The communications connector lets training providers bring their own Microsoft Teams licence into Aptem and manage online reviews, meetings, and placements and workshops directly from the platform. Meetings scheduled in Aptem appear in the organiser’s Teams calendar, the join link is returned to Aptem, and meeting transcripts can be pulled straight back into a review. It keeps scheduling, delivery, and record-keeping in one place. 

This article explains how the communications connector works for reviews and meetings, how transcripts are returned, and how it handles group placements and workshops. 

Reviews and meetings 

For reviews and meetings, scheduling is based on the associated task in the Aptem calendar. A tutor flags the event as “meet online”, and Aptem schedules it in the organiser’s Teams calendar within a configurable scheduling window of up to 90 days. Meetings can be planned further ahead in Aptem; the Teams meeting is created when the event comes within the window, which avoids repeatedly rescheduling distant meetings for apprentices and employers. 

Several details carry across automatically: 

• The review or component name becomes the meeting title in Teams, with the apprentice’s name attached so a busy calendar is easy to read at a glance. 

• The description or agenda entered in Aptem becomes the meeting description. 

• The reviewer or component owner becomes the meeting organiser and the sender of the invitation. 

• Attendees are limited to those allowed to see the review, so an employer is never invited to a review that is not visible to them. 

Rescheduling and cancelling work in both directions. A change made in Teams or Outlook updates the Aptem calendar, and deleting a review in Aptem cancels the Teams meeting. Where Teams and Outlook calendars are linked at organisation level, a meeting scheduled through Aptem appears in both. 

For meeting components, the connector can also return off-the-job training hours. When an apprentice joins the Teams meeting, the time spent is tracked and returned to the component the next day, provided the component has planned hours attached. Reviews do not count towards off-the-job hours, so time is never returned for them. 

Returning transcripts to a review 

A transcripts and meeting notes section can be added to any review through the reviews configuration in programme builder. Once a review has been scheduled online through Aptem, a tutor can select “get transcript” to pull the Teams transcript directly into that section, rather than downloading it from Teams and uploading it separately. The meeting needs to be recorded and transcribed in Teams for a transcript to be available, and the connector retrieves all available transcripts for the meeting. 

This section is also the foundation for the wider enhanced reviews capability. Providers who use the transcripts and meeting notes section are well placed to adopt the AI-powered summarisation tool, which generates a structured summary of the meeting transcript for Enterprise customers, and the auto-review actions feature which creates structured, trackable actions based on the review discussion. 

Placements and workshops 

Group placements and workshops work differently from one-to-one reviews and meetings. The connector does not add the session to the Teams calendar or email invitations; instead it returns a join link to Aptem. The tutor starts the session from the placement or workshop screen and apprentices join from their learning plan, so everything happens within Aptem. 

Because a single workshop profile can host multiple sessions that reuse the same link, two safeguards apply: a lobby is enabled so only the expected apprentices join each session, and the in-meeting chat is disabled so a later group does not see messages from an earlier one. All other features of the organisation’s Teams licence, including recording, remain available, and recordings are stored wherever the organisation normally keeps them. 

Frequently asked questions 

Do we need our own Microsoft Teams licence? 

Yes. The communications connector brings your existing Microsoft Teams licence into Aptem rather than providing Teams itself. 

How far in advance are meetings scheduled in Teams? 

Within a configurable window of up to 90 days. Meetings can be planned further ahead in Aptem, and the Teams meeting is created once the event comes within the scheduling window. 

Can meeting transcripts be brought into Aptem automatically? 

Yes. Once a review is scheduled online through Aptem, a tutor can pull the Teams transcript into the transcripts and meeting notes section with a single action. The meeting must be recorded and transcribed in Teams for a transcript to be available. 

Does time spent in a Teams meeting count towards off-the-job hours? 

For meeting components with planned hours, the time an apprentice spends in the meeting is tracked and returned to the component the next day. Reviews do not count towards off-the-job hours. 

How does it handle group sessions? 

For placements and workshops, the join link is returned to Aptem rather than added to the Teams calendar. A lobby controls who joins each session and the in-meeting chat is disabled, because one link is reused across multiple sessions. 

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