5.24 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.

Data migration

Please note that it is important to ensure that all 2021/22 learners have been entered before the upgrades are applied. This is because the upgrade migrates 2021 data to the 2022 fields, and any 2021 learners entered after the upgrades will not be migrated. As such, if any 2021 learners do need to be entered after the upgrade, both the 2021 and 2022 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 5.24.8100.2. 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.

Check the Contractor Details for the ESFA Export

  1. Open Maytas 5 and select Management | Contracts.
  2. Highlight the contractor name (company) you wish to edit.

  3. Right-click and select Edit.

  4. The Company screen will be displayed. The technical upgrade will have copied the UKPRN field to the new 22 box. If necessary, you should amend this value.
  5. Providers need to ensure that these instructions are completed for each company (contractor) used for the ESFA export.

Create the 2022/23 ESFA Formula-Funded Contract

A 2022/23 ESFA formula-funded contract should be set up for each ESFA contractor. Without this contract, Maytas is unable to determine the funding rules, schemes and lookup codes to use.

  1. In the Contracts module, left-click the contractor (company) to which you wish to add the new contract.
  2. Click Add Contract on the ribbon.

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

  4. Enter a contact description (e.g. ESFA 2022/23).
  5. Enter a contract number if required.
  6. Select the SFA/EFA/ESFA Formula Funded Contract option.
  7. Select year 2022/2023.
  8. Click Next.
  9. Amend the schemes you wish to include in the contract and click Next.
  10. Click Finish.

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 2021 to 2022 uplift factors by postcode and LLSOA: CSV files.

    A new postcode uplift file for 2022/23 is not expected to be released, and so the 2021/22 file should be imported to Maytas for 2022/23.

  2. Rename the file to PostcodeFactors_2022-2023.zip.
  3. In Maytas, go to Exports on the toolbar.
  4. On the ILR Tools panel of the ribbon, go to Uploads | Upload Postcodes| Upload Post Code Data (2022/23).
  5. Browse to and select the postcode uplifts zip file and click Open.
  6. 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.

Maytas 5 Version 5.24.8100.2 Release Notes

2022/23 Contract Year Updates

New Contract Year Tabs

New Maytas tabs for 2022/23 have been produced for the ILR and LLWR as per specifications from the Data Service and DfE. 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.

ILR Changes for 2022/23

These are the main ILR changes for 2022/23 which have been implemented in Maytas:

New Tabs for 2022/23

There are six new ILR tabs for 2022/23:

As in previous years, the tabs have been designed so that only the appropriate tabs appear for each scheme. However, we are aware that many providers have bespoke or non-standard scheme groups. In these cases, it is possible that the tabs may not appear on certain schemes. This can be rectified in the following way:

  1. Check the group type of the scheme (SCHEME.GROUPTYPE).
  2. In Maytas 5, go to Tools on the toolbar and click New / Load on the Screens panel.
  3. Select Trainee on the left.
  4. Double-click the ILR tab which is not appearing. The tabs for 2022/23 are:
    • ILR 2022 App Starter Info
    • ILR 2022 App Leaver Info
    • ILR 2022 16-19 Starter Info
    • ILR 2022 16-19 Leaver Info
    • ILR 2022 Other Starter Info
    • ILR 2022 Other Leaver Info

  5. Alter the Scheme group as required. Each group should be separated with a comma (no spaces). For example, if the App tab is not showing for scheme 3, and the group type for scheme 3 is called MY_GROUP, the tab should be set as in the screenshot.

  6. Click Apply to save the changes.
Removed Field

Student instance identifier has been removed from the ILR (this was previously on the HE tab).

Notes on Continuing Learners and Migration

As part of the upgrade, data for continuing learners is migrated from the 2021/22 fields to the 2022/23 fields. Any changes to continuing learners and any late-notified learners entered after the upgrade should be completed on both the 2021/22 and 2022/23 tabs. This is because certain ILR fields are recorded in different fields in the database from year to year, and therefore it is important to ensure that all data is completed and correct on both tabs.

