Overview

This article describes one of the batch exports that you are able to create from within the ILR tile.

The ‘Get Apprenticeship Service Batch’ creates a pre-formatted export file that you can upload to the DAS (Digital Apprenticeship System) to populate the learner details for a new employer cohort.

The bulk upload will use the learner ILR data for learners in the cohort that you select, to populate the required fields.

Note You can only create one cohort at a time to upload into the DAS. If you are adding data to a cohort that already exists in the DAS you must upload the whole cohort including the additional learners, because it will over-write any existing data for that cohort. When the cohort has been created in the DAS the details must first be checked and approved by the employer before any payments can be made.

Get Apprenticeship Service Batch

To get an apprenticeship service batch:

1. Click on the ILR tile.
2. Click on the link Get apprenticeship service batch below the coloured tiles at the top of the page.
   
   
3. Select the appropriate UKPRN and the Cohort reference that you wish to produce a batch export file for from the dropdown lists in the Apprenticeship Batch dialog. The cohort reference is taken from the 'Cohort Reference' field in the learner's ILR.
   
   
   Click Export to show the Download dialog. 
   
   
4. Click Open to open the file directly as a .csv file or click Save as to save as a .csv file in your preferred location (Downloads by default).
   As a Windows user you should be able to open the file in Excel and view the contents of the columns:
   
   
   

   Notes

   1. If you open this file using Excel to view or edit it then it will show the default date format of dd/mm/yyyy for Date of Birth and Start Date of training. You must reformat this to YYYY-MM-DD before you save and close the file as a .csv

   2. If you want to view and check the file before uploading, then you can do this file in Notepad or Wordpad which will not adjust the date format.

   3. The start date must be saved with the format of YYYY-MM-DD.

   4. The end date is month and year - not a full date and is not formatted as a date in Excel.

   5. The fields which are in addition to those saved before the 17 August 2021 are: - The apprentice's unique email address - Agreement identifier. The Agreement Id uniquely identifies the Employer to the Apprenticeship Service when adding apprentices to the upload. Both fields are mandatory,

   6. The Cohort field is now optional since it cannot be filled when in the process of creating a Cohort.

   7. StdCode - a standard code for the Apprenticeship standard being used - 57 in the example above. This code is now mandatory.

   For full description of the Apprenticeship Service Batch function please see: Apprenticeship service bulk upload specification - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Apprenticeship_provider_bulk_upload_specification_V4.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

5. The .CSV file produced has the ULN (Universal Learner Number) completed, the Date of Birth is in the format of YYYY-MM-DD for each apprentice and the additional fields described above.
6. The name of the file produced in this example is:
   1111111-12345654-20211013.csv which conforms to the new ESFA standard which is shown below.
   The file will be in the format UKPRN-YYYYMMDD.CSV where:

   UKPRN	1111111	Your provider's Provider Reference Number
   Cohort Reference	12345654	Your cohort reference number (if the cohort already exists; if you are creating the cohort, leave the Cohort field blank).
   YYYYMMDD	20211013	The date the file was generated - 13th October 2021

   You can then upload the file to the DAS (Digital Apprenticeship System). 
   A sample file can be viewed here.