5.24 SP1 Maytas ESFA 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 DfE, 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.

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 5.24.8120.2. 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:

The way in which the Reports Library is upgraded has changed and can now be performed entirely from within Maytas. Instructions for this can be found below.

Import Funding Information

The process for importing the required funding information into Maytas is as follows:

Import LARS

The LARS should be imported as follows:

  1. Download the latest LARS MDB file. At the time of this release, the latest version is the LARS MDB version 8.
  2. In Maytas, go to Exports on the toolbar.
  3. On the ILR Tools panel of the ribbon, go to Uploads | Upload Funding Information | Upload LARS (Version 8).
  4. Browse to and select the downloaded LARS file and click Open.
  5. The file will now be imported. Click OK on the message which appears.

Progress on the import can be checked by going to Home | Server Tasks | Server Jobs. Typically it will take several minutes.

Import Postcode File

  1. Obtain the postcode uplift factors file - Download the zip file under 2022 to 2023 uplift factors by postcode and LLSOA: CSV files.
  2. In Maytas, go to Exports on the toolbar.
  3. On the ILR Tools panel of the ribbon, go to Uploads | Upload Postcodes| Upload Post Code Data (2022/23).
  4. Browse to and select the postcode uplifts zip file and click Open.
  5. The file will now be imported. Click OK on the message which appears.

Progress on the import can be checked by going to Home | Server Tasks | Server Jobs. Typically this will take several minutes.

Note on the Funding Cache

By default, the funding cache will update overnight so that funding information in Maytas uses the newly-imported FIS and postcode information. Please check with your system administrator if you are unsure if or when the funding cache is updated on your system. You can also manually set the funding cache to update by going to Management | Profiles and clicking the Funding Cache button, though please be aware that this may take a long time and may use a large amount of system resources, which could affect performance for other users on the system.

Import PFR Reconciler Reports

The PFR Reconciler reports for 2022/23 should be imported as follows:

  1. In Maytas, go to Home on the toolbar and click Import on the Reports panel of the ribbon.
  2. Click Add Files.
  3. Browse to the Maytas 5\Extras\Module Reports folder of the upgrade.
  4. Select PFR Reconcilers – 2223.m5rep and click Open.
  5. Click Finish.
  6. Once the reports have finished importing, click Finish.

Due to the size of the .rdl file for the FM36 PFR report, some report servers may produce the following error when importing: 

Error: There was an exception running the extensions specified in the config file. —>
Maximum request length exceeded.

This means that the report server's MaxRequestLength property is configured to only allow uploads up to a certain size, and the configuration must be changed to allow larger files to be uploaded. Please contact your system administrator to do this. Please note that Maytas Support cannot offer support on how to configure a SQL Server Report Server, as these are Microsoft products.

Maytas 5 Version 5.24.8120.2 Release Notes

PFR Reconcilers 2022/23

New PFR reconciler reports are now available to work with the 2022/23 PFR files. This year there are separate reports for funding models 35, 36 and 81 to reflect the substantially different formats of each PFR. The reports work the same as in previous years.

There are separate import options for each PFR file:

  1. Go to Management on the toolbar.

  2. On the PFR section of the ribbon, click Upload and select the required 2022/23 PFR import option:

    For FM35, go to PFR | Upload PFR (2022/23).

    For FM81, go to PFR | Upload Trailblazer PFR (2022/23).

    For FM36, go to FM36 Funding Reports and choose the file type to upload.

  3. Browse to and select the PFR file and click Open.

The file will now be imported. Click OK on the confirmation message which appears.

The PFR Reconciler reports require the 1.0.4.3 reports library upgrade SQL to have been run. Please follow the instructions below to upgrade the reports library.

Funding Model 35 PFR Reconciler Reports

The FM35 PFR reconciler reports can be accessed as follows:

  1. On the Home tab, click Reports Library.
  2. Go to the Finance folder and select one of the new reports:
    1. PFR Reconciler FM35 – 2223 – This shows a summary of funding differences, as well as tables showing matched rows with funding differences, rows in Maytas but not the PFR and rows in the PFR but not in Maytas.
    2. PFR Reconciler FM35 – Non-Funding Differences – 2223 – This shows matched rows which have differences in the non-funding columns (i.e. all columns which are not the month-by-month funding columns).

  3. The parameters window will appear:

    PFR – Select the PFR file from the list.

    ILR file – Select the corresponding ILR file from the list.

