Tracking requirements as they are met is one of the best ways for rating holders to be ready to renew their ratings online. However, some members, not knowing about this functionality, may not keep track throughout the year. Others may wait until their ratings are almost expired to ask for requirements for multiple ratings to be verified. Further still, as an instructor examiner, you may be at your annual rating renewal seminar and have all 30 attendees ask you to mark that requirement complete that day! For each of these situations, it seems daunting to use the online process: You must choose the rating and look up the member before you reach the page to choose the requirement and sign.

The solution: QR codes.

There is now a shortcut directly to the final signing page for requirement tracking, which allows you to skip the first two steps. Here’s how it works: With their smartphone or tablet, the rating holder signs into their profile, clicks on the Credentials tab, then “Manage Instructional Ratings.” For each rating (except examiner ratings), you’ll see a QR code unique to that person’s rating.

As the verifier, you can use your smartphone to scan the QR code, which shortcuts you to the final signing page.

On the iPhone 7 and higher, the camera app works as a QR code reader. For earlier iPhones, use the built-in reader available in your control panel. On Android, use an app like Bixby or other QR code reader apps.

As per the normal process, choose the single requirement you are verifying for this member’s rating, then date, sign and submit. If you have another requirement for this same member’s same rating, choose the highlighted shortcut on the confirmation page.

If you have another requirement to verify on another rating, you can use that QR code to get directly to the signing page. If you have multiple rating holders to mark, such as in the example of a rating renewal seminar, have every rating holder go to their instructional ratings page and have one of their QR codes ready for you to scan.

Some things to keep in mind:

• For the rating renewal seminar, you only have to mark it completed once per person, not per rating.
• Instructors are allowed to verify Coach rating requirements.
• When selecting the date as the verifier, you should always choose the date the requirement happened, unless it is a cumulative type requirement, such as a group of jumps, for which you should choose today’s date or the date of the last jump in the series.

For those still not convinced about using online verification of requirements, remember this: The real verification happens when you see that PRO rating holder’s logbook and count 50 jumps in the last year, or when you see that tandem instructor practice tandem emergency procedures, or when you see that Coach help with the first-jump course. Marking a requirement complete is simply the recording of the real verification. Marking them as you go allows you to fulfill your responsibilities with integrity and ease and puts some of the responsibility on the rating holders themselves.