GWO’s WINDA Database Lies At The Heart Of The Wind Community

At the heart of GWO’s relationships with the wind community is the WINDA global database. This was designed with the primary purpose of recording and giving assurance on the status of GWO certified training providers and  the participants on GWO certified training courses. WINDA is maintained by GWO Secretariat. To reflect their different needs, WINDA stakeholders can register using one of five different user profiles that allows them different functionalities as they need:

• Training providers are able to upload records of participants and use WINDA to complement existing site management systems.
• Employers are able to use WINDA to verify the current training status of participants.
• Participants are able to access personal verified information on the status and validity of training courses completed, e.g. to demonstrate their training status to current and future employers.
• Certification bodies can register their ISO certifications and link to auditors and training providers via WINDA
• Auditors can register audit certificates with GWO and link to certification bodies and training providers directly using WINDA
  

All registrations on WINDA generate a unique WINDA ID which bind certifications and training records information to organisations and individuals alike. For training participant their WINDA/Participant ID must be given to a training provider if they wish to have their training accepted by GWO and its members. Employers can verify whether technicians have the necessary GWO safety training by, similarly, verify training records using a WINDA ID.

A Step Change Via WINDA 3.2

On September 6th 2021, GWO made a step change in how its training records database, WINDA is used by the community when it launched WINDA version 3.2. The most significant changes to the platform were the introduction of two new user profiles for certification bodies (CB), and auditors. The new CB and auditor profiles enable CB's and auditors to self-service their clients’ training provider certifications, re-certifications, surveillance audits and other crucial governance requirements. At the same time WINDA freed CB's and auditors from hard copy processing and emailing of GWO documentation, such as audit reports and certificates.

Jakob Lau Holst, CEO of Global Wind Organisation explained: 

GWO operates a system of constant improvement to constantly drive-up quality control of its 400+ global training provider network. The auditor’s role is fundamental to how we achieve a uniform level of quality in the network. With WINDA 3.2 we introduced new tools so they always have the right information to keep their clients’ certifications up to date.

Training providers operating mobile facilities also benefitted from the new WINDA update. Previously, such facilities required a unique WINDA profile alongside any existing fixed facility a training provider operates. WINDA 3.2 removed this requirement, avoiding training providers multiple licenses and saving the associated registration fees.

Achieving as smooth as possible a transition to the new ways of working in WINDA 3.2 was a priority supported by a thorough ‘before, during and after’ community outreach programme to direct existing members of the community to the different ways of working and changes in GWO requirements. GWO communicated extensively holding webinars, creating FAQs and building a set of standard helpdesk answers to common enquiries which were supplemented by a suite of self-help video tutorials. Available to watch and rewatch whenever needed via YouTube, these videos talked through the changes in a step by step way.

Find the videos in a playlist here WINDA - The Wind Industry Safety Training Database

Read here the WINDA’s FAQ