Version 5.13.0 - 12/09/2023
Production Release Date: Sep 12, 2023 | Version: 5.13.0 |
UAT Release Date: Aug 15, 2023 |
The Release webinar is available from here now (following the Friday demo meeting);
Note: you can copy and share this link with other people in your organisation
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.
low impact medium impact high impact We are also adding a column for Potential Impact to you our customers, this is an estimation of any impact to your businesses the work may have. This is just offered as a guideline, as we appreciate you all use EPAPro slightly differently.
We recommend you check any Comms settings with the release notes, as whilst newly introduced comms will be listed in them, we may not mention if an existing comm needs to be enabled, which we assume may be on from previous releases.
What you have enabled can be seen via the System Management → Communications .
Epic | Key | Type | Action Required | Summary | Release Notes Description | Potential Impact |
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FEATURE | screen_changes | Planning Meeting Booking - Add attendees | OverviewWe have added the ability to assign attendees to planning meetings via the slot-based planning meeting booking screen. These attendees will receive the provisional booking communication if enabled. This also allows providers to specify attendees for the meeting, however, they will only be able to specify guests and/or any external system users; Employers, Providers, and Apprentice’s On Programme Assessor/Workplace Mentor. Changes to FunctionalityPlease note that now it’s possible to update a pending slot based booking without changed the time or date, to just add attendees for example, epaPRO will not recalculate availability if the time or date remains the same and will keep the meeting assigned to the same user that was selected when the booking was first made. If the date or time is changed then the availability will be recalculated. The planning meeting booking screen’s layout has been adjusted to provide additional space for the new attendees' section. The screen has been split into three stages; Select Week, Select Time, and Attendees. The Select Week and Select Time stages function the same as their respective layouts before the adjustment. The new Attendees stage works similarly to the attendees section on the Edit Planning Meeting screen. Clicking the “Add Attendee” button will open a popup with a list of users that can be added to the meeting. Similar to the Edit Planning Meeting screen this also includes shortcuts for the apprentice’s On Programme Assessor and Workplace Mentor, both of which will be added as guests. If an external user, Provider, uses this functionality they will only see results for Provider, Employer and the two shortcut guests for the apprentice. Internal users, such as an Awarding Organisation User, will see the full list as if they were viewing the Edit Planning Meeting screen. If an internal user has added internal attendees, such as EPA or EPAMs, external users will not see them within the attendees list and as the provider edits the provisional booking those EPA/EPAMs will remain as attendees. As the screen did before, the availability engine will decide a suitable user, either from the availability group, or the apprentice’s EPA when the booking is saved. As before, this is also subject to change until the meeting has been approved, so further edits of the booking may also change the assigned user for availability purposes. For this reason, this user is not shown on this list. However, they will show, as they did before, on the Edit/View Planning Meeting screen. This user is still an attendee and so will still receive communications if they are enabled. The “Add Guest” button will provide a way to add a guest to the meeting as an attendee and allow for an email and/or telephone to be provided. All attendees will receive the Meeting Provisional Booking communication if it’s enabled. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNo new permissions have been added. However, the planning meeting booking permissions will now grant the user the ability to load the popup for adding the attendees to the meeting. | low_impact | ||
| FEATURE |
| Dashboard - Query Performance | Both of the calculations for | low_impact | |
| FEATURE |
| API Documentation - Small fixes and updates | Fixed typos in the API documentation. | low_impact | |
| FEATURE |
| Permissions - Make additional permissions the owner has available to be assigned to other users | OverviewWe have updated a few more permissions that the owner user previously solely had, to now be available for the owner to assign to other users and/or roles. These permissions are:
These are no new permissions but are just now visible to owner users to reassign. We have also updated the Bulk Assign Roles backend routes to use the same permission as the button, this was previously not the case. The button and screens for this functionality are consistent and both require the “Roles” → “Bulk Assign Roles” permission. | low_impact | |
| FEATURE |
| Employer and employer user listings - new compact menu | OverviewWe have updated the employer listing screen and the employer user listing tab to use the more compact 3 dot menu that has been added to other areas in epaPRO. All of the original actions that were shown within the table on the employer and employer user listings have now been moved to the appropriate new 3 dot menu. Impacted Areas Employer listing screen, employer user listing tab. PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact | |
