CPD Overview

WATTnow, in conjunction with the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE), has launched this programme for engineers who need to meet their professional development commitment by securing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits. In terms of the renewal of registration requirements, all professional electrical engineers must earn five CPD credits a year. Failure to certify CPD credits could jeopardise renewal of their registration.

WATTnow publishes articles in each issue that quality readers for Category One CPD credits, which require engineers to respond to in-depth questions posed on articles that are specially designed and validated to provide CPD. Engineers using the system will accumulate between 0.1 and 0.3 CPD credits if all the questions are answered correctly. Ten such articles are published annually so at least one CPD credit can be obtained by this method. The articles in WATTnow are independently validated by the SAIEE, which determines the exact value of each credit applicable to each issue of the magazine.

In future, WATTnow will produce a series of video broadcasts of up to six lectures annually on topics that have been validated for CPD by the SAIEE. These lectures will be filmed and edited by a WATTnow production team and converted to either CD or DVD disks before being distributed free-of-charge to members of the WATTnow CPD Programme.

A series of appropriate questions will be included on the CD or DVD and members of the programme can submit their answers directly to WATTnow by e-mail, on-line or by fax. The filmed presentation will qualify the user to claim credits in the Category One section, which makes attendance of a conference at least once a year mandatory.

The initiative means that engineers throughout the country will be able to improve their own professional development by gaining access to many more lectures than they would normally attend and being able to watch all the published material in their own time and at their own pace. The advantage of the WATTnow CPD Programme is that engineers have a choice of topics relating to their own professional development. Essentially every engineer will have access to all the filmed material that is presented over a 12 month period.

As an added service to members, WATTnow provides a complete and comprehensive administration system for those credits gained by each member. This administration service runs independently of the Engineering Council of South Africa service and means that should there be any queries about a member of his or her CPD status, WATTnow is able to provide detailed records of every CPD event that a member has participated in during the year.

The SAIEE will issue each member with an official certificate recording the exact number of credits gained by each individual in any given year.

The WATTnow CPD Programme is based on a subscription service that will cost non-members of the SAIEE R2 400 a year while members of the institute will pay an annual subscription fee of R1 000. The administration fees include:

• Complete administration and submission to ECSA of all CPD material completed by each member. Members of the programme will be able to log-in to the secure WATTnow server at any time to check their own CPD status as well as examine their own individual records.
• WATTnow will, on behalf of members, keep a detailed record of individual submissions by each member from the time that they join the programme. WATTnow's records will provide an accurate audit trail to resolve any queries that members may have.
• Receiving one copy of WATTnow with all its self-study content every month.
• Compilation and maintenance of a secure database containing the records of each member including the individual answers submitted by the member to each CPD question posed and answered. WATTnow will keep an accurate log of all answers submitted by the member.
• WATTnow will provide filmed presentations (on CD or DVD disks) of up to six events or conferences that have been validated by the SAIEE for CPD credits.
• WATTnow and the SAIEE will keep an archive of all filmed material so that in the event of a query at a later stage this material will be ready for independent examination.
• An annual certificate of CPD compliance recording the number of credits gained by each member during a given year will be issued by the SAIEE.

This programme offers all members of the WATTnow CPD Programme a one-stop-shop to participate in and comply with the professional development criteria laid down by ECSA and ensure that all professional engineers can maintain their status without having to search around for sufficient credits to meet the ECSA requirements.