Release 2 Changes Seminar
Presenter’s Guide
Information and revision history
Original Author(s) / Sue Russell
Version / Date / Author(s) / Revision Notes
Draft 0.1 / 24/02/09 / Sue Russell / First draft for Review
Draft 0.2 / 27/02/09 / Sue Russell / Updated following review
Issue 1 / 27/02/09 / Sue Russell / Issued
Issued 1.1 / 5/03/09 / Sue Russell / Minor updates CCR refs
Supporting documentation:
LP AVMS Release 2 Changesfor ProvidersPresentation
LP AVMS Release 2 Changesfor Providers Presenter’s Guide (this document)
Review Panel
Name
Michael Burke / Stephen Harrison
Tracey Cox / Brian Wilkes
George Hardwick
Sign Off Authorised By:
Version / Name / Responsibility / Date
Issue 1 / Angela Scale / 27/02/09
Table of Contents
Introduction
How to Run the Presentation
How to Navigate through the Presentation
How to use the Presenter’s Guide
Slide 1
Welcome and Introductions
Slide 2
Agenda
Slide 3
Background
Slide 4
Overview
Slide 5
Terminology
Slide 6 – Strategic Partners
Slide 7
Slide 8
Slide 9
Slide 10
Slide 11
Slide 12
Slide 13
Slide 14
Slide 15
Slide 16
Slide 17 - Candidates
Slide 18
Slide 19
Slide 20
Slide 21
Slide 22
Slide 23
Slide 24
Slide 25
Slide 26
Slide 27
Slide 28
Slide 29
Slide 30 – Vacancy Managers
Slide 31
Slide 32
Slide 33
Slide 34
Slide 35
Slide 36
Slide 37
Slide 38
Questions
Introduction
The Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching System is a key driver to increasing uptake and participation in apprenticeships in England. The core component of this service is the provision on an online vacancy matching system, through which Employers, Learning Providers and Candidates match applications to opportunities.
This presentation has been developed to inform existing users of the service of the changes that are being introduced in Release 2. It covers changes that may affect Candidates, Strategic Partners, Vacancy Managers and NAS Staff.
The presentation has been designed to be used in conjunction with the Presenter’s Guide (this document).
How to Run the Presentation
- Open the presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint 2003.
- On slide one, click into the Presenter’s Name box. Delete the text and the square brackets and type your name.
- To start the presentation, from the drop down menu, click Slide Show and select View Show. Alternatively, if you prefer to use the keyboard press F5 on the top row of the keyboard.
How to Navigate through the Presentation
- Click the mouse to navigate through each slide.
The keyboard alternative is to press down arrow ↓ to move forwards one step and up arrow ↑ to go backwards one step. You could also use <Spacebar> or <Enter> to go forwards and <Backspace> to go backwards.
- When a slide has several builds, each mouse click (or key press) will ‘build’ the slide information.
- The Escape key will stop the presentation.
- To close the presentation, from the drop down menu, click File and select Close.
How to use the Presenter’s Guide
Each page of this document represents a slide. These are listed on the contents page.
Many of the slides have builds which are triggered by a click of the mouse. (You can also use the keys listed above.)
Within the text of the guide you will see bullet points; each bullet point represents a mouse click in the presentation.
The script in the guide is an explanation of the learning point illustrated by each build.
Information contained in square brackets [Xxxxx] is not part of the script but is there to help the presenter relate the script to the slide.
It is recommended that you run through the presentation in conjunction with the script, in order to familiarise yourself with the presentation.
Slide 1
Welcome and Introductions
Welcome to an introduction to the Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching System Release 2 Changes.
I’m [Presenter’s name] and I am your presenter for today.
[Give any additional information (role or background) and ask delegates to introduce themselves, if appropriate.]
Slide 2
Agenda
- This presentation covers the changes that are being introduced that affect the different users of the Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching System.
It includes:
- [New functionality]
Any new features that are being introduced to enhance the functionality available to users
- [Changes to screens]
Details of any changes to screens. Some of these are minor but it means that you don’t have to play ‘spot the difference’ to find them!
- [New terminology]
As you may be aware, a change is being made to the language we use to describe job opportunities on the system. We’ll cover these changes and the extent to which they are being adopted in Release 2.
- [New roles]
A number of new roles are being introduced for NAS Support staff to ensure that staff have access to the appropriate functionality for the role they perform. This change does not affect Learning Providers.
The session will last about an hour.
Slide 3
Background
- [12th January 2009]
As you are all aware, towards the end of 2008 there was a great deal of activity to get Learning Providers and Employers set up on the system so that Vacancies (or Adverts as they now called) could be loaded. This culminated in the system being made available to Candidates on 12th January.
- [4th February 2009]
The next key date was the 4th February when some change requests that were in progress went live. I will cover these changes today, but if you are using the live system you may already be aware of them.
