5.22 Maytas LLWR Release Notes

Note regarding submissions

We would like to remind providers to create a submission early and check for any errors using reports from the appropriate software (i.e. the FIS or LLWR-Inform). Welsh providers should also remember to download their ULI file. After submission to the ESFA or DfES, providers should check that data has submitted correctly using the available reports. Providers should check that all their expected starts and completions are submitted correctly, and that start and outcome payments correctly match the PFR or ACE funding reports.

Our support desk gets extremely busy in the days prior to the submission deadlines, and although we try and prioritise submission-related queries, we cannot guarantee assistance if queries are sent late. If you do encounter any issues, please ensure that you contact Maytas Support as soon as possible, as we can only rectify issues of which we are aware. We also recommend checking Maytas Communities regularly for information on any known issues and solutions. Tribal cannot be held responsible for any issues caused by your failure to comply with this advice.

Data migration

Please note that it is important to ensure that all 2020/21 learners have been entered before the upgrades are applied. This is because the upgrade migrates 2020 data to the 2021 fields, and any 2020 learners entered after the upgrades will not be migrated. As such, if any 2020 learners do need to be entered after the upgrade, both the 2020 and 2021 tabs must be completed to ensure all data is present and correct.

Technical specification

The latest Maytas and Maytas Hub technical specification can be found here.

Once the upgrade has been completed, the version number should be checked to ensure it has been successful.

  1. Start Maytas and go to Support on the toolbar.
  2. Click About.
  3. The version numbers should read 181.20 / 5.22.7900.3. If you have any other version, please ensure you have followed the upgrade instructions correctly. If you require assistance, please contact Maytas Support.

It is the responsibility of customers to ensure that users carry out any required user acceptance testing and sign off on the upgrade.

Complete the Upgrade

Features Added in the Upgrade

These are the main updates in the upgrade:

Reports Library 1.0.3.8 is also included in the upgrade but must be installed separately, which is detailed in the Upgrade Guide. The reports library can be downloaded here. If you are a hosted customer, please contact the Service Desk to arrange for the reports library update to be applied.

Create the 2021/22 DfES Contract

A 2021/22 DfES contract should be set up for each DfES contractor. Without this contract, Maytas is unable to determine the funding rules, schemes and lookup codes to use.

  1. Go to Management on the toolbar and click Contracts.
  2. Left-click the contractor (company) to which you wish to add the new contract.
  3. Click Add Contract on the ribbon.

  4. Make sure that option 1. Existing company is selected then click Next.

  5. Enter a contract description (e.g. DfES 2021/22).
  6. Enter a contract number if required.
  7. Select the DfES Contract (Wales) option.
  8. Select year 2021/2022.
  9. Click Next.
  10. Select the schemes you wish to include in the contract and click Next.
  11. Click Finish.

The Contract Wizard will create the appropriate funding model within Maytas and set up all the schemes that apply.

Maytas 5 Version 5.22.7900.3 Release Notes

2021/22 Contract Year Updates

New Contract Year Tabs

New Maytas tabs for 2021/22 have been produced for the ILR and LLWR as per specifications from the Data Service and DfES. These will have been imported automatically in the upgrade. Please note that while both ILR and LLWR tabs are imported, the relevant tabs will only show for the relevant learners – i.e. ILR tabs will only show to learners on English schemes and LLWR tabs will only show to learners on Welsh schemes. Details of the tabs can be found below.

Please note that user permissions will need to be set for the new tabs, as by default they are available to all users. Also please note that if you have changed the field type for any ILR fields (e.g. to or from a lookup), these will need to be changed from the default field type in the screen designer.

LLWR Report for 2021/22

The 2021/22 Maytas 5 LLWR report has been produced based on a previous official form. Additional information not present on the official form has been included, such as employer and suspension data.

The LLWR report is automatically imported in the upgrade and can be found in the LLWR folder of the Reports Library.

There are two ways to run the report:

LLWR Export 2021/22

Generate Export

The LLWR export for 2021/22 is available in Maytas. The front-end functionality is the same as in 2020/21.

To view the LLWR export screen for 2021/22:

  1. Click Exports on the toolbar.
  2. Click LLWR Export on the ribbon.

  3. Click the button.

  4. Choose the ELWA Provider ID dropdown box.
  5. If you wish to only include learners who ended learning before a certain date, enter this date in the Filter Termination Before box.

  6. Once ready, click OK.

  7. Locate the submission by expanding the contract year and period using the arrows to the left. Click the submission to select it. The status will say GENERATE: Working on trainee… until the export data has been generated. It will then say Idle. Please note that this may take a while, depending on the amount of data being exported.

    • Edit opens the export and allows you to view and edit the export settings. Please note that not all settings can be changed once an export has been created.
    • Generate processes the export and produces a text file showing any errors for each learner. This allows you to correct any errors and re-generate before the batch file is created. The generation progress is shown with the circular progress bar to the right:
    • View Log shows any errors in the export. These should be investigated and resolved and the data re-generated before outputting the XML.
    • Output creates the actual batch file. The file will be created at C:\Temp on the Maytas server.
    • Get File lets you download the batch file once it has been created.
LLWR XML Output

The LLWR export includes an option to create the submission file in XML format. This is much easier to read compared to the flat file, and it is also easier to locate information.

The ability to import the Overall Output file from the LLWR Data Collection site allows us to produce submission files consisting only of changes by default, as we can exclude records that have been accepted by the LLWR. At the beginning of each year a full file will be produced. Once the return Output file has been imported into the previous submission, only changes will be submitted.

The Output Changes XML link becomes active once the submission file has been generated. It will create an XML file on the server which can be retrieved by clicking Get File as normal. The file can be saved in XML format or as a zip file. The file can then be submitted to the Data Collection site. Please see the LLWR CSV User Tutorial from the Inform site for guidance on submission.

During the submission process, just after the Submit records to database step, you will have an opportunity to Download XML Output File (XML) from the Overview tab. It is important to do this as you will not get the option again after the Finalise Transaction process.

The XML Output file can be imported into Maytas on the submission by clicking Import XML Output File (this must be done on the same submission number that the export came from). This will indicate accepted records and provide error information. The Output file also contains ULI information which can be used to update the learner records in Maytas if required.

However, there are circumstances where the LLWR cannot provide the ULI at this stage, and consequently the ULI must be imported in the usual manner.

Once the XML Output file has been imported, subsequent XML files created will only include records that have not been accepted or where a change has occurred since the previous import. This can be overridden by ticking the Output Full XML checkbox near the top of the export screen.

New LLWR Entities

The 2021/22 LLWR tabs, report and export include the new entities for employers, employer contacts, employment periods and suspensions.

Employers, employer contacts and employment periods

The LLWR employer data is based on the existing employer system in Maytas, with new fields added as required. Existing employer and employment records can be used or new records can be created. There are several key points to bear in mind:

The starting point for entering employer data is on the LLWR Programme tab, in the Employer Data section.

The grid shows all employment records for a learner. Click to create a new record if the learner does not have one or if you wish to use a new record for the LLWR employer, then complete the Details tab and click OK.

It is important to select a Key Contact on the Details tab, though this may not be possible at this stage if no LLWR contacts have been entered for the employer yet. These instructions will prompt to select the Key Contact at a later stage.

Select the record in the grid and click the button to open the employer's record and go to the LLWR Employer tab.

Complete the Employer Data section as required (this only has to be done once per employer to be used with LLWR, not for each learner).

The Employer Contact Data section uses the existing employer contacts system in Maytas, so you may see existing records in the grid. Click to create a new record or select an existing record and click to open it, then complete the LLWR Employer Contact Data tab.

The contact identifier will be generated once the record is saved.

An employer contact is identified as the one to use for LLWR employers if there is data in the Role Undertaken by Contact field, as this field is only used for LLWR and is mandatory for LLWR contacts.

At this point, return to the learner's LLWR Programme tab and open their employment record from the grid.

Select a LLWR contact from the Key Contact field on the Details tab if you have not done so already. Note that non-LLWR contacts will also appear in the dropdown list, so it is important to make sure you pick a contact with LLWR details completed (as above).

Go to the LLWR Employment Period Data tab and enter the details as required.

It is very important that the Include in LLWR Exports checkbox is ticked. Failure to do so will result in no employer data being exported for the learner.

Contact Details is a calculated field which shows the contact ID, the contact's name and their role, based on the Key Contact selected on the Details tab. The field may not display a value until the window has been closed and the changes are saved.

Click OK when finished and click Apply on the ribbon to save changes.

Suspensions

The Suspensions Data section can be found at the bottom of the LLWR Programme tab.

Click the button to add a new suspension record and complete the data as required.

Click OK when finished and click Apply on the ribbon to save changes.

Engage Integration

Edge Roles for Learners

This is only applicable to customers who use the Engage integration and have configured Edge roles.

A new field, Additional Edge Roles, has been added to the Web User Account tab on learner records in Maytas, which allows you to specify Edge roles for learners (in addition to the default role of Student) so that they can be sent to Edge / Engage.

The lookups displayed for this field (TRAINEEINFO.EDGEROLES) depend on your configured Edge roles. When a learner's roles are sent to Edge / Engage, it is the longstring values from the lookups which are sent. Multiple roles can be selected and sent for a learner.

Ending Learners in Engage

If a learner has no open POTs in Maytas, they will now be automatically set as a blocked user in Engage rather than a current user when their record is sent to Engage.

Single Sign-on - Login Using Azure Active Directory

It is now possible to login to Maytas using credentials from an Azure AD account. First this needs to be configured, which requires your Azure AD client ID and tenant (your Azure AD system administrator should be able to provide these values):

  1. In Maytas, click the M5 button at the top left and select Options.
  2. Go to Admin on the left (under the Maytas header).
  3. In the Azure AD section, tick the boxes for the three Azure AD settings and enter their values:
    • Azure AD ClientId - Value provided by administrator
    • Azure AD Instance - This should be set to https://login.microsoftonline.com/
    • Azure AD Tenant - Value provided by administrator
  4. Click OK.

Next, each user who needs to login using this feature must have the email address associated with their Azure AD account entered against their Maytas user account:

  1. Go to Tools | Edit Permissions.
  2. Right-click the user and select Edit.

  3. Enter the Azure AD email address in the SSO Email box.

  4. Click OK, then click Apply.

When a configured user now opens Maytas, if their configured credentials are recognised by Azure then they will be automatically logged into Maytas. Otherwise, the login prompt will now display a separate window (shown below) that can be used by configured users to select which Azure AD account to use. Alternatively, the window can be closed to login to Maytas as normal with Maytas credentials.

Finally, the desktop return URL and platform type in Azure must be set. The return URL must be set to:

https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/nativeclient

The platform type for Maytas must be set to Mobile and desktop applications.

For further details on configuring Azure, see here.

Reports Library 1.0.3.8

Updates for 2021/22

The reports library has been updated to use fields from 2021/22 where appropriate and to include the 2021/22 report year on certain parameters.