On-boarding Process of Training Partners

Post signing of official agreement between NSDC and Training Partner, essential documents including copy of the agreement, term sheet, financial model and primary contact details of the TP has to be submitted to the Monitoring Team at NSDC.

Monitoring team initiates the TP’s onboarding process by inviting them for project kick-off meeting. The agenda of the meeting is to get the TPs acquainted with NSDC’s ecosystem, monitoring processes, branding, database management, financial audits guidelines, and quality control mechanisms, registration on Skill India portal etc. Some of the sessions covered in the kick-off meeting include:

• Monitoring and Management Information System (MIS)
• NSDC Branding and Social Media
• Learning Resources and Technology
• Skill India Portal (SIP)
• Disbursement Process and Financial Reporting Requirements

After the meeting, key contact details of the training partner, with respect to the project are collected -including Senior Management, SPOC from Monitoring & MIS Department and Finance Department for further communication. Every TP is also allocated a SPOC from NSDC monitoring team, who acts as a facilitator and coordinator for all day-to-day communication, service related requests and issues/grievances management.

During the kick-off meeting, NSDC issues Partnership Certificates to the newly inducted training partners, both funded and non-funded as a proof of affiliation with NSDC. Only TPs with a valid Partnership Certificate and/or Agreement have the right to use NSDC Branding (as per the Branding Guidelines set by NSDC) and claim benefits of NSDC affiliation.

Teams at NSDC

Monitoring Team : The Monitoring Team provides assistance to Training Partners for day-to-day operations and encourages them to submit their queries/ concerns by raising a ticket using the incident management tool, Symphony which acts as an automated solution for effective tracking and timely closure of issues, requests and complaints of TPs.

The training partners are provided their Symphony login credentials during the kick-off session.

Skill India Portal (SIP) Team : SIP is a software application platform for capturing Training Partner’s lifecycle, assessment and certification along with all the training data. All TPs are required to register/login on SIP to upload their training data on real time basis.

The SIP team maintains the system and offers technical and functional assistance to Training Partners with respect to Registration, creating logins or updating candidate data on the portal.

Standards & Quality Assurance Team : Standards & Quality Assurance Team at NSDC reviews the compliance of courses in accordance to NSDC’s prescribed guidelines and regularly updates Training Material Compendium.The team also ensures thatthe Training Providers are conforming to training as per Qualification Packs and National Occupational Standards (QP-NOS), as developed by respective Sector Skill Councils. Monitoring team further facilitiesalignment of courses on SIP in coordination with Standards team.

Legal and Accounts Team : The Legal and Accounts Team advisesProject Team about NSDC’s policies and procedures. It also supports portfolio management teams with project-related legal documents. The Monitoring Team facilitates any legal service request or legal matter in coordination with legal team.

Operations Progress

Sector Addition : When a Training Partner is entering into a new sector which wasn’t a part of the existing agreement, the TP is required to write to monitoring team for the process of addition of new sectors on SIP.

Course Addition : When a Training Partner is planning to conduct a new course for an existing sector in the portfolio, a separate process for approval and alignment of desired courses is required to be initiated. To initiate the process, the partner is required to create the course on SIP and communicate the same to their concerned SPOC from NSDC

Center Creation : In order to initiate the trainings under approved sectors and courses, it is required for TPs to get their Training Centers added and approved on the SIP. In order to do so, they need to provide relevant information on SIP portal using their login credentials and communicate the same to their concerned SPOC from NSDC.

Progress Review

Conference Calls : On a quarterly basis, the Monitoring Team at NSDC conducts Conference Calls with the Training Partners which allows them to discuss their progress regarding trainings conducted, financial health, and overall project performance. This allows a platform to discuss and deliberate upon the challenges/ issues being faced by partners and share progress along with the status on action items from the previous call. The call aims to cover the following agenda items:

• Business Plans
• Social Performance
• Financial Performance
• Technical Issue Resolution
• Renewal process

Training Centre Visits : The Monitoring team conducts site visits to Training Centers (TCs) operated by affiliated Training Partners on a quarterly basis to monitor on-ground operations and collate feedback from its stakeholders. In order to achieve evidence-based monitoring, the Center Inspector visiting the center captures the details of the centre with photographs and geo-coordinates on a mobile application called Training Center Visit application. Infrastructure, Training Delivery, Branding and Data Reporting among others are key parameters monitored.
The gaps and anomalies identified during the visit are shared with the senior management of the training partners for clarification/ justification/ proof (wherever applicable) and closure of the gaps and non-compliances.

Call Validation System : NSDC, through third-party service provider, conducts a validation exercise on the data reported by the Training Partners through outbound calling to the candidates and training center managers.
All information pertaining to candidates on the SIP is validated through a call validation process on quarterly basis. The monitoring team asks for clarification/ proof from TPs where deviations and gaps occur between candidate and training data on SIP. In case the queries are not answered, or the TP fails to provide a satisfactory response, the call validation is marked as unsatisfactory for that TP.

Reporting Progress

Financial Progress : All Training Partners are required to submit Quarterly Utilization Certificate to NSDC, duly signed and stamped by a Chartered Accountant post disbursement of the 1st tranche of NSDC Loan. The certificate must be submitted to NSDC for the previous quarter by the 15th day of the first month every quarter. It is then reviewed, analyzed and observations are shared with Training Partners. The TP needs to ensure they respond to the observations at the earliest for closure.
At the end of each Financial Year, the Partners are required to submit their audited Financial Statements, such as Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Statements, Directors Report and Auditors Report etc., to NSDC latest by 31st October every year or within 15 days of adoption of accounts in the Annual General Meeting of the Company, whichever is earlier.
TPs are requested to share their prospective plan for the yearly target with NSDC as per the template shared by NSDC.

Social Progress Monthly update/ report: SIP is NSDC’s integrated platform for capturing Training Lifecycle Management, Assessment and Certification, and reporting of Training Data. All TPs are required to register/login on SIP to upload their training data real time basis.

Action Plan : All TPs are expected to share their plan to achieve the yearly target with NSDC as per the template shared by NSDC

IT Applications

Training Center Visit Verification Application (TCVApp): Center Visits are conducted by NSDC through an app, where the data is being collected against key indicators-infrastructure, Training Delivery, Branding Guidelines etc. as uploaded on SIP. Major observations and feedback of the visit is shared with the TP SPOC and CEO for clarification/response respectively.

Skill India Portal (SIP): NSDC’s integrated platform for capturing Training Lifecycle Management, Assessment and Certification, and reporting of Training Data. SIP Support team maintains the system and provides technical and functional support to users including TPs, SSCs, NSDC Management and NSDC monitoring team

Incident Management Tool (Symphoney): ): For any communication with monitoring Team, TP is required to raise ticket (Service/incident) using an incident management tool called JIRA. It is an automated solution for effective tracking and timely closure of issues, requests and complaints of TPs

TP Hub (Training Partner Portfolio): TP Hub is a web-based application developed by NSDC for TPs to update their achievement under various skilling initiatives (center and state) and present a consolidated view of their skilling portfolio to all relevant stakeholders. In addition to data upload, TP's can also demonstrate their success stories/awards/ affiliations etc.

Annual Partnership Approval

NSDC issues Partnership Certificates to all its affiliated i.e. funded and non-funded TPs as a proof of affiliation with NSDC. Only TPs with a valid Partnership Certificate and/or Agreement shall have the right to use NSDC Branding (as per Branding Guidelines set by NSDC) and can claim benefits of NSDC affiliation.