castles in the air” to SignOn, so feasibility needed a thorough evaluation.

FBI Digital invested significant time in confirming that integration was possible without impacting the new website’s SEO or performance. But the investment paid off, as we’ve since developed considerable expertise in this area. Later we created an Excel export specifically for transferring the training courses to UWV.
More about our experiences with data integration can be found under Solutions on our Services page.

Results

The original SignOn website was launched back in 2019, combining the best of both worlds: training data from Coachview and web content managed through WordPress. The site has since evolved two generations in design and technology, while retaining the same foundational integration. Behind the scenes, the connection was upgraded to REST API, the training offerings from other trainingspartners  were incorporated, and we built a feed for listing training data on Springest, later expanded to EDU-DEX for posting on major portal sites. Since UWV uses its own Excel (xls) standard for its training portal, we also developed a dedicated module for this.

Currently, we are further developing several specific features, including a quote manager for in-company training, automated evaluation forms, and the technical and content setup of the e-learning platform BuddyBoss.

But most importantly, SignOn is thrilled with the excellent conversion rate delivered by the website, the automation that saves time by reducing duplicate work, and the partnership we’ve maintained over the years.
Five years of a happy client. Five years of a trusted provider!