During this session, the Aptem Product Team walked through the latest updates to keep you compliant, including the latest enrolment updates, and answered questions from attendees.

The following is a transcript of the questions asked during the webinar, along with the experts' answers. For any further information, do contact your IC or support.

If a learner adds a qualification, can they also upload a copy of their certificate?

Documents can be uploaded at various stages.

If you change the employment start date on the new enrolment form will it create a new employment status in the ILR, or overwrite the employment status details that the learner entered during onboarding?

If the employment status has already been defined during onboarding then it will not create a new status record.

Is there the possibility of being able to upload a document at the request stage - we often use University forms and it would be helpful to attach them directly to the request (and make them available for audit purposes)?

Where a document is required to make a decision on the request, such as a legal name change, then you will be required to upload a document.

When you enroll a group of learners how do you work it on Aptem if they work different hours within the company eg some are part time, some are full time etc.?

If enrolling a group of learners you would subsequently need to amend the employment records of those who differ from the majority.

At the end of the break in learning, does it set up a new record?

Using the "return to learning" process automation will create the required ILR records and update the learner's profile accordingly.

Will the updates that include exemptions be included when you roll out next week or are you still working on that.

The changes to the enrolment process demonstrated will be available in the March release.

Minimum hrs - is this relating to off the job training hrs?

Yes the minimum hours are the 20% required minimum per the esfa calculation.

Are the BIL reportable so as managers we can monitor review dates etc?

Yes, you will be able to report on the process automation tracker details.

When enrolling a group/cohort what do you put in the employer start date and hours if they all have something different?

If enrolling a group of learners you would subsequently need to amend the employment records of those who differ from the majority.

We have a high number of applicants that complete the skills radar incorrectly, how does this effect the RPL calculation? At present an applicant can change their skills radar but cannot remove previous answers, it keeps them all on the one skills radar which is confusing. Is there a way to remove previous answers that are no longer required and keep the most up to date answers?

During the RPL calculation you will be able to select which Skills Rader score you use to make the calculations. You will be able to choose either Learner or tutor generated Skill Radars.

When actioning a BIL is the option to exclude from the batch on the same page?

The BIL process automation with not exclude the record from the ILR as it remains reportable to the ESFA. You will still be able to manually exclude records if you have reason to do so.

Are you now separating onboarding from delivery programmes? Can we continue running a blended approach?

It has always been possible to separate onboarding and delivery programmes, we recommend a two-stage approach, however you can continue to run a blended approach. 

When is the skills scan reduction update is coming in? 

RPL Calculator is currently scheduled for our April release.      

Where can we get the recording for the first 4 webinars please?

The webinar recordings are available here: Webinars – Aptem Help Centre

Would we need to switch all these new processes on within our own system or does it happen automatically?

The updates to the enrolment process will be automatic, the process automation trackers will need to configured on your account. Please contact Aptem support for assistance.

What's the difference between onboarding and delivery?

An onboarding programme typically has no ILR or compliance documents attached to it, these are specific to a delivery programme.

What if the learner is on a term time contract how does the hours get calculated?

You would need to follow the ESFA guidance for calculating average working hours and use this figure in the enrolment screen.

Would be good to have a section where the tutor can upload evidence of last day in learning for audit so either an upload button or a message to remind them to upload evidence to the documents section.

The BIL process automation tracker will indicate the likely last date of learning based on the learning plan. This date is completely editable should other evidence of learning be more appropriate.

Will their be another automated process for when the learner returns to learning?

Yes. A "Return to learning" process automation will be released imminently.

Would it be possible to link documents to the break in learning tracker, so that we have visibility of the agreement of both the learner and the employer to the break or can there be another compliance document created to capture that, which would be amazing?

You can attach documents to the Tracker.

Will there be similar guides on certain actions for APTEM as previously for the old interface?

Yes. The Aptem help centre will contain guides and videos for all main Aptem functionality.

Under programme details when enrolling onto an onboarding programme do you have to insert an end date or can you leave it blank? What is the purpose of the end date?

The end date is optional on onboarding, this is generally used a "target" date for completion of the process.

If you enter working hours over 48 does it warn you about working time directive and to ask whether the applicant has opted out of the 48 hour week rule?

We do not currently present this as a warning. This would typically form part of standard compliance checking.

Just an observation... there are a lot of assumptions that the individual importing or enrolling users is able to change the planned hours. From my own perspective, this would need to be in consultation with the academic so I'm concerned as to where exactly the planned hours field is a mandatory requirement to determine where process may be held up while discussions around planned hours take place with the academic regarding individual applicants.

The planned hours field is a mandatory ILR requirement at the start of a programme and is typically dictated by the planned activities in a learning plan. Although these can be tailored to an individual level it is often a case that a cohort will have a plan of learning initially that is standardised, with changes made once the programme has commenced if required or if an individuals circumstances change.

Is there now scope to manually enter the overall end date on the AA please?

The Apprenticeship agreement will use the programme start and end dates. These can be changed after enrolment without affecting the dates recorded in the ILR. Compliance documents can be generated at any time.

BiL tracker, is the last evidence available that which the user has uploaded or has been signed off?

The date suggested is based on last learning plan activity.

Does the 'date to' field get automatically updated under 'ACT records' with the BiL tracker?

Yes, this will update as part of the process automation.

Sorry, the learner dashboard is only available to tutors right?

The learner dashboard is currently available to anyone with tutor level permissions.

Can we have different answer rather than exempt as there may not be evidence of exemption if they don't have certificate?

It would be expected that a learner is not set to exempt unless proof of the exemption is available. Where proof isn't available the status would remain as "not exempt".

Would the end date automatically change if learner is working less than 30 hours?

The dates will not automatically change but you will be presented with a dialogue suggesting the recommended length of programme based on the ESFA calculation. The updating of the end date would then be a manual process.

Regarding enrolment when will a registration/enrolment form be available? i.e. we were lead to believe the Survey Tool could be used to create an enrolment form with a link which could be issued to learners to enroll/register.

Learners are able to enroll remotely without the need for 3rd party survey forms. Learners can be sent a direct invite to register on Aptem and then be presented with your customised enrolment requirements

Does the update to the planned hours functionality work retrospectively? i.e. will it apply to learners already on the ILR?

The new enrolment functionality will only apply to new learners or existing learners enrolling on a new programme of learning.

Will there be an automated tracker for Return from BILs?

Yes. A "Return to learning" process automation will be released imminently.

Do the planned hours populate as per working hours, i.e. part time hours? Will the End dates also calculate as per part time hours?

The dates will not automatically change but you will be presented with a dialogue suggesting the recommended length of programme based on the ESFA calculation. The updating of the end date would then be a manual process.

In regards to the component planed hours, will they pull through and pre-populate from the back of the system or will they need or be inputted manually?

The planned hours field will automatically pull through from the content entered in the learning plan. This figure can be adjusted manually but a advisory message will display if the value is different from the learning plan or is less than the minimum required hours.