e-track Online Release Notes

Technical specification

The latest Maytas and e-track technical specification can be found here.

e-track Online Release Notes – Version 5.17.7000.2

Online Documentation

The documentation for Maytas and e-track has migrated to a new platform:

http://docs.maytas.tribalgroup.com

This replaces the existing wiki at https://www.maytas.net/dokuwiki/doku.php, which will be deactivated in the near future.

The new documentation site is easier to navigate, with a sidebar that lets you quickly view the site structure and find the page you're looking for. The site is fully responsive on tablet and mobile devices, where the sidebar is hidden to make better use of screen space. It can be accessed by clicking the button.

Many pages have a View contents button at the top which can be clicked to show a table of contents for the page. Clicking on an item in the contents list will jump to that section on the page.

As of this release, full release documentation will be available on the site, as well as in PDF form in the release package.

Accessibility Improvements for Learner Login

The accessibility features for the learner login in e-track have been overhauled so that they now meet the WCAG2.0 AA standard.

When a learner logs into e-track, they will now see an Accessibility Mode toggle button at the top, which is off by default.

Above - The learner login with accessibility mode off.

Above - The learner login with accessibility mode on.

With accessibility mode on, all screens have higher contrast colours to make them easier to view, and screens are tagged in the background so that they work with screen readers (software which dictates the screen content to the user).

The Accessibility button is visible at all times and can be toggled at any time. The learner's preference is remembered when they log out and back in again.

Some accessibility improvements have also been made in e-track even when accessibility mode is off, such as the general layout and colours on some screens.

Web User Editor - Custom Tabs by Editor Type

The Web User Editor now organises the Custom Tabs section by the area of e-track that they apply to - i.e. the learner editor, assessor editor, employer editor or visits editor.

Community Resources - Text Alignment in Child Pages

When creating a child page resource for a Community, the text, web links and images on it can be aligned to the left, right or centre.

  1. Go to Communities on the toolbar.
  2. Select a community and go to Actions | Edit community (at the top-right).
  3. Go to the Resources tab and add or edit a resource. Note that the resource type should be a Child page.
  4. The three buttons allow you to align text, links and images in the Body box. You can either:

    1. Click one of the buttons first which will add LEFT, RIGHT or CENTRE tags in the body, and then you can enter your content between those tags;

      or

    2. Enter your content in the body first, then highlight the part you want to align and click the relevant button.

  5. You can click the Preview button to see what the resource will look like.

  6. Click Save to save the resource.
  7. Click Save to save the community.

Custom Tabs - No New/Delete Options on Read-Only Grids

When a grid is included on a custom e-track tab created in the Maytas screen designer, if the grid is set to read-only then the options to add or delete a row will now be hidden on the grid in e-track. Existing rows in the grid can still be edited, however.

Employer Homepage

The homepage for employer users has been overhauled so that it displays similar information to the assessor homepage.

The Branch section allows you to specify which branch to filter the homepage information by. Select the branch you wish to view and click Refresh. You can also tick the Sub Branches box to include information from all sub-branches under the selected branch in the employer hierarchy.

The Employee Progress chart shows the percentage of learners at the employer who are ahead of target, on target, behind target or who have not yet made any progress. Clicking on each area of the pie chart will open a list of the relevant learners.

The Visits section shows up to three upcoming and three overdue visits at the employer. Clicking a visit will display its details (read-only). Clicking an assessor name will open a new message for you to send to them, and clicking a phone number allows you to call it (if possible on your device).

The Notifications section shows alerts which may require the employer's attention. The most important notifications are displayed on the Priority tab (e.g. learners behind target, which can be clicked to show a list of the learners), whereas the Info tab shows less urgent notifications (e.g. new unread messages). The possible notifications are:

The News section shows items added and configured on the News page for admin users.

Off-the-Job Training Tab for Employer Login

Off-the-job training can now be entered by employer users. To view the tab, open a learner record and go to the Off The Job Training tab.

