Implementation record Professional association

From continuing learning to a connected professional record

How one of Europe’s longest-established professional associations connected learning achievements to digital credentials—and set out a longer-term path toward skills and workforce context.

Institutional case study Credential implementation Three-month initial delivery

01 Context

An achievement should remain useful after the course ends.

For generations, the association has supported its profession through continuing education, short-format programmes and structured professional development. As that learning portfolio evolved, the organisation looked at how achievements could be recorded and connected over the course of a member’s career.

Members could complete programmes over several years and receive recognition for each. Those individual records did not necessarily add up to a connected picture of professional development. The aim was to improve how learning achievements were represented without replacing the systems already supporting learning and member operations.

The work was framed by three connected questions: How to provide trusted evidence of achievement? How to describe the skills represented by learning? How might those skills eventually connect to professional and workforce context?

02 Architecture

Six layers around one learning achievement

The six-layer approach provided a structure for building value around the same achievement, rather than running six separate projects. The credential workflow formed the starting point, with skills mapping developed alongside it. Connected professional records and workforce context gave the teams a longer-term direction for that foundation.

  1. Presentation & access

    Implemented foundation

    A digital credential gave a member a persistent credential record, verification access and a way to present and share an achievement after programme completion.

  2. Standards & interoperability

    Credential structure

    Credential structures used recognised standards, including Open Badges 3.0 and W3C Verifiable Credentials. This provides a standards-based representation designed to support interoperability beyond one organisational environment.

  3. Verification & trust

    Credential workflow

    The member could present a credential and another party could verify the issuer and underlying achievement. The association’s professional authority was carried into a verifiable digital format.

  4. Skill taxonomy alignment

    Mapping work developed

    Relevant skills and taxonomy mappings were configured alongside the credential implementation. These mappings provided a common vocabulary for describing the capabilities represented by each programme, beyond its title and completion status.

  5. Comprehensive learner record

    Longer-term capability

    Over time, credentials, skills and other relevant achievements could contribute to a connected professional record. A programme completed this year could become part of a member’s longer professional history, rather than remaining a separate certificate.

  6. Workforce intelligence & opportunity

    Longer-term capability

    A further layer could consider skills alongside occupations, employers, locations and workforce demand. Members could use that context to explore where their capabilities may be relevant, while the association could review its learning portfolio against changing professional requirements.

A progressive model

LearningAchievementCredentialSkills mappingProfessional recordWorkforce context

Each stage builds on the same achievement, with professional records and workforce context providing the longer-term direction.

03 Delivery

A defined three-month implementation

The initial implementation took approximately three months, followed by 30 days of hypercare. Delivery moved from understanding existing operations to configuration, then end-to-end validation with selected programmes.

  1. 01

    Month 1 Discovery & design

    Start with the operating environment

    The teams reviewed learning and programme processes, member data, completion workflows and relevant integration points. They selected an initial group of programmes and used the six-layer model to define the intended experience, including the longer-term record and skills direction.

  2. 02

    Month 2 Integration & configuration

    Configure the credential journey

    Selected learning workflows were connected to CertifyMe. The teams configured credential structures, branding, achievement information, verification requirements and relevant skills mappings, then tested programme completion through credential issuance and member access.

  3. 03

    Month 3 Pilot & rollout

    Validate before extending

    End-to-end validation used working versions of the experience and iterative demonstrations. Feedback informed subsequent iterations before the selected programmes moved into production. The staged approach gave the organisation a review point before extending the model further.

04 Observed change

From a completion record to a credential workflow

The clearest change was in how a selected learning achievement could be represented and accessed. The starting point—learning, completion, certificate—became a credential workflow with a dedicated record, standards-based structure, verification access and configured skills mapping.

Starting model

Learning → Completion → Certificate

Implemented foundation

Learning → Achievement → Digital credential → Verification & skills mapping

For members, this creates a persistent way to access and present selected achievements. For the association, it establishes a more structured basis for representing programme learning and considering how that learning may connect across a professional life.

05 Looking ahead

What the architecture makes possible next

The architecture was designed to be extendable: each layer builds on the achievement beneath it. A future professional record could bring together credentials and mapped skills over time. Workforce context could then help the association examine how the learning it offers relates to changing professional requirements.

Further development would need to address how records accumulate, how skills mappings are reviewed and how workforce information is governed. The intended feedback loop connects workforce demand to skills, learning programmes, member achievements and the professional record—then back to workforce context.

The initial project made selected achievements more accessible, verifiable and structured, while establishing a foundation for a professional record that can grow with continued learning.