St John Ambulance Jersey have been working with accessplanit since 2013. Their training offerings have developed significantly in these years, and Miranda McGarr has been there from the beginning.
We spoke with her to find out the changes she’s witnessed since St John Ambulance Jersey started using the platform and how it has helped in her role.
About St John Ambulance Jersey
St John Ambulance Jersey is a small unit affiliated under the St John Ambulance umbrella nationally and internationally. They are a separate commandery, of which there are a few around the British Isles.
They offer first aid courses exclusively in Jersey and train a large majority of the small island population. The nature of this training means that it is predominantly in-person and instructor-led. They have their own in-house trainers.
They train in the region of 2500-3000 delegates per year, at least half of which are usually returning customers. Training courses make up the main source of income for the charity, so their course administration must be efficient.
Miranda, as Office Manager, ensures this. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the office, as well as finance and supervising the course bookings department which consists of just one person.
It is a small team, but it has grown since Miranda started working with St John Ambulance, where she was the only person taking course bookings. For this reason, she has a good knowledge of the accessplanit system and the vital part it has played in enabling this growth.
The challenge
"Everything we did to actually produce a course booking for one individual would be via several desktop applications. We would be using an Access database, an Excel spreadsheet, Word, our own accounting systems."
Miranda McGarr | Office Manager, St John Ambulance Jersey
Miranda has been in her role for so long that she remembers using a physical diary to take course bookings.
“I’m spanning over 20 years here, but it started with a desktop diary system, it was very manual. We used that for several years prior to 2013,” she explained. “It was literally a handwritten diary – in pencil, because you had to rub it out all the time!”
They expanded into digital, but it still wasn’t an ideal solution. “Everything we did to actually produce a course booking for one individual would be via several desktop applications. We would be using an Access database, an Excel spreadsheet, Word, our own accounting systems.” Miranda said.
I asked her what the turning point was when St John Ambulance Jersey realised things needed to change: “Me getting fed up with having so much work!”
They were experiencing a period of growth, but with their current ways of working, they were struggling to keep up: “We were expanding the number of courses we could offer. We had taken on another trainer because we could see the demand was there. My workload grew and we took on another assistant in the office.”
“I’m not an IT expert but I am IT savvy. I knew at that time that we were essentially working in the dark ages and I knew there were other options available.”
They needed training management software to support their business if they were to keep their head above the water.
The accessplanit solution
The search
Miranda had too much on her plate and needed the right solution to support her, so research began. A local company had recently started using accessplanit, so they went to speak with them about how they used the platform.
Then, they made the plane journey over to the mainland to visit another one of accessplanit’s customers who were offering similar courses to them, so they could see how it might work in practice for their needs. During the same trip, they visited our offices in Lancaster.
Implementation
"We were up and running pretty much straight away. I don't think our customers noticed much disruption."
Miranda McGarr | Office Manager, St John Ambulance Jersey
Thorough research revealed that accessplanit's training management system could solve many of their problems, so the implementation process began. Although it was over 10 years ago, Miranda remembers the process. Two accessplanit staff members flew over to the St John Ambulance Jersey office to provide training and help during the transitional period.
She praised the support team for being there throughout the initial teething problems and data migration process. “The support we had to transfer over was brilliant, I can’t fault it. Being able to speak to people as and when, and be able to pick up the phone and ask for help. I can’t remember it being painful.”
“We were able to upload the information from our old database directly into your system, so it saved a lot of inputting,” she continued. “We were up and running pretty much straight away. I don’t think our customers noticed much disruption.”
Key features
So what are the areas of the platform that St John Ambulance Jersey use day to day? Miranda named these main features that have made their lives easier:
"When we finally moved to [online booking], it was very helpful. It freed up a lot of time in the office and gave people a bit more flexibility to book their courses out of hours, rather than having to contact us.”
Miranda McGarr | Office Manager, St John Ambulance Jersey
Course management
With all of their data on one centralised system, St John Ambulance Jersey can manage their range of courses that run day to day in advance, streamlining admin significantly. No need to move from one software to another, they can arrange courses, reserve venues and assign trainers in accessplanit with ease.
