Feature - Appeals Process + Enhancements
- Lisa Clancy
Appeals - Type Field
We have added functionality for a “custom type” to be attached to an appeal, via the use of custom dropdown values, which can be configured via the Appeal Types category on the Custom Dropdowns management screen.
Changes to Functionality
We have added visibility of this type field to the Appeal listing screen, the Appeal management screen, the Appeals widget in the the Element/Certification side drawer and the Appeal Summary report. We have also added a filter to the reports and the appeal listing screen to allow filtering on the appeal type.
As a part of this work, the old Appeal Type filter has been renamed Appeal Link. The new Appeal Type filter references the values from the Appeal Types custom drop down.
The old Type column on the Appeal Summary report has been renamed Appeal Link, and the Type column now references the value from the Appeal Types custom drop down.
Appeals- Outcome Field
We have added functionality for an outcome to be attached to an appeal.
Changes to Functionality
We have added visibility of this outcome field to the Appeal listing screen, the Appeal management screen (in the resolution details box), the Appeals widget in the the Element/Certification side drawer and the Appeal Summary report. We have also added a filter to the reports and the appeal listing screen to allow filtering on the appeal outcome.
Appeals - Assigned User
We have added functionality to allow an appeal to be assigned to a user in the system with the appropriate appeal permission.
Changes to Functionality
When creating a new appeal, or editing an existing appeal, it is now possible to assign a user to manage that appeal. The assigned user will need to have the Update Appeals permission. By default the appeal will be assigned to the person that owns it, as long as they are not an external user.
We have added the assigned person to the appeals screens, appeal report, side drawer information (under Appeal details for both element and certification appeals).
We have also added a filter to the appeals listing screen to allow filtering by person assigned to the appeal.
Appeals - element/certification QA name
We have added the name of the EPA/EPAM user that undertook the QA relating to the entity that the appeal applies to (element or certification). As part of this work, we have also made this name link up to the side drawer, so their details can be viewed whilst on the appeal management screen.
Impacted Areas
Reporting, Appeals listing and management screens, side drawer
Permissions
No New Permissions
This work is live in your Production environment as of 24-05-22 in release 4.25.
We have created a new Appeals process so that EPAOs can track Appeals from Candidates or Providers so that they can be managed and tracked.
Create Appeal Screen
The create screen has introduced two new permissions with have been given to some system roles by default. These are detailed below and will need to be applied to any custom roles as required.
A new appeal create screen has been added as part of the new Appeals functionality. This screen provides the relevant details about the entity (certification or element) that is being appeals along with the apprentice’s details and a form where basic information about the appeal can be entered. This screen is also used for editing an existing appeal via the “Edit Appeal” button when viewing the details.
The create screen introduces two new notifications “Appeal Updated” and “Appeal Closed” for more details on the new notifications please read the release notes for Appeals - Notifications
Creating An Appeal
Appeals can be created from the Manage Element or Manage Certification side drawers. The following criteria are required for this button to show:
Elements:
User has the “Create Element Appeals” permission
There is no currently “open” appeal, this includes the awaiting response statuses
The apprentice has not been submitted to the ESFA
For external users - the last appeal date has not passed, this uses the new Appeal Window field against components see the release notes for Assessment Component Changes
QA has been published
Certification:
User has the “Create Certification Appeals” permission
There is no currently “open” appeal, this includes the awaiting response statuses
The apprentice has not been submitted to the ESFA
For external users - the last appeal date has not passed, this uses the existing setting within epaPRO that controls the certification appeal window, found in Configuration → ESFA → Appeals
QA has been published
Element / Certification Details
This new screen has a very similar layout between an appeal for a certification or an element. The section at the top of the screen will change depending on the entity being appealed:
Elements will show the “Element Details” box which contains summary information about the element and then a button to open the Manage Element side drawer
Certifications will show the “Certification Details” box which, like the elements, will show summary information about the certification and a button to open the Manage Certification side drawer
Appeal Fields
This screen then allows the user creating the appeal to enter the following details:
Title - this is a short title for the appeal and can be used for any purpose. This title will be shown in various places and can be used to identify the appeal. For example, some of our customers have multiple states of appeals so this could indicate a “Stage 1” or “Stage 2” appeal against an element.