The following fields are NOT migrated from 2021/22 to 2022/23:

It is important to ensure these fields are completed on the 2022/23 tabs where required.

ILR Reports for 2022/23

The ILR reports have been created using the available ILR guidance for 2022/23. Providers should check with the ESFA that they are happy for the current reports to be used and that it is compliant for audit purposes. As this has been the case for the reports in previous years, we do not expect any issues in this regard.

There are reports available for apprenticeship, 16-19 (excluding apprenticeships) and non-16-19 learners.

The ILR reports are automatically imported in the upgrade and can be found in the ILR folder of the Reports Library.

There are two ways to run the reports:

ILR Export 2022/23

The ILR export for 2022/23 is now available in Maytas. To view the ILR export screen for 2022/23:

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

  3. Click the button.

  4. Choose 2022 from the Survey Year dropdown box.
  5. Choose the Notional Return period.
  6. Amend the UKPRN as required.

  7. Once ready, click OK.

  8. 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 pending until the export data has been generated. It will then say File preparation finished. 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 XML 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.

The 2022/23 ILR export has been tested and validated against the latest version of the online ILR specification as of the time of this release, as well as other accompanying documents. As of this release, the 2022/23 FIS is still in a beta stage, and so we have not yet been able to test the ILR export with the FIS comprehensively. Further testing will be done as new versions of the FIS become available.

While we have tested the ILR export to the best of our ability with the available specifications, there may be further issues which have not yet been identified. It is also possible that future versions of the FIS and the ILR specification may require the export and/or FIS import to be changed to meet any new criteria. Any changes that are required will be implemented in a follow-up release of Maytas.

Migration of ILR export override flags

The following details whether ILR export flags are migrated from 2021/22 to 2022/23. For information on setting these flags, please contact Maytas support.

Force Export Flag

The 2021/22 force export flag is not copied to the 2022/23 force export flag. To override the ILR export and include a POT that does not meet the 2022/23 ILR export criteria, the 2022/23 export flag must be set.

Blocking Flags

The 2021/22 blocking flags are copied to the 2022/23 blocking flags. Aims blocked from the 2021/22 export will continue to be blocked in the 2022/23 export.

Funding Information

The funding information for 2022/23 in this upgrade is based on the funding rules for 2021/22, since full specifications were not available at the time of development. The 2022/23 funding information in this upgrade should be considered a beta version and is subject to change once future specifications have been published.

Completion Status and Outcome

Updated versions of the ILR 2021/22 tabs are included with this release which use new fields for outcome and completion status. These are referred to as the R14 fields. Data from the existing fields are migrated to them during the upgrade, and in most cases these values do not need to be altered. The R14 fields are what will be used for the 2021/22 ILR export and the existing fields will continue to be used from 2022/23 onwards.

The purpose of this change is to allow different values for 21/22 and 22/23 to be recorded, so that learners who completed in 21/22 who were on a break in learning or had an unknown outcome can be correctly included by the 22/23 ILR export. As with any other continuing learner, you should ensure that data is correct on the tabs for each contract year.

For late-notified leavers where the learner left in 21/22 but the data is entered during 22/23, it is important that you complete the above fields on both the 21/22 and 22/23 tabs, even though the learner has not continued into 22/23. This is to ensure the data is recorded in the existing / ongoing fields so that the correct data for these learners is included on reports.

AS Export Fields on Apprenticeship Financial Record Grid

Three new fields have been added to the Apprenticeship Financial Record grid on the ILR 2022 App Starter Info tab:

These fields are not part of the ILR specification but have been introduced in version 6 of the Apprenticeship Export specification.

Skills Forward Integration

Maytas can now integrate with Skills Forward via the Skills Forward API, which allows data for learner diagnostics, initial assessments and screener results to be retrieved from Skills Forward and recorded against a learner in Maytas.