Using accessplanit's course template functionality, it's easy to instantly replicate course content and information and bulk schedule courses well in advance.
Course booking
A big part of this is having an effective course booking system. Miranda said that, as a small charity that runs several courses every week and book at least 20 courses a day, having an efficient process for this means that both staff and delegates are happier.
Using accessplanit, they set up online booking where delegates can reserve and pay for their space seamlessly from the St John Ambulance Jersey website.
Miranda explained that they still take phone and email bookings but being able to take online bookings was highly beneficial for their business. “When we finally moved to that, it was very helpful. It freed up a lot of time in the office and gave people a bit more flexibility to book their courses out of hours, rather than having to contact us.”
Miranda mentioned that the course booking administrator uses this area of the platform every day. “The core area for our particular charity is the course booking system and accessplanit deals with that entity.” Without this functionality, their business would struggle to keep up with demand of training needs in Jersey.
Automation
St John Ambulance Jersey also use automated workflows, which trigger actions at specific times, reducing the need for repetitive tasks and human error. “Once these are set up, you do kind of forget about it because it’s all working in the background. If something goes wrong, it’s usually something simple that can be looked at.”
Miranda mentioned they use automation particularly for sending:
- Course reminders
They have workflows set up to send automatic reminders to delegates at specific time intervals, significantly reducing no-shows.
“Some companies book their delegates onto courses weeks and months in advance and expect that staff member to remember – that doesn’t happen,” Miranda said. “Initially, we literally had to phone every delegate for every course to remind them that their course was due.”
“Now, accessplanit sends reminders that the course is taking place and you can do it in set stages. So, we send one out a week before, 3 days before, and so on - they cannot forget.”
- Renewals
Similarly, they also have workflows set up to send automatic certificate renewal reminders. “That’s been a really big help because that sustains our annual turnover, ensuring we have repeat business from people not forgetting that their certificates are about to expire.”
Certificates
Miranda also praised the ability to generate and send certificates through accessplanit’s training management software. "Being able to just resend any documents that are maybe missing at a touch of a button - whereas it was all done manually before, we had no other choice.”
A big part of St John Ambulance Jersey’s course booking administrator’s job is issuing certificates, and they save a lot of time being able to do this within a user-friendly, digital system that pulls information directly from the database.
Reports
St John Ambulance Jersey also utilise the reporting functionality in accessplanit for improved business insights and forecasts. Miranda explained that this helped them particularly after COVID, when they had to make wise business decisions to ensure they could carry on into the future.
"We were able to manage what we were going to be aiming for, what was likely to be our downfall. A lot of that information was taken from the reports we were able to run in accessplanit."
Support
In addition, Miranda praised the accessplanit support team for being available to help when needed to keep their everyday operations running smoothly. They can be reached both online and by phone.
“Sometimes we have to make amendments to the system and we really need someone to help us so we can get on with our daily work and your support team are very helpful in that way.”
The effects
“When we came with accessplanit, everything is done through one system, so it cut down on a huge amount of work for us. Since then it has helped us to evolve, expand and grow because we could cope with the workload.”
Miranda McGarr | Office Manager, St John Ambulance Jersey
So what effects has all of this had on St John Ambulance Jersey? Here are some of the main benefits that they’ve noticed:
Improved cashflow
One of the key benefits that Miranda named since using training management software is reduced expenditure. A big part of this is because they can send out documents such as certificates digitally, with no need to print or post them. “That has saved us a fortune in postage, time and resources.”
In addition, automated reminders mean that they are no longer wasting money on no-shows. Miranda explained:
“We realised our biggest failure was people not turning up on the course because they literally forgot. It’s just saved us so much money because we aren’t losing delegates, having to move them to different courses, which takes up more time and creates frustration for the company.”
Customer satisfaction
As mentioned above, when course reminders are sent out, customer satisfaction is increased because delegates attend the courses they have booked without the need to reorganise.
Similarly, certificate renewal reminders ensure that delegates know when to book a refresher course so they can keep on top of their necessary certifications. This not only keeps customers happy but also ensures repeat business for St John Ambulance Jersey.
