Launch of New CPD Reporting Database
As you know, the Law Society has been working to update our Membership Database over the past year and half. The upgrade has been rolled out in phases, starting with the Member Profile last summer and moving on to other aspects such as Renewals and Annual Reports. We are excited to announce that we have now launched the upgraded CPD Reporting Database (accessible via your Member Profile). We acknowledge that both the look and functionality are significantly different than our previous CPD system so it will take some time to get used to, but we trust that you will find it more user friendly and efficient once you get familiar with it. We have developed detailed instructions (both written and video)
to assist you in navigating this new system. And of course, if you experience issues, please reach out to [email protected] so we can assist you.
We encourage you to go into your Member Profile as soon as possible to check your CPD hours so you know how many hours (if any) you need to accumulate before the current CPD term ends on December 31, 2021. All active members are required to accumulate and report a minimum of 12 CPD hours annually (2 of which must qualify as ethics hours).
Many of you have already met the CPD requirements for 2021, some in part due to the generous carry-over provision we applied when transitioning from the three-year rolling term to the one-year term. You may recall that, in order to facilitate a smooth transition to the one-year term which was implemented effective January 1, 2020, all CPD hours reported in 2018, 2019 and 2020 were included in the 2020 reporting year (up to a maximum of 24 CPD hours, 4 of which could be ethics). The current carry-over allowance of 12 CPD hours (2 which can be ethics) commenced in the 2021 CPD reporting year, and continues in effect going forward. This means that a member could have had up to 24 CPD hours (4 ethics) included in their 2020 reporting year and anything in excess of 12 hours (2 ethics) was carried over to 2021. When you look at your CPD hours in your Member Profile, you can see at a glance exactly the number of CPD hours carried over from last year and the hours reported this year.
An exciting feature of the new system is the ability to submit an activity for approval within your Member Profile. If a CPD activity you are attempting to report is not already approved in the system, rather than complete a separate form via our website, you can now fill in the relevant information directly in your Member Profile and it will be submitted to Administration for approval. As well, when you apply for approval of a CPD activity in advance of the activity taking place, it will remain in your Member Profile once approved so you can easily report it upon completing the activity.
We ask for both your feedback and patience as we roll this out. Despite significant testing, we expect to experience some glitches that will need to be worked out as we go, as is always the case with major transitions like this. We will do our best to be responsive and assist you as quickly as possible. Again, we encourage you to refer to both our video and written instructions as you familiarize yourself with the new and improved system.
