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July 2022 release 1

Product Team
Updated

Release 4.38

 

Updates to the Signatures functionality

The Signatures functionality in Aptem console has been enhanced and improved.

New role to create compliance documents

  • A new role titled Ability to Create Compliance Documents has been added to the system.
    Where this role has been applied, users will have the ability to click 'Create' on the 'Not Created' view of the Signatures grid. Any administrators who currently have the ability to sign documents is assigned this role automatically if they currently have one or more of the following roles:
    • Compliance Mass Processing
    • Ability to Sign Compliance Documents on Behalf of Others
    • Ability to Sign Compliance Documents
  • Note that administrators with the Supervisor role can create compliance documents without the additional role.
  • New administrators created after the deployment of this feature will require the new role to be assigned in order to create compliance documents from Aptem console.

Other changes

  • The system now has clearly defined Signature categories for ‘Not Created’, ‘Requires Signature’, ‘Waiting for Others’ and ‘Completed’.
  • Enhanced 'Mass Processing', document editing, and signature reset workflows.
  • The functionality of the Signatures and Review Signatures tiles in Aptem classic is now merged and available in Aptem console. The two tiles in Classic will be deprecated in a future release, after due communication.
  • Administrators can now export compliance documents and/or Reviews information in .csv format.
  • Note that there is no change to the Learner and Employer experience. 

 

Update to the Trainee Tutor and QA Process

An enhancement has been made to the Trainee Tutor and QA process. Previously, a Trainee Tutor was able to edit QA verified components and mark evidence which was in a 'QA Verified Status'.

This has now been updated. Now, the Trainee Tutor cannot edit a component in QA Verified Status and cannot mark evidence which is in a 'QA Verified Status'.

 

Updates to Audit history

Audit history at Activity-level

Tutors/Administrators can view the audit history at the level of an individual activity. The audit trail records all the updates made to that learning plan activity, along with timestamps.

For each change, the audit history record shows some details such as:

  • Date/time of change
  • Person who made the change

Note that the Audit history is currently not available via OData.

 

Additional fields being added to the audit history for specific activity types

The audit history now shows information for all standard data fields. Activity-specific fields are also included in the Audit History tab, and to the Activity audit trail, to make the audit history more comprehensive.

For more information on the updates to the audit history, see: Audit history and Activity audit trail.

 

Updates to the Learning Plan

We've moved the ellipsis menu

The ellipsis icon for options related to an activity has now been moved to the sidebar. This makes way for more information in the main learning plan view. 

The main learning plan view now shows:

  • The name of the Activity
  • Complete-by date
  • Activity Status
  • Action item where appropriate (Preview/View/Continue/Mark Evidence)

When tutors/administrators/employers click an activity on a learning plan activity, a sidebar is displayed.

LP__Tutor_04.png

The ellipsis menu contains secondary actions such as edit/delete/etc. Depending on the particular activity, and the roles assigned, users can view various options using the ellipsis icon.

 

Update to Review panels in console

  • The 'Core Topics’ panel can now be set to 'Completed' without needing to add an entry.
  • The ‘RAG Status’ panel will now save instantly on selection/deselection of a status, there is no need to click Save to save the RAG status.
  • The ‘RAG Status’ can now be de-selected, so that a ‘No Status’ state is possible to be re-applied to the learner.

 

Updates to the Learning Plan progress stats

Custom thresholds for ‘Behind’, ‘On-track’ and ‘Ahead’

We have now enabled thresholds to be set against the following so that progress statistics visible to learners, administrators and employers can reflect a more ‘nuanced’ reflection of progression:

  • Learning Plan progress
  • Standards criteria progression
  • Qualifications criteria progression

For example, where ’10’ is set as a value, the learner can be up to 10% behind their expected progress before it shows as 'behind'. If they are between 1% and 10% behind target, the system still shows them as 'On-Track’.

To enable this feature on your tenant, contact your IC or support.

 

Hidden Activities now excluded from progress stats

We have updated the behaviour of 'Miscellaneous' activities that are set as not visible to the learner. Such hidden activities will now be excluded from the following:

For the Tutor, Learner and Employer:

  • Learning Plan progress stats
  • Learning Plan progress stats on dashboards

For the Learner and Employer:

  • ‘Activities Overdue’ Requires Attention Card
  • ‘Feedback Received’ Requires Attention Card

Tutors and Administrators will continue to see the related Requires Attention cards for these activities where applicable.

Note that ‘Qualification’ Activities are already excluded from all stats / cards as they are not visible to Learners or Employers.

 

Update to the Learner Profile

Update to ‘Programme Details’ for restart after Break in Learning

In cases where a Learner was returning from a break in learning, the system was not showing/updating all of the information under the Programme Details section of the Learner Profile. To make the information in this section more comprehensive, we have now added the following fields to this section:

  • Restart date
  • Original Learning Start Date
  • Practical Period End Date (this comes from the programme)
  • new ILR planned end date (this comes from the ILR - from the most recent aim)

The additional fields are displayed only where relevant, and will not be displayed in all cases.

