Version 5.28.0 - 12/11/2024
Production Release Date: Nov 12, 2024 | Version: 5.28.0 |
UAT Release Date: Oct 15, 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 |
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| task |
| Composer and NPM updates | OverviewInternal updates to epaPRO software. Changes to FunctionalityThe underlying code libraries used within the development of epaPRO have been updated. This should not produce any functional changes. Impacted Areas
Permissions
| low impact | |
| feature |
| Notifications - Gateway reminder text improvement | OverviewThe Gateway Coming Soon and Gateway Missed reminder notifications have been updated. When either are triggered for only a single apprentice then the apprentice’s name will be shown within the notification text instead of just a number one. | low impact | |
| feature |
| ESFA Submission - Remove underline from apprentice name link | Overview The apprentice name styling in the ESFA Submissions screen has been updated to ensure consistency with other areas of the system. Changes to Functionality Previously, apprentice names in this screen were displayed with default URL formatting (blue and underlined). This has been corrected, and now the names are highlighted in blue without the underline, matching the styling in other sections of the platform.
Impacted Areas Apprentice name styling in the ESFA Submissions screen under the Assessment section. Permissions None. | low impact | |
| feature |
| Assessment Booking - Side drawer apprentice links | Overview The UI for the Assessment Bookings table has been improved by merging the "Given Name" and "Family Name" columns into a single "Apprentice Name" column. A clickable link has also been added to this column, allowing easy access to detailed apprentice information through a side drawer. Changes to Functionality Previously, the table had separate columns for "Given Name" and "Family Name," which took up more space and felt redundant. These columns have been combined into a single "Apprentice Name" column, which is sortable for convenience. Additionally, clicking on the apprentice's name now opens a side drawer from the right, showing more detailed information about the apprentice.
Impacted Areas
Permissions None. | low impact | |
| feature |
| Action Menu Enhancement in Pages Listing Screen | Overview The Pages listing screen has been enhanced by combining all action buttons (such as Edit and Delete) into a single drop down menu. This change makes the screen cleaner and more organized. Changes to Functionality Before, the Action column had separate buttons for Edit and Delete, which made things harder to manage. Now, these buttons are grouped into a 3-dot icon. When you click on the 3 dots, a menu will open with options like Edit, Delete, and other actions related to the page.
Impacted Areas
Permissions None. | low impact | |
| feature |
| Changes to the Action Menu in News Listing Screen | Overview The News listing screen has been made easier to use by consolidating all action buttons (such as Edit and Delete) into a single dropdown menu. This change makes the screen look cleaner. Changes to Functionality Before, the Action column had separate buttons for things like Edit and Delete. This made the screen feel crowded. Now, these buttons are all grouped together in a 3-dot icon. When you click on the 3 dots, a drop down menu will appear with options like Edit, Delete, and other actions related to News.
Impacted Areas content management ➡️ News Permissions None. | low impact | |
| feature |
| Actions Column Update for QA Question Templates | Overview The QA Question Templates screen has been improved by combining the Edit/View and Delete columns into one Actions column. This change saves space and makes the screen look cleaner. Changes to Functionality Before, there were two separate columns for Edit/View and Delete actions, which took up more space. Now, these columns have been merged into a single Actions column. The new Actions column has a 3-dot icon, and when clicked, it opens a dropdown menu with options for View, Edit, and Delete.