Summary - this is a summary of the appeal, it might include initial details about why it’s being raised and acts as a description. It has a character limit of 1000 characters.
Status - internal users are able to edit the status when creating or editing an appeal. The status indicates where the appeal is and who needs to perform an action on it. External users will only be able to trigger the status change when adding comments - see Appeal Details Screen for details
Requested By - this is an informational field to indicate who requested the appeal, this is to account for the appeal being created by a user that did not request it. For example, a provider creates it on the apprentice’s behalf.
Requested Date - this is the date the appeal was requested, again to account for it is different to when the appeal is created.
During the creation of the appeal, a user can also attach one or more files. The appeals system uses our recently release Apprentice Files system and so any file already uploaded can be linked or new ones uploaded and linked.
Alerts / Element & Certification Status
To make it clear when an element or certification has an open appeal, the status of the element or certification will show as “Under Appeal”. An alert will also be shown indicating what elements/certification are under appeal and provide a link to “view details” if the user has permission.
Permissions
Two new permissions have been added to control who can create appeals.
These new permissions are available under the “Appeals” heading and are called:
Create Certification Appeals - This allows the user to create appeals against a certification. The following system roles will have this permission by default:
awardingorganisation
owner
epa
epamanager
provider
Create Element Appeals - This allows the user to create appeals against an element. The following system roles will have this permission by default:
awardingorganisation
owner
epa
epamanager
provider
Notifications
A new notification has been added that is sent when a new appeal has been created.
The new notification is called “Appeal Created” and by default is configured as an In App notification to the following users:
Awarding Organisation
Providers
Subject - This is the EPA assigned to the element being appealed or the EPA assigned to the apprentice if a certification is being appealed
For more information on this notification please read the release notes for Appeals - Notifications.
Appeals - Details Screen
A new appeal details screen has been added that allows for the full management of the appeal. This is where the bulk of the appeal process will be controlled, with result adjustments being used to link back up the changes with the appeal.
This new screen has four main tabs; Details, Comments, File Uploads and Activity. These will be detailed below. Similar to the create appeal screen, the top section of this screen also contains the apprentice’s details and the element or certification details, depending on which the appeal is linked to. A shortcut “Result Adjustment” button is also shown which will automatically select the adjustment reason to “Appeal” and select this appeal.
When an appeal has been closed, a box will show at the top of the appeal details screen indicating the appeal has been resolved. It will show the date it was resolved, along with who and the description they entered. This box will be collapsed on mobile, but can be expanded by tapping.
New Permissions
Five new permissions has been added to control this screen.
The details and default roles for each are below:
Add/Edit Own Appeal Comments - This provides the user the ability to add, edit and delete their own comments on the appeal. By default the following roles have this permission:
awardingorganisation
owner
epa
epamanager
provider
Delete Appeals - Allows the user to delete an appeal, see below for the other criteria needed to delete an appeal. By default the following roles have this permission:
awardingorganisation
owner
epa
epamanager
Update Appeals - Allows the user to update the base details of an appeal, including the title, summary, requested by, requested date and the status (for internal users). By default following roles have this permission:
awardingorganisation
owner
epa
epamanager
Update/Delete Own Appeal Files - Similar to comments this permission allows the user to upload/link and delete files they’ve uploaded. By default the following roles have this permission:
awardingorganisation
owner
epa
epamanager
provider
Read Appeals - This allows the user to read details about an appeal including access to the listing screen (which will pre-filter based on the ones they should see), access to the details screen and the appeals widget on the Manage Element and Manage Certification side drawers. By default the following roles have this permission:
awardingorganisation
owner
epa
epamanager
provider
employer
apprentice
Details Tab
This tab provides some useful actions for the appeal, along with the base information about the appeal, as entered when creating it. This is the first tab shown when viewing the details of an appeal.
The available actions are:
Close Appeal - This will change the appeal's status to “Closed”. This button will only be shown when the appeal’s status is not “Closed” and if the user has the “Update Appeals” permission. A resolution will need to be provided and similar to the summary this is a text field with a maximum character count of 1000. Once the appeal has been closed an “Appeal Closed” notification is sent to relevant users via the methods configured.
Reopen Appeal - This will change the appeal’s status back to “Open”. This button will only be shown when the appeal’s status is “Closed” and if the user has the “Update Appeals” permission.
Edit Appeal - This will take the user to the edit appeal screen, which is the same as the create appeal screen. This will only be shown if the user has the “Update Appeals” permission and the status of the appeal is not “Closed”.
Delete Appeal - This will permanently delete an appeal. This will only be shown if the user has the “Delete Appeals” permission and the appeal meets the following criteria:
The appeal has no comments
The appeal has no files linked
The appeal has no element result adjustments linked
The appeal has no certification result adjustments linked
Comments Tab
The comments tab is an area where all parties involved, will be able to comment on the appeal. Each comment can be up to 1000 characters long and the current length of the message is indicated by the counter under the field.
The list of comments can be sorted with the newest shown first (default) or the newest shown last. The “add comment” form will also move to the top/bottom of the list depending on the sort. As you can see from the image below they appear similar to text messages with your comments “right justified” and the responder “left justified”.
When adding a comment, an internal user can choose to automatically toggle the status of the appeal to “Awaiting Provider Response” and external users can automatically toggle the appeal to “Awaiting EPAO Response”. If a comment needs to be added, but the user still needs to action something, they can untick the box to keep the status of the appeal the same.
File Uploads Tab
This tab will be familiar to those that have been using the result, certification or QA screens with the recently released apprentice files work. This allows the user to attach files to the appeal using the same apprentice file system.
Activity Tab
An appeal requires an audited trail of changes and so this activity tab will keep track of everything that happens with the result. It’ll be shown with the newest first and display what happened, who actioned it and when. The following activity will be logged against an appeal and shown on this tab:
When the appeal is created
When the appeal is updated
When the status of the appeal has changed
When a comment has been added, deleted or edited
When a file has been linked or unlinked
When a result adjustment has been linked
Notifications
Two new notifications have been added that are sent whenever the appeal has been updated or closed. The notifications are called “Appeal Updated” and “Appeal Closed” by default both are configured as an In-App notification to the following users:
Awarding Organisation
Providers
Subject - This is the EPA assigned to the element being appealed or the EPA assigned to the apprentice if a certification is being appealed
For more information on these notification please read Appeals - Notifications
Assessment Element Changes
A new “Appeals” widget has been added to the manage element side drawer. This widget provides a way to create an appeal for the element, providing the creation criteria has been met, and also see a history of past appeals linked to the same element.
Each appeal row in the side drawer will display the title and current status and then when clicked on, will also show the following details:
Requested Date
Requested By
Closed Date
Closed By
Created Date
Created By
The list of past appeals are shown in order with the most recent first.
This widget will also show an info box at the top, informing the user of the date the appeal window ends and that the appeal window has finished.
The view adjustments section of the manage element drawer has also been updated to include a link to an appeal if the type of change is “Appeal”.
Assessment Component Changes
This change requires the assessment components to be updated with the relevant appeal window. By default this value will be 0 days when deployed and so external users will not have the ability to raise an appeal against an element.
This change stamps a last appeal date against the result when the QA is published.
This means existing results have not been retroactively updated to have a last appeal date. These results will be assumed to have passed the appeal window.
A new Appeals Window field has been added to the assessment components.
This is the number of days after the QA has been published that an external user can raise an appeal. Once this date passes, external users will lose access to the create appeal button. Internal users will still have access to this button.