 

Updates to the Integrations

Updates to NAS Integration

The existing NAS integration has been updated to use the new Apprenticeship Service API endpoints for creating a vacancy. Note that the NAS APIs currently allow you to post jobs, but do not allow pulling of applicants.

Due to changes in the NAS API, there are now additional mandatory fields for creating the vacancy. Note that the changes in the NAS API means that there is a reduction in functionality by the apprenticeship service.

For more information, see: Enabling/Using the NAS integration.

 

Updates to the EPAPro integration functionality

Administrators viewing errors that occur via the integration with EPAPro will now be able to filter the errors using the Connections and Date range filters. For more information, see: View EPAPro integration errors.

 

Tracker custom fields

Added to OData 

Previously, OData users could only see tracker fields common to all trackers via OData. We have added the ability to return custom tracker fields within OData. However, these won’t be returned by default. To retrieve custom fields, OData users will have to explicitly specify this in the request. Organisation, address and contact will not be returned either due to the organisationId and addressId already being available.

 

Added to the Audit history

Changes to the Tracker Custom fields have been included in the Tracker Audit history. The Audit History will now reflect all changes (including creation, editing and removal) that have been applied to fields specific to that tracker.

 

Removal of some Search by Options

To improve system performance, some 'search by' options are being removed from the Organisation tile in Aptem classic. You can search by Organisation name, Organisation addresses, postcode, region, city, and address line 1. You will no longer be able to search by:

  • Organisation URL
  • Name, email, phone of the organisation's contacts
  • Email, first name, last name, telephone, address, country, city, region of users who have this -Organisation as referrer
  • Title, description of placements for this organisation

 

Updates to Dashboards

Ready for QA card drilldown

Continuing with the improvements to the dashboards, we are now pleased to introduce the Ready for QA card drilldown.

This card is only displayed for administrators who have one or more of the following roles: Internal Verifier, Supervisor, Compliance QA, Manage ILR, and ILR QA. When you click the Ready for QA card on the Performance Dashboard, you will see a grid showing all the learner records in your caseload that have activities that have been completed, and are available for the QA to complete their Quality Assurance. When you click on a row in the grid, the selected activity's 'Quality Assurance' screen is displayed, with the relevant evidence pre-selected.

For more information, see: Performance Dashboard - Ready for QA drilldowns.

In a future release, we will be adding a drilldown for the Quality Assurance card.

 

‘Feedback Received’ Requires Attention card – Logic update

The ‘Feedback Received’ Requires Attention card will now be displayed in the following scenarios:

  • Where the only piece of submitted evidence for the activity has a status of 'Referred’
  • Where activity is set to 'Tutor Decides', but activity is not 'Completed’ and minimum evidence requirement is met.

The ‘Feedback Received’ Requires Attention card will NOT be displayed:

  • If the related Learning Plan Activity has a Status of 'Completed’
  • Where the Minimum Evidence requirement for the activity has been met
  • Where newer evidence has been submitted for marking (‘Requires Marking’ status) or has been ‘Accepted'

 

Updates to the ‘Learning Plan Activities’ card

We have updated the Learning Plan Activities’ card on the Learner Dashboard. Responding to client requests, we have made changes in the order of information displayed, added some more metrics, and modified some existing metrics.

For more information, see: Learning Plan Activities card update.

 

Updates to OTJ hours functionality

OTJ Hours options removed from Reviews on the Mark Evidence screen

The Mark Evidence screen for Review Activities has been updated. When viewing the Mark Evidence screen, the planned/completed OTJ hours and the pencil icon to edit the OTJ hours will not be displayed. With this change, you will not be able to add OTJ hours against a review from the Mark Evidence screen, in line with ESFA funding rules.

 

OTJ Hours progress calculation change

The Off-The-Job Hours card and drilldowns on the Learner Dashboard and the Tutor and Employer view of the OTJ Hours card were previously using the minimum required figure for OTJ hours. We have changed this to now use the Planned (ILR) value.

 

Updates to the Ofsted/Quality dashboard

This Ofsted/Quality dashboard has been improved with the addition of five pages which provide information on QAR and Accountability metrics for apprenticeship programmes. The new pages are:

  • QAR Apprenticeship headlines
  • QAR D&I (displaying splits by age, gender and health status)
  • QAR Ethnicity (displaying splits by ethnic background)
  • QAR Functional Skills
  • Accountability

These pages can be sorted by various criteria, and the background data can be exported for comparison with official statistics.

For more information, see: Power BI - Ofsted / Quality Dashboard.

 

Change to "Complete by" field on an Activity now requires a reason to be recorded.