First, enter the programme duration, working hours per week, days per week and the learner’s total holiday allowance (including bank holidays) and click Save. This will populate the Learner Total Working Hours (per year) and Off the job calculator fields.

Learner Total Working Hours (per year) is derived using the following formula:

( (hours per week x 52) – (days holiday x (hours per week / days per week)) )

e.g. for the above example, the calculation would be:

( (37.5 x 52) – (33 x (37.5 / 5)) ) = 1950 – 247.5 = 1702.5 (rounded up to 1703)

Off the job calculator is derived using the following formula:

( Learner total working hours (per year) / (12 / duration of programme) ) x 0.2

e.g. for the above example, the calculation would be:

(1703 / (12 / 12) ) x 0.2 = 340.6 (rounded up to 341)

Next, click the Add Row button on the grid to add a new row. This is where off-the-job activity is recorded.

Complete the details as required and click Save. Click Save on the main screen to apply the changes. This will populate the Total Duration of OTJ Activity and OTJ Hours Remaining fields. The total duration adds together the durations entered on each row in the grid and then subtracts that figure from the Off the job calculator figure to get the hours remaining.

Application Form Improvements

Application forms created via the Maytas screen designer no longer display the Back/Next buttons to move between pages if the form only has one page.

Forms also now display radio buttons with correct alignment and with unnecessary blank space removed.

Email Validation

e-track screens and app forms designed in the Maytas screen designer can now be used to validate email addresses. This works by designating two fields for the email address and confirmation box (for re-entering the address), which are then checked by e-track to ensure the entries match. The validation also checks that the email address contains at least one @ character and at least one dot after the @.

To implement this:

  1. In Maytas, go to Tools on the toolbar and click New/Load on the Screens panel of the ribbon.
  2. Select an existing tab or create a new tab.
  3. Go to Fields at the bottom-left and drag an email field onto the design area (e.g. TRAINEE.EMAIL). This will be the main field you wish to use to store the email address.
  4. Select the field in the design area and tick the Validate Email (e-track only) box on the right.
  5. The Email ID box will appear underneath it. Enter an ID, which can be any value you want (an integer is suitable in most cases). This will be used to link the email field to the confirmation field.
  6. Drag another email field onto the design area (e.g. TRAINEE.ILR_EMAIL). This will be used as the confirmation field.
  7. Select the confirmation field in the design area and tick the Validate Email (e-track only) box.

  8. Enter the same ID as before in the Email ID box.

  9. Complete the rest of the tab as required and click Apply to save the changes.
  10. Go to Home on the toolbar and click Sync.

The email address validation will now work in e-track.

Messages - Clear Trash

There is now the option to clear your Trash folder on the messages screen, which can improve performance in Messages if there are lots of items in the Trash. It is important to understand that doing this will permanently delete messages in the Trash folder.

  1. Go to Messages on the toolbar.

  2. Go to the Trash folder. This is where messages deleted from the inbox go.

  3. Go to Actions | Clear Trash.
  4. You will be asked to confirm permanent deletion of the messages in the trash. Click OK to continue.
  5. The trash folder will now be cleared.

Employer Data Collection Forms

It is now possible to produce a data collection form that specified employer users must complete. This works as follows:

Configuration Options

There are several configuration options which should be set first:

  1. Go to Settings on the toolbar and click the System configuration button.
  2. Select Employer Login on the left.

  3. The required options are in the Data Collection section.

  4. Complete the config options as required:

    • Lock new accounts created for data collection - When enabled, this will prevent new employer users who have the Lock employer out of regular e-track use permission ticked in the Web User Editor from being able to log in to e-track.
    • Unlock accounts upon successful data collection - When enabled, completing the data collection form will unlock the employer account. When disabled, accounts must be manually unlocked by un-ticking the permission mentioned above in the Web User Editor.
    • Message shown upon successful data collection - Enter the message you wish to display when the form has been successfully completed.
    • Body of the email sent to existing users with a data collection form to fill out - When the data collection form is made active, an email will be sent to existing employer users. Enter the body of that email here.
    • Subject of the email sent to those with a data collection form to fill out - Enter the email subject.
    • Body of the email sent to new users with a data collection form to fill out - Enter the body of the email for new users. Include {{user}} and {{pass}} to display the user's username and password.
  5. Click Save.