A new licence is required for the Skills Forward integration - please contact your account manager for more information. Instructions for installing the licence can be found in the Maytas Upgrade Guide.

The integration supports multiple ways of associating records between Maytas and Skills Forward, depending on your requirements:

When a learner's Maytas record is linked to their Skills Forward record, this allows their downloaded results to be associated with them in Maytas and viewed on the Skills Forward tab. A selection of fields in Skills Forward can also be updated from Maytas when records are linked. These fields are:

Setup

An API Key and API Token must be obtained from Skills Forward, which are then entered in Maytas to allow it to communicate with Skills Forward. To obtain these:

  1. As a Skills Forward admin user, log in to Skills Forward.
  2. Click Admin.
  3. Click Webhooks & API.
  4. Select API.
  5. Create an API and ensure you make a note of the API Key and Token values.
  6. Check that the permissions are set to Allow.
  7. Click Webhooks & API.
  8. Select Webhooks.
  9. Within the Provider dropdown, select Skills Assessment API Key Assessment.
  10. Select Add New Provider.
  11. Switch Status to ON.
  12. Add the API Key obtained earlier.

If you have any issues obtaining the API Key and Token, please email skillsassessments@ncfe.org.uk

The API Key and Token must then be added to the Maytas configuration options:

  1. In Maytas, click the M5 button at the top left and select Options.
  2. Go to Other on the left (under the Maytas 5 header).

  3. In the Skills Forward section, tick the boxes for each config option and enter the values as follows:

    • API Keyand API Token - Enter the values obtained earlier.

    • Url for API - https://www.myskillsforward.co.uk/api/

  4. Click OK.

Next, permissions must be set to access the system:

  1. Go to Tools | Edit Permissions.
  2. Select the user or group which requires permission.
  3. On the Modules tab, set the Skills Forward permission to Visible.
  4. Go to the Commands tab and expand the Skills Forward section.
  5. Set the permission to Visible.
  6. Click Apply to save changes, then restart Maytas for the permission to take effect.

Finally, the Skills Forward tab must be made available:

  1. Go to Tools on the toolbar and click New / Load on the Screens panel of the ribbon.
  2. Scroll down and select Trainee on the left.
  3. Select Skills forward on the right and click OK.
  4. Tick the Published box on the left.
  5. Click Apply on the ribbon.
  6. Go to Home on the toolbar and click the Sync button.

Linking a Maytas learner record to an existing Skills Forward learner record

When a learner's Maytas record is linked to their Skills Forward record, this allows their downloaded results to be associated with them in Maytas and viewed on the Skills Forward tab.

To link a learner's records:

  1. Open the learner record in Maytas.

  2. On the Third Party panel of the ribbon, go to Skills Forward | Link User.

  3. You will see a list of available Skills Forward user records. Select the learner's record and click OK.
  4. A message will appear to confirm the records have been linked. Click OK.

While a Maytas learner record can only be linked to one Skills Forward record, you can view records that have already been linked to Maytas learners by ticking the Show already linked box at the top right. This can be useful if you are unsure whether a Skills Forward record has already been linked and need to check.

Once a learner's records have been linked, you will see the details of the linked record on the Skills Forward tab in Maytas:

Unlinking a Skills Forward record

If you need to unlink a Maytas learner record with a Skills Forward record (e.g. if they have been linked by mistake), this can be done as follows:

  1. Open the learner's record in Maytas.
  2. On the Third Party panel of the ribbon, go to Skills Forward | Unlink.
  3. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to unlink the records. Click Yes to continue.
  4. The records will now be unlinked.

