On the 6^th October, approximately 40 programme and support staff in further education attended the official briefing by SOLAS and ETBI staff on the new national course database and course scheduler in the Horse and Jockey Hotel.

This system, known as the PLSS, is a national joint initiative between SOLAS and ETBI. It is a live database of Tipperary ETB courses, which are visible on web systems and can be accessed by Department of Social Protection staff, who can then refer individuals to ETB courses.

Conducting the briefing were Fiona Maloney, ETBI PLSS Coordinator; Tom Creig, Head of IT Dept., SOLAS, Julie Dunphy, SOLAS PLSS team member, and Sheila Mullen, IT team, SOLAS. Eileen Condon, Acting EO, welcomed the group and Antoinette Coffey, AEO, ensured the event was organised in her role as ETB representative on the ETBI PLSS Advisory Group.

Fiona, Tom, Julie and Shiela gave presentations on how the PLSS would work and the information it can contain about types of courses in our ETB, and where and when they will take place. Eventually, another feature of PLSS will be a Learner database, which will hold important certification information about learners for progression. This feature is hoped to be available by 2017.

Following the briefing, there was in-depth training delivered in Colaiste Eile, kindly hosted by Laurenz Egan, on October 12-13^th for key staff from PLC to Adult Literacy. These staff were able to upload their courses and can use the PLSS to schedule future courses that are “live” on the web for other to see.

It is hoped the PLSS will raise the awareness and accessibility of ETB provision now, and into the future.