Version 4.26.0 - 21/06/2022
- Tom Erbe
- Lisa Clancy
Release Date: Jun 21, 2022 | Version: 4.26.0 |
The Release webinar is available to download from Here.
Note: you can copy and share this link with other people in your organisation.
The Feedback form can be viewed and replied to via this link - User Group Feedback Form .
The closing date for feedback is - Jun 13, 2022 at 17:30
We have added a new column on the table below called “Action Required” this shows several new status labels:
SETUP_REQUIRED - some setup will be required to use this element
NEW_PERMISSIONS - new permissions have been added
RECOMMEND_TRAINING - training is recommended - usually for new major features.
screen_changes - changes have been made to existing screens
This is to help highlight to you anything you need to ensure is set up for the day of release or in advance of this. We do still recommend that all of the release notes are read.
Epic | Key | Type | Action Required | Summary | Release Notes Description | Video link |
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FEATURE |
| Global Search Improvements - Apprentice and EPA side drawer | The global search results have been extended to show some immediate details for Apprentices, EPAs, and EPAMs without navigating away to another page. After selecting a user from the search results (Apprentice, EPA, or EPAM) a new side drawer will open and show details of the user along with some specific options for each user type. For apprentices much of the information shown within the Apprentice Record/Profile can be seen including user details, programme details, and the ability to view notes. For EPAs and EPAMs this also shows the base user details and some basic EPA details. Of particular note is the ability to view the EPAs availability in calendar format allowing this to be quickly and easily viewed from anywhere in the system. |
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FEATURE | screen_changes | Integrations - Linked Accounts screen for external user calendars | We have made a number of changes to the Linked Accounts tab on the user profile screen to incorporate the new setup required for incorporating the user’s external Microsoft and Google calendars. These changes are listed below:
NotificationsTwo new notifications have been added to EPAPro to accommodate the new extensions to our Microsoft and Google integrations. These notifications are:
These notifications are by default enabled for all users. We recommend they are kept enabled as this will inform the user if an availability calculation was not as accurate as it could be due to their Google or Microsoft link expiring. |
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FEATURE | SETUP_REQUIRED
| Availability - Google Calendar integration | Please note that due to restrictions on when the verification process with Google can begin, at launch users may receive a warning when linking their account and the functionality may not work for some users. We’re working on resolving this with Google and getting the integration verified as soon as possible. Note that any users that have already linked their Google account will need to relink it following these changes. We have extended our Google integration to now support the user’s calendars and feed additional data into the availability calculations within EPAPro. There have been some screen changes to the linked accounts tab on the user profile, see https://covalenttech.atlassian.net/browse/EP-3121 for details. After linking Google to your EPAPro account there will now be new Calendar options, similar to the Microsoft extension, this allows the user to select calendars they would like to be used for availability calculations within EPAPro. The events on these calendars will then be fed into the Planning Meeting Booking slot system and EPA availability calendar. As part of this ticket, we have also laid the foundation for creating events on the user’s Google calendar, for example when a meeting is booked it could then be added to the user’s Google calendar too, this is not yet fully implemented and so availability information is all that is provided. Planning Meeting BookingThe planning meeting booking calculations will now make use of any Google calendars users have linked to EPAPro. The events on their calendar that are set to “Busy” will now make them unavailable during that time. EPA AvailabilityWhen booking elements the EPA Availability calendar will now show blocks where an event exists on the user’s link Google calendar if they have added any. This will show “Busy” events when the EPA is unavailable due to a conflicting event on their Google calendar. During the linking process Google will request the user ticks the permissions they would like to grant to EPAPro. So that availability calculations are supported for the user the three calendar permissions must be ticked, otherwise, EPAPro may be unable to retrieve events from the user’s calendar. |
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FEATURE | SETUP_REQUIRED | Availability - Extend Microsoft Integration to individual users | Note that any users that have already linked their Microsoft account via the “Link your account with Microsoft” button on the user’s profile will need to unlink their account and relink it for these changes to apply. This ticket has some considerations, please see the “Considerations” heading for details. We have extended our Microsoft 365 integration to add additional support for an individual user being able to link their Microsoft account. This will provide additional data for the availability calculations within EPAPro, especially when the user is not part of the Awarding Organisation’s Microsoft organisation. The screen changes for linking accounts are covered in https://covalenttech.atlassian.net/browse/EP-3121, please see the release notes for that ticket on how the Linked Accounts screen has changed. The extension to the Microsoft integration means that the Planning Meeting Booking availability calculation and the EPA Availability calendar will now take into account this new data point if the user has linked their account to Microsoft and has selected one or more calendars to include in the