Creating a Skills Forward user account from a Maytas record

If you have a Maytas learner who needs a Skills Forward user account and doesn't already have one, the account can be generated via Maytas:

  1. Ensure the learner has a valid email address entered in Maytas (TRAINEE.EMAIL). This will be used to send the learner a link to set their password.
  2. Open the learner's record in Maytas and go to the Skills Forward tab.
  3. Tick the Create User box.
  4. On the ribbon, go to Skills Forward | Create/Update User.
  5. A message will appear to confirm the user has been created. Click OK.

  6. The User Institution, Student Ref. and Username fields will now be populated with values generated from Skills Forward. The username is what the learner will use to login to Skills Forward, though it can be changed within Skills Forward.

    The Student Ref. will use a learner's Maytas Hub username if they are linked to a web user account, otherwise it will use their Trainee ID. This then forms part of the username generated by Skills Forward.

  7. The learner will receive an email from Skills Forward with a link to set their password. They can then login to Skills Forward using the username above (which is also included on the email) and their new password.

If you have multiple learners you wish to generate Skills Forward accounts for, this can be done in bulk by ticking the Create User box for each learner and then going to Management on the toolbar and selecting Skills Forward | Create Users. This will generate accounts in the same way as above for each of the learners with Create User ticked.

Downloading results for an individual learner

To download results for a learner:

  1. Open the learner's record in Maytas.
  2. On the ribbon, go to Skills Forward | Get Results.

  3. The learner's available results will now be downloaded.

    Clicking Close will continue the download in the background, and progress can be checked by going to Skills Forward | Get Results again.

  4. The results will now show in the relevant grids on the Skills Forward tab (note that you may need to click Refresh on the ribbon for them to display after downloading).

Downloading results for an individual learner will not include diagnostic, initial assessment or screener results. These must be downloaded in bulk (i.e. for all learners) as per the instructions below.

Downloading all results from Skills Forward

To download all results from Skills Forward:

  1. In Maytas, go to Management on the toolbar.
  2. On the Third Party panel of the ribbon, go to Skills Forward | Get Results.

  3. Available results will now be downloaded.

    This may take a long time depending on the number of available records. Clicking Close will continue the download in the background, and progress can be checked by going to Skills Forward | Get Results again.

Scheduling Skills Forward downloads

The Scheduler can be used to schedule when results are downloaded from Skills Forward for all learners, rather than manually performing the download.

  1. Go to Tools | Scheduler.

  2. On the ribbon, go to New | Skills Forward. A new Skills Forward schedule will be created.

  3. Enter a name and description for the schedule on the General tab.

  4. Go to the Schedule tab. This is where you can configure when (and how often) the schedule will run.

  5. Set the schedule in the Details section. It can be set to run periodically (e.g. every day, week, etc) or just once at a specified time. Please note that if you intend to start the schedule immediately, the start time should be at least 10 minutes in the future to ensure it is picked up by the system.

  6. Set the start date at the bottom of the window. The schedule will run indefinitely by default, but if you want the schedule to end on a particular date then tick the Stop this schedule on box and set the date.
  7. When you have finished configuring the schedule and want to activate the schedule, tick the Is Enabled box at the top of the tab.
  8. Click Apply on the ribbon to save the schedule.

The Log tab shows a log of when the schedule has been run, which can be filtered between two dates.

AS Export - Retirement of EDRS

As of 01/04/2022, the ESFA have retired the EDRS lookup service and no new employers are being registered for the EDRS. Questions about how data should be entered in relation to this should be referred to the ESFA.

The AS Export has been updated in Maytas so that learners can be matched using Agreement identifier instead of EDRS ID when the EDRS ID is 999999999. Agreement identifier can be found by opening a row on the ILR Employment Status grid and going to the ILR 2022 Employment Status tab.

Please also be aware that the EDRS lookup field in Maytas can no longer retrieve data from the EDRS lookup service now that it has been removed by the ESFA.

DfE Integration - Additional Fields

The DfE integration now populates three additional fields and displays them on the DfE Data tab. The fields are:

Screen Designer - New / Load Improvements

The Screen Designer's New / Load screen has been improved so that entities (on the left) can be filtered to access them faster and so that the Trainee entity is selected by default.