When a QA is published for the result the current date plus the defined appeal window will be used to calculate the final date. Once this final date has arrived external users will lose the ability to create an appeal.
If the appeal window has passed and an appeal is still created a warning will be shown indicating the window has passed.
For certifications the appeals window uses the existing certification appeal window that is found within the Configuration → ESFA → Appeals setting.
Result Adjustment
The result adjustment functionality has been extended to integrate into the new appeals system. Past adjustments will be unaffected by these changes. A result adjustment for any reason other than an appeal will still work as it did before, no changes have been made for these.
When selecting “Appeal” as the reason for a result adjustment a second dropdown will now be shown, allowing an appeal to be selected from the list. By default the result adjustment screen will automatically select the most relevant appeal, i.e. one that is linked to the element/certification being adjusted, however, the adjustment can be linked to any appeal if needed.
The new dropdown will show all open (including awaiting response status) appeals for the apprentice and will show the title of the appeal, the component name or “Certification” it’s linked to and the current status of the appeal.
A result adjustment due to an appeal will now require an appeal record to have been created and not be in a closed status.
When saving the adjustment this will trigger the adjustment to be linked up to the appeal and will automatically add a new activity entry on the appeal indicating a result adjustment has been linked.
When the result adjustment is saved epaPRO will automatically change the apprentice’s status as required based on the new state of their assessments and certification.
Certification Changes
The criteria around when a certification can be QAed has been updated to now take into account the new appeals system. A certification cannot be QAed if there is an open appeal.
Manage Certification Changes
A new “Appeals” widget has been added to the manage certification side drawer. This widget provides a way to create an appeal for the certification, providing the creation criteria has been met, and also see a history of past appeals linked to the certification.
Each appeal row in the side drawer will display the title and current status and then when clicked on will also show the following details:
Requested Date
Requested By
Closed Date
Closed By
Created Date
Created By
The list of past appeals are shown in order with the most recent first.
This widget will also show an info box at the top informing the user of the date the appeal window ends and that the appeal window has finished.
The view adjustments section of the manage certification drawer has also been updated to include a link to an appeal if the type of change is “Appeal”.
ESFA Submission Screen
The ESFA screen has been updated to exclude any apprentices that have an appeal in a non-closed state. Once the appeal has been closed they will then show on the screen.
Appeal Notifications
The appeals functionality has added three new notifications:
“Appeal Created”, “Appeal Updated” and “Appeal Closed”.
They all default as an In-App notification that will be sent to Providers, Awarding Organisations and the Subject user.
The subject user for all three, is the EPA assigned to the element, or the EPA assigned to the apprentice, if the appeal is linked to a certification.
These notifications have some special conditions when a provider or employer triggered the notification. In this instance, the notification will not be sent to the other users of the provider or employer. The notification will also not be sent to the user that triggered the notification.
Appeal Created - This is sent when an appeal has been created against a certification or element result.
Appeal Updated - This is sent when an appeal has been updated in any way. This includes:
A new comment has been added, edited or deleted
A file has been linked or unlinked
The appeal’s basic details have been changed
The appeal has been reopened
A result adjustment has been made against any element or certification and linked to the appeal
Appeal Closed - This is sent when the appeal has been closed.
Email and SMS templates have also been given two new variables:
{{appeal_entity_name}}this will either be “Certification”, if the appeal is linked to a certification, or the component name if it is linked to an element.{{appeal_resolution_text}}this is only available on the “Appeal Closed” notification and will contain the resolution text that was entered when the appeal was closed.
Appeals Summary Report
A new permission has been added to control visibility of this report.
A new report has been added to a new “Appeals” category within reporting. The new report is called “Appeal Summary” and will provide summary details about an appeal. This report can also be filtered by the usual reporting filters, standard, provider, specialism, employer and via a new “Appeal Status” filter.
Permissions
A new permission has been added under the reporting heading called “Appeal Summary” this permission has been given to the “owner” and “awardingorganisation” roles by default