November 2023 release 1

At Aptem, we aim to offer our users an accessible product that meets the latest WCAG AA Standards. We are committed to improving accessibility, including updating styles for interactive elements like buttons and links. In this release, we ran a bug bash activity and made more than 100 Accessibility improvements.

For more information, see: Accessibility improvements - November 2023 release 1.

(Product Area: Aptem Skills)

Added the option to remove the privacy statement from the ILR onboarding wizard

We have added the ability to disable the privacy statement that shows alongside the ILR onboarding step. This is configured on the Onboarding Wizard token in programme builder. When the ILR step is enabled you can toggle the privacy statement on or off on the ILR tab.

Converted the ILR document to an editable template format

To enable customers to use the ILR onboarding compliance document, we have added the ability to modify the text in the Learning Declaration. This allows our customers to meet the differing needs of the different sources of funding they use.

Where configured at the programme level, administrators can make amendments to the 'Learning Declaration' section. They can enter their own text on the ILR declaration. The ILR declaration will be generated with the new text in a read-only state for the learner, who can then view/sign the ILR declaration.

An administrator with the Manage Programmes permission can now add or modify the Onboarding ILR document template. These changes can be made to the document template in the Compliance Document token in the Programme Builder. The functionality is similar to the way our other editable document templates are edited. We have provided our standard text editor for you to add your own declaration or privacy statement to the document.

For more information, see: Convert an ILR document to an editable template format.

(Product Area: Aptem Apprentice)

SAML authentication and logout messages can now be signed, so integration security is enhanced and experience for customers using ADFS as their IdP is improved.

(Product Area: Aptem Apprentice, Aptem Skills)

We have added a new column to the DB and a new field to the OData ILR Aims feed that stores the data that is shown in “Force in batch.

(Product Area: Aptem Apprentice)
The Caseowner summary table has been updated to include learners that are awaiting their EPA and learners that have mismatched data.

• Total learners with ILR = "Live learners" + Learners on "agreed break" + Learners with full achievement + Learners without achievement + Learners waiting EPA + Learner exceptions
• Live learners = Status code 1, no outcome and no actual end date
• Learners on "agreed break" = Status 6 and outcome 3 and an actual end date
• Learners with full achievement = Status 2 and outcome 1 and an actual end date
• Learners without achievement = Status 3 and an actual end date or status code 2 and outcome either 2 or 3 and an actual end date
• Learners waiting EPA = Status 1 and outcome 8 and an actual end date
• Learner exceptions = Learner starts that do not fall into one of the above. An example could be status 1, no outcome but an actual end date
• Column order has been updated to show Starts, then how they are broken down, then compliant learners and new learners and average days.

(Product Area: Aptem Apprentice)

Corrective changes have been applied to all pages within the Caseload dashboard. All pages within the Compliance Dashboard have had the following applied:

• The font has been updated to a standard size.
• All wording has been updated to only capitalise first words or proper nouns.
• Filters have been consistently placed on the left.

(Product Area: Aptem Apprentice)

Corrective changes have been applied to all pages within the Caseload dashboard. All pages within the Caseload dashboard have had the following applied:

• Filters have been consistently placed on the left.
• Help button is now a clickable icon for accessibility.
• Help icon and reset button have been moved to the left to be with the filters.
• All filters are single or multi select tick boxes.
• All pages that have filters now have a reset button.

Further to the fix made in the previous release, we have added a script for fixing the existing records. The following fixes have been made: 

• Controlled Admin-Learner Interaction: Ensures Learners can only see and interact with Admins they have had contact with or are case owners.
• Admin-Learner Messaging Restrictions: Admins can only send messages to Learners they have appropriate access to.

• There was an issue reported where customers using SSO/SAML saw an error message when they logged out of Aptem. This has now been fixed. 
  
• There was an issue where the Webcal feed from Aptem Classic was not syncing to Outlook. After the fix, users are now able to sync the Aptem Calendar into their Microsoft Outlook calendar.

To improve the accessibility of the MFA system for learners and employers who are unable to use the authenticator app, Aptem will allow users to choose between two authentication methods: the authenticator app or email as their preferred authentication method.

In order to give customers greater reporting and forecasting abilities with regards to the Reviews functionality, we will surface the following sections, including their responses via a new OData feed:

• Custom
• Core Topics
• EPA Gateway
• Individual Support Needs/ Requirements
• Short and Long Term Goals
• Comments
• RAG

This will ensure parity with the Classic review export functionality.

Where configured at the programme level, administrators will be able to add logos to the header. You will be able to add up to three logos to the header - right, centre, and left aligned.

We're updating the Accountability Framework within the Quality Power BI reporting dashboard to allow users to filter on the current year and previous year.