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Version 5.20.0 - 02/04/2024

Version 5.20.0 - 02/04/2024

Owned by Rachel Bocking, created
Last updated: Mar 28, 2024 by Lisa Clancy
14 min read
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Production Release Date: Apr 2, 2024

Version: 5.20.0

UAT Release Date: Mar 5, 2024

 

The Release webinar is available from https://skilltechsolutionsltd-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/lisa_clancy_skilltechsolutions_co_uk/ETrPXYjGGLhFmlMd8g-rGUwBNQPs328Mg8mkJCaXCE3-Jw?nav=eyJyZWZlcnJhbEluZm8iOnsicmVmZXJyYWxBcHAiOiJTdHJlYW1XZWJBcHAiLCJyZWZlcnJhbFZpZXciOiJTaGFyZURpYWxvZy1MaW5rIiwicmVmZXJyYWxBcHBQbGF0Zm9ybSI6IldlYiIsInJlZmVycmFsTW9kZSI6InZpZXcifX0%3D&e=QpSyHz (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

Epic

Key

Type

Action Required

Summary

Release Notes Description

Potential Impact

 

EP-4108

feature

 

Assessment Plan - Cleanup of obsolete code around external services

Overview

We have removed and cleaned up some obsolete code around how external services are stored and used against an assessment component.

Impacted Areas

  • Assessment Component

  • Assessment Plan

  • QuestionMark

  • Risr

  • Surpass

  • Assessment Elements Report

  • Elements Requiring Results Report

low impact

 

EP-4443

feature

screen_changes

Apprentice Side Drawer - Adding Company Name

Overview

The address within the apprentice side drawer has been extended to include the Company Name. As part of this the directions buttons within the system will now also include both Company Name and Site Name for the apprentice if provided.

low impact

 

EP-4440

feature

screen_changes

setup required

Comms - Add apprentice first name and username

Overview

Communication templates have been updated to allow the use of the apprentice’s first name and username as available variables. The list of variables when editing a template has also been ordered alphabetically to make finding them easier.

Affected Templates

Appeals

Appeal Created/Updated/Closed

Assessment

Component Resit

External Assessment

Result Available/Required

Retake Review Approved/Rejected

Assessment Booking

Assessment Approved/Rejected/Pending

Assign Apprentice

Apprentice Accepted/Rejected by EPA

Apprentice Allocated/Reallocated

Certification

Certification Available

Course Survey

Gateway

Gateway Complete/Rejected/Submitted/Unconfirmed

Planning

Assessment Element Milestone Assigned/Cancelled/Unassigned

Component Cancelled/Invitation/Rescheduled

Component Reminder 1st and 2nd

Meeting Booking Rejected

Meeting Cancellation/Invitation/Updated/Rescheduled

Meeting Provisional Booking

Meeting Reminder 1st and 2nd

Plan Cancelled/Completed

QA

QA Created

QA Updated by EPA/QA

User

Reasonable Adjustment Accepted/Rejected/Submitted

Communication Templates

When editing a template in this area the variables available are now ordered alphabetically.

low impact

 

EP-4439

feature

screen_changes

Comms - Gateway Rejected notification to On Programme Assessor/Workplace Mentor

Overview

The Gateway Rejected notification has been extended to include both the On Programme Assessor and the Workplace Mentor as options.

By default these options are disabled.

low impact

 

EP-4425

feature

screen_changes

Custom Tasks - Show who assigned a task

Overview

The ToDo screen has been extended for custom tasks that have been assigned to a user by another user. The user’s name who assigned the task will now be shown underneath the task detail so that the assignee can know who to speak to in the event that there are issues, clarifications, or further communication required.

low impact

 

EP-4424

feature

Reporting - Add on apprentice mentor and on programme assessor to Gateway Status Report

Overview

The Gateway Status report has been updated to include both the names of the Apprentice Mentor and On Programme Assessor if they have been populated against the apprentice record.

low impact

 

EP-4423

feature

screen_changes

EPA - Default EPA Manager selection to 'None'

Overview

When creating an EPA the selection for the primary EPA manager has been changed to default to “None Selected”. Previously this would be set to the first EPA Manager in an alphabetical order and as this is a required field it increases the chance that the user may miss changing this field.

The “Additional EPA Managers” field has also had the ‘None Selected’ option removed. This field is a multi select and in order to select ‘none’ a user only needs to deselect and selected options.

low impact

 

EP-4397

feature

 

Reporting - Add Location/Centre to the Result Tracking report

Overview

The Result Tracking report has been extended with the following items:

  • Location field (this contains the same data that you’d see in the Assessment Elements report)

  • Assessment Centre field (this contains the same data that you’d see in the Assessment Elements report)

  • Assessment Centre filter

low impact

 

EP-4357

feature

screen_changes

Bulk Upload - Helper Improvements

Overview

We have completed some housekeeping on the bulk upload helpers, most notably the finders. Their functionality will remain the same, however, we have tidied them up behind the scenes which should help with maintainability moving forward.

In the process, we have also fixed some bugs:

  • Fixed the finders dropdown being cut off of smaller tabs

  • Fixed specialism ID and external standard ID finders not loading properly if no provider is selected

  • Fixed the employer finder not filtering based on the selected provider when logged in as an internal user

Impacted areas

  • Bulk Upload

low impact

 

EP-3534

feature

screen_changes

recommend_Training

Communication - Allow users to control the Subject recipient type separately from their "user type" recipient

Overview

We have extended the user-based configuration of communication to allow for different settings depending on if the user is the “subject” of the communication (e.g. EPA assigned to an apprentice) vs a non-subject recipient (e.g. the EPAM of the EPA assigned to an apprentice). Allowing for more fine-grained control for each user. For example, an EPAM may want to receive their “subject” communication via SMS as it relates to work they need to do, vs, receiving non-subject communication via Email or In-App notification as it may relate to EPAs they manage.

Changes to functionality

Communication Engine

The communication engine has been updated to take into account the additional configuration fields available to a user. This applies to all communication within epaPRO.

Previously when sending a communication epaPRO would consider user overrides for both the “Subject” type and the user’s user type as the same. Now, this has been split. The user’s “Subject” override will be considered when sending to a “Subject” recipient, otherwise the user’s non-subject overrides will be considered.

Allowed Methods For Subject

The allowed methods dropdown has been re-added to the subject special user type when viewing the system-based management screen. This was previously removed as it had no impact but now does control the methods listed for the new subject-based configuration fields.

User Communication Management Screen

New controls have been added to each communication so that the user can apply different settings to both the subject and non-subject options. The layout of this screen has been tweaked to accommodate the additional fields now being similar to the system-based management screen. Clicking on a communication will expand and show the additional options available to the user.

The methods dropdown for the subject type will be populated based on the allowed methods of the subject global settings, much like the method for each user type. The restricted toggle will also disable the ability for the user to toggle that version of the communication.

We have added a data migration so that when this functionality is deployed any user overrides will be duplicated to the new Subject based configuration. This should maintain currently functionality for existing users.

Impacted areas

  • Communication Management

  • All Communication

medium impact

Listed as medium as suggest training/comms to explain the options to users

Assessment Elements - accept/reject

EP-4299

FEATURE

screen_changes NEW_PERMISSIONS

recommend_training

Assessment Elements - Added the ability to work by EPA’s being able to accept or reject allocations at the component level

Overview

The ability for EPA(M) users to accept or reject assessment element bookings has been added into epaPRO.

ATTENTION

We have located an issue with this work in that it is not possible to book a Teams meeting from within the assessment plan screen, when using an EPA that has the new auto-accept of assessments disabled.

This is because our code currently requires an EPA ID to populate the Teams meeting with the required information. We have logged a ticket to investigate the best way to approach this.
This is unlikely to be fixed in time for the go live.

Changes to Functionality

The following enhancements have been made as part of this work:

EPA(M) Entity Screens

The edit/view EPA(M) screen has been updated to have a new toggle within the EPA details tab - “Auto Accept Element Assignments”.

This new toggle can be used to determine whether an EPA(M) user will auto accept elements (effectively functioning how the system did prior to this work) or whether the EPA(M) has to accept or reject the booking manually (putting them through the new process).

By default this toggle will be on for all EPA(M) users - this is to preserve current functionality.

In addition to this new toggle being added, the existing toggles for other decisions (such as “Accepting New Apprentices” and “Is Covid-19 Compliant”) have been made smaller to provide more space.

Menu Changes

To help make this new functionality clear, the menu has been updated.

A new menu heading has been added called “Assign Assessments” - this contains three new screens that show elements depending on their state (Awaiting, Pending, and Rejected).

The Planning → Assign EPAs to Elements screen has been moved into this new menu item and is now accessed via the “Awaiting” sub-menu item.

When logged in as an EPA(M) user, the Caseload → Awaiting Acceptance item has been renamed to Apprentices Awaiting Acceptance, and a new Assessments Awaiting Acceptance item has been added.

Assign Assessment Screens

The Awaiting screen behaves the same as the pre-existing Planning → Assign EPA to Elements screen. Pending and Rejected screens behave similar to the Awaiting screen, but show elements at different states. Details of what is shown in each screen mode can be seen below:

  • Awaiting: Shows any elements that have no EPA assigned, and are currently not awaiting an EPA assignment decision

  • Pending: Shows any elements that have no EPA assigned, but are currently awaiting a decision from an EPA assignment decision

  • Rejected: Shows any elements that have no EPA assigned, and the EPA assignment decision has been rejected by the EPA.

When viewing the rejected version of the screen, an additional option is available to view the reason entered at the point of rejection.

New Custom Drop-downs

A new custom drop-down entry has been introduced into the system to store the reasons for rejecting an assessment.

As part of these new custom drop-downs, a new toggle has been added to determine whether the drop-down value requires additional rejection information if selected. This can be used for an option such as “other”, where more information may be required if that option is selected.

New SLA introduced

A new SLA has been introduced to track the EPA performance against this new process. The new SLA can be found within the usual SLA configuration screen, titled “Time from EPA element assigned to EPA decision.”

A new report has been created for the tracking of this SLA (as per other pre-existing SLAs) and can be found within the SLA tab of the reporting suite (SLA - Time from EPA element assignment to EPA decision). This report has been flagged as an internal report, and permission can be given to access this report via the newly introduced permission (Reporting → SLA - Time from EPA element assignment to EPA decision).

New Process for EPA(M)s

The booking process has been changed for anywhere that EPA(M) users can be assigned assessments. This includes:

  • Assessment Plan

  • Assessment Bookings

  • Assign Assessments (previously Assign EPA to Elements)

  • Element side-drawer Booking Details widget

Assigning an EPA to an assessment when they are not configured to auto-accept bookings will now perform the following:

  • The assessment will be flagged as pending a decision from the EPA

    • This involves showing a pending status against the following areas:

      • Assessment Profile

      • Element side-drawer Booking Details widget’s “change EPA” functionality

      • Assessment Plan

  • The EPA assigned against the assessment will continue to be the previous EPA until a decision has been made

  • An action will be created to inform the new EPA that an assessment awaits their decision (with SLA, if configured)

  • A communication will be sent to the new EPA (if configured) informing them that an assessment awaits a decision

The EPA then has to accept/reject the assessment.

New Accept / Reject screen for EPA(M) users

A new screen has been added to the EPA(M) users, found within the Caseload menu - Assessments Awaiting Acceptance. This new screen will list any assessments that are currently pending a decision from the logged in EPA(M) user, along with a count within the menu.

The EPA(M) has the ability to accept or reject the booking - a rejection requires the completion of additional information (rejection reason code, and potentially additional information if configured).

Depending on the decision made, the following will occur:

  • On acceptance

    • The decision is updated as being accepted

    • The EPA(M) user is officially assigned to the assessment

    • A communication is sent confirming the acceptance

    • Any milestones assigned to the previous EPA(M) user are automatically moved to the new EPA(M)

    • The plan element is updated

  • On rejection

    • The decision is updated as being rejected, along with any reasons provided

    • The EPA(M) user is no longer pending a decision from the assessment, and the various areas in the system that show this are updated to reflect this

Reports

The EPA → EPA Information report has been updated to show the status of the new auto-accept assessments toggle.

The Assessment → Assessment Elements report has been updated to show whether an assessment is awaiting a decision and, if so, who is the EPA(M) that needs to make this decision.

A new report has been created - EPA → EPA Assign Element Decisions. This new report shows the decisions within the system, including their accept/reject outcome. A new filter can be used to change the report to show decisions that are pending, accepted, or rejected to help break down the decisions in more detail.

Communication templates screen

The following new communication templates have been introduced as part of this development:

  • EPA Assigned To Element

    • Sent to the EPA that has been assigned an assessment and is now awaiting a decision

  • EPA Reassigned To Element

    • Sent to the EPA that has been assigned an assessment from an EPA(M) that was already pending a decision, and is now awaiting the new EPA(M)'s decision

  • EPA Accepted Element Assignment

    • Sent to the EPA that has accepted the assessment

  • EPA Rejected Element Assignment

    • Sent to the EPA that has rejected the assessment

Communications screen

The above communication templates have been added to the communications screen, so that they can be enabled/disabled for different users depending on their preferences.

All of the above communications are enabled for the subject by default, but can also be configured for the following users:

  • Apprentice

  • Awarding Organisation

  • Employer

  • EPA Manager

  • Provider

Impacted Areas

  • EPA(M) entity screen

  • Assessment Plan

  • Assessment Booking

  • Element Side-drawer Booking Details Widget

  • Assign Assessments (previously Assign EPA to Elements)

  • Actions/SLAs

  • Communications

  • Reporting

Permissions

  • Reporting → EPA Assign Element Decisions

    • Given to the following system roles by default:

      • owner

      • awardingorganisation

      • epamanager

  • Reporting → SLA - Time from EPA element assignment to EPA decision

    • Given to the following system roles by default:

      • owner

      • awardingorganisation

Coming Soon Document can be seen here -New Feature EP-4299 Assessment Elements - ability for EPA’s to be able to accept or reject allocations at the component level

This is also covered off on the UAT Demo recording.

Medium

Logged as medium impact as this by default will be toggled off so no change to current process.

 

EP-4456

bug

screen_changes

Apprentice Dashboard - Scheduled support materials not behaving correctly

Overview

We have fixed a bug with scheduled support materials where they were being displayed or hidden unexpectedly.

 

 

EP-4448

bug

 

File Uploads - Access control improvements

Overview

We have improved the access control restrictions around support material file uploads and contracts. Links to support material uploads will now recheck the support material configuration to ensure the user has access before returning the file for download. Contracts have also been improved to ensure any terms file downloads are checked before returning the file for download.

Impacted areas

  • Support Materials Manage and View

    • Support Materials Manage is the Download File button and URL it uses

    • Support Materials View is the Open Button and the URL it uses

  • Assessment Schema → Support Materials tab

  • Assessment Component → Support Materials tab

  • Standard → Support Materials tab

  • Contracts terms file

 

 

EP-4447

bug

 

MFA - Security fixes

Overview

We have fixed a couple of security issues raised in our recent Pentest around setting up and deactivating MFA.

Impacted areas

  • MFA configuration and deactivation

 

 

EP-4428

bug

 

Assessment Plan - Cancelling only processes first element

Overview

Fixed a bug where only the first element in the list will be processed when cancelling an assessment plan.

 

 

EP-4427

bug

screen_changes

Assessment Schema - Duplicating milestones

Overview

Fixed a bug where it was possible to duplicate milestones within an assessment schema.

 

 

EP-4398

bug

screen_changes

Assessment Plan - Reloading a component causes odd behaviour on the form

Overview

We have fixed a bug where the assessment plan’s form may have some odd behaviour and save incorrect data if the component is loaded multiple times without reloading the screen or changing the component.

Impacted areas

  • Assessment Plan

 

 

EP-4389

bug

screen_changes

Users - username validation to not allow spaces

Overview

We have fixed a bug that allowed users to be created with spaces in their username that subsequently prevented the user details to be updated as the validation for updating a user was being triggered when the space was detected. epaPRO will now, no longer, allow spaces to be included in the username of any user type.

As part of this bug fix, the validation message that is sent back to the user have been made more consistent with the error being checked.

 

 

EP-4387

bug

screen_changes

Support Materials - User visibility

Overview

We have fixed a bug where Apprentice and EPA/EPAM users were not getting a filtered list of support materials based on their association with a specific provider or employer, and thus were able to see support materials for provider/employers they had no association with.

Medium_Impact

Listed as medium as users may see a change to existing support materials, restricting them to what they should be seeing based on the setup of the material.

 

EP-4385

bug

screen_changes

Gateway Components - View mode bugs

Overview

Fixed the following issues within gateway components:

  • Saving while within ‘view’ mode caused any questions against the component to be removed.

  • The Active flag may now be toggled again

  • After saving and continuing within ‘view’ mode the screen will correctly redirect the user back to the view mode of the screen rather than edit.

 

 

EP-4384

bug

 

Apprentice - Assessor/Mentor duplicate records

Overview

We have tidied up apprentice mentor and apprentice programme assessor data to remove duplicates from systems that had been effected by bug that allowed duplicate records to be added against the apprentice.

Impacted Areas

Past programme report

 

 

EP-4358

bug

screen_changes

Apprentice dashboard - assessment status

Overview

We have fixed a bug relating to the assessment status display on the apprentice dashboard to ensure that the colours used for each status mirror those used on the assessment profile screen.

Impacted Areas

Apprentice dashboard

 

 

EP-4348

bug

screen_changes

Communications - Subject only communications cannot have methods changed by the user

Overview

As part of the communication configuration extensions in https://covalenttech.atlassian.net/browse/EP-3534. We have fixed a bug that affected communications that were only sendable via the “Subject” recipient type. When logged in as a user, these communications could not have the sending method adjusted.

Impacted areas

  • Assessment Element Milestone Assigned Communication

  • Assessment Element Milestone Cancelled Communication

  • Assessment Element Milestone Unassigned Communication

  • MFA Enabled Communication

  • MFA Disabled Communication

 

 

EP-4347

bug

 

Custom roles - permission integrity

Overview

We have fixed a bug where users editing custom roles did not have the permissions that were included in the role being edited where causing those permissions to be removed from the role they were editing.

For example, Fred is updating a role with the permission Manage Apprentices under the System Management - Configuration section. Fred does not have this permission. Before the bug was fixed, when Fred pressed Save after editing the role, the Manage Apprentices was removed. This bug fix prevents the permission from being removed from the role being edited.

Impacted Areas

Roles

 

 

EP-4341

bug

 

Side drawer - text field focus

Overview

 We have fixed a bug that meant it was not possible to select text fields in the the side drawer in the following places:

  • The apprentice file label on the Add Apprentice File widget of the Upload side drawer on both the Gateway and Apprentice Details screens

  • The apprentice notes search box on the Apprentice Notes widget of the Gateway screen. 

Impacted Areas

Apprentice details screen

Gateway screen

 

 

EP-4459

bug

 

Assessment Components - Assessment component filter over-limiting for EPA(M) users.

Overview

Have fixed a bug where, when logged in as an EPA(M), the Assessment Component filter requires the EPA to have the corresponding standard assigned to their main standards and QA standards in order to display.

Assessment Components should now be shown if the EPA has the corresponding standard assigned to their main standards or QA standards.

 

Epic Link key type Action Required Release Notes Title Release Notes Description Potential Impact
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