Proficiency

Proficiency Services Ltd are a membership organisation for qualified and accredited Energy Assessors and associated professionals. It exists to support its members with providing the highest quality services; not just in complying with national legislative requirements but ultimately in doing its part to protect the planet for future generations.   For those who are building, renovating, selling or renting a property, whether residential or commercial, Proficiency is there to help.

The Brief

Proficiency (formerly DCHI) commissioned Channel Digital to undertake a comprehensive website upgrade. The project was required to modernise their online presence, specifically by maintaining an effective member forum and implementing several critical compliance and security features.

The key objectives for the new website included:

1. Incorporating a compliant cookie policy notification and acceptance mechanism.
2. Integrating improved CAPTCHA type security.
3. Streamlining their GDPR-compliant email marketing system.
4. Fixing a variety of critical legacy issues

Technology and Build

During the project, the company underwent a significant internal restructure and re-brand to Proficiency. We successfully incorporated all necessary design and content updates without interrupting the scheduled upgrade work. The core of the solution involved retaining the Joomla Content Management System (CMS) due to its ability to handle large content volumes, offer high customisation, and manage complex member accounts—a vital requirement for supporting their memberships for their Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

The upgrade delivered the following key features and fixes:

1. Custom CPD Management: We implemented a bespoke system to accurately track and assign CPD records for event attendees, capturing details like location, activity specifics, and hours gained.
2. Automated Certification: Members can now instantly access and download their print-ready PDF certificates directly from their personal dashboards, streamlining the certification process.
3. Marketing Integration: The site incorporated an AcyMailing extension to facilitate the effective distribution of newsletters and marketing communications via Sendinblue.
4. Membership Logic Fixed: Corrected core functionality errors, including the failure of memberships and user roles to update correctly upon expiry or renewal.
5. Directory Accuracy: Fixed the "Find a Member" page to ensure it correctly displayed results based on member status, excluding inactive users.
6. Legacy Bugs Resolved: Eliminated issues where expired members were still receiving forum posts and corrected the implementation of the Google Maps API.

Feedback from Proficiency

“The original DCHI site definitely suffered from some of the features appearing to be beyond the competence level of the developers working on it. That company went out of business and the company seeking to taking over all their accounts did not appear to be one that would meet our needs either. Hence the move to Channel Digital as a company that did clearly have the right level of expertise to meet our current and future needs. An opinion reinforced by the performance levels we have experienced since.

Design defects were remedied, the site was updated to current software versions and further upgraded to add greater functionality. The ability to adequately understand our requirements and match them to appropriate solutions, and to properly follow a design brief, was a refreshing change.” Ian Sturt (Proficiency)