1. Existing e-skills Passport customers
If you are the e-skills Passport administrator within your organisation please visit www.e-skillsPassport.com/passportoffice and enter your existing username and password. From here you can manage users and customise e-skills Passport for your organisation.

If you were an e-skills Passport customer before April 2006 and have not yet set up an administrator for your organisation please contact us.

2. New customers
e-skills Passports cost £10+VAT per user per annum. This gives each user in your organisation unlimited access to e-skills Passport for twelve months. The twelve month period commences when an individual registers with e-skills Passport for the first time (see Terms & Conditions).  Included in the price is access to e-skills Passport Office, which allows nominated administrators in your organisation to manage users and customise e-skills Passport to your needs.

Acquiring e-skills Passports is an easy process: simply complete the order form available from the bottom of the e-skills Passport Office sign in page and send it to us at the email address on the form. In return we will issue you with the appropriate set-up information within 48 hours.  To receive the form in a format other than MS Word please contact us.

We recommend downloading the short guide to using e-skills Passport Office. Please also note that each user will require a valid email address to use e-skills Passport; if users do not have an email address they can set up a free web-based account.  Please ask your IT department or contact us for more information.

3. What is e-skills Passport?
e-skills Passport is a simple-to-use on-line tool that enables individuals and organisations to assess current IT skills, identify gaps, set learning targets and record improvement. Organisations use e-skills Passport to achieve a snapshot of workforce IT skills and target training accordingly.

At the heart of e-skills Passport is an employer-defined framework of skills which is linked closely to the IT User National Occupational Standards, upon which most IT training in the UK and all UK IT qualifications are based.

Users start by self-assessing their current skills against 15 common computing techniques by answering yes/no questions against five levels from inexperienced (very limited skills), foundation, intermediate, advanced and super-user (high skills levels). Users then go on to record achievements and learn new skills.

You can pre-populate e-skills Passport with skills or qualifications targets prior to deploying them among users, so you get a snapshot of current skills, gaps, and the route to improving skills and gaining qualifications.  Instant reports are available for you to measure progress.

Note: e-skills Passport requires a minimum set of Operate a Computer skills such as the ability to use a mouse, access the internet, and enter data using a keyboard. e-skills Passport is not intended or suitable for individuals with no IT skills whatsoever, and those individuals may need help using the system at first.

4. What is ITQ?
The framework at the heart of e-skills Passport has also been used to create a new qualification called the ITQ.  This qualification is fast becoming the de-facto standard for IT users in the UK, and is increasingly being recognised by employers as a critical requirement for anyone using technology at work. e-skills Passport is designed to help organisations qualify their staff.

ITQ is different from other qualifications for three key reasons.

First, the qualification can be attained by knowing and/or learning skills at different levels according to those needed to do the job (e.g., if database skills are not needed in your job then these skills need not be acquired but an individual can still get a full qualification).  That means the ITQ qualification can be completely customised or shaped to suit the needs of individuals.

Secondly, the ITQ recognises and gives exemptions for most existing qualifications that may already have been obtained.  For example, if an individual already has an ECDL module (BCS), a CLAIT (OCR) or an e-Quals (City & Guilds), these will exempt that individual from certain elements of the ITQ.

Finally, ITQ is unique in that you can import units from existing NVQs and use those to contribute towards the overall ITQ qualification (for example, if Health & Safety is important in a particular job, alongside technology skills, then you can import units from the Health and Safety NVQ which will contribute towards that individuals ITQ).