| FEATURE |
| Apprentice listing screen - new compact menu | OverviewWe have updated the apprentice listing screen to use the more compact 3 dot menu that has been added to other areas in epaPRO. All of the original actions that were shown within the table on the apprentice listing has now been moved to the appropriate new 3 dot menu. Impacted Areas Apprentice listing screen PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact | |
| FEATURE |
| QA user listing screen - new compact menu | OverviewWe have updated the QA user listing screen to use the more compact 3 dot menu that has been added to other areas in epaPRO. All of the original actions that were shown within the table on the QA user listing has now been moved to the appropriate new 3 dot menu. Impacted Areas QA user listing screen PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact | |
| FEATURE |
| Awarding Organisation listing screen - new compact menu | OverviewWe have updated the Awarding Organisation listing screen to use the more compact 3 dot menu that has been added to other areas in epaPRO. All of the original actions that were shown within the table on the Awarding Organisation listing has now been moved to the appropriate new 3 dot menu. Impacted Areas Awarding Organisation listing screen PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact | |
| FEATURE |
| Roles listing screen - new compact menu | OverviewWe have updated the roles listing screen to use the more compact 3 dot menu that has been added to other areas in epaPRO. All of the original actions that were shown within the table on the roles listing has now been moved to the appropriate new 3 dot menu. Impacted Areas Roles listing screen PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact | |
| FEATURE | screen_changes | EPA - Move the Calendar Token Id field from the EPA details tab to the Availability tab. | OverviewThe “Calendar Integrations” section of the EPA(M) entity screen has been relocated to group availability together. Changes to FunctionalityThe “Calendar Integrations” section of the EPA(M) entity screen has been moved from the “EPA Details” tab to the “Availability” tab - this is to keep the calendar/availability functionality grouped together. As part of this change users will now always see the “Availability” tab, regardless of whether they have the “EPAs → View EPA Availability” permission. Note that, without this permission, the other fields will still not be visible to the user (i.e. Availability Notes, EPA Hours, and EPA Absences) and thus no changes to functionality should be noticed. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone | low_impact | |
| FEATURE |
| Reporting - Added Assessment Centre column/filter to Assessment Elements report | OverviewThe Assessment → Assessment Elements report has been extended to contain the name of the assessment centre. An assessment centre filter has also been added. Changes to FunctionalityThe Assessment → Assessment Elements report has been extended to contain the name of the assessment centre ( Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone | low_impact | |
| FEATURE | screen_changes recommend_Training | Appeals - element/certification QA name | OverviewWe have added the name of the EPA/EPAM user that undertook the QA relating to the entity that the appeal applies to (element or certification). As part of this work, we have also made this name link up to the side drawer so their details can be viewed whilst on the appeal management screen. Impacted AreasAppeal management screen. PermissionsNo new permissions | low impact | |
| FEATURE | screen_changes recommend_Training | Appeals - assigned user | OverviewWe have added functionality to allow an appeal to be assigned to a user in the system with the appropriate appeal permission. Changes to Functionality When creating a new appeal or editing an existing appeal it is now possible to assign a user to manage that appeal. The assigned user will need to have the We have added the assigned person to the appeals screens, appeal report, side drawer information (under Appeal details for both element and certification appeals). We have also added a filter to the appeals listing screen to allow filtering by person assigned to the appeal. Impacted AreasAppeals listing and management screen, side drawer and reporting PermissionsNo new permissions | low impact | |
| FEATURE | screen_changes recommend_Training | Appeals - outcome | OverviewWe have added functionality for an outcome to be attached to an appeal. Changes to FunctionalityWe have added visibility of this outcome field to the Appeal listing screen, the Appeal management screen (in the resolution details box), the Appeals widget in the the Element/Certification side drawer and the Appeal Summary report. We have also added a filter to the reports and the appeal listing screen to allow filtering on the appeal outcome. Impacted AreasReporting, Appeals listing and management screens, side drawer PermissionsNo new permissions | low impact | |
| FEATURE | screen_changes recommend_Training | Appeals - type field | OverviewWe have added functionality for a custom type to be attached to an appeal, via the use of custom dropdown values, which can be configured via the Appeal Types category on the Custom Dropdowns management screen. Changes to FunctionalityWe have added visibility of this type field to the Appeal listing screen, the Appeal management screen, the Appeals widget in the the Element/Certification side drawer and the Appeal Summary report. We have also added a filter to the reports and the appeal listing screen to allow filtering on the appeal type. As a part of this work, the old The old Impacted AreasReporting, Appeals listing and management screens, side drawer PermissionsNo new permissions | low impact | |