    Measure up to end of – This tells the report to only reconcile funding differences up to the end of a specific month. This is because Maytas data is highly likely to be updated in the time between the PFR being produced and the report being run – for example, leavers may be entered in Maytas who were live when the PFR was produced. This can result in inaccurate comparisons. Comparing Maytas funding data up to the period in which the PFR was produced should give a more accurate comparison than comparing current Maytas data.

    Note that the following two parameters do not appear on the Non-Funding Differences report.

    Show Differences Threshold (pence) – This determines the threshold in pence for the funding differences to be shown in the report. For example, the default of 10 will only include rows where there is more than a 10p total difference between Maytas and the PFR.

    Show missing rows with zero values – For the section at the end of the report showing rows in the PFR but not in the Maytas ILR export (and vice-versa), this allows you to hide rows which have no funding against them. By default, these rows are included.

  4. Click View to run the report.

There are no column changes from the 2021/22 report.

Funding Model 81 PFR Reconciler Reports

The FM81 PFR reconciler reports can be accessed as follows:

  1. On the Home tab, click Reports Library.
  2. Go to the Finance folder and select one of the new reports:
    1. PFR Reconciler FM81 – 2223 – This shows a summary of funding differences, as well as tables showing matched rows with funding differences, rows in Maytas but not the PFR and rows in the PFR but not in Maytas.
    2. PFR Reconciler FM81 – Non-Funding Differences – 2223 – This shows matched rows which have differences in the non-funding columns (i.e. all columns which are not the month-by-month funding columns).
  3. The parameters window will appear:

    PFR – Select the PFR file from the list.

    ILR file – Select the corresponding ILR file from the list.

    Measure up to end of – This tells the report to only reconcile funding differences up to the end of a specific month. This is because Maytas data is highly likely to be updated in the time between the PFR being produced and the report being run – for example, leavers may be entered in Maytas who were live when the PFR was produced. This can result in inaccurate comparisons. Comparing Maytas funding data up to the period in which the PFR was produced should give a more accurate comparison than comparing current Maytas data.

    Note that the following two parameters do not appear on the Non-Funding Differences report.

    Show Differences Threshold (pence) – This determines the threshold in pence for the funding differences to be shown in the report. For example, the default of 10 will only include rows where there is more than a 10p total difference between Maytas and the PFR.

    Show missing rows with zero values – For the section at the end of the report showing rows in the PFR but not in the Maytas ILR export (and vice-versa), this allows you to hide rows which have no funding against them. By default, these rows are included.

  4. Click View to run the report.

There are no column changes from the 2021/22 report.

Funding Model 36 PFR Reconciler Reports

The FM36 PFR reconciler reports can be accessed as follows:

  1. On the Home tab, click Reports Library.
  2. Go to the Finance folder and select one of the new reports:
    1. PFR Reconciler FM36 – 2223 – This shows a summary of funding differences, as well as tables showing matched rows with funding differences, rows in Maytas but not the PFR and rows in the PFR but not in Maytas.
    2. PFR Reconciler FM36 – Non-Funding Differences – 2223 – This shows matched rows which have differences in the non-funding columns (i.e. all columns which are not the month-by-month funding columns).

  3. The parameters window will appear:

    Report type – This lets you choose whether to reconcile the indicative earnings report, the monthly payments report or the co-investment payments report. Each of these will determine the available PFR files to select from and the content displayed when the report is run.

    PFR – Select the PFR file from the list.

    ILR file – Select the corresponding ILR file from the list.

    Measure up to end of – This tells the report to only reconcile funding differences up to the end of a specific month. This is because Maytas data is highly likely to be updated in the time between the PFR being produced and the report being run – for example, leavers may be entered in Maytas who were live when the PFR was produced. This can result in inaccurate comparisons. Comparing Maytas funding data up to the period in which the PFR was produced should give a more accurate comparison than comparing current Maytas data.

    Note that the following two parameters do not appear on the Non-Funding Differences report.

    Show Differences Threshold (pence) – This determines the threshold in pence for the funding differences to be shown in the report. For example, the default of 10 will only include rows where there is more than a 10p total difference between Maytas and the PFR.

    Show missing rows with zero values – For the section at the end of the report showing rows in the PFR but not in the Maytas ILR export (and vice-versa), this allows you to hide rows which have no funding against them. By default, these rows are included.

  4. Click View to run the report.

The FM36 PFR reconciler can be run against four different PFR datasets for FM36: indicative earnings, monthly payments, co-investment payments and additional payments. This can be chosen in the Report type parameter.

