End Point Assessment - Smart EPA

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Hello, The introduction of the apprenticeship levy will double the annual investment in apprenticeships in England to £2.9 billion by 2019.

2018 is going to be an exciting growth year for end point assessment organisations as the sector experiences an explosion in the number of apprentices enrolled onto employer standards.

To help EPAOs manage the increased demand for end point assessments, Smart Apprentices have developed the first technology, exclusively designed for registered EPAOs, to manage their end point assessments with rigour and efficiency.

Smart EPA manages every aspect of end point assessments from importing portfolios to recording EPAs, managing resources, validating competencies and conflicts of interest through to standardisation and compliance for external moderation.

Chosen as the technology partner of choice by leading EPAOs you will be in safe hands. Smart EPA - we’ve got you covered.

Email murray.scott@smartapprentices.com to arrange a demonstration.

Fiona Hudson Kelly Fiona Hudson-Kelly CEO

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working in partnership with...

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Leading End-Point Assessment organisation, NCFE, is pleased to be working with technology innovator, Smart Apprentices, to create an outstanding end-point assessment experience for their training providers, employers and apprentices.

Apprenticeships are going through their most significant transformation for a generation. Gone is the traditional ‘on the job’ accreditation and in its place is a new rigorous end-of-apprenticeship independent assessment. NCFE is one of the few recognised assessment organisations approved by the Education & Skills Funding Agency to deliver end-point assessment and offers support in a variety of sectors and subject areas.

Smart Apprentices (part of Smart Assessor) have created Smart EPA, a bespoke platform exclusively designed for the new style of end-point assessments for apprenticeships. Keen to offer their customers the best experience in the new world of end-point assessment, NCFE scoured the market to find the best technological solution to help deliver their excellent service and Smart EPA from Smart Apprentices provided the answer. Together the two organisations are providing a market-leading service to achieve maximum outcomes for their customers and learners.

CEO Fiona Hudson-Kelly recalls the inspiration for Smart EPA: “I am a believer in life-long learning and like to lead by example. At the age of 50 I embarked on my Masters degree in Business Administration and was fascinated to research the characteristics of rapid growth companies. My research led me to the interesting fact that companies experience rapid growth when they notice a change in their trading environment, usually a legislative change, which creates a new product opportunity.”

“Smart Apprentices spotted this opportunity and created a new technology in record time to meet the new legislative change to EPAs and get first to market with a purposely designed bespoke technology”.

Mike Boswell, Head of Apprenticeship Services at NCFE said: “NCFE is delighted to be working with Smart Apprentices who share our commitment to lifelong learning and technical education. We’ll be helping our customers navigate through the new landscape of apprenticeships and the SmartEPA platform will ensure that our customers receive the very best end-point assessment experience.”

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Contracts

Smart Roo Automatic Assessor Matching

Import Templates

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REGISTRATION

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Training Provider or Employer read more on page 10

4 REGISTRATION Apprentice read more on page 12

EPA EPA Bookings read more on page 16

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Standardisation Outcomes

Distribute Results

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Manage Resit Bookings

Smart Rooms

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Standardisation read more on page 29

6 EPA Results read more on page 27

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All these key features plus much more

Resits read more on page 25

EPA Completion read more on page 21

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Onboarding Configurable Permissions

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Configuring Standards

User Defined Lists

Resource Management

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Assessor Management

Configurable Permissions | SEPA user groups are configured to deny or grant access to critical features & areas of the system, based on your organisational structure which the system will mirror. The permissions are split into three categories: System permissions Report categories Dashboard widgets Users can be setup for EPAOs, Training Providers, Employers, Assessors and optionally apprentices.

Configuring Standards | Standards are easily configurable within the system to ensure they can be delivered to meet the requirements of the assessment plan. The configuration items include: Standard Level | Resit Rules | Price | Apprenticeship Length | Assessment Types | Overall Grading

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Each individual assessment type within a standard can be configured to reflect the assessment plan. The configuration items on assessment types include: Min Assessor Duration Min Apprentice Duration Overall Result Weighting Grades available Maximum resit attempts Apprentice Attendance Required Resit fees

User Defined Lists | Users can customise the data which is available in drop down boxes throughout the system. Over 20 different types of lists can be configured in the system including: Currencies | Address Types | Contact Types | Report Categories | Apprentice status | Reasonable Adjustments

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Resource Management | Resources can be uploaded or linked to within SEPA providing a central location for all information connected to EPAs. Resources can be associated with specific standards and/or user roles such as training providers: Training Provider Docs Employer Docs Assessment Centre Docs Assessor Docs EPA Evidence Docs Apprentice Docs Assessor CPD Docs Assessor Management | Set up your assessors in SEPA to manage their workload. This includes adding information such as: Contact details | The Standards they are competent to assess | Working Hours | Planned leave | Conflicts of Interest | CPD records.

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Step 1: Training Provider/Employer Registration Relationship Management

Contracts

Managing Conflict of Interest

Employer Management | Employer records can be setup allowing for the capture of details such as: Addresses | Contact Details | Funding information | Linked apprentices | Sectors Training Provider Management | Training Provider details are captured to provide the system with critical information used in the selection of EPA providers. Details available to be recorded are: Standards they deliver | Addresses | Contact Details | Linked employers

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Contracts | Contracts can be created in the system to manage the relationship between EPAOs and the other parties in the EPA process including training providers and employers.

Contracts can be used to apply discounts. Contracts can limit the number of apprentices which can be assessed.

Managing Conflict of Interest | The Assessor Management features a process to identify possible conflict of interest which may exist between the assessor and other parties within the EPA process.

Conflict of interest identified and recorded into the system will be used to eliminate this assessor from completing any EPAs where that conflict will occur.

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Step 2: Apprentice Registration

API

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Import Templates

Reasonable Adjustment Requests

ULN Verification

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Payment Terms

API | SEPA’s API allows you to integrate with other 3rd party systems including: e-portfolios MIS systems Sales systems Accounting systems Import Templates | SEPA’s “Import Templates” configurable in the system allow importing of data such as apprentices.

Users must define a column letter or column name within a spreadsheet where each field can be found. These mappings will then be used to process any uploaded spreadsheets.

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Reasonable Adjustment Requests | Reasonable adjustments can be requested and processed within the system.

Evidence can be uploaded to support the requested reasonable adjustments.

ULN Verification | SEPA allows for apprentices to be registered in the system, fields capture all key information such as the ULN Number and purchase order numbers for the EPA. With built-in integration in the LRS service provided by the ESFA, ULN numbers can be verified.

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Payment Terms | Whilst registering apprentices, key EPA information such as the standard they are completing, payment terms and reasonable adjustments can be recorded.

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Step 3: EPA Bookings

Checklist & Sign Off

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Upload Evidence

Book EPA

Book Assessment

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Assessor Preparation

Checklist & Sign Off | SEPA allows for checklists to be configured and applied to each individual standard. Checklists can be used to upload evidence and ensure that the necessary parties agree each apprentice is ready for EPA.

Upload Evidence | Evidence such as a summative portfolio can be uploaded and associated with individual assessment types for apprentices. This process is made simple using drag and drop technology.

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Book EPA | Once the apprentice is ready for EPA, the system will automatically match the apprentice to available assessors.

When matching assessors the following information is taken into consideration:

Apprenticeship Standard Assessor Working Hours Assessor Capacity Assessor Holiday Assessment Location Conflicts of Interest

Confirm EPA | Confirmation is required from assessors for all EPAs booked in the system. This acts as a check to ensure that the assessor is suitable and available to complete the EPA.

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Book Assessment |

Confirm Assessment |

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Assessor Preparation | Assessors can review evidence submitted prior to an assessment.

Evidence can be submitted by the apprentice themselves, or on the apprentice’s behalf by their training provider, prior to an assessment taking place.

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Step 4: EPA Completion

Smart Rooms

Grading

Evidence

Comments

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EPA Results Confirmation

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Integrated Smart Room Technology | Smart Rooms utilise powerful new technologies for communication and collaboration. Partnering with Brother, this seamless process provides a new way of communicating with all stakeholders.

EPAs can be scheduled and completed remotely. When scheduling EPAs, if a Smart Room is chosen as the assessment location, the system will automatically check to ensure that a room is available, and if so, a link will be distributed to the relevant parties.

Evid asse

For e add

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Grading | Assessors are able to enter the grade which they wish to give to an apprentice per assessment type. SEPA allows for a grade such as pass, merit or distinction to be recorded as well as a mark and/or percentage achieved.

Double marketing is also available for standardisation with configurable rules.

Evidence | Evidence can be uploaded during an assessment in order to justify the grade and comments given by the assessor.

For each piece of evidence added during an assessment, the assessor must record the source of the evidence as well as add some comments explaining what the evidence is.

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Comments | Throughout the EPA process, assessors are able to record comments against the apprentice’s EPA. The system will automatically record the name of the user who made the comment, as well as the date and time of the comment. This ensures that all comments are traceable and can be queried with the relevant user.

EPA Results Confirmation | Assessments can be double marked within the system, allowing for results to be confirmed or modified by a second assessor before being released to the relevant parties.

During this step additional comments can be added.

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Step 5: Resits Resit Rules

Resit Costs

Resit Rules | SEPA manages the booking of resits and allows you to input scenarios and rules on which resits are allowed. Resit rules include: Maximum number of resits per standard Maximum number of resits per assessment type The ability to resit passed assessments Ensure all assessment types are completed before booking resits.

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Resit Costs | SEPA has a central location for managing bookings, which have been made for an apprentice and allows for resits to be booked when necessary.

