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Version 5.23.0 - 25/06/2024

Version 5.23.0 - 25/06/2024

Owned by Rachel Bocking, created
Last updated: Jun 21, 2024 by Lisa Clancy
15 min read
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Production Release Date: Jun 25, 2024

Version: 5.23.0

UAT Release Date: May 28, 2024

 

The Release webinar is 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

Epic

Key

Type

Action Required

Summary

Release Notes Description

Potential Impact

 

EP-4507

Feature

No Action Required

Assessment Components - Improve performance when many external assessments are configured against a component.

Overview

Internal improvements to cause external services to load more efficiently within the assessment components screen.

Changes to Functionality

Changes have been made to the back-end code of epaPRO to improve performance when loading in external services within the assessment components screen.

The most noticeable speed improvements will be seen with the epaPRO Assess configuration.

Impacted Areas

  • Entity Management → Assessment Components → External Services

Permissions

  • None

LOW IMPACT

 

EP-4470

Feature

screen_changes

Audit Log - show if an entity has been copied in the audit work log

Overview

The resulting record from the “Copy” functionality will show the ID of the record it was copied from within it’s change log entry.

Changes to Functionality

The copy functionality for entity screens (such as the Assessment Schema) has been updated to show the ID of the parent record when a new record is created using this method. This is visible to users that have access to view the change log entries.

This has been added so that investigation can be done when attempting to locate where new records have been created from.

Impacted Areas

  • Entity Management → Standards

  • Entity Management → Gateway Component

  • Entity Management → Gateway Specifications

  • Entity Management → Assessment Components

  • Entity Management → Assessment Schemas

Permissions

  • None

LOW IMPACT

 

EP-4451

Feature

NEW_PERMISSIONS screen_changes

Reporting - Advanced Certification Billing Report

Overview

A new Certification billing report has been added to the system to allow flexibility in when to bill for certification.

Details

The new billing report mimics much of the functionality of the current Certification billing report with a few notable exceptions.

  • A certification record is not required for an apprentice to show in this report.

  • All components must at least be booked with no outstanding booking actions i.e. resit required

  • By default the apprentice status must be either In Assessment, Completed, or Certified

  • The related contract is not based on the apprentice’s start date or gateway approval date. It is instead based on when the report runs allowing for a flexible contract.

It is worth noting that both this new Certification report and the original Certification report will share the same auditing space. This means that if an apprentice is processed and billed under one of the reports they will also be flagged as processed in the other. This has been done to help prevent double billing in the case where both reports are being utilised.

Permissions

New permissions have been added for the report and granted to the owner and awardingorganisation roles by default.

LOW IMPACT

 

EP-4295

Feature

SETUP_REQUIRED NEW_PERMISSIONSRECOMMEND_TRAINING screen_changes

Assessment Booking - New Screen and Process

Overview

An entirely new assessment booking process has been implemented. This new process allows you or one of your providers to make bookings, manage pending bookings, handle rejected bookings or rebook assessments that require a resit.

The new process is completely optional.

Affected Areas

  • Menu

  • Assessment Booking

Changes to Functionality

We have added a new collapsible menu item for the new assessment booking process. Under assessment bookings in the left hand menu you will see four new pages: book, pending, rejected and resits and retakes. Within each menu item you will also see a number which is the count of available components that can be booked within that screen. For example if you have a 10 next to pending then you will have 10 individual components within that listing screen.

Please Note: The new assessment booking process is completely optional and the old assessment booking screens, found under the planning menu item, are still available.

Listing Screens

Book:

  • The book screen will show a list of apprentices components that are available to be, but have not yet been, booked. This differs from the previous assessment booking screen as it will show apprentices that do not have an assessment plan as well as apprentices that do already have an assessment plan.

  • Bookings are listed by the apprentices component.

  • There are various options for filtering this listing screen above. Some new additions include the ability to filter assessment bookings by standard sector, whether an apprentice has any reasonable adjustments, and filtering by component.

  • Bookings can be created by ticking the components you wish to book and clicking the start booking components button above the listings. Bookings can also be made individually, by using the start booking button in the action menu for that component.

  • From this screen you or a provider will be able to click either the add components to existing button found above the listing, or from within the action menu, to add a new booking to a currently pending booking batch if it matches the schema, component and provider.

Please Note: All apprentices within a booking must be on the same schema.