Of these options, we expect the indicative earnings report to match the Maytas figures the closest, as this PFR data does not depend on certain factors which must be assumed in Maytas (these factors are not available and cannot be derived before the PFR data is produced). The monthly and co-investment payments reports do depend on these factors and so are likely to match the Maytas figures less closely. In very broad terms, the indicative earnings are the 'expected' figures and the payment reports are the actual figures.

On the co-investment view, the column Employer name from apprenticeship service has been renamed to Earliest employer name from apprenticeship service with co-investment. Otherwise there are no column changes from the 2021/22 report.

Report Viewer Update

An issue was identified where reports could not drill down in Maytas when using an SSRS 2019 report server, which was due to a report server update issued by Microsoft. To address this, the report viewer which Maytas uses for the Reports Library and MList / Report Generator has been updated to a newer version. While all previous functionality has been retained, there are some visual differences when running reports:

Financial Planning 2022/23

The Financial Planning module now supports plans for 2022/23. After the upgrade, it is important to ensure the funding cache has been updated. In most cases this should be done automatically on a schedule (check with your system administrator), but it can also be done manually by going to Management | Profiles and clicking the Funding Cache button. This may take a long time and may use a lot of system resources, so it is strongly recommended to only update the funding cache outside of normal working hours.

To create a 2022/23 plan:

  1. Go to Management | Financial Plans.
  2. Double-click New Financial Plan.
  3. Select a 2022/23 contract to base the plan on and click Next.
  4. Enter a name for the plan and click Next.
  5. Select the funding models and funding line types you wish to use for the plan and click Next.
  6. Select the years and periods you wish to use for the plan and click Next.
  7. Click Finish.

The plan will now be created.

Before using any existing plans from 2021/22 and earlier, you should refresh their current data values and what if values. This can be done on each required plan by going to the Current Data Values and What If Values tabs and clicking the button.

Additional Column Information in DB Schema

The DB Schema module now displays the following information (read-only) for each column in the database:

To view this information for a column:

  1. Go to Tools on the toolbar.
  2. Select DB Schema on the General panel of the ribbon.
  3. Expand Tables on the left and then expand a table or view.

  4. Select the column you wish to view. The details will appear on the right (if the Set button is displayed instead, you will need to click it first).

Data Collection Forms - Email Confirmation

A confirmation email can now be sent to a learner once they complete a data collection form, which is enabled by setting a flag against the form in the Screen Designer:

  1. Go to Tools on the toolbar and select New / Load on the Screens panel of the ribbon.
  2. Open the required form.
  3. On the Overview tab (on the left of the Screen Designer), tick the Email Learner checkbox.
  4. Click Apply.
  5. Go to Home on the toolbar and click the Sync button.

A configuration option is available to specify the content of the email:

  1. Click the M5 button at the top left and select Options.
  2. Go to Learner Login on the left (under the Maytas Hub Online header).
  3. In the Data Collection section on the right, tick the checkbox for the Trainee Data Collection Completion Email config.
  4. In the textbox for the config, enter the email body you wish to be sent to learners upon completion of a form. This can include the parameters {FNAME} and {LNAME}, which will display the learner's first and last names in the email.
  5. Click OK.

SITS Import 2022/23

The SITS Import has been updated to support the 2022/23 ILR format.

FE Workforce - Main Role Lookup Update

The FE Workforce export has been updated to match the 2021/22 specification. As part of this, the Main Role field has changed so that it has 65 possible values instead of 5, as the data is now required at a more granular level. As there is no direct mapping between the old lookups and the new ones, any data previously entered for this field must be re-entered as one of the new lookups.

EDRS Lookup Change

The EDRS Lookup control now functions as a text box rather than a lookup control, as the EDRS lookup service has been desupported.

DfE Catchment Fields

The DfE integration will now include the following fields in the download when Get Updates and Get All Participants are triggered:

DfE field Description Maytas database column
Teach catchment Indicates whether the participant is UK-based TRAINEEPOT2.DFE_CATCHMENT
Teacher catchment ISO country code Identifies which non-UK country the participant has registered from TRAINEEPOT2.DFE_CATCHMENT_ISO_COUNTRY_CODE
Teach catchment country Shows the text entered by the participant during their NPQ online registration (i.e. the name of their country) TRAINEEPOT2.DFE_CATCHMENT_COUNTRY

These fields are not displayed on the DfE Data tab by default, but can be added via the Screen Designer.

