Your questions from the session

Attendees asked a number of questions during the webinar. We have grouped the common themes below, with answers from the product team.

Can learners already on an onboarding programme be moved onto a delivery programme in bulk?

Yes. You’ll be able to move learners from an onboarding programme to a delivery programme using the programme assignment feature or a CSV update. Both let you assign the new programme in bulk, rather than one learner at a time. You’ll also be able to set the learner’s status, so it doesn’t reset to onboarding.

Until then, you can move individual learners by stopping their current programme and enrolling them on the new one. The Help Centre article Stopping a program and applying a new programme covers the steps.

Will the activity log support signature reporting in the same way as off-the-job training records?

This is now available. The new hours log is a compliance document built from activity log data, generated from the signatures grid in the same way as the OTJ evidence record. It groups hours into off-the-job, English and maths, and other, and can be signed by the learner, tutor and employer. A timestamped PDF is saved each time it’s generated.

It works for apprenticeship learners without any programme builder setup. It isn’t available on apprenticeship units programmes or where compliance documents are switched off. The existing OTJ evidence record remains available alongside it.

How can existing customers check their ILR data against FIS within Aptem without running an import?

That’s right, existing customers don’t need to use the import. Today, you generate your ILR batch file in Aptem and then check it in the DfE’s Funding Information Service (FIS) before submitting through Submit Learner Data, as you do now. The Help Centre article Generate an ILR batch file for upload to DfE covers this.

The import we showed already uses FIS behind the scenes to validate current-year files. We’re exploring whether the same approach could let you check your exports against FIS from within Aptem, so you spend less time moving files between systems. It’s early, so we can’t commit to timing yet, but it’s something we know would save providers’ time.

Can the data import service bring in data other than enrolment data?

The ILR import brings in learner and learning delivery (aim) data from your ILR file. The CSV import will let you add wraparound data as well. This is information held against learners in fields that already exist in Aptem, such as case owner. Custom data fields aren’t included at the moment.

Can tutors and administrators use AVA?

At the moment AVA is for learners. Staff can see what learners are asking AVA, through the virtual assistant history tab on the learner profile and the new virtual assistant reporting area, but they can’t ask AVA questions themselves.

Staff access is one of the most common requests we hear about AVA, and it’s on our roadmap. The first step we’re planning is AVA for tutors, helping them get answers about their own caseload, such as progress, reviews and off-the-job hours. Support for admin and compliance roles would follow after that. We’ll share more as the work takes shape.

Does AVA tell learners when their work has been marked or referred?

Learners can ask AVA what’s changed since they last logged in, for example “Has anything been marked?”, and AVA will summarise new marks, feedback, actions and completions.

Aptem also sends in-app notifications to the learner when evidence is approved or referred. These appear under the bell icon, or in Messages with “Show notifications” turned on. There isn’t currently an email when work is marked.

We hear this feedback from other providers too. We’re exploring a proactive summary of what’s changed when a learner logs in, so they don’t need to ask. We’ll share more when we have it.

Who can access AVA settings, reporting and concern management?

The virtual assistant reporting area isn’t under Reports. It has its own item, “Virtual assistant”, in the admin main navigation with separate permissions. From there you can drill down from programme to learner to individual conversations, export to CSV, and use the OData v2 feed for your own reporting.

If you can’t see it there, check that:

• Your user has the virtual assistant reporting permission (and data export permission for CSV).
• AVA is switched on for your organisation.

You’ll only see programmes and learners you already have permission to view. If it’s still missing, your Customer Success Manager can check your set-up.

How should providers tell learners that staff can see AVA conversations?

Thanks for raising this. Your organisation is the data controller and Aptem is the data processor, so it’s your decision how you tell learners about AVA and who can see their conversations. You may want to make sure your learner privacy information covers it.

Staff have always been able to see the messages learners send to AVA, in the learner’s profile, so this isn’t new. What’s new is concern management, which changes how concerning content is handled. Messages flagged as a concern go to a separate area that only users with the concern management permission can see.

Will the next generation learning plan measure progress against performance criteria rather than components?

Today, learning plan progress is calculated from components, comparing completed components with those due. Criteria progress is also tracked separately, based on criteria with accepted evidence, and shows on the dashboard progress card.

Progress tracking is one of the areas we’re working on for the next generation learning plan, including clearer progress at module and term level. We’ve heard from providers that a component showing 0% until it’s fully complete doesn’t reflect the progress a learner has made, and that’s feeding into this work. We’re not ready to confirm exactly how progress will be calculated yet, but we’ll share more as the design develops.