| FEATURE | screen_changes | Surpass - Improvements to the Standard's Surpass Subject Reference (previously External Subject Reference) | OverviewWe have renamed the “External Subject Reference” field against the standard to “Surpass Subject Reference”. This field was only used for our Surpass integration and can cause issues if a value other than a reference is entered. This field will also now validate the reference, ensuring a Surpass subject exists with the reference. Customers that do not have our Surpass integration enabled will not have this field validated. Changes to FunctionalityRenaming of fieldThe External Subject Reference field has been renamed to Surpass Subject Reference. The name has also been changed on the standards report. An info tooltip has been added to explain that this field is only used for Surpass and when it will be sent. This field should be used for any other value. Validation of the given referenceepaPRO will now validate the reference entered into this field, if the Surpass integration is enabled, to ensure a matching subject exists within Surpass. If we are able to successfully identify a subject then the validation will be successful, otherwise, we will display a suitable error message and block the save. This is to prevent issues with booking Surpass components as all standards associated with the apprentice, even past programmes, have their references sent up to Surpass if the field has been completed. Impacted Areas
| low impact | |
| FEATURE |
| Integrations - Improved logging | OverviewWe improved our internal logging for some of our external integrations - Surpass, ESFA, and ProctorU. This should not affect functionality but provide our support team with additional information when trying to diagnose a reported issue. Affected Areas
| low impact | |
| FEATURE |
| Apprentice create/update origin | Overview We have added functionality to make it possible to discern the origin of an apprentice creation/update. Apprentice record creations/updates that have occurred via the Impacted AreasApprentice management screen, API, Bulk Import, Change Log PermissionsNo new permissions have been introduced | low impact | |
| FEATURE | Setup_Required Screen_Changes | Communications - Element and Planning Meeting communication | Please note that these changes are likely to have an impact on existing configuration and so should be prepared for appropriately. OverviewWe have adjusted the communication options for component and meeting notifications to improve the clarity of descriptions and better reflect how they are intended to function. This includes adjusting descriptions, available user types and the underlying logic. These changes should make it easier to understand, predict, and provide the most flexibility. Changes to FunctionalityComponent CommunicationWe have adjusted how component communications are sent to ensure they’re only sent to attendees of the booking. This will provide increased flexibility and also match the descriptions of the notifications. We have also removed the deprecated user types in favour of only sending to attendees, this change will make it much easier to predict what comms will be sent to who and also provides the most flexibility. Below is a list of changes that have been made to each communication: Component Cancelled
Component Invitation
Component First Reminder
Component Second Reminder
Component Rescheduled
Component Resit
Component External Assessment
Assessment PlanWe have added a shortcut to the element attendees section. Similar to planning meetings these two shortcuts will allow for the on-programme assessor and/or workplace mentor to be easily added as a guest to the attendee without having to copy over the details manually. These will then be configurable under the comms screen’s Element Guest type. Planning Meeting GuestsThe planning meeting guest user type has been updated to support phone numbers, this is to bring it in line with our other guest user types within epaPRO. This also means the “SMS” method for notifications to planning meeting guests will also be available for use. Planning Meeting CommunicationWe identified that a few of the comms relating to planning meetings were inconsistent with the others and some had misleading descriptions. These have been amended. The affected communications and their changes are: Meeting Cancellation
Meeting Invitation
Meeting Provisional Booking
Meeting First Reminder
Meeting Second Reminder
Meeting Rescheduled
Meeting Updated
Meeting Booking Rejected
Impacted Areas
More info including screenshots can be seen here - Feature - EP-3775 Updates to Communication options; component and meeting notifications | high impact | |
| FEATURE | screen changes | Assessment Plan - Plan Completed Summary Notification | Overview
Changes to FunctionalityEPA screenThe EPA Details screen within the EPA entity page has been updated to have a new text area field, titled “Biography”. This new field allows a formatted text area to be input that can store information about the EPA. Plan Completed communicationThe Planning → Plan Completed communication template has been updated to have the following new variables.
