Compliance documents: Troubleshooting guide

This guide covers common questions and scenarios about compliance documents. Select a topic below to jump to that section.

Contents

1. Compliance documents generation, access and visibility
   1. Will a change in line manager affect a learner's compliance documents?
   2. Can I delete compliance documents from a Learner's profile?
   3. My data is not showing in a compliance document as expected. Why?
   4. Is it possible to download compliance documents in bulk for a Learner?
   5. Why am I unable to edit compliance documents for an individual learner when I have the correct admin rights?
   6. DfE has announced changes to a compliance document. When can we have an updated version in Aptem?
   7. Can we add information that is not in the template to the compliance documents?
   8. We need a compliance document that is not available for use.
   9. Can we upload our version of a compliance document instead of the Aptem-defined version?
   10. Does checking the EHC checkbox in the ILR make this visible to Employers, and can I report on this checkbox?
   11. Can Employers generate compliance documents?
   12. Can I generate a new compliance document for a Learner after they've already signed it?
   13. A compliance document has not automatically generated for my Learner. How do they sign it?
2. Signing compliance documents
   1. How can I manage offline compliance document signatures in Aptem?
   2. Why am I unable to proceed with signing compliance documents at the end of onboarding?
   3. Why are Employers unable to sign compliance documents?
   4. Can an Employer sign the Apprenticeship Agreement or the Training Plan before a Learner?
   5. In Classic, how do I generate a document to be signed?
   6. Learners are unable to access their learning plans and are being prompted to sign compliance documents that do not exist. Why is this?
   7. Is there an order that apprenticeship compliance documents must be signed in?
   8. I've uploaded a signed version of the compliance document, but there's also a system-generated document, and this is causing problems viewing the learning plan. How can I fix this?
   9. Do Employer line managers and mentors have visibility of compliance documents signed by the applicant and training provider during onboarding?
   10. For Learners, "documents need signing" appears on login, but no documents are showing as needing a signature.
3. Apprenticeship Agreement
   1. How do I update the end date on the Apprenticeship Agreement for a Learner who has exceeded their planned end date?
   2. Is it possible to extract a blank copy of the Training Plan and Apprenticeship Agreement?
4. Written Agreement
   1. How do we populate the section "Assessment that [Insert company name] will deliver (Including Progress Reviews)" on the Written Agreement?
   2. The End-Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) details are not pulling through to the Written Agreement for a Learner. Why is this?
   3. The Written Agreement is not being generated when a Learner completes onboarding. Why is this?
   4. Is it possible to use a bespoke Employer Written Agreement in Aptem?
5. Off-the-job log
   1. Is there a way to update the off-the-job evidence record document once a Learner has been confirmed as completed and stopped on programme?

Compliance documents generation, access and visibility

Will a change in line manager affect a learner's compliance documents?

A change in line manager doesn't affect any previous documents for a Learner.

All updated versions of the compliance documents, generated after the change, will show the name of the new line manager.

Can I delete compliance documents from a Learner's profile?

You can't delete compliance documents created from an Aptem template on a Learner's record, since these are kept for audit purposes. A new instance of the compliance document is generated whenever changes are made, and all instances can be found in the Compliance Documents section of the User Profile. You can, however, delete an uploaded compliance document and then re-upload the updated version.

My data is not showing in a compliance document as expected. Why?

Three possible causes:

• Check that the data entered in the relevant area is correct.
• Check whether the document has been regenerated since any changes were made.
• Check whether the compliance document template has been correctly configured and enabled from the programme settings.

Is it possible to download compliance documents in bulk for a Learner?

No, there's no way to download compliance documents in bulk for a Learner.

Why am I unable to edit compliance documents for an individual learner when I have the correct admin rights?

This can happen if the learner was attached to a programme when the compliance documents weren't completed or set up. To fix this, remove the learner from the programme and then re-add them.

DfE has announced changes to a compliance document. When can we have an updated version in Aptem?

We monitor DfE updates regularly, so changes are normally identified when they're announced, or shortly afterwards. However, changes to the system must be planned, built and tested, so availability varies depending on the complexity of the change.

We take our responsibility for document maintenance seriously, but we're not able to delegate these changes to customers.

Can we add information that is not in the template to the compliance documents?

Apart from the configurable areas of the template, the fields in compliance documents are fixed and can't be modified by a customer.

We need a compliance document that is not available for use.

All compliance documents are configured at programme level. Check that the correct document is configured and enabled within the training programme.

Confirm that the learner has been added to the correct training programme, with the compliance documents configured as required.

Can we upload our version of a compliance document instead of the Aptem-defined version?

No, you can't replace the Aptem versions of compliance documents with your own.

You can upload scanned or digital copies of documents to a user's profile, but these won't be populated with data from the Aptem system.

Does checking the EHC checkbox in the ILR make this visible to Employers, and can I report on this checkbox?

If the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan checkbox is checked on the learner's ILR:

• It's visible and included in the learner's ILR file.
• This field is reportable in the UGR and OData.
• Employers can't see the ILR, so they won't know whether the option was ticked unless it's explicitly shared with them. It does, however, pull through onto compliance documents, which Employers can view.

