(Blog) Dahua DHSA Training @ Mast Digital

You may remember reading the blog at the end of last year where we wrapped up 2021 and gave some insight into what to expect from MAST throughout 2022 (Read Here). We always aim to provide the best for our customers and this year's addition to the support that we provide was the promise of in-house training.

One of my roles as Technical Director is keeping internal staff informed of new products, how these products can be used and sold within their relevant fields and providing additional training and insights to our customers. So, of course, my next step was getting my own knowledge up to the level of being able to provide Certified Dahua training to our customers. The process is relatively simple but a number of steps are required.

How Mast Digital Became Accredited
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Firstly, I had to take part in the days training and pass the DHSA course myself. Along with Connor from our Technical Team, we took the journey down to the Dahua Offices in Maidenhead for the training, where we saw Dahua’s flagship Innovation Room with all the project related products including the barriers, ANPR systems, Hunter X and Hubble PTZs and the huge video wall (eye-Candy for any CCTV tech geeks!).

The day long course was educational but also relaxed and Chris Flavelle presented the course very well (of course – he is well practiced). Myself and Connor came away with our DHSA certificates, top marks and with some additional knowledge. 

The next step involved stocking our Training Room with all equipment required for the day of instruction. Each attendee requires their own workstation with access to an NVR, XVR, CVI Camera, IP Camera, Switch and PC (for logging into the test/exam at the end of the day). With the help of Dahua UK and Ireland, we were quickly able to fill our training room with all the necessary hardware. We’ve even attempted to keep things in order and in place with custom 3D printed camera mounts so each desk remains identical throughout. We also had some equipment tests by the way of some internal training for our sales team. 

Dahua provided us with the DHSA PowerPoint material - this is after all a certified course and as such all training information must remain the same no matter where you partake in the training. We were able to adapt some of the pages to include images directly from our own training room to keep things relevant to ourselves.

I spoke to Chris a few times via Zoom meetings and I was tested to make sure I understood the relevant points of the course that needed to be covered. Chris would also be watching over the first course that we ran to make sure that it was conducted in a professional and informative manner.

How Our First Session Went
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We invited some of our loyal customers that had showed an interest in the DHSA course. On the day I would say I was slightly apprehensive, but soon settled into the role of ‘instructor’, answering questions throughout the day and hopefully passing on the knowledge required for the test. The morning lesson involved talking about initial set-up, password requirements NTP, DST, disarming functions and getting hands-on with the NVR and XVR. We had a break for lunch (in the form of individual buffet lunches provided by a local catering company) and this gave the installers chance to ask some more questions and also chat, swapping installation nightmares and anecdotes.

Following the lunch break we got back into the PowerPoint and hands-on training while discussing points such as bandwidth, storage, cabling and simple networking. This all then led onto the test to find out what the attendees had learned – and I was grateful to find that they all passed with flying colours – they must have been listening!

I was also thankful for their great feedback that came from the questionnaire.

Chris Flavelle, Training Manager at Dahua UK & Ireland commented:

"Stew Bloomfield from Mast Digital has been recognised by Dahua Technology UK Ltd as a qualified trainer for certificated Dahua training courses DHSA & DHSP.

How to Join Our Next Session
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The DHSA can be thought of as your driving test into CCTV installation and this base knowledge will be built upon within the real world of installing. For anybody that is wanting to increase their knowledge with Dahua Technology then further course are available with DHSP and DHSE being the next steps in regards to certified courses.

Contact us if you are interested in any of the Dahua certified courses and we’ll let you know available dates and locations.

Our Office Address

Mast Digital (UK) Ltd
Unit A Station Road Industrial Estate,
Station Road, Epworth,
Doncaster, DN9 1JZ