By selecting “Book resit”, the allocation scheduling process will be launched, allowing you to select a location and time for the resit, as well entering a PO number for the resit booking.

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Step 6: EPA Results Submit Results to EPA

Distribute Results

Submit Results | SEPA will integrate directly into the ESFA to allow for the certification template to be completed and uploaded automatically.

This process will take place once the apprentice has completed the EPA and has been given an overall result.

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Distribute Results | The system automatically calculates the overall grade of an apprentice using our customisable aggregation tables.

SEPA supports the ability to apply weighting to assessments in order to calculate the overall result. If required, overall grades can be manually input for an individual apprentice.

SEPA comes as standard with a number of email templates. The emails are triggered at various stages of the EPA process to notify the selected parties with information, such as the results of an EPA. The following configuration options exist for Email Templates: Who the email is to be sent to What the email contains (including merge fields) Email headers Disclaimers

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Step 7: Standardisation

Standardisation Reasons

Standardisation Outcomes

Audit Compliance

Reports

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Dashboard

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Standardisation Reasons | SEPA aids standardisation processes, allowing for samples of EPAs to be taken and reviewed.

A reason can be recorded against EPAs identified for standardisation. Reasons include an apprentice appealing, an assessor having been suspended, and for quality assurance.

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Standardisation Outcomes | The outcome of a standardisation review can be recorded. The available outcomes include: Modify grades Adding comments to an EPA Suspending an assessor Request a resit

Audit Compliance | External auditor access can be setup in the system to allow for external auditors to have read-only access to your records.

As with other user groups, access can be granted and denied within each area of the system.

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Reports | SEPA comes as standard with 20 default reports on information including: Filtered Apprentice lists Apprentice invoice data Apprentices missing evidence for reasonable adjustments Assessment bookings EPA results Reports can be scheduled to run as a single one off task or setup as recurring tasks. Parameters can be added to the scheduled report to filter the data sent.

Custom reports can be created using our built in report builder. Powered by DevExpress the features available include: Charts Images Parameters

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Dashboard | A management dashboard is available and can provide quick access to information such as: Active Apprentices Active Employers EPAs in the next 30 days EPAs to be booked The dashboard can be configured per user to show the widgets which are most relevant.

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working in partnership with...

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Smart End

Point Assessment

Driving the technological revolution of apprenticeships Leading end-point assessment organisation, Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT), has announced a key delivery partnership with Smart Apprentices to provide learners, training providers and employers a market-leading end-point assessment experience.

The partnership enables VTCT to rollout Smart Apprentices’ SEPA (Smart End Point Assessment) platform as part of its apprenticeship delivery from 2018 onwards. The software handles all of the mandatory administration tasks that are required as part of the end-point assessment across 20 apprenticeship programmes, supporting around 10,000 apprentices.

The platform, due to launch on 2nd April, will allow VTCT’s providers to make significant time savings, as well as implementing standardisation and best practice across all VTCT assessments.

The SEPA platform incorporates all elements of the end-point assessment in one place, from recording EPAs, managing resources, validating competencies and conflicts of interest through to standardisation and compliance for external quality assurance.

New Apprenticeship Standards introduced by the Government place a greater emphasis on the end-point assessment, and potentially, a larger burden on assessors themselves. The SEPA rollout will help to mitigate these effects, and ensure learners receive the best possible service from their providers.

Ashley Barnes, Chief Academic Officer at VTCT, commented: “It was clear during our due diligence process that the SEPA platform developed by Smart Apprentices provides a comprehensive and transparent solution to end-point assessment delivery. Across all of our operations, we want to put the user experience at the heart of everything we do, and market-leading technological solutions such as the SEPA platform allows us to do just that.”

Fiona Hudson-Kelly, CEO at Smart Apprentice, said: “Having supported VTCT’s apprentices for many years with our flagship award winning e-portfolio technology, we are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with VTCT through SEPA, our Smart End Point Assessment technology platform. We’re dedicated to continuing a client centric experience for VTCT, their training providers, and apprentices throughout the end point assessment journey.”

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A final word, With any change comes challenges. Many training providers will look to their End Point Assessment Organisations for advice and guidance on supporting them to manage the transition from in training to end point assessment for their apprentices. End Point Assessment organisations that can make booking and managing end point assessments easy for their providers, apprentices and employers will be best placed to become the partner of choice.

We can help you reach out to your providers, employers and apprentices, to offer them a rigorous and easy platform, where they can feel confident in managing their end point assessments with you, in the knowledge that you have invested in best in breed technology, purposely developed for end point assessments and not just adapted your existing platform in the hope it meets their needs.

If you would like to discuss your requirements further, please contact Murray Scott on Murray.Scott@smartapprentices.com.

Fiona Hudson Kelly Fiona Hudson-Kelly CEO

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