Can Employers generate compliance documents?

Employers can view compliance documents when applying their signatures, but they can't generate the PDF document themselves. If they have permission to access the Learner profile, Employers can download any historical version of the document, including the most up-to-date one, from the Documents page.

Can I generate a new compliance document for a Learner after they've already signed it?

If a document has already been signed and completed, you can't create a new document for the Learner. You can update the document as many times as needed if there have been changes to the Learner profile or template, but this just generates a new version of the document with the updated information.

Note: Learners will be asked to re-sign the document if any changes are made to the template and the Update option is used. You can also use the reset option to remove all signatures and trigger a re-sign.

A compliance document has not automatically generated for my Learner. How do they sign it?

Ask the learner to revisit their Onboarding Wizard and continue through to Finish. This generates all available compliance documents and lets the learner sign them.

Alternatively, you can manually create these documents from the User Profile in Classic, by selecting Create. The learner will be asked to sign these documents the next time they log in to their account.

Signing compliance documents

How can I manage offline compliance document signatures in Aptem?

In some scenarios, you may need to obtain compliance document signatures offline. However, Aptem may continue to show that a signature is needed, since it hasn't been completed on the platform. Here's how to manage compliance document signatures offline while keeping the Aptem record accurate.

If you can't obtain signatures for a compliance document within Aptem, you can upload the signed document to the learner's profile in the Documents section.

If the person uploading has the ILR QA administrator role, no further action is needed, as shown in the screenshot above.

If they don't, an administrator with this role must review the uploaded document and select Verify if it's acceptable:

Why am I unable to proceed with signing compliance documents at the end of onboarding?

If you run into this issue, review the configuration of the Onboarding Wizard for that programme.

Remove the bootstrap link from the last step of the Onboarding Wizard. This should resolve the problem and let you proceed with signing compliance documents.

Why are Employers unable to sign compliance documents?

If Employers or their apprentices can't sign compliance documents, the cause is often that the compliance documents feature isn't activated for the programme.
To resolve this, log in to the platform and go to the programme where the issue is occurring. Once there, check the settings to make sure compliance documents are enabled.
In the programme interface, find the Compliance Documents tile. If it's greyed out (not enabled), you'll need to activate it:
To enable this feature, select the Compliance Documents tile, then select the tab at the top right of the field that appears:

Once this is ticked, select Confirm, then Save on the programme, to save your changes. Making sure the Compliance Documents tile is enabled in the programme should resolve the issue of being unable to sign compliance documents.

Can an Employer sign the Apprenticeship Agreement or the Training Plan before a Learner?

No. The Employer can only sign the Apprenticeship Agreement or the Training Plan after the Learner has signed them. Once the Learner signs these compliance documents, they become available for the Employer to sign.

In Classic, how do I generate a document to be signed?

In the Compliance Documents section of the User Profile, select Update to generate an up-to-date PDF document. The relevant parties will then be prompted to sign.

If this is the first time a document is being generated, the Create option appears instead:

Note: any changes made to the compliance document template, or to the Learner's details since the last update, will also be pulled through to the document.

Learners are unable to access their learning plans and are being prompted to sign compliance documents that do not exist. Why is this?

Any update to a compliance document template triggers a prompt to re-sign the document, even if the document hasn't yet been generated.

The best way to generate the document is to ask Learners to go to their Onboarding Wizard and continue through to Finish. The documents are generated at the end of the onboarding process, giving Learners the opportunity to apply their signatures.

Is there an order that apprenticeship compliance documents must be signed in?

Yes. The order needs to be:

• Training Plan
• Apprenticeship Agreement
• Onboarding and others

This is the order the compliance documents appear in for the learner when they finish the Onboarding Wizard.

If the documents are generated manually by the tutor in the reverse order, the learner will still get a Signature Required notification for each document created for them, but the corresponding document may not yet be available for signing, which is expected under the order rule. To resolve this, the learner needs to sign the visible document first; the next document in the queue then becomes available.

The same applies to Employers: the Signature Required notification is sent, but the document may show a greyed-out Sign button in the Signatures grid.

Note: this order applies to Learners and Employers only. Tutors can sign compliance documents in any order.

I've uploaded a signed version of the compliance document, but there's also a system-generated document, and this is causing problems viewing the learning plan. How can I fix this?

If a user uploads a compliance document without selecting the option to skip generating compliance documents on completing onboarding, a system-generated document is created after the upload timestamp. This can cause problems accessing the learning plan.

To fix this, delete the initially uploaded document and re-upload it after the system-generated document has been created. This ensures smooth access to the learning plan.

Do Employer line managers and mentors have visibility of compliance documents signed by the applicant and training provider during onboarding?

Employer line managers and mentors can access any compliance documents generated or uploaded for a Learner, provided they're set to be visible to Employers. This applies to documents from both current and previous programmes:

• Programme-level control: the visibility of compliance document groups is managed at programme level.
• Mandatory visibility: if an Employer's signature is required on a compliance document, visibility can't be revoked.
• Optional visibility: for other compliance documents, visibility can be granted by selecting the Employer option within the relevant compliance group settings.