Pending:

  • The pending screen will show a list of apprentice components that have been requested by a provider. As an AO you will have the ability to pick components that you wish to process. To pick bookings to process you can: select them individually and click the process button, click process component within the action menu or alternatively you can process the entire batch by clicking the process batch button.

  • If you wish the edit a batch without processing the components right away, or if a provider wishes to make alterations to a batch, you will see within the action menu the option to edit batch. This will allow you to make changes to the booking but the booking will remain in a pending state.

  • From the action menu, you or a provider can also cancel a batch, which will remove the requested bookings from the screen and cancel any bookings within it.

  • The batch that a component booking belongs to is shown under the batch column and is also filterable by typing in its number in the batch field.

Rejected:

  • This screen is identical to the book screen, except it shows components that have been rejected, from the pending bookings process, by an AO.

  • To process rejected components you can select them and click the start booking buttons found above the listing or within the action menu.

  • Providers can also use this screen to re request new bookings for rejected components.

Resits and Retakes

  • This screen is the same as above except it allows you or providers to book or request new bookings for assessments that require a resit.

Add To Booking Screen

As previously mentioned, from the book screen you can add new apprentice components to existing bookings. when you have selected the components you wish to add and have clicked the add to booking button you will be taken to a new screen.

This new screen will populate with a list of booking batches that the selected components can be added to. In order to add to one of these bookings you must click the add to booking button on the right of its item.

Under each booking you will see its batch number, how many elements are pending and when the first scheduled assessment is within that booking, giving you a brief idea of when this batch is booked in whether it is appropriate for the selected components.

Please Note: In order for a batch to show on this screen, it must match the schema and provider of the currently selected bookings. Additionally, it must also contain at least one booking for the component(s) that are selected.

Making a Booking

When creating, processing or editing a booking you will be taken to the booking screen. This screen shows a break down of all components within the booking and contains various options for configuring and booking each component that will be detailed in this section.

Auto Booking:

  • When creating a new booking you will see a booking mode section with the automatic and manual options listed. Selecting automatic will show a a couple of new inputs on the right hand side of the screen as well as a button titled find suitable times.

  • In order to automatically find times for the components you must enter the start date that you wish for the automatic system to begin looking for bookings. If you want the bookings to have an assessment centre you may also enter the assessment centre in the field.

  • Clicking find suitable times will open a pop up window and begin the process. Starting at the date that you have inputted the automatic system will search for any appropriate booking slots for all of the components within the booking. If it finds available booking slots for all components then it will set that components slots to the ones found.

Please Note: For performance reasons, the automatic system will only search for available slots within the calendar week of the start date that you have selected.

  • Once the automatic process is complete, the timeslot and assessment centre, if selected, for each component will have been entered into its relevant sections. However, the bookings have not been saved. This allows you to manually enter or change any details you need to before saving the bookings.

Components:

  • Within the screen you will see the list of components that make up this booking. These components are collapsible and contain a set of stages to fill out before saving the booking. Any apprentices that share a component within the booking will be grouped into each component

  • Under the title of each component you will see a subtitle containing information for quick reference. Depending on if the information is relevant, it may include: the number of apprentices, the assessment centre, the EPA, the scheduled timestamp, the external assessment type, the proctoring type, the number of attendees and the notice period.

  • Within each component will be a set of stages. You can cycle between stages either by clicking its numbered circle in the stage timeline above or by clicking the next and previous buttons.

  • The list of stages include: Location, Date and Time, External & Proctoring, Attendees, Confirmation and for resit/retakes will also include a declaration section.

Location:

  • In this stage, depending on the available options, you can select between an online assessment or one with a physical location. You may specify a location in the text entry field and for assessments with a physical location you can pick an assessment centre.

Date and Time:

  • In this stage, you can select either a scheduled date for the assessment or pick an available timeslot. This also allows you to specify a duration for the assessment and pick the EPA for it.

  • Time slots are automatically calculated on a week by week basis, with the information currently available. If an assessment centre is selected then timeslots will be displayed based on the capacity settings of that assessment centre for the selected week. If no assessment centre is selected then slots will be displayed based on the configured working hours.

  • Within each time slot is a colour coded circle designed to give a quick indication of how much capacity is available at that time slot. For performance reasons this does not give an exact number, however when green, it indicates that there is a lot of capacity and when red it indicates that there is very little capacity available.

