Applications automatically processed
IPAF promotes and enables the safe use of powered access equipment worldwide, working closely with accredited training centres to deliver globally recognised training courses. As part of this process, training centres submit licence applications through IPAF’s web portal.
Once submitted, each application had to be reviewed and approved manually by IPAF staff using a separate legacy system hosted on an on‑premises server. This split workflow created operational friction, where staff were required to move between two systems, approvals were slow and repetitive, and the ageing infrastructure was increasingly unreliable.
In its existing form, the process was time‑consuming, difficult to scale, and prone to delays - ultimately limiting IPAF’s ability to grow and modernise their operations.
"The delivery of this project was a huge milestone in IPAF’s digital transformation journey. Furness did not only make this possible but assured that risk was continually managed, progress was well communicated and solutions were found for any issues identified."
Every licence application needed a manual review, tying up a dedicated member of IPAF’s team. Staff were working through the same routine checks on each submission, leaving less time for the exceptions, training centre support and improvement work that genuinely needed their expertise.
Because every application was handled by hand, workload rose in step with volume. Busy periods led to backlogs and slower turnaround for training centres, and the only way to keep pace with demand was to add more resource to the approval process. Now the process can scale without increasing workload for staff.
Approvals depended on a separate legacy application running on an on-premises server. Staff had to switch between two systems for every application, and the increasingly unreliable infrastructure created a risk of downtime and stood in the way of IPAF’s wider digital transformation.
A series of discovery workshops were held with key stakeholders in IPAF’s projects team, allowing us to identify challenges in the existing workflow early in the project, while also understanding the outcomes which IPAF wished to achieve. We were then able to collaborate on a clear and actionable delivery plan which worked for both Furnes.io and IPAF.
To support controlled and low-risk deployments, we leveraged feature flags. This allowed IPAF to enable changes selectively, starting with specific clients for pilot rollouts, expanding to country‑level rollout once validated, and eventually activating features globally.
This phased approach ensured smooth adoption, reduced the risk of disruption, and gave IPAF full control over how and when each capability was introduced.
“Delivering this project with Furness.io was a true collaboration – we brought the business problem and process knowledge, and Furness brought the technical know-how, problem solving expertise and can-do approach. The project ran incredibly smoothly from start to finish – achieving all the required deliverables and enabling massive business benefit. It is easily one of the smoothest software development projects I’ve been involved with”
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