PDP Premier

PDP Premier, a Professional Development Planning tool is available to all districts in New York State.

PDP Premier tracks hours and course credits for all professional development activities completed by district employees. Earned hours can be recorded, counted, and viewed in one or many of the following "buckets": Professional Development (Permanent or Initial certified teachers or non-teaching staff), CTLE/ELL (Professional or Teacher Assistant III), Contractual (all employees) and Stipend(able) hours.

Authorized employees may see a district catalog of activities, link to college or BOCES catalogs, electronically submit requests for professional development activities, and look up their current PDP time status. Administrators may create a district catalog, establish a multi-level approval and verification process, and do query reporting. PDP Premier creates seat counts and attendance sheets for each activity.

PDP Premier's email notification system let's requestors know whether their coursework was approved or denied. Administrators may also send denial comments to elaborate on the reasons behind the denial.

Data is stored on multiply secure servers at the WNYRIC and accessed via our portal using Identity Management software . Employees and demographics are imported from the district's financial system to ensure accuracy and timely changes to that data.

This application will sunset on June 30, 2026. 

Hardware: None

Software: Internet access software and Internet service provider

Prior to implementation of PDP Premier:

PDP Premier is surfaced via the WNYRIC portal using our Identity Management system. In order to access PDP Premier, district staff must add/maintain required fields in financial software in preparation for import to PDP Premier.

The employee's district email address is the key field for verifying the identity of that employee. Therefore the export from financial must include this email address.

Teacher certification types and dates are also required in order to determine whether his/her earned hours should flow to the PDP or CTLE "bucket". Certification Date and Birth Month help to determine the 5-year span for CTLE hours.

WNYRIC support staff will work with district staff to manage all of these requirements.

DISTRICT RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Designate a system administrator to oversee security and system use
2. Designate a contact person to field questions from staff and communicate with the RIC
3. Build mandatory and optional tables
4. Use provided documentation and HELP to learn the application
5. Add/maintain required fields in financial software in preparation for import to PDP Premier
6. Export employee data from financial system and import into PDP Premier to maintain the integrity of the data
7. Work with WNYRIC support staff to secure user IDs and passwords for new employees
8. Use the software as it was intended, to maintain compliance with district contracts and state/federal government regulations
9. Export CTLE/ELL data from PDP Premier if request by NYSED 
10. Set appropriate permissions for PDP administrators
11. Provide Internet access to appropriate staff using the application
12. Reprint and distribute documentation to teachers with assigned UserIDs
13. Inform the WNYRIC of any problems, difficulties or training needs
14. Report all necessary information to the appropriate agencies (e.g.,for certification renewal)

WNYRIC RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Provide unlimited telephone support for central office staff
2. Create secure log-in accounts for administrator (central office) and staff access
3. Provide software functionality that allows compliance with state and federal regulations
4. Provide software updates as regulations change or enhancements are made
5. WNYRIC will provide one day of district wide training in the first year as part of the support fee. 
6. WNYRIC will provide three hours of district wide online training during each subsequent year.
7. Additional  training days are available at a per diem rate. 
8. RIC staff maintain strict confidentiality while performing their duties for this and all services

Data Backup: PDP Premier data is backed up twice each night using Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM). TSM backup data for this node is retained for at least 21 days. The WNYRIC tests restores once per year. Media condition is monitored regularly and media is replaced as needed. Any data that is backed up by the WNYRIC TSM service is backed up to disk (IBM DS storage in server room) using IBM TSM software and then an onsite and offsite tape copy are created. The offsite copy is taken to the WNYRIC storage site at a secure location in Western New York and the onsite is kept in the WNYRIC automated tape library at the service center.

The WNYRIC utilizes cost effective best practices determined by research that allows our experienced and trained technical staff to perform robust testing and support of the WNYRIC network in the areas of security, infrastructure, energy management, virtualization strategies, disaster recovery and business continuity. Therefore, we are able to be a district advocate for vendor contract issues and aggressively negotiate contract pricing and performance terms. 

Staff follow best practices in order to provide necessary security as it relates to the most recent student, teacher and principal data security and privacy regulations.

Service Desk can be reached Monday –Friday from 7:00 a.m. –  4:30 p.m. by calling (716) 821-7171, 1-800-872-0780 or by e-mail at servicedesk@e1b.org.  A representative will be available from 4:30 p.m. through 11:00 p.m to assist you with calls regarding emergency situations. During all other hours and holidays, a caller will receive important information regarding coverage.

"Staff follow best practices in order to provide necessary security as it relates to the most recent student data security and privacy regulations".