Impacted Areas
Permissions None. | low impact | |
| feature |
| Manage Planning Meetings - Action menu buttons | OverviewThe UI of action menu buttons for managing planning meetings has been updated from buttons to three dots, enhancing the user experience. Changes To FunctionalitiesThe action menu buttons were initially displayed horizontally in one row, but have since been converted into three dots, indicating a wider range of options. Impacted AreasManage Planning Meetings listing screen PermissionsNone | low impact | |
| feature | new_permissions | Reporting - New EPA Details Report and Added Case Load Limit to EPA Details Report | OverviewWe have created a new report designed to provide basic information about an EPA. This report is called the EPA Details report under the EPA section of the reporting screen. Changes to FunctionalityThe new EPA Details report provides a single row per EPA with various pieces of basic information relating to that EPA. This report currently provides much of the same information as can be found in the EPA information report but displays it per EPA. We have also added a new field to this report which is the The PermissionsA new permission has been added for this report. This permission is titled EPA Details and is found in the reporting section. By default this report is available to:
| low impact | |
| feature | Setup_Required , Screen_Changes , Recommend_Training | Results/Certifications - Result Releasing | OverviewAn optional extra stage has been added to epaPRO to delay the releasing of results/certifications to the public. This work also comes with SLA enhancements. Changes to FunctionalityProvider screensA new setting has been added into the edit/view Providers screen (Settings Tab → Auto Release Outcomes). This new setting will control whether results and certifications conducted against this provider will require manual release to external users (such as apprentices, providers, and employers). This step occurs either after QA, or after result submission (in the cases where a result is not sampled for QA). Note that this new setting will default to the value of “Yes” - this maintains the functionality of epaPRO as it is now, meaning that results and certifications will automatically become available to external users once the QA process is complete (if applicable). Result screen changesThe assessment result screen has been amended to now automatically release the result on submission, subject to the following criteria:
If either of the above are not true, then the result submission will instead place the result in a “pending outcome release” state If the grade is not released at this stage, a new action will be created for any user that has the Process Outcome Releases permission to release the outcome. Note that when a void result is added to the system via any method (via the results screen, or via the various external services available), this will automatically release regardless of the provider setting. Resits and RetakesThe functionality surrounding resits and retakes has been amended to take the new outcome release step into consideration. From now on, resits and retakes will not be considered available until the result is released. Any failure type grade that requires a resit will now not be possible to rebook until the failed grade is released to the external users. As mentioned above, void results will not require this manual releasing step. In the case of retakes, an apprentice will not enter the retake review status until the retake is released. Certification screen changesThe certification screen has been amended to now automatically release the certification on save, controlled by the provider being configured to automatically release outcomes. If not, then the certification will instead be placed in a “pending outcome release” state. If the grade is not released at this stage, a new action will be created for any user that has the Process Outcome Releases permission to release the outcome. Release Outcomes screenA new screen has been introduced within the Assessment → Release Outcomes menu, controlled by the new permissions (“Read” and “Process” Outcome Releases) - this new screen will list any results and/or certifications that are pending release to external users, providing the corresponding apprentice is not deleted, and is deemed “active” (apprentice statuses “In Assessment”, “Completed” and “Certified”). The screen can be filtered using the normal screen filters (such as search, cohort ID, provider, employer, standard, etc.) along with entity type (result or certification), component type (in the case of results), and dates. From within this screen, outcomes can be released either individually or in bulk, using two methods - “Now” or “Scheduled”. Selecting the “Now” option will release the outcome as soon as the submit button is pressed, allowing for immediate availability. If the “Schedule” option is chosen, the outcome can be released at a date/time of the user’s choosing, providing the date/time selected is not in the past. If an outcome is released immediately, the outcome should disappear from the screen and no longer be available. If scheduled, the outcome should remain in the screen along with it’s scheduled date. Until the outcome is released by the schedule, the schedule can be updated by editing the release (the outcome can also be released instantly by selecting the “Now” option and resubmitting). QA listing screensThe QA listing functionality has been updated to consider results and certifications that have not been released as Pending/In QA, if the logged in user is an external user type. Note that this will only be applicable if an external user type is given access to this listing screen – internal users should be unaffected. QA show/edit screensThe QA screen has been updated to allow users with QA and Process Outcome Release permissions to release an outcome at the point that it is signed off at QA. The declaration box has been updated within the QA screen to now show an additional toggle - “Release Outcome with QA?”. Setting this toggle to “on” before submitting the QA will cause the outcome to be released at the same time as the QA being completed. Note that this will not display if the provider is set to automatically release outcomes, as this will occur automatically and therefore it does not require a choice. Assessment Profile screenThe assessment profile screen has been enhanced to take into consideration the new “Pending outcome release” status of both results and certifications. When logged in as an external user, an outcome will remain at status “pending QA” until the outcome is released - even when the grade has not been sampled for QA. When logged in as an internal user, the grade details can be seen once the outcome is “complete” (i.e. past QA or not sampled), but will inform the user that the outcome is pending release via a badge. Users that have the permission to release outcomes will be presented with a new primary action button to take them to a, pre-filtered list based on the selected apprentice’s ULN. In addition to this, internal users will also see the programme checklist items show as an amber warning instead