- [31st March 2009]
This is the date that the Release 2 changes will go into live. By the end of this session you will be familiar with the scope and extent of the changes. Hopefully you will also have an opportunity to preview them in the Training Environment before go live.
Slide 4
Overview
These are the main changes:
- [Changes to terminology]
There are some basic changes to the way we describe Apprenticeship opportunities advertised on the web site. This has implications throughout the system – I’ll explain the details shortly.
- [Strategic Partner access]
In Release 2 Strategic Partners, such as Connexions or Job Centre plus, can access the system and search. You will see the registration process for Strategic Partners, how they access the system and the functionality available to them.
- [Improvements for Candidates]
Keyword searches are much improved, to include spell checking and synonyms; there is also the facility to extend the search to a national search.
If a Candidate has selected a Favourite search, they can now opt to receive email and/or SMS alerts when an advert is added that matches their search criteria. This is in addition to the message posted to their message board in the system.
There are some changes to the application form and how it is managed. Candidates can also withdraw an application they have submitted, if they wish.
- [Improvements for Vacancy Managers]
Now that a Candidate can withdraw an application, there is a new task for Vacancy Managers to notify them of a withdrawn application.
There are also some changes to the Ladder screen – accounting for vacancies filled by external applicants and also the facility to reinstate an unsuccessful or withdrawn application.
For Learning Providers there is an improvement to the way the Profile is created to show success rates.
Slide 5
Terminology
In Release 1 we had an apprenticeship opportunity which was called
- a Vacancy
- If that apprenticeship had a number of places available, they were called Positions
- In Release 2, an apprenticeship opportunity is called an Advert and the places available are Vacancies.
- So an Apprenticeship opportunity is now an Advert
- and the number of places are Vacancies.
These changes in terminology will appear on a number of screens and will also be reflected in the reports produced by AVMS.
Slide 6– Strategic Partners
So, that has given you an overview of the changes.
What we will do now is take each of the different user groups in turn and look in more detail at the changes to the system.
We’ll start with the access for Strategic Partners.
Slide 7
So for Strategic Partners, this is a summary of the functionality available:
- [Initial registration process]
They can register by completing and submitting a short registration form on the website.
- [Log in from the Visitor Landing page]
Once they have a Username and Password they can log in through a link on the Visitor Landing page.
- [Search for Vacancies]
They can search for vacancies using the same search tools that are available to Candidates.
- [Search for a Learning Provider]
They can also search for a Learning Provider offering a specific type of apprenticeship or by name.
- [Maintain profile information]
There is also the facility to update their registration information, if necessary.
Slide 8
This is the Visitor Landing page.
- If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will see that there is now a new section for Strategic Partners. If you are a new user you will need to register first.
- Click this link to go to the registration form.
Slide 9
The registration process for Strategic Partners is similar to that for Candidates.
- As you can see, fields marked with an asterisk must be completed. You need to enter details of your name, email address and your organisation.
- In the bottom section of the form you provide details of the Username and Password that you would like to use. Your Username must be unique, so the Check Availability button allows you see if it is still available. Your password must be between 8-20 characters long and contain 3 of the following characters: a capital letter, a special character, a lower case letter and a number.
- The terms and conditions of the site are listed in a scrollable text box. Having read through them you need to accept them by selecting this checkbox.
- Click Register to submit your form.
Slide 10
This is an example of the Welcome email you will receive inviting you to activate your account.
- Click this link to complete the registration process and activate your account.
- You can then login.
Slide 11
This is the login page. Once you have your Username and Password you can access this screen directly from the Visitor Landing page.
- Type in your Username and Password and click Login.
Slide 12
This is the Home Page. The links in the Left-hand navigation panel give you access to these features;
- Search for Vacancies – this it equivalent to the functionality available to Candidates. You can also access it by clicking the Go button on the page.
- Search for Learning Provider – this allows you to search by the type of apprenticeship offered or by Learning Provider name and you can view the Provider details page from the search results list.
- My Profile – this page shows the information you provided about yourself when you registered. You can update the details, if necessary.
- Change Password – allows you to change your password!
- And Logout takes you out of the Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching System – there is a confirmation screen first!
- This link will open the appropriate page of the Apprenticeships.org.uk website in new window.
Slide 13
This is the Search for Vacancy page – it is the same as the Candidate Search for Vacancies.
- In this section you can specify what you want to search by. Your selection here will change the next section of the form.
- Because we have Occupation Type/Job Role selected, this section lets us select a specific Occupation Type from a drop down list. Once we have done that we can choose a specific Job Role, or search for all Job Roles in that Sector.