Create Data Collection Form

  1. In Maytas, go to Tools on the toolbar and click New/Load on the Screens panel of the ribbon.
  2. Select Employer on the left and double-click *(New Tab).
  3. Complete the content of the screen as required for the data collection form.
  4. On the Overview tab, tick the Authenticated Employer Form box and the Published box.
  5. Enter an App Form ID.
  6. Click Apply.
  7. Go to Home on the toolbar and click Sync.

The App Form ID entered above is what must be entered in the field EMPLOYER.DATACOLLECTIONFORM for all employers who must complete the form.

Report Generation on Form Completion

The data collection form can be linked to a report which is generated when the form is completed.

  1. In Maytas, go to Tools on the toolbar and click New / Load on the Screens panel of the ribbon.
  2. Browse to and open the screen for the application form.

  3. Click the dropdown box next to Report and click Select Report. This will open a window where you can choose the report (this may take a while to load, depending on the number of reports in the system).

  4. Browse to and select the report and click OK.

  5. If the report has parameters (e.g. an EMPLOYERID parameter to limit the report to the employer record created by the app form), these can be set by clicking <Parameters>. This will open the Set Parameter Mappings window.

  6. Select the parameter in the top-left panel, then select the corresponding field to map to it from the list in the top-right panel.
  7. Click Add.
  8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 if there are additional parameters.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Click Apply to save the screen.

When the application form is completed, this will generate the linked report and place the output in the employer's file store.

Enter Learner Data on Learner's Behalf

Employers can set up a form that they complete on the learner's behalf. First, the employer types which can do this must be specified (if nothing is specified, the employer type short string of E is used):

  1. Go to Settings on the toolbar and click the System configuration button.
  2. Select Admin on the left (under e-track Online) and scroll down to the Online Applications section on the right.
  3. Locate the config Employer types that can complete data collection forms for learners.
  4. Tick the box for the config and select the employer types you want to be able to complete learner forms.
  5. Click Save.

Next, the form must be created and configured:

  1. Create a trainee form in the Maytas screen designer.

  2. For each learner you wish to complete the form for, enter the form ID in the field TRAINEE.EMPLOYERDATACOLLECTIONFORM. For any employers each learner is currently active at (i.e. where the end date is not entered), this will automatically populate EMPLOYER.DATACOLLECTIONFORM with the form ID and EMPLOYER.DATACOLLECTIONTRID with the TRAINEEID.

    If the employers don't already have web users associated with them, these will automatically be created and the employers will be emailed about the form.

  3. When an employer who has been notified about the form logs in, they will be prompted to complete the form along with the name of the learner in question. If an employer account is locked until form completion, they will immediately be redirected to the form.

  4. Once the form has been submitted, all employers relating to the learner in question will have DATACOLLECTIONFORM and DATACOLLECTIONTRID cleared out, and if their accounts are locked for the purpose of completing the form then they will be unlocked.

    If a learner has been assigned a form using the above method and a second learner at the same employer is then assigned a form before the employer has completed the form for the first learner, DATACOLLECTIONFORM and DATACOLLECTIONTRID will be overwritten with the IDs for the second learner. As such, it is recommended to complete a form for one learner at a time at each employer.

Employer Login - Upload Learner Evidence via Messages

Employer users can now upload learner evidence via e-track messages.

  1. Go to Messages on the toolbar and click New Message.
  2. Click the button next to Send To. You will see the list of possible recipients, which now includes your learners' assessors.
  3. Select the appropriate assessor to submit evidence to.
  4. At the bottom of the message, tick the Submit Evidence box.
  5. A dropdown box will appear. Select the learner you wish to submit evidence for.
  6. Click the Suggested Mappings button.

  7. Select the qualification you wish to submit evidence for, then select the mappings as required and click Add Mappings.

  8. When finished, click Save Mappings.
  9. You will return to the Message screen. Click Attach file. Repeat for additional files as required and then click Upload files.
  10. Browse to and select the evidence file and click Open.
  11. Complete any other required details on the message and click Send Message.

When the assessor views the message there will be options to view the evidence and suggested mappings and assess the files.

Click to download will download the evidence for inspection.

The Suggested Mappings button displays a list of the mappings suggested by the employer.

The Assess Files button lets you assign the files to a visit. First select an existing visit from the list or choose to add a new visit, then when prompted select the evidence file. Click Save. You will then be prompted to update or complete the visit as required.

Data Collection Forms on Mobile and Tablet Devices

Data collection forms designed in the Maytas screen designer for learners and employers are now fully responsive in e-track when used on mobile and tablet devices. Previously only data collection forms for assessors were responsive on mobiles and tablets.

Employer Login Improvements

General improvements have been made to the employer login based on customer and internal feedback:

File Select in Screen Designer

The Maytas Screen Designer has a new File Select control which allows you on an e-track screen or form to upload a file to a user's file store and save the filename to a field.

  1. In Maytas, go to Tools on the toolbar and click New/Load on the Screens panel of the ribbon.
  2. Select an existing tab or create a new tab.
  3. There are two ways to add the File Select control. You can either:

    1. Go to the Controls tab and drag a File Select control from the Standard section onto the design area. Select the control in the design area and enter the Table Name and Field Name on the right (this should point to a varchar field large enough to store a filename).

      or

    2. Go to the Fields tab and drag a field onto the design area (this should be a varchar field large enough to store a filename). Select the field in the design area and change the Control Type on the right to File Select.
  4. Click Apply to save the changes.
  5. Go to Home on the toolbar and click Sync.
  6. Open a learner or employer record and go to the tab with the File Select control.
  7. Click the button to browse to and select a file and click Open.

  8. Click Apply. The file will be uploaded to the file store and the filename will be saved in the field linked to the File Select control.

Employer Reports

Three reports for employer users have been added to the e-track reports suite. Instructions for upgrading the e-track reports can be found in the e-track Upgrade Guide (if you are a hosted customer, please contact the Service Desk to request the e-track reports to be installed).

The employer reports automatically limit data to learners employed at the logged-in employer user and the branches under them in the employer hierarchy. All types of employment are included.

Learners in Learning at Employer

This report shows learners who were employed at any point between the selected date parameters. The report can also be filtered by specific employer branches.

Visits at Employer

This report shows visits at the employer between the selected date parameters. The actual date is checked against the date parameters if it is entered, otherwise the planned date is used. Visits included in the report must have at least one of the employer's learners associated with them, and they must have been employed at that employer during the visit.

The report can also be filtered by visit type, visit outcome and employer branches.

Learner Progress Report for Employers

This report shows details of progress for learners at the employer. There are filters for branches, assessors, centres, traffic lights, live learners, suspended learners and active frameworks, and the data can be grouped by employers, assessors, centres or traffic lights.

Publish Tabs to Toolbar

It is now possible for assessor tabs to be published to the toolbar on the assessor login and employer tabs to be published to the toolbar on the employer login.

  1. Create a tab in the Maytas screen designer for either the personnel or employer entity.

  2. For an employer tab, tick the Employer box in the e-track Publish section. For an assessor tab, tick the Assessor box instead.

  3. Click Apply.
  4. Click Home on the toolbar and click the Sync button.
  5. In e-track, log in as an administrator and go to Web User Editor on the toolbar.
  6. Search for the user or group which requires permission to view the tab.
  7. Click Custom Tabs to expand the list of tabs, then tick the box for the new tab.
  8. Click Save.

  9. When the relevant users log in, they will now see the tab on the toolbar.