calculation. Planning Meeting BookingThe slots generated for the planning meeting booking screen will now use the user’s linked Microsoft account if they have one. This will take priority over checking the linked organisation account. The functionality of this screen remains the same and it just now takes into account additional data if it’s available. EPA AvailabilityThe EPA Availability calendar, shown when booking an element, will now include the new events the user has in the calendars they select when linking the Microsoft account. As with the existing organisation link this will show as “Busy” blocks if the user is not available. EPAPro has a setting that can be enabled called “Show Events Details” under the Microsoft Teams tab. This setting for organisation accounts will show the title of the event within EPAPro, this is not the case for a Microsoft account that a user has linked. Even if this setting is enabled EPAPro will replace the event’s title with “Private Event”. This is because the user may be linking their personal Microsoft account that isn’t linked to the AO’s Microsoft account. Considerations
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FEATURE | NEW_PERMISSIONS | Billing - Credit Tracking | We have added a new area where the EPAPro Gateway Credits can be tracked. This is available via the new Billing screen under System Management. Users require the new |
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FEATURE | SETUP_REQUIRED NEW_PERMISSIONS | Billing - Dashboard to show billing and credit information | To help with visibility of future forecasting, credits purchased/carried over and the number of credits consumed we have added a new billing dashboard for enterprise customers. The new dashboard provides an overview on a quarterly or monthly basis, forecasting for annual or monthly, a list of gateway transactions, and a list of the credit history showing how the credits have been carried over, are remaining etc. Note that this is all based on the billing financial year with EPAPro which runs from August to July. Overview BoxesThe four boxes at the top of the billing screen provide a high-level overview of the current credit status. All of these boxes are YTD for the current financial year. From left to right these boxes are:
If more information is needed on how these figures have been calculated you’re able to dive deeper using the summary, forecasts, gateway transactions, and credit history tabs. Summary TabThis tab provides two graphs to visually see the estimates vs actual vs purchased figures. The toggle in the top-right corner “Compare to previous” will overlay both the current and previous financial year figures to help with comparing vs the previous year. The top of the tab also has the “Financial Year” selection to see historic data as well as next year for estimates/comparisons. It is worth noting that the historic data is only available since our EPAPro Essentials work was launched. This means the 2021-22 financial year may not be accurate. This tab also shows a quarterly and monthly summary to see breakdowns and comparisons vs the estimated usage. Forecasting TabThis tab is where the forecasts for the upcoming quarters/months/year can be entered and viewed. More details on this can be found in the release notes for “Billing - EPAO Forecast Gateways” ( EP-3067 ). Gateway Transactions TabThe Gateway Transactions tab is fairly simple and just shows a list of gateways that have been approved. This makes use of the foundation we made in the EPAPro Essentials work and so includes the plan (since any gateway processed while on the Essentials plan does not count as a credit usage). This is paginated and shows the provider that the gateway was for. Credit History TabFinally, the credit history tab provides a way to see details about how the credits are being managed. This list is shown with the most recent activity first. The table will show the following:
PermissionsThis screen introduces new permissions under the “Billing” heading, listed below:
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FEATURE | NEW_PERMISSIONS SETUP_REQUIRED | Billing - EPAO Forecast Gateways | We have added the ability for an EPAO to enter future forecasts for gateway throughput. These forecasts will provide key data for EPAOs to see and track performance via the new Billing section. These forecasts will also provide Skilltech Solutions with the data needed to process gateway credits as we enter new quarters. Forecasts ScreenThe forecasts are calculated based on the financial years agreed in the contract between the EPAO and Skilltech Solutions. Typically this will run from August to July with quarters being represented as August to October, November to January, February to April and May to July. The forecasts tab can be found within the new Billing screen which is under System Management. In order to see this screen, the user will need the new It is possible to change the forecast year by using the Due to Skilltech billing each quarter based on the forecasts within that quarter, it is not possible to edit forecasted values once the quarter has begun. For example, if it is the 23rd of March then February, March and April will be uneditable along with all months in the past. The annual forecast field acts as a quick summary and shortcut method for distributing an annual forecast over the month. When updating the monthly forecast the annual forecast with also be updated with the sum of all months. It is also possible to enter a value into the annual forecast field and then click the New Permissions
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FEATURE |
| Component reminder notification | We have added the facility to send out two reminders for notifications. The configuration the user types that receive this notification is in the Communications screen under the Planning tab, and are set to disabled by default. As these notifications will need to be set on each component we have added the fields to the component management screen (First Assessment Component Reminder, Second Assessment Component Reminder) to allow the number of days to send the notification before the component assessment to be set. A value of 0 specifies that the reminder notification will be sent on the day of the component assessment. These reminders will be sent out at 7 AM. |
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| TASK |
| Frontend - Upgrades | We have upgraded our Bootstrap frontend library to the latest, current version. This may include small visual tweaks, for example, the separator between table headings and the rows has been tweaked. |
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| FEATURE |
| Planning Meeting Booking - Improve Slot Generation | We have adjusted the planning meeting booking slot generation to try and snug slots together to provide better usage of the user’s available capacity. Following this change the below example would now be possible: Slot duration 1 hour Existing booking at 9 - 9.45 Before this change, the 10 - 11 slot would be available but 9.45 - 10.45 would not be available. With this solution, 9.45 - 10.45 and 10 - 11 will be shown as available slots. |
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| FEATURE |
| Assessment Profile/Apprentice Profile - Addition of pending certification badge | We have added a new “Pending Certification” badge to the apprentice profile and assessment profile when the apprentice is in the “Completed” status. |
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| FEATURE |
| Assessment Element - Add Technical Expert Attendee | We have added new attendee fields when booking an assessment element. These fields are for a Technical Expert. This also lays the foundation for further attendee improvements to assessment elements we have planned in the future. The following has been added or changed to accommodate this work:
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| FEATURE | NEW_PERMISSIONS | Assign Apprentice - Allow EPA Managers greater flexibility | Two new permissions have been added to allow EPA Managers a wider range of users to whom they can assign apprentices. By default EPA Managers can only assign apprentices to themselves or to an EPA assigned to them.  The two new permissions are shown in the image above. The first will allow an EPA Manager user type to assign an apprentice to any other EPA Manager in addition to whoever they can already assign to. The second will allow an EPA Manager user type to assign an apprentice to any EPA in addition to whoever they can already assign to. If both permissions are granted then an EPA Manager would be able to assign apprentices to any EPAM or any EPA. |
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| FEATURE | RECOMMEND_TRAINING | Assessment Elements/Planning Meetings - Add calendar entries for bookings that do not use Teams or Zoom | We have extended our Microsoft and Google calendar integrations to support planning meetings and assessment elements that do not have an online meeting, such as Teams or Zoom. Providing the user is either part of the linked organisation Microsoft account or they have linked their own Microsoft 365 / Google account and have configured the calendar within their profile EPAPro will create calendar entries for assessment elements and Zoom. The user profile screen has been extended to include a new “Calendar for EPAPRo Bookings” dropdown. This will allow the user to select which of their calendars they would like EPAPro bookings to be added to. This must be entered before bookings will be added to the user’s calendar. The calendar events will be handled in the following ways: Planning Meeting
Assessment Elements
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| BUG |
| ESFA - Standard version not fixed on submission | We’ve fixed a bug where the standard version sent to the ESFA was not written against our ESFA submission, so the report would show the current version defined against the standard, which can change. When submitting to the ESFA or using the check for certificate feature the version used will be stamped against the record to ensure it remains fixed. |
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| BUG |
| Gateway Component - Performance improvement | Improvements to the Gateway Components listing screen have been made following notice of performance degradation at high component numbers. Scaling should now be improved. |
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| BUG |
| Communications Screen - Performance | We have made some adjustments to how the communications screen calculates the state of the notifications. This should provide a performance improvement for some users. The functionality of the screen should be unaffected. |
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| BUG |
| Apprentice - Reduces performance on the listing screen | We have made some tweaks to the apprentice listing screen which should help improve performance for some users. |
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| BUG |
| Assessment Progress - Reduced Performance | We have made some adjustments in the background to the Assessment Progress and Assessment Profile screens to help improve the performance of these screens. |
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| BUG |
| Filters - Specialism, QA Standard, and QA Specialism filters missing default label | We have fixed a bug where the Specialism, QA Standard, and QA Specialism filters were missing the default label when no sections have been made. |
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| BUG |
| Apprentice - Incorrect sorting when first loading the screen | We’ve fixed a bug where the apprentice listing screen would default to sorting with the oldest first when loading the screen for the first time after logging in. |
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| BUG |
| Bulk Upload - Change of circumstance status validation errors | We have fixed a bug where the apprentice status validation on bulk change of circumstance would cause an error if no apprentice was found, this will now be properly handled so that the user is informed the apprentice ID or username was invalid. |
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| BUG |
| Planning Meeting Booking - Fixed menu active states | Planning Meeting Booking:
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