Compliance documents can be accessed through both the Console and Classic interfaces:

• Classic interface: go to the User Profile and select the Compliance Documents section.
• Console interface: go to the Learner profile, select the Documents page, then open the Compliance Documents folder.

For Learners, "documents need signing" appears on login, but no documents are showing as needing a signature.

If a Learner sees a "documents need signing" message when they log in, but no documents are showing as needing a signature, this is usually down to one of three factors.

These all apply to Training Plan and Apprenticeship Agreement compliance documents only.

Factor 1: compliance document is not generated for the Learner

This applies when the learner hasn't signed compliance documents on finishing the Onboarding Wizard, because:

• the Onboarding Wizard is disabled for the programme, or
• the Onboarding Wizard isn't mandatory, and the learner hasn't finished it yet, or
• the compliance documents were added to the programme template after the learner finished their Onboarding Wizard.

If those compliance documents are configured in the programme template but none have been generated for the learner, the learner will see the Documents Need Signing banner on their Learning Plan page. If they select Review & Sign, they'll be redirected to the Documents page but won't see any items under the Signatures Required area.

To resolve this, the tutor needs to create the documents for the learner in the Compliance Documents section of their profile. The learner can then see and sign them.

Factor 2: incorrect signing order

This extends Factor 1. Where some compliance documents of the types above are already created for the Learner but the rest aren't, the learner may not see the documents because of the conflicting sign order.

For example, both the Apprenticeship Agreement and Training Plan compliance documents are configured in the programme template for the learner's programme, but only the Apprenticeship Agreement document has been created in the Learner profile. Since the Training Plan must be signed before any other compliance documents, and it hasn't been generated for the learner yet, the Apprenticeship Agreement document is locked for signing until the Training Plan is generated and signed.

See the compliance documents sign order details here: Is there an order that apprenticeship compliance documents must be signed in?

To resolve this, the tutor needs to create the missing compliance documents for the learner, so they appear on the Learner's Documents page, and the learner can sign them one by one in the correct order.

The same applies to Employers: the Signature Required notification is sent, but the document may show a greyed-out Sign button in the Signatures grid.

Factor 3: compliance document settings have been updated in the programme template

In this scenario, the learner has already signed all the requested compliance documents and had their Learning Plan page unlocked, but now they see the Documents Need Signing banner again with no documents available for signing.

This could be the result of one of these updates to the programme template:

• New Apprenticeship Agreement or Training Plan compliance documents have been added to the programme template.
  • If this has happened, resolve it by creating a new document for the learner in the Compliance Documents section of their profile. The learner will then be prompted to sign this document.
• Or, one of these documents' template versions has changed since the learner signed it, as shown below. For example, the learner signed the Apprenticeship Agreement v3 compliance document, and then v3 was replaced with v4 for the same compliance group in the programme template.
  

You can resolve this in either of these ways:

1. Create a new document for the learner in the Compliance Documents section of their profile. The learner will then be prompted to sign this document. This is best used if the provider believes the changes are significant enough to need new signatures.
2. An administrator with the Compliance QA role can select the learner's compliance documents and review the previous ones. If they don't need revisiting and re-signing, the administrator can accept them, which resolves the issue.
   

Apprenticeship Agreement

How do I update the end date on the Apprenticeship Agreement for a Learner who has exceeded their planned end date?

Edit the learner's programme details and amend the end date there. These changes will reflect in the Apprenticeship Agreement document once it's updated.

Is it possible to extract a blank copy of the Training Plan and Apprenticeship Agreement?

The system doesn't provide a direct way to extract a master copy of these documents. It's designed to use the PDF generator, or the option to upload customised documents using your own templates.

As an alternative, you could create a test user within your tenant and make sure the required compliance documents are included in the learner's programme, then download the documents from the learner's profile.

Written Agreement

How do we populate the section "Assessment that [Insert company name] will deliver (Including Progress Reviews)" on the Written Agreement?

This section of the Written Agreement is populated with any Review and Meeting-type components from the learning plan.

The End-Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) details are not pulling through to the Written Agreement for a Learner. Why is this?

Check the learner's learning plan to make sure there's only one End-Point Assessment component, and that it has the correct organisation selected.

The Written Agreement is not being generated when a Learner completes onboarding. Why is this?

The Written Agreement isn't generated automatically when onboarding is completed. It must be generated by an administrator, since the learner doesn't sign this document.

Is it possible to use a bespoke Employer Written Agreement in Aptem?

There's no way to use a completely different Written Agreement from the one built into Aptem, but you can make some small adjustments to the template to help fit your needs.

To do this, go to the Compliance Document token in Programme Builder and select Prepopulate. Make your adjustments and select Save.

Off-the-job log

Is there a way to update the off-the-job evidence record document once a Learner has been confirmed as completed and stopped on programme?

You can't update a compliance document for a programme the learner isn't currently on. To fix this, enrol the learner onto the relevant programme.