  • When clicking a timeslot you may notice that more then one become selected. This is because you components duration will stretch over multiple timeslots. The system handles this for you and selects all required timeslots to fit in your component. However, if there are not enough slots to fit the component, then the page will not select any slots and will show a message to the user.

  • When an EPA is selected, you will see a view EPA button next to the select field. Clicking this will open the EPA in the side draw for quick reference.

External & Proctoring:

  • In this stage you can select and configure an external assessment, as well as proctoring options against these assessments. The options shown will depend on the configuration of the component and your system.

  • Editing the external assessment and proctoring option is done the same as on the assessment plan screen. Select the option you wish to choose and fill out the relevant details.

  • If a component requires invigilator details you can also find them on this stage at the bottom. This will require the same information as the assessment plan screen i.e. the name, email and number of the invigilator.

Attendees:

  • In this stage you can add or manage the attendees for the booking. There are four available buttons for adding attendees, these being: add attendee, add guest attendee, add on programme assessor and add workplace mentor.

  • Clicking any of the above buttons will open a pop up window with a select box containing the apprentices for this booking. After selecting an apprentice for this attendee and depending on the type of guest being added you will then have more options. For regular attendees and guest attendees you will see the same input fields as appear on the assessment plan screen. Adding the attendee in this instance will add them to the list of attendees and close the pop up. However if adding the on programme assessor or workplace mentor then the relevant guest details will be automatically filled out and added to the list for that apprentice.

  • Attendees can be removed from the component booking by pressing the delete button next to their listing item.

Confirmation:

  • In this stage you will see the list of apprentices for this booking and their current status. Before you save the booking then this status will say unsaved.

  • As the components are processed when booking, the status will update to reflect whether or not it was successful. If there was a validation issue or error when saving then the list of issues for each apprentice will appear next to their status.

Declaration:

  • When saving a resit or retake, you will see an additional declaration stage. This stage is identical to the one found on the assessment plan screen and contain the learner consent toggle, the AO verified toggle and the ability to sign the booking.

Additional Details:

  • When editing or processing a pending booking, all of the relevant information will be automatically filled in and can then be edited.

Restricted Fields:

Some fields will not appear for provider users, these are:

  • EPA select

  • Duration

  • External Assessments

  • Proctoring Options

Saving/processing a Booking

When you have finished entering details for all the components on the booking you can hit either the save button or, when processing a pending booking, the approve button. This will then begin saving components. During this time you will see loading spinners appear for each component as well as a progress bar appear above each components title. This progress bar signals how many of the apprentices for each have component have been saved.

If any of the apprentices on any component encounter an issue then a red circle with an X will show in the components field and a message will appear on the screen. You can open the relevant component and go to the confirmation stage to see which apprentice encountered an issue and what the issue was.

Encountering an error will not prevent the screen from attempting to book the rest of the components and in situations where, for example an external assessment failed, the booking may have been saved successfully and the external assessment can be fixed/resolved from the assessment plan screen later.

Rejecting Bookings

When processing a pending booking, you have the option to completely reject the selected components. In order to do this you can click the red reject button at the bottom of the screen. Doing so will open a pop up window where you must specify a rejection reason. After doing so the rejections will process and when successful the pending bookings will appear in the rejected listing screen so that they can be rebooked if necessary.

Any errors that occur while attempting to reject an apprentices component booking will appear in the confirmation stage.

View/Manage Apprentices

Under each component you will see a view/manage apprentices button. Clicking this will open a pop up window showing a list of apprentices for this component, that are selected from the booking.

  • Clicking the name of any of the apprentices will open that apprentice in the side draw for quick reference.

  • If the apprentices booking is a resit or retake, this pop up will also display the EPA that assessed their last booking.

  • Apprentices can be removed from the booking by clicking the remove button. If all apprentices are removed from a component, then that component will be removed from the booking. If all apprentices are removed from the booking overall, then you will be returned to the relevant listing screen.

Please Note: Removing an apprentice from a pending booking will cancel that apprentices booked element. The pop up window will also warn you of this. There there are no more apprentices on a pending booking then the entire booking will also be automatically cancelled.

Permissions

We have added some permissions for the new assessment bookings screens, in their own dedicated assessment bookings permission section, in order to separate the new process from the previous screen allowing for a controlled roll out of the new functionality.

Book Assessment Booking:

  • Default roles: AO users, EPA’s and EPA managers.