Reports Library 1.0.4.3

Upgrade the Reports Library

How to Upgrade the Reports Library

The Reports Library upgrade should be performed by an admin user, which will upgrade the reports for all users.

To enable to the Upgrade reports button for an admin user:

  1. Go to Tools | Edit Permissions.
  2. Select the user or group which requires permission.
  3. Go to the Commands tab.
  4. Expand the Support section.
  5. Set the Report SQL Upgrade permission to Visible.
  6. Click Apply and restart Maytas for the change to take effect.

For customers who manage their own systems on-premise, it is strongly advised to take a database backup before performing the upgrade. This is not necessary for hosted customers as backups are taken regularly.

To upgrade the Reports Library:

  1. Go to Support on the toolbar.

  2. Click Upgrade reports.

  3. You will asked to confirm that you wish to perform the reports upgrade SQL. Click OK to continue.
  4. A message will appear saying that a task has been created. Click OK.

  5. You can check that the upgrade was successful by going to Home on the toolbar and then selecting Server Tasks | View Jobs.

    If the Status indicates that the upgrade has failed, please do not continue with importing the reports package and raise an incident on the Self Support Portal for assistance.

  6. Next, the reports package must be imported. Go to Home on the toolbar and click Import on the Reports panel on the ribbon.
  7. This will display the Report Import wizard. Click +Add Files.
  8. Browse to the Maytas 5\Extras\Reports Library folder of the upgrade, select one of the following packages and click Open:
    • For all reports, select Reports Library 1.0.4.3 (all reports).
    • For ESFA and general reports only, select Reports Library 1.0.4.3 (ESFA and general reports).m5rep.
  9. Click Finish to import the reports. This process may take a long time (potentially upwards of 30 minutes) depending on the size of the reports package.

  10. When the reports have finished importing, click Finish.

    The import log may display various warning messages, which are generally a result of report formatting and other factors which do not impact how a report runs (e.g. The text box ‘textbox3’ extends beyond the bottom edge of its container.). Unless a message indicates that the import has failed, these warnings can safely be ignored.

QAR 2021/22 Rulesets

The QAR rules for apprenticeships, traineeships and education and training (ET) have been implemented based on the specifications for 2021/22.

The only rule change from previous years is that the ET achievement rates now excludes programme types of 30 (T-level transition programme) and 31 (T-level programme).

New Report - QAR Summary

The QAR Summary report presents a simple top-level view of achievement rate data from all types of provision (i.e. apprenticeship, ET and traineeship). Each year and provision shows the figures for overall achievement, overall retention, overall pass rate and timely achievement. The report can be found in the Quality folder.

The chart at the top of the screen shows the year-on-year trend for each provision, and buttons underneath the chart let you choose which measure to compare.

Clicking on a figure will show a drilldown report detailing the learners and aims which comprise the figure.

Parameters

New Report - Achievement Rates Overview

The Achievement Rates Overview report shows breakdowns of achievement rates figures by a variety of categories. The report can be found in the Quality folder and is best viewed when exported to Excel, as each category then appears on a separate tab.

Parameters

Categories

The report is broken down into the following categories, each of which can be viewed on a separate tab if the report is exported to Excel:

The final part of the report shows a list of all learners and aims used to produce the figures, along with data relevant to the achievement rates.

New Report - Learner Journey

The Learner Journey report shows a summary of events that are included on Maytas Hub's Learner Journey screen. The report can be found in the Learner folder.

Clicking on a figure will show a drilldown report listing basic details of the relevant items, grouped by category.

Parameters

New Report - HE Quality Control

The HE Quality Control report shows a series of audit figures for HE learners, based on the OfS HE Quality Control specification. The report can be found in the Audit folder.

Course Attendance Monitoring - New Parameter

A new parameter, Only include learners currently enrolled on course, has been added to the Course Attendance Monitoring report.

When set to the default option ofYes, only attendances for learners assigned to the relevant course stream will be counted in the report. To check this, open a course record and go to the Space Allocation tab - learners must appear in the This Stream area on the right to be counted. i.e. If a learner is on the stream, has attendance records entered and is then removed from the This Stream area, their attendance will no longer appear on the report when the parameter is set to Yes.

If the parameter is set to No, attendances for learners removed from a stream will be counted.

Provider Summary Report - Traineeships

The Provider Summary Report now includes achievement rate figures for traineeships, as well as for apprenticeships and ET.

Attendance Report - Additional Information

The Attendance Report now includes several new columns showing additional information: