Version 5.14.0 - 10/10/2023
Production Release Date: Oct 10, 2023 | Version: 5.14.0 |
UAT Release Date: Sep 12, 2023 |
The Release webinar will be available from HERE (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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| feature |
| API Documentation - Update Planning Meeting types | OverviewAdded the “Teams” type that was previously missing from the API documentation for planning meetings. | low impact | |
| feature |
| Dependency updates | OverviewWe have updated the underlying dependencies used by epaPRO both behind the scenes and on the front-end. This should not have any impact on functionality and is part of normal maintenance. Impacted Areas
| low impact
| |
| feature |
| Reporting - Apprentice Completions - new fields added | OverviewAdded new columns to the Forecasting → Apprentice Completions report. Changes to FunctionalityThe Forecasting → Apprentice Completions report has been enhanced with the following new fields:
The new date has also been added to the date filtering. In addition to the above, a bug has also been fixed that caused the wrong SLA threshold to be used when calculating the Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone | low impact | |
| feature | recommend training screen_changes | EPA - My Assessments screen | OverviewA new ‘My Assessments’ screen has been developed for EPAs and EPAMs to view scheduled or pending assessment elements that they are the assigned EPA for. Changes to FunctionalityThe new screen sits within the caseload menu for EPAs and EPAMs, all other users will receive and unauthorised response if attempting to access regardless of permission; this is consistent with the current caseload screen. The screen will show a list of assessments that adhere to the following criteria:
Assessments are ordered with the most recent at the top as these are likely to be the most pressing for the EPA(M) to action. By default only apprentices with a status of “In Assessment” are shown however this can be changed via a filter. Shortcut links are provided under the Actions menu to both the apprentice’s profile and the assessment profile. A normal set of filters is available on screen as well as a search box (based on apprentice’s name or ULN). Impacted AreasNew screen and caseload menu area for EPA(M)s. PermissionsNo new permissions. The new screen utilises the existing Caseload permission. | low_impact | |
| feature |
| API Documentation - added missing events | OverviewWe have added the following missing events to the API documentation:
Impacted AreasAPI Documentation PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact | |
| feature |
| Comms - Allow custom styling on links | OverviewThe Communication Templates area has been updated to allow the style attribute against links. This will allow users to customise emails further with link colour, font size, etc when editing the template using the HTML editor. Example:- to ensure a URL appears in your mail client, as the typical underlined/blue link you could use the HTML editor option on the template - highlighted in yellow and enter the URL like this.
| low_impact | |
| feature |
| Gateway - Move gateway route generation out of controllers | OverviewInternal changes have been made to standardise the URL generation for viewing an apprentice's gateway. Changes to FunctionalityInternal changes have been made to standardise the URL generation for viewing an apprentice's gateway. No functionality should be changed as part of this ticket. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone | low_impact We still would recommend testing these areas. | |
| feature | Screen_changes recommend_training | Apprentice Notes/Files enhancements | OverviewWe have made enhancements to the apprentice notes and files. Changes to FunctionalityThe following enhancements have been made to apprentice notes and files:
Impacted AreasApprentice profile (notes and files tab), notes side drawer widget, files side drawer widget PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact Would recommend some familiarisation training for your users. | |
| feature | recommend_training | Assessment Booking - Send Component Invitation comms | OverviewUpdated the Assessment Booking process to allow the user to send component invitation communications, when bulk booking components. Changes to FunctionalityThe Assessment Booking process has been updated to have an additional primary action button - this primary action replicates the existing one (i.e. Book / Approve) but will also send the component invitation notifications. External users are not offered this new button, as the booking is not officially confirmed until an EPAO confirms the bookings - in this scenario, the EPAO is offered the ability to send out communications at the point of approval. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone | medium_impact Listed as medium as we think training will be needed for familiarisation. | |
| feature | Screen_changes | Providers - new menu | OverviewWe have added the new condensed three dot menu to the provider and provider user listing screens. We have also changed the active flag to be a badge. These changes have been made to keep these screens consistent with other areas of the app. Impacted AreasProvider and Provider user listing screens. PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact to medium_Impact May need comms to be sent to providers to familiarise them with change. | |
| feature | Screen_changes | Provider/Employer sub user listings | OverviewWe have made quality of life enhancements to the Provider and Employer sub-user listings. Changes to FunctionalityThe following enhancements have been made to both the Provider and Employer user listings
Impacted AreasProvider user listing and employer user listing PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact | |
| feature | Screen_changes | Todo's - Paused status | OverviewWe have added paused information to the Todo’s screen for actions that have been paused to mirror the information given in the notification area. Changes to FunctionalityTodo’s (actions) that have been paused will now show the paused icon. Hovering over this will allow the user to see why the action has been paused. As part of this work we have also added a filter to allow the user to filter between Todo’s that have been paused and those that haven’t. The default view for Todo’s is to show those that have not been paused. Impacted AreasMy To-do’s screen PermissionsNo new permissions. | low_impact | |