In case of a change to the "Complete by" field on the Edit Activity screen, the administrator is now required to provide a reason for the change. This ensures that there is a record of why planned dates were moved for learners.
The reason for changes to the "Complete by" date is recorded, and can be seen on the Edit Activity screen. A previous draft of the release notes erroneously mentioned that the reason for change can be seen on the activity audit history. 
The options available in the 'Reason for Change' dropdown list can be defined at the Account Programme level. To use this feature, and to set the list of reasons for changes to the "Complete by" field, contact your IC or Support. 

 

Reportable via OData

*The notes for this feature have been withheld due to a minor issue. This feature will be announced in a future release.

 

Updates to OData 

  • In the User table, Users[UserAutomationInfo_LastBIL] and Users[UserAutomationInfo_LastChangeOfProgram] both are expandable lists containing relevant information.
  • Users[personaldetails_DOB] type has changed from DateTimeOffSet to Date. Customers may need to make a small change to their data connector.
  • With the addition of the AwardingBodyQualificationsAssessmentHistory table, the number of tables in the OData feed is now 23.
  • AwardingBodyQualificationsAssessmentHistory displays the history of assessments linked to a Qualification in the AwardingBodyQualification table. The link is indirect as follows:
    • Each qualification in AwardingBodyQualification has a unique Id (called QualificationId in other tables), and a field called QualificationAssessments_Assessments which contains the list of associated assessments for the qualification.
    • Each item in the Assessments list for a qualification includes the following fields: AssessmentId, QualificationId [index of AwardingBodyQualifications table], Status, Subject, Date, CancellationDate, Result, Grade.
    • The AwardingBodyQualificationsAssessmentHistory table [Id] field links to the AwardingBodyQualifications[Id] field (ie so you can match changes to the relevant qualification item. Each record in this table includes:
      • Date – of change
      • Name of admin editor
      • AssessmentId – to link to the individual assessment
      • Changes – an expandable list with the following headers: Type (one of Addition, Change, Remove) / Context (field name in QualificationAssessents collection) / Previous /Current. AssessmentId references QualificationAssessment[Id] collection.
      • Note that this list can be filtered to find instances where the assessment was cancelled rebooked etc. Customers will need to do a little data munging in order to, for example, count the number of cancellations.

 

Other updates and fixes

  • For Activities in a 'QA Completed' status where the tutor did not complete the Activity, administrators without the Edit/Delete finished components/Supervisor roles were able to edit/delete the Activity. This has been resolved. In case of all QA completed status, only administrators with the Edit/Delete finished components/Supervisor roles are now able to edit/delete the Activities.
  • The Requires Attention 'Requires Marking' Card now uses the date on which evidence was submitted while calculating the number of days overdue quoted in the drilldown.
  • The Learning Progress review panel is being updated to show more information to the Tutor/Administrator/Learner/Employer.
  • Update to the Duration of the Practical Period formula: In case you have changed the planned end date in the programme to be different from the ILR, then you will need to manually update the compliance paperwork to enact this change.

  • There was an issue due to which duplicate records were created for some learners in the Users OData feed. This issue has now been resolved.

  • Some learners reported seeing a blank screen when loading the Commitment Statement / UVAC-Commitment-Statement-2020-Summary-Plan compliance document after they finished the Onboarding Wizard. This issue has now been resolved.

  • In a particular case, the link to the BSKB website for the FS Maths assessment for a learner was leading to an error message. This has now been fixed.

  • In a particular case, some learner records were not being imported from the ILR XML file. This has now been fixed.

  • In a particular case, Employer details were not updated when the change of employer process automation tracker was applied for a learner. This issue has been identified and fixed.
  • With respect to the prime contact of an Organisation, in some cases, when the prime contact person's details were updated, the prime contact would no longer appear. This issue has now been resolved.
  • In some cases, the exported CSV file from the Trackers tile in Aptem Classic had fields appearing in the wrong columns. Fields included Author and Status. This issue has now been resolved.
  • There were some minor UI issues on the learning plan layout view and other screens. These have been fixed.
  • Some formatting issues were reported when accessing Aptem from mobile devices. These issues related to navigation options either not appearing or not being fully visible/legible. After applying some fixes, these issues have been resolved.
  • In case of a particular learner, the 'Review Dates' report in the UGR was displaying an incorrect date under 'Next Planned Review Date'. The issue has now been resolved.
  • In a particular case, administrators were unable to access their tenant. This issue has now been resolved.
  • Users logging in to Aptem console/classic via MFA will now see an error message when they enter an incorrect MFA code. If they enter the correct code, they can log in to the system.
  • Custom Fields have been removed from the OData feed default select. Custom fields will only be returned when mentioned in the query parameters.
  • In some cases, the Ready for QA card in the Performance dashboard was showing an incorrect count of learners. This issue has now been resolved.

  • In some cases, while querying the OData Milestones entity, duplicate rows were reported against a single ID. This has now been fixed.

  • In some cases, users were still seeing the maintenance banner even after the maintenance window had passed. This issue has now been resolved.

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