of green, when a result or certification is complete but has not been released yet. In the case of external users, they will continue to show as grey and incomplete. Element Side-drawerThe element side-drawer has been updated in a similar way to the assessment profile, to show when a result or certification is pending outcome release. The grade will be hidden from external users until the outcome is released. Internal users will also see the result/certification status as an amber warning, instead of green, when a result or certification is complete but has not been released yet. In the case of external users, they will continue to show as grey and incomplete. In addition to this, the results widget will also offer internal users with processing permissions a shortcut button to release the outcome - this works in a similar way to the primary action button mentioned within the assessment profile section. Apprentice Profile screenThe apprentice profile has also been updated with additional enhancements to honour the new outcome release logic. Viewing the apprentice profile as an external user prior to outcome release will hide result and certification grades. Internal users will see the grades, but will see a “pending outcome release” badge, to confirm this is not available to the public yet. Action changesAs part of this work, the following actions have been added or amended to keep actions and SLAs in line:
These actions (like other actions) will appear within the actions side-drawer, and within the “My To-Do’s” screen, with a shortcut button to the Assessment → Release Outcomes screen. SLAsAs part of this work, various changes have been made to the way that SLAs track the apprentice journey. Though some of these changes are under the hood to improve the way epaPRO does this, there are also some frontend changes. These are:
Note that it has not been possible to retrospectively start these timers for apprentices that have either been through, or are currently going through, EPA - although the gateway approved date is known, it would not be possible to know of any change of circumstances that would have paused this timer during their EPA. Reporting changesThe following reports have been created/amended as part of this development:
In addition the SLA report changes above, a bug has been fixed that prevented SLAs completed by automated processes (such as external assessments and background processes) from appearing in SLA reports - this has now been resolved, and will show a completed SLA with no user in these instances. APIThe following API endpoints have been updated by this functionality. The details of this are below:
In addition to this, the API queue will now only publish the following entries when an outcome is released, instead of relying on the QA / skipping of QA as it did previously:
These can then be used to pull the new data mentioned above using the normal routes. Impacted Areas
Permissions
Screenshots can be seen -New Feature EP-4399 Results/Certifications - Result Releasing | medium impact Set to Medium because this will need training & setup if used. But you can choose to use it. | |
| bug |
| Bulk Upload - Providers - fix upload error when attempting to create or update a provider. | OverviewFixes a bug that prevented the import of new providers. Changes to FunctionalityWhen attempting to create a new provider user via the bulk import functionality, it was not possible as an error was thrown. This error has now been resolved, and bulk import should now work as expected. Impacted Areas
Permissions
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| bug |
| API - Reasonable Adjustments Date | OverviewFixed a bug where reasonable adjustment data was not showing within the Fixed a bug where reasonable adjustments that cover an entire programme duration cause the apprentice endpoints to fail. |
| |
| bug |
| Audit Log pronouns, pronunciation and preferred names fields are not tracked | OverviewFixed a bug where the preferred name, pronunciation, and pronouns were not logging correctly within the change log. |
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| bug |
| Notifications - amend the description of the Gateway Coming Soon notification so that it correctly says "next 30 days" | OverviewThe "Gateway Coming soon" description in the communication email template has been updated from "next 7 days" to "next 30 days." |
| |
| bug |
| Reasonable Adjustments - UI Fix | Overview This update brings a minor UI improvement to the 'Add Reasonable Adjustment' form in the apprentice list. The form now has a consistent top margin to match the appearance of other forms in the system. Changes to Functionality Previously, the 'Add Reasonable Adjustment' form opened from the three-dot menu in the apprentice list without a top margin, which caused it to look inconsistent with other forms. This has now been fixed, ensuring the form displays with proper spacing for a cleaner and more cohesive appearance.
Impacted Areas
Permissions None. |
| |
| bug |
| SLA - Calculations over multiple excluded days | OverviewFixed a bug where SLA counters were not pausing correctly over excluded day periods greater than one day i.e. Christmas closures. |
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| bug |
| Apprentice - Processed By error | OverviewFixed an issue where the apprentice’s user id was being incorrectly recorded against the programme as the created by user. The correct user is now recorded going forward. |
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| bug |
| Apprentice Profile - apprentice name not showing in header for past programmes | OverviewThe issue with the apprentice name in the header is resolved when examining past programs of the apprentice. Changes To FunctionalitiesFixed an issue where the apprentice name was not visible for the past programmes in the apprentice profile, now its showing the apprentice name for both active and past programmes. Impacted AreasApprentice Profile PermissionsNone |
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| bug |
| Availability and Calendars - Duplicate entries showing for rebooked elements | OverviewFixed a bug in which elements that had been rebooked were showing up multiple times in both the dashboard and EPA availability calendar. Changes to functionality The calendars will now only take into account the most recent active or pending booking for any given element, meaning that the information displayed is up to date and relevant. |
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| bug |
| Dashboard Calendar - Fixed bug with cancelled bookings showing | OverviewFixed a bug in which caused booking to still appear on the EPA availability calendar when an apprentice had their bookings cancelled after a COC or suspension. Changes to functionality The calendars will now not display cancelled elements and will only show the most recent active or pending elements meaning that the information shown is correct and up to date. |
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Epic Link | key | type | Action Required | Release Notes Title | Release Notes Description | Potential Impact |
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