| feature | NEW_PERMISSIONS | Reporting - New Apprentice notes report | OverviewA new report “Apprentice → Apprentice Notes” has been created to show high-level note details. Changes to FunctionalityA new report “Apprentice → Apprentice Notes” has been created - this report will show information regarding the apprentice notes, per apprentice. Note that the main note content is not shown in the report due to size, though the title of each note is shown. Impacted Areas
PermissionsA new permission has been created alongside this report:
This new report permission has been given out to the owner and awardingorganisation roles by default. | low_impact | |
| feature | Screen_changes | EPA availability - component name | OverviewWe have added the component name or planning meeting to bookings that are internal to epaPro. Changes to FunctionalityThis will not change how external calendar events are displayed. These changes only relate to bookings within epaPro. Impacted AreasEPA availability calendar, EPA side drawer PermissionsNo new permissions | low_impact | |
| feature |
| Databases - Various internal performance enhancements. | OverviewVarious internal performance enhancements. Changes to FunctionalityVarious tweaks have been made to the databases behind epaPRO to improve performance. No functional change should be noticed as part of this development. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone | low_impact | |
| feature | Screen_changes SETUP_REQUIRED recommend_training | Communication Templates - Different templates for user types / guest types | OverviewWe have expanded our communication system to allow for tailored templates for user-type or guest-type. For example, if you would like the apprentice to not receive a certain variable, or just have the wording adjusted slightly then an apprentice template can be configured for a communication. Every other user would then continue to receive the generic template. Changes to FunctionalityNew and deprecated variablesTo improve the flexibility around what details are included in communication templates we have introduced a range of new variables and deprecated old variables. This provides further control over what information is provided to certain user types. For example, you may want the external assessment pin to be sent to the EPA while the apprentice just receives information about who the provider of that online test is. Detailed below are the new variables that have been introduced and which have been deprecated. The descriptions below are also available when editing a communication template. Deprecated variables Note that the deprecated variables will still function as they did before, allowing for a phased transition to the newer variables over time. However, the deprecated variables will not be updated and may be removed in a future update.
New variables
Communication ManagerWe have updated our communication template manager to allow for user-type-specific templates to be created. Communications will now have a “Generic” template and then additional user-type/guest-type templates. The generic template will be the fallback, if no other suitable user-type-based template has been configured and enabled. This means functionality will not have been changed with this release as all existing templates will be moved to generic templates. To help with adding new templates for a certain user/guest type a new “Copy from template” dropdown is available. This will allow for a new template (Apprentice for example) to be able to copy the generic template and then make any edits as needed. Note: This will not maintain a link between the two so any changes made to one template will not be applied to the others. Update Comms System To Use User Type TemplatesThe comms system has been updated so that when an email or SMS is sent epaPRO will check if the user type or guest type has a template enabled, if so, this template will be used instead. Otherwise, epaPRO will fall back to the generic template. As an example, this would allow for an apprentice to maybe get a tailored version of a communication with everyone else receiving the generic template. Impacted Areas
More info with images - Feature EP-3910 Comms - User Type Specific Templates | low_Impact to medium_impact Classed as Low to Medium as it isn't something you have to use as it will fall back to the current “generic” template. But if you do implement it - there is set up needed and would suggest training. | |
| feature | recommend_Training | Notes - Extend functionality of notes | OverviewWe have added some key extensions to the functionality of apprentice notes across epaPRO. The primary changes that have taken place to extend the apprentice notes are the following:
Changes to FunctionalityApprentice Profile - Add/Edit apprentice notes: A new area field has been added to the apprentice notes when creating or editing one. This field will allow you to specify one or more areas that the apprentice note is relevant to. It is an optional field and when an area is selected it will allow the note to be shown when looking at the apprentice notes for a relevant screen. The note will also be added to the count that appears for apprentice notes on relevant screens. Currently the following areas are supported:
Apprentice Profile - Viewing Notes The apprentice notes, that appear under the notes tab of the apprentice profile screen, can now be filtered by the area field. You can select any number of areas and all notes for those specific areas will be displayed. Apprentice Side Drawer - Notes Changes From the apprentice side drawer, we have added a new field that allows you to filter the displayed set of notes by the area in the same way as the apprentice profile screen. In addition to filtering there is also a new button titled “New Note“ that is a shortcut to take you to the notes tab of the the apprentice profile screen meaning that you can easily get to the the apprentice notes section, for adding and editing notes, from anywhere in epaPRO. Please Note: Clicking this button will open the apprentice profile in a new tab in your browser. This means that you will not lose any work by clicking this button and you can navigate back to the previous page by looking at your web browsers tab menu. Apprentice Note Shortcuts Across epaPRO: In various key areas of epaPRO you will find a new “Open Apprentice Notes“ button. Clicking this button, from any page, will open the apprentice side drawer for the relevant apprentice, displaying only the apprentice notes section. The notes displayed will automatically be filtered to only show notes that are flagged against the area that you are currently in, thus rapidly highlighting any important considerations for this apprentice. In addition to opening the side drawer, this button will also display a count of the number of notes that are currently flagged against the apprentice for this area. This is designed to easily let you know, from the screen, that there are notes to consider when carrying out work on the page. The following are the areas that currently contain the “Open Apprentice Notes Button“ and the section in which it shows:
Finally, the “Open apprentice notes“ button has been added to some listing screens within the relevant 3 dots menu under actions for the given apprentice. This button also contains the count of notes relevant to that area. The following are the listing screens containing the “Open Apprentice Notes“ button:
More info with screenshots here - Feature - EP-3713 - Extend Notes Functionality | medium_impact Listed here as medium as training is recommended to familiarise with the changes. | |
| feature | SCreen_changes setup_required training_recommended | Standards - Various changes to uniform standard display | OverviewThe system has been globally updated to allow greater control when filtering standards, and provide a more uniform experience when viewing standards information. Changes to FunctionalityThe system has been globally updated to allow greater control when filtering standards, and provide a more uniform experience when viewing standards information. Details of these updates are below: IfATE Reference casingThe casing of the IfATE ST Reference has been updated system-wide to reflect the official casing (previously it was displayed as IFATE or Ifate). Standard searchThe system has been updated to allow for filtering based on IfATE Reference instead of individual standard. Filtering by IfATE reference will return all standards that share the same IfATE ST Reference code configured against them. As part of these changes, the pre-existing “Standard” filter has been updated to be renamed to “Standard Title” instead, to highlight that this is the title assigned to an individual standard record. Please note that this new filter requires any pre-existing standards to have their IfATE Reference correctly assigned. Initially this was not a mandatory field, and thus some standards may be missing this information. Consistent display of Standard informationThe system has been updated to display standard details in a uniform manner, to help improve readability & consistency. Anywhere that displays standard information (excluding communication templates) has been updated to display standard information in the following order (including filters):
In areas where the standard information is stored in separate columns from within a table, the order of the columns has been changed to match this order. Reports that display this information in their columns have also been reordered to display in the same way, followed by the standard sector (where available). Please note that, due to these changes, it is thoroughly recommended to update existing standards to no longer contain the standard level within the standard title, as this will prevent duplication of this data. Standard entity management screenThe standards entity listing screen has been updated to display the standard details within the table in a more meaningful way. The column order for displaying standards should now be:
The listing screen has also been updated to only show active standards by default, controlled by the new “Active” drop-down. Clearing the filters or selecting a different value from the Active filter will allow inactive standards to be displayed. The listing screen will also list by IfATE Reference by default, to group similar standards together. In addition to the above, the edit/view standard screen has been updated to show which standard record is currently being accessed within the “Related Versions” tab. Impacted AreasDue to the number of areas that display standard information, this work has an impact on the vast majority of epaPRO. PermissionsNone | medium_impact Classed here as medium as it is a visual change from the current version and may therefore need training and comms to advise users of these amendments.
There may also set up required if you don't currently have IfATE references against your Standards. | |
| Bug |
| Milestones - Various bug fixes | OverviewVarious bug fixes have been completed against the milestones functionality. Changes to Functionality
Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug |
| Assessment Booking - Calendar shows incorrect times when viewing pending bookings | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where the manage assessment bookings screen would show and process the bookings an hour out of what they should have been. |
| |
| Bug |
| Standards - Old copy process still available | OverviewWe have removed the old standard copy field as this was replaced by the more flexible copy process in the listing screen’s menu. |
| |
| Bug |
| Communication Templates - mfa_code not included in previews | OverviewFixed a bug in which the mfa_code variable would not show up in the email preview For its relevant email templates. This effected both the on screen email preview and the email preview sent to the desired user. This variable now works as expected. |
| |
| Bug |
| Reporting - Certification 1st time Pass - incorrect figures being generated. | OverviewFixed a bug in the Certification → Certification 1st Time Pass report that caused erroneous counting. Changes to FunctionalityThe Certification → Certification 1st Time Pass report has been fixed to prevent erroneous counting by changing the way that failures are detected. Database improvements have also been done to increase performance. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug |
| Reporting - Assessment 1st time pass inconsistent counting | OverviewFixed a bug in the Assessment → Assessment 1st Time Pass report that caused erroneous counting. Changes to FunctionalityThe Assessment → Assessment 1st Time Pass report has been fixed to prevent erroneous counting, due to the total & pass numbers counting in different ways. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug |
| Assessment profile - Apprentice profile menu item | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where the wrong permission was being used to determine which users could see the View Profile menu item from the Apprentice’s Assessment Profile. Impacted AreasAssessment Profile PermissionsNo new permissions |
| |
| Bug |
| QA Comments - Validation | OverviewFixed a bug that would allow a QA comment to be added or edited without inputting any text into the field. This caused an error. The page will now inform you that the text field is required when adding a comment. |
| |
| Bug |
| Planning meeting booking - attendees incorrect message | OverviewWe have fixed an incorrect message that stated that attendees cannot be amended when rescheduling meetings. The wording has changed from: “The attendees cannot be amended for a cancellation or reschedule” to “The attendees cannot be amended for a cancellation” Impacted AreasPlanning meeting booking screen. PermissionsNo new permissions. |
| |
| Bug |
| Reporting - EPA Absences - fixed error with date range selection | OverviewFixed a bug within the EPA Absences report, when running for a date range. Changes to FunctionalityThe EPA Absences report has been updated to prevent an error from occurring when running the report within a date range. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug |
| New compact menu - view option | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where the view menu item was not consistently showing on the listing screens that are using the new compact menu. Impacted AreasStandard, gateway component, gateway specification, graded profile, assessment component and assessment schema listing screens. PermissionsNo new permissions |
| |
| Bug |
| API - Provider standards | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where updating a provider via the API deleted any standards associated with the provider if the standard_ids field was included as part of the request sent. Impacted AreasAPI Provider update PermissionsNo new permissions |
| |
| Bug |
| Appeal summary - search | OverviewFixed a bug that prevented the search function from working within the Appeal Summary report. Changes to FunctionalityIt was previously not possible to filter the Appeal Summary report using the search box and attempting to do this would result in an error - this has now been resolved. Impacted AreasThe following reports may have been affected by this development, and thus will need testing for Apprentice Search - they are:
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug |
| QA - No longer possible to assign an EPA+QA user to QA themselves | OverviewFixed a bug that showed the element EPA within the QA screen’s “Assigned User” dropdown when QA’ing a result. Changes to FunctionalityThe Assigned User dropdown that is shown when creating/editing a QA record should now exclude the element EPA from the list when a result is being put through QA - this brings the check in line with the apprentice’s EPA, which was already being removed from this list. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug |
| API - provider update without postcode | OverviewWe have fixed a bug where updating a provider entity that did not include a postcode, via the API caused the update to fail and an error message to be returned instead Impacted AreasAPI PermissionsNo new permissions |
| |
| Bug |
| Apprentice - Editing the apprentice record sometimes removes Provider Transferred Date | OverviewFixed a bug that unexpectedly cleared the Provider Transferred Date from the apprentice record. Changes to FunctionalityA bug has been fixed that caused the Provider Transferred Date to be cleared from the apprentice record, when updating the apprentice from the following areas:
Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug |
| Past programmes - Possible for users to unpublish QA from past programme | OverviewFixed a bug that allowed users with the unpublish QA permission to unpublish a QA for a past programme. Changes to FunctionalityIt was possible for users with the unpublish QA permission to unpublish a QA for a past programme, causing the QA to get stuck - this is no longer possible. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug |
| Apprentice files - now possible to see that a file is attached to a cancelled plan | OverviewAmended the apprentice files “link” sidebar to highlight when an apprentice file is linked to an Assessment Plan Element Attachment that belongs to a cancelled Assessment Plan. Changes to FunctionalityAmended the apprentice files “link” sidebar to highlight when an apprentice file is linked to an Assessment Plan Element Attachment that belongs to a cancelled Assessment Plan - files that link to a cancelled plan will now show a red badge indicating this. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug |
| Assessment Profile - Fail result next actions should be locked down after ESFA submission | OverviewFixed a bug that allowed the next action of a failed result to be changed post ESFA submission. Changes to FunctionalityIt is now not possible for a user to change the next action of a failed result via the sidebar once an apprentice has been submitted to the ESFA. Impacted Areas
PermissionsNone |
| |
| Bug | setup_required | Reporting - Inconsistent behaviour of certification status filter | Please note that this change may affect saved reports using this filter, if you have a saved report that uses the certification status then we recommend recreating the report to ensure minimal impact. OverviewWe have fixed a bug with the certification status filter not always processing N/A option properly on some reports. As part of this we have improved how that filter functions and made it more reliable, so it should be consistent across all current and future reports that make use of it. As noted above this change may impact saved reports so we suggest checking any that you have using this filter and re-save them and reschedule them if needed. Impacted AreasThe following reports have been impacted by this change:
| medium_impact
| |
| EP-4192 | Bug |
| Gateway - Verification is blocked if a plan already exists | OverviewWe have fixed a bug with the gateway verification erroring if a plan already exists for the apprentice. |
|
Epic Link | key | type | Action Required | Release Notes Title | Release Notes Description | Potential Impact |
---|