Client Overview

The Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) is a global professional body dedicated to promoting and supporting excellence in procurement and supply management. To help manage its extensive range of professional exams, CIPS required a more efficient way to connect their internal systems with TestReach, a leading exam management and delivery platform. To achieve this, they turned to PSP to implement a seamless system integration that would automate data exchange between the two systems and eliminate manual processes.

Challenge

CIPS previously relied on manual data handling between their internal applications and TestReach, which led to inefficiencies and increased the risk of data entry errors. With thousands of exam bookings, exam centre information and results to process, the need for an automated solution was critical. The primary challenge was to ensure that exam centres, exam events and bookings could flow automatically from CIPS’s internal system to TestReach, while exam results could be returned seamlessly into the system. Given that TestReach sends data in JSON format, CIPS’s systems needed to interpret, convert and reformat this data to ensure compatibility. CIPS required a robust integration that could operate reliably on a scheduled basis, minimising manual intervention and ensuring accurate data transfer.

Solution

PSP’s team began by conducting a detailed analysis of the existing processes and data flows between CIPS and TestReach. Our business analysts mapped out the integration requirements from start to finish, documenting every step in the data transfer and transformation process to create a clear blueprint for implementation. This foundational work enabled us to define the data fields, formats and scheduling requirements necessary for seamless communication between the systems.

With a detailed plan in place, our software developers built custom APIs to facilitate the automatic data transfer. The integration was designed to push exam centre details, exam events and exam bookings from CIPS’s internal systems into TestReach without any manual intervention. On the return flow, the system was configured to pull exam results from TestReach and format them into a structure that could be easily processed by CIPS’s internal systems. Our developers ensured that the integration could run on a scheduled basis, enabling updates and synchronisations at predefined intervals to keep all data accurate and up-to-date.

To validate the solution, PSP’s testing team conducted rigorous API testing, simulating various data scenarios to ensure that all endpoints were functioning correctly and that data was being transferred accurately. The testing phase included handling exceptions to ensure that the system could gracefully manage any potential issues, guaranteeing the reliability of the integration.

Results

The successful integration of CIPS’s internal system with TestReach transformed the way exam data is managed and transferred. The automated solution eliminated the need for manual data entry, significantly reducing the potential for errors and saving valuable administrative time. Exam centres, exam events and bookings are now pushed seamlessly into TestReach, while exam results flow back into CIPS’s systems accurately and on schedule. The streamlined process has improved data integrity, enhanced operational efficiency and provided CIPS with real-time visibility into their exam management workflow.

Conclusion

By partnering with PSP, CIPS achieved a robust, automated integration with TestReach that optimised their exam management processes. Our end-to-end solution, from initial process mapping to API implementation and testing, ensured a reliable and scalable data exchange between systems. This project demonstrates PSP’s ability to deliver system integrations that not only enhance operational efficiency but also align with strategic business needs. The successful implementation positions CIPS to manage their exam operations with greater agility and confidence, supporting their mission to uphold high standards in professional education and certification.