“This benefits us and our customers because some courses they can’t just re-do, they have to complete the whole course again if they miss their expiry date. In monetary value to us and our customers, that has helped.”
Saved time
With one central system that does everything they require for course bookings, St John Ambulance Jersey increased their efficiency and saved time, enabling their staff to focus on what matters and grow their business.
“We were using at least 4 or 5 applications to produce one course booking. When we came with accessplanit, everything is done through one system, so it cut down on a huge amount of work for us. Since then it has helped us to evolve, expand and grow because we could cope with the workload.”
Future-proofing
“The ability to communicate quickly, reinstate new courses and move people on from old ones that had been cancelled or postponed just saved so much time and we know our delegates were grateful for that.”
Miranda McGarr | Office Manager, St John Ambulance Jersey
Having accessplanit means that St John Ambulance Jersey hasn’t been caught out by challenges that could have spelt disaster for them without it. One of these was the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Because we had accessplanit, during COVID, we were able to run online courses and communicate with our delegates in their home setting. The vast majority of our courses ceased but there were a couple we could do online that weren’t practical based,” Miranda explained.
Practical courses had to be cancelled and re-arranged, but automation meant that this didn’t create a huge workload for admin staff. “The ability to communicate quickly, reinstate new courses and move people on from old ones that had been cancelled or postponed just saved so much time and we know our delegates were grateful for that.”
“The automation was great in that respect.”
Improved business insights
In addition, Miranda said that a big part of the reason they were able to recover from COVID was because of the analytical reports they could run via accessplanit.
"We downloaded a lot of information to give us a heads up in terms of what we should do, what direction we should go and where we were likely to be.”
“accessplanit has been useful for getting us back up and running quicker than others. It was definitely a help to get us kickstarted again.”
Flexibility
Because accessplanit is a web-based application, work could continue even when people couldn’t get into the office and enabled flexibility. “Because we had accessplanit, we were still able to organise those courses and control that process whilst we were all working from home – that was really useful.”
“The booking and arrangement of the courses could still be done through accessplanit because it’s an internet based provider. My colleagues could still work and still do their daily tasks.”
Business growth
All of the above has meant that St John Ambulance Jersey have been able to grow with the trends of the industry, rather than left struggling to keep up with never-ending admin.
Although the core of St John Ambulance Jersey’s training offerings is in-person courses, Miranda says they are not cut off to the potential of diversifying into online in the future like many of their counterparts, and believes accessplanit will play a big role in that.
“If we can perhaps look at running the theory parts of some of our courses online, then joining us in person for the practical, we will be looking to do that and I think accessplanit will be able to expand with us and assist us in that endeavor.”
"The automated features of the likes of reminders and sending out documents definitely improved cashflow and reduced expenditure."
Miranda McGarr | Office Manager, St John Ambulance Jersey
Next steps
So, online courses might be on the horizon, but what else is in the future for St John Ambulance Jersey?
Miranda said she appreciates how accessplanit are always developing the platform with new features, and they often find new ways to use the platform when these are released. “New separate areas of the platform have been developed over time that we have been able make use of,”
However, Miranda also explained that she knows there are many areas of the platform that they do not make use of that they are hoping to look into. “As we’re looking at expanding again and growing in the future, these additional areas may be beneficial for us.”
“It’s a vast system and does much more than we as a very small unit use, but what we do use, we use to it’s fullest – we get everything out of the system we require,”
“What we’re using at the moment we’re more than happy with and it does exactly what it says on the tin.”
The takeaway
"We feel we definitely get our money’s worth for the fee that we pay in relation to the business that we get in.”
Miranda McGarr | Office Manager, St John Ambulance Jersey
When asked if she would recommend accessplanit, Miranda said yes. “I absolutely would recommend accessplanit, I have no hesitation saying that. The time and resources it freed for us by not doing everything manually just immediately made a difference to our workload. The automated features of the likes of reminders and sending out documents definitely improved cashflow and reduced expenditure. We feel we definitely get our money’s worth for the fee that we pay in relation to the business that we get in.”
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