Assessment Plan enhancementsThe assessment plan screen has been enhanced to have the following additional functionality:
Minor display tweaksAs part of this work, some minor display changes have been made to ensure that the headings within the EPA(M) screen are a uniform size. The changed headings are:
Email templatesAs part of this work, the styling of bullet pointed lists has been updated to make them match the styling of the surrounding text - previously bullet pointed lists appeared bolder than the rest of the text. Note that this is a change that will effect all email templates, not just the Plan Completed email. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone | medium | |
| BUG |
| Notifications - Meeting Booking Rejected: Reason to displaying in email or SMS | Notifications - Meeting Booking Rejected
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| BUG |
| Signature - Issues with some screens if a signature is empty | OverviewWe’ve fixed a bug where on some screens (primarily assessment related) an error would occur due to an invalid signature, being empty in some cases. This would cause parts of the screen to stop functioning properly. |
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| BUG |
| Bulk Upload - Import errors are not very clear | OverviewWe have improved the visibility of errors when one or more import fails. Previously the screen would show a success message “X records imported” but when expanding the imported section it may highlight that one or more of those failed. Now, the success message will only show the count that successfully imported and the error messages for records that fail to import will now be shown above the imported box, rather than inside. |
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| BUG |
| Standard - Ability to search by External Standard ID | Standard - Search
Please Note: Searching by an external standard id is case sensitive and will require the exact id. |
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| BUG |
| Assessment Result - Questions validating based on current rather than visible questions | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where the assessment result screen would validate, on update, the provided answers to questions based on the current questions available against the component. This causes issues when the component’s questions have been changed to include or remove required fields. This screen will now only validate based on the questions against the element booking, which would be the state of the component at the time. |
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| BUG |
| Record of Achievement - Past programmes incorrectly showing | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where an apprentice incorrectly shows on the RoA screen if their past programme was not processed. |
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| BUG |
| Assessment Element - Void results counting towards max resit number | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where void results were counting towards the maximum resit number and so the Book Resit would not show incorrectly for affected bookings. |
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| BUG |
| Change Log - Performance issues | Some performance issues had been noted in the change log upon reaching certain scaling thresholds. These should now be far more performant. |
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| BUG |
| Assessment Plan - Visual Glitch Fixed | Assessment Plan -
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| BUG |
| Planning Meeting - assessor or mentor with no surname displaying incorrectly | Planning Meeting -
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| BUG |
| Support Materials - Employer field filtered based on provider | Support Materials -
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| BUG |
| Assessment Plan - Possible to book a resit even when the maximum number has been reached | OverviewWe have fixed a bug on the assessment plan screen where it would allow a resit to be booked for an element that has already reached the maximum allowed number of resits. In this instance the element will now enter a read only state. |
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| BUG |
| Assessment Booking - Assessment Centre dropdown not filtering for a provider | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where the assessment centre dropdown would show centres belonging to other providers when a provider is viewing the screen. Providers will now only see centres associated with them or centres not associated with a provider. |
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| BUG |
| API - Enforced Queue Limit | OverviewWe have adjusted the default limit on our API’s Queue endpoint and introduced a range clamp. The new default is 100 if no limit has been specific. The new range of this field is between 1 and 1000. Any value less than 1 will be forced to 1 and any value greater than 1000 will be forced to 1000. |
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| BUG |
| Assessment Progress - Expected Completion Date Fix | Assessment Progress -
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| BUG |
| Users - Error when deleting a user that has linked MS 365 | OverviewWe have fixed an error that would occur when attempting to delete a user who have linked their Microsoft 365 account. |
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| BUG |
| Start New Programme - Incorrect validation error message on the last registration date | OverviewWe have fixed the incorrect error message that is shown when an apprentice is being started on a new programme and the current date is after the standard’s last registration date. |
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| BUG |
| Roles and Users - Restricted permissions lost when a non-owner user edits the role or user | OverviewFixed a bug that caused users to lose assigned restricted permissions when a non-admin/owner user updated the user. Changes to FunctionalityThe save user screens have been updated to prevent the loss of assigned restricted permissions when a non-admin/owner user saves a user record. Note that if a role change is made, the restricted permissions will be removed - this is because changing a role resets the permissions to not have overrides. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
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| BUG |
| ProctorU - Availability is not checked when adding ProctorU to an existing booking | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where epaPRO did not check for ProctorU’s availability when an already booked element is edited to have ProctorU proctoring when it did not previously. |
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| BUG |
| Providers - Success message when removing all standards | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where editing a provider and removing all standards would show a successful “Provider edited” message but not remove the standards. As a provider requires at least one standard this will now probably validate and display an error message similar to the create provider screen. |
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| BUG |
| Apprentice Bulk Upload - Blank specialism | OverviewFixed a bug within the apprentice bulk import that allowed for specialism to be blanked when it shouldn’t have been. Changes to FunctionalityThe apprentice bulk import functionality has been tweaked to prevent a user blanking an apprentice’s specialism id - this was previously achievable by uploading a blank specialism id, without providing a standard id alongside it. In addition to the above, the validation has been updated to allow the specialism id to be provided without a standard id - if a standard id is not provided in the import, the standard against the apprentice’s record will be used to check the specialism instead. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
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| BUG |
| Support Materials - Employer and Provider materials should now display | OverviewFixed a bug that prevented provider/employer specific support materials from displaying in their relevant tabs. Changes to FunctionalityThe support materials manage/view screens should now display provider/employer specific support materials in their relevant tabs. Previously, these support materials could only be found if they also belonged to a category. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
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| BUG |
| Planning Meeting - Workplace Mentor and On Programme Assessor showing if they are not completed | We have fixed a bug where the planning meeting screen was showing the workplace mentor and on programme assessor shortcuts even if the details were not entered. |
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| BUG |
| Bulk Upload - Start New Programme can assign apprentice to wrong employer | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where it would be possible to assign an apprentice to another provider’s employer if the |
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Epic Link | key | type | Action Required | Release Notes Title | Release Notes Description | Potential Impact |
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