To filter entities:

  1. Go to Tools on the toolbar and select New / Load on the Screens panel of the ribbon.

  2. Enter a search term in the Entities box (at the top-left of the window). This will filter the entities on the left by those that contain the search term.

  3. You can then quickly select the required entity, rather than having to scroll down to locate it.

  4. You can also now select multiple tabs and controls on the right to open them all at the same time (this is limited to 12 being opened at once). To do this, select a tab or control and then hold the CTRL key to click and select others.

Additionally, it is now possible to delete multiple tabs / controls at the same time, though this ability requires a permission to be set:

  1. Go to Tools | Edit Permissions.
  2. Select the user or group which requires permission.
  3. Go to the Commands tab and expand the Screen Designer section.
  4. Set the Delete Tabs permission to Visible.
  5. Click Apply to save changes, then restart Maytas for the permission to take effect.

You can then delete multiple tabs in the New / Load window by selecting them while holding the CTRL key and then clicking the Delete button.

Employer Contacts at Branch Level

A configuration option is available which allows employer contacts to be set at branch level as well as at parent employers. Additionally, the key contact for a branch can be set to a contact at the parent employer.

To set the config:

  1. Go to the M5 button at the top-left and select Options.
  2. Go to Employer Login on the left (under the Maytas Hub Online header).
  3. In the General section, tick the box for the Allow parent employer contacts at branches setting on the right and ensure the toggle button is set to ON.
  4. Click OK.

Off-the-Job (OTJ) Calculation Update

The OTJ calculation has been updated so that it can be based on weeks rather than months (divided by 4), which brings it in line with the ESFA's Apprenticeship Commitment Statement template.

If the number of planned weeks is not entered on a learner's Off the Job Training tab, the calculation will continue use the number of planned months divided by 4 instead. If both weeks and months are entered, weeks will be used in the calculation.

To use weeks in the OTJ calculation:

  1. Open a learner record and go to the Off the Job Training tab.
  2. Complete the Duration of Programme (Weeks) field.
  3. Click Apply. The Off the job calculator field will now be updated using the entered weeks.

Reports Library 1.0.4.2

Upgrade the Reports Library

Changes to the Upgrade Process

Reports Library database updates are now included in the main Maytas upgrade, meaning the separate SQL script no longer has to be run. However, the Reports Library updates must be manually run from within Maytas via a button on the Support ribbon which is restricted by a permission.

The reason for this is that once the database updates have been applied, the latest reports package must be imported as usual to ensure there are no version differences between the database and the reports server (a version difference can result in reports not running correctly). As it can take a long time to import large report packages, we recognise that it is important to allow customers to choose when they perform the Reports Library update so that it can be scheduled at a convenient time.

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 1.0.4.2 (all reports).
    • For ESFA and general reports only, select Reports Library 1.0.4.2 (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.

Updates for 2022/23

The reports library has been updated to use fields from 2022/23 where appropriate and to include the 2022/23 report year on certain parameters.

QAR 2021/22 Rollover Ruleset

The Achievement Rate reports have been updated to include the 2021/22 ruleset based on the same rules as the 2020/21 ruleset, as the QAR specifications for 2021/22 were not available in time for this upgrade.

An update to the ruleset will be provided once the QAR specifications for 2021/22 are released.

New Report - Workforce Data Collection

The Workforce Data Collection report lists assessor and FE Workforce data entered on the Workforce Data tab.

Parameters

Layout

The report groups FE Workforce records by assessor, showing the assessor's name, date of birth and centre in the group header.

The Hourly rate, Annual salary and Reason for leaving fields are not included on the report, as these are deemed potentially sensitive and not appropriate for a report. While we do not expect the remaining fields to be significantly sensitive for internal use by providers, it is recommended that the fields are reviewed and access to the report is restricted to users as required.