  • Allows the user to access the new assessment booking screens and create bookings from the available apprentices.

Manage Assessment Booking:

  • Default roles: AO users, EPA’s and EPA managers.

  • Allows the user to access pending assessment bookings to edit (and process for internal users) the booking.

Notifications/Communications

We have introduced two new communications:

  1. Assessment Booking Cancelled - sent when an assessment booking request is cancelled

  2. Assessment Booking Invite - sent when an assessment booking is requested

We have made changes to the notifyees on all of the existing comms as follows:

Assessment Booking Pending:

  • Subject - this is the user that requested the assessment booking

  • Apprentice - the apprentice for which the assessment is being booked

  • AO - all AO users

  • Employer - all employer users that are related to the apprentice to which the assessment booking is being made for

  • Provider - all provider users that are related to the apprentice to which the assessment booking is being made for

  • EPA - the apprentices EPA

  • EPA Manager - the EPA Manager to the apprentices EPA

  • Apprentice's On Programme Assessor

  • Apprentice's Workplace Mentor

Assessment Booking Rejected/Assessment Booking Approved:

  • Subject - this is the user that requested the assessment booking

  • Apprentice - the apprentice for which the assessment is being booked

  • AO - all AO users

  • Employer - any employer users that are added as attendees to the assessment booking

  • EPA - any EPA users that are added as attendees to the assessment booking

  • EPA Manager - any EPA Manager users that are added as attendees to the assessment booking

  • Provider - any provider users that are added as attendees to the assessment booking

  • Assessment Centre Coordinator - any assessment centre contacts with the Booking Coordinator role

  • Element guest - any element guests that are added as attendees to the assessment booking, including apprentice workplace mentor and on programme assessor

  • Element invigilator - the invigilator that is added to the assessment booking

Additionally the Assessment Booking Cancelled and Assessment Booking Invite comms have the same user configuration, with the exception that AO users are not included on the Assessment Booking Invite Communication.

We have also added the {{component_name}} variable to all five of the Assessment Booking comms.

We have also added a new API queue event to cover an Assessment Booking rejection, called rejected_element_{{element_id}}. This will be fired when an assessment booking request is rejected.

 

The article here contains screenshots - https://covalenttech.atlassian.net/wiki/pages/createpage.action?spaceKey=KB&title=Coming%20Soon%20EP-4295%20Assessment%20Booking%20-%20New%20Screen%20%26%20Process&linkCreation=true&fromPageId=3285581838

HIGH IMPACT

Should you require any further training on this new screen please submit a request for training support ticket and we will arrange a call to go through this new process with you

 

EP-4583

story

 

[UAT Feedback] Communications - Updated communications and their templates with new descriptions.

 

Overview

Updates some descriptions for assessment booking communications and their corresponding templates.

Changes to Functionality

The assessment booking communications (and corresponding templates) have been updated to have more accurate descriptions, for both the main notification & the user types associated with them.

Impacted Areas

  • System Management → Communications

  • System Management → Communication Templates

Permissions

  • None

low

 

EP-4547

bug

 

API - Assessment Plan - Failure to read elements

Overview

Fixed a bug where the Plan endpoint would fail to return results due to assessment elements in a Pending state.

Areas Affected

API

 

 

EP-4546

bug

 

Assessment Element Sidedrawer - Viewing a previous result still shows the main element activity logic.

Overview

Fixed a bug when viewing the audit log in the assessment element side drawer. It was not possible to view the audit log for previous elements - it would show the current element.

 

 

EP-4544

bug

 

Assessment Profile - Pending elements not showing

Overview

Fixed a bug for old assessment elements in a pending state where they were not being correctly flagged as the “latest” element.

Also updated any pending assessment elements within cancelled assessment plans to also be flagged as cancelled.

 

EP-4571

bug

 

Custom Dropdowns - Degraded performance fix

Overview

Fixed a bug that caused the edit custom dropdowns screen to not load

Changes to Functionality

Fixed a bug that prevented some custom drop down edit pages from loading when the drop down options were linked to a certain number of records.

Impacted Areas

Custom Dropdowns →

  • Apprentice Note Categories,

  • EPA Assign Element Decision Rejection Reason

  • EPA Developmental Feedback Categories

  • QA Task Outcome Types

  • QA Task Types

  • Standard Sectors

 

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