- This section lets us restrict the geographical area of our search. The default is By Location – you select a PostalCounty from the list of locations. If you choose By Postcode, the postcode from the address on your profile is entered automatically but you could enter a different postcode if you wanted to. You also specify the approximate number of miles you are prepared to travel – the default is 10.
You can also carry out a national search where all vacancies matching your other criteria will be returned.
- The Additional Search Options you can set include a posting date for Vacancies, yesterday, in the last week or the last month, and a Wage range.
- Once you have specified the criteria, click Search.
Slide 14
This is the Search Results page.
- In this case there is one match in our selected location.
- We have the option of extending the search to a national search – by clicking here we can display these results.
- As you can see, this is test data – but the Vacancy Title, which appears here, is a link to the full details of the opportunity.
- We have options here to go back and refine our search or to start a new search.
Slide 15
This is the Search for Learning Provider page
- This section lets you search for Learning Providers that offer a particular Apprenticeship. Select the Sector from the drop down listand then, if necessary, the Framework required. You also need to specify whether you are looking for a National or Regional provider.
When you carry out the search, the system is searching the information provided by the Learning Provider in their profile. If the Learning Provider has not set up a profile, they will not be included in any search results.
- In this section you can search for a Learning Provider by name. It is a ‘contains’ search and includes all the Learning Providers that are registered in the Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching System, regardless of whether they have set up a profile.
Slide 16
So for Strategic Partners, this is a summary of the functionality available:
- [Initial registration process]
They can register by completing and submitting a short registration form on the website.
- [Log in from the Visitor Landing page]
Once they have a Username and Password they can log in through a link on the Visitor Landing page.
- [Search for Vacancies]
They can search for vacancies using the same search tools that are available to Candidates.
- [Search for a Learning Provider]
They can also search for a Learning Provider offering a specific type of apprenticeship or by name.
- [Maintain profile information]
There is also the facility to update their registration information, if necessary.
Slide 17- Candidates
This section looks at the changes that are being introduced for Candidates.
They fall into two main areas – searching for a vacancy and managing applications.
Slide 18
These are the changes for Candidates:
- [National search]
There is now a facility to search nationally or to extend a search to show national vacancies
- [Keyword improvements]
Keyword searches are now ‘starts with’, have spell checking available and also incorporate synonyms (carpentry/joinery for example)
- [Email/SMS Alerts]
Candidates can now elect to receive email or SMS Alerts when a vacancy matching their favourite search is added.
- [Areas of interest]
The registration form and profile now includes two preferred areas of interest (sectors and frameworks). Completing this section is optional.
- [Withdraw an application]
Finally, a candidate can now withdraw an application they have submitted (provided they have not been successful) and the Vacancy Manager is notified.
Let’s look at searching first.
Slide 19
This is the Candidate’s Vacancy Search screen. It is very similar to the Strategic Partner Vacancy Search that we saw earlier.
- There is now a National Search option. Under Search Area, you can now specify National if you want to search for vacancies throughout England. If you restrict your search area, either by Location or Postcode, you now have an opportunity to expand your search to display the national vacancies as you will see shortly…
- Other changes relate to Keyword search.
Keyword is a ‘starts with’ search. There is now a spell check option available when you enter your Keyword, so you can check it before you search.
- Of course, you may still type something incorrectly – in this case we have typed ‘engineering’ with one e in the middle.
Slide 20
If you do type something incorrectly and there are no matching vacancies, you get a ‘did you mean’ message so that you can easily repeat the search using the suggestion.
In this cases it is Did you mean engineering. If we click on the link
- The matching vacancies are displayed.
Slide 21
In this example we have entered the letters C A R in the keyword search box.
When you enter a keyword it is now a ‘starts with search’. This means that you can enter just the first few characters of a word and it will bring back all vacancies that include those characters in the fields that are searched. That could be an advantage – it could also mean that you get very large numbers of results.
Also, Keywords searches also now use a thesaurus. This is a very useful way of identifying ‘similar’ opportunities. For example, if you enter the keyword wood, as well a woodwork and woodcarving, it will also find carpentry and joinery.
So let’s see what our search for CAR brings back…
Slide 22
This is the search results screen – you may notice a number of changes here.
- In this search the location was restricted to the West Midlands. Those results are listed here, but we are also told about the matching vacancies that are available throughout England. We could choose to display the full list, by clicking the Show these link.
- The search results now also include the number of Vacancies available for each Advert.
- In this example, our keyword ‘CAR’ has brought back vacancies containing words starting with the32
- letters CAR (CARry and Deliver Goods) in any one of a range of fields, including the Vacancy Full Description, which is not shown on this screen.
- By using the thesaurus it has also returned vacancies containing the synonyms ‘vehicle’ and ‘motor’. The results are sorted showing those that are likely to be most relevant at the top of the list.
- As a Candidate, you can still save a search to run again at a later stage.
Slide 23