Why Suncoast Christian College moved beyond Its custom-built CPD system
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Suncoast Christian College
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Suncoast Christian College was spending hours on manual spreadsheets and custom-built IT systems to track staff professional development. With the introduction of PD able, all that has completely changed.
Overview
When Suncoast Christian College began reviewing how staff professional development was tracked, the goal was to simplify an increasingly complicated process involving paper records, spreadsheets, and internally managed systems.
The College had already developed its own CPD workflows using Microsoft tools, but maintaining the system and producing reports remained time-consuming for both administration and IT staff.
PD able provided a simpler and more sustainable solution. Integrated directly into the College’s staff portal using Single Sign-On (SSO), the platform allowed teachers and staff to quickly record professional development activities, monitor progress, and export evidence when needed.
With the help of PD able, Suncoast Christian College has been able to:
- Reduce administration overhead associated with professional development tracking
- Simplify reporting for QCT teacher registration
- Allow teachers to self-manage and monitor their own professional development in line with the AITSL teacher standards
- Streamline attendance tracking using QR codes and SSO integration
- Reduce reliance on IT staff to manage bespoke internal systems
Background
Suncoast Christian College is a Queensland-based K-12 school with over 1100 students and 150 staff.
The College has an obligation to support teachers in meeting their Compulsory Professional Development (CPD) requirements to retain their Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) registration. The College leadership also needs to be able to confidently report to the relevant government authority that they have given staff the opportunity to meet their CPD requirements.
Prior to implementing PD able, professional development was tracked through a combination of paper-based attendance sheets, spreadsheets, and internally managed Microsoft systems.
While the system functioned, it created significant overhead behind the scenes. Attendance records often needed to be manually transferred into spreadsheets, transcript generation was cumbersome, and staff had limited visibility over their own progress.
As professional development requirements grew, the school recognised the need for a more streamlined and scalable solution.
The Challenge: Managing a Growing Administrative Burden
Like many schools, Suncoast Christian College had built internal processes over time to manage staff professional development.
Peter Deagon, ICT Applications Manager, had developed custom workflows and tools using Microsoft technologies to support the process. The system included barcode-based attendance tracking, certificate generation, and centralised reporting capabilities.
While staff appreciated the convenience of the system, maintaining it required ongoing effort from the IT team.
Generating reports for teachers and management could become time-consuming, especially when evidence or transcripts were required at short notice. Administrative staff were also responsible for managing spreadsheets and manually processing attendance information.
Teachers themselves had limited visibility over their own progress, often leading to a rush at the end of the year as staff worked to ensure they had met QCT requirements.
The school wanted a solution that would:
- Reduce dependency on manual processes
- Give staff greater ownership over their own PD tracking
- Simplify compliance reporting
- Integrate cleanly into existing systems
- Reduce the support burden on the IT team
A Seamless Implementation
After discovering PD able, the College began exploring how the platform could integrate with its existing environment.
One of the key priorities was ensuring staff could access the platform easily. PD able worked closely with Suncoast to implement Microsoft Entra ID Single Sign-On (SSO) integration through the College staff portal.
The result was a seamless experience for staff.
“A few clicks and session attendance is recorded. It could not be easier,” says Deagon.
The school also adopted PD able’s QR code functionality for professional development sessions. During staff PD events, administrators simply place a QR code into presentation slides, allowing staff to quickly scan and record attendance at the end of a session.
Combined with SSO, the process became almost instant for users.
If a teacher missed the QR code during a session, they could simply access PD able later through the portal and self-report the activity themselves.
Supporting Staff Through Self-Management
One of the biggest changes for the College was shifting professional development management away from purely administrative processes and giving staff the ability to self-manage their own records.
Teachers can now:
- Monitor their own professional development progress
- Record external learning activities
- Catch up on missed attendance submissions
- Export transcripts at any time for QCT requirements
For administrators and leadership teams, the platform provides centralised visibility across the organisation, making it easier to monitor engagement and compliance progress throughout the year.
Importantly, the platform has also reduced the end-of-year pressure traditionally associated with professional development reporting.
Previously, many teachers would rush to ensure they had enough evidence to satisfy QCT requirements. With ongoing visibility and easy reporting tools, that process is now far more manageable.
Beyond Compliance
Although the original driver for implementing PD able was compliance, the College has found the platform delivers broader operational benefits.
The system has significantly reduced administration overhead while also decreasing reliance on IT staff to maintain custom-built workflows and reporting systems.
What began as a compliance solution has evolved into a practical day-to-day platform that staff actively use and rely upon.
“The QR code and SSO combination has made the whole process incredibly simple,” says Deagon. “Staff can manage things themselves, managers can access reporting quickly, and the IT team is rarely called upon anymore.”
Looking Ahead
As the school continues refining its professional development processes, PD able remains an important part of its broader operational framework.
With simplified workflows, self-service reporting, and seamless integration into existing systems, the platform has helped the school move away from complex manual administration and toward a more sustainable long-term approach to professional development management.