VETtrak can now integrate with the new Government eCAF (Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form) system. This must be used for all VET Student Loans from 2017. VETtrak's eCAF system integration operates as follows:
- Gain Access to the eCAF Web Service (API) for your Organisation
- Set up VETtrak to Communicate with the eCAF Web Service
- eCAF Engagement
- eCAF Progressions
- Troubleshooting
Gain Access to the eCAF Web Service (API) for your Organisation
In order for VETtrak to communicate with the eCAF web service (API) your organisation will need to have an eCAF user role set up known as an eCAF Provider API Access role (this is an eCAF role not a VETtrak role). This can be set up by filling out the Government eCAF API system access request form. Please note that only one account of this type can be created per organisation.
Set up VETtrak to Communicate with the eCAF Web Service
In order for VETtrak to know which eCAF role to use when communicating with the web service enter the username and password of the role in the organisation wizard. Go to 'Manage - Configuration - Organisation' edit the organisation and go to the second page to fill in the Heims username and Heims Password. Click the Test eCAF connection button to check whether the eCAF web service accepts the details VETtrak sends to it.
If you have requested an eCAF training environment account you may like to test this connection using the training eCAF environment before using the live environment. VETtrak can switch between a test environment and a live environment by going to File - Global Preferences - VET Student Loan Preferences - eCAF and changing the eCAF API URL to a live or test environment by clicking the 'Set live' and 'Set training'.
eCAF Engagement
- Enter the VET Student Loan course of study and units of study into VETtrak as normal.
- If you want to upload a course of study for an individual right click on the course of study and Upload to eCAF system.
If you would prefer to upload courses of study in bulk go to Utility, VET Student Loans and click Upload to eCAF system.
Click the Search button to search for students who need to be uploaded to eCAF. This will find students who's course of study record has the Bulk upload to eCAF system box checked on the first page of the course of study wizard.
- The eCAF record will now appear in the eCAF web site.
If you would like to delete the eCAF record from the eCAF system after uploading you can do so by right clicking on the course of study and clicking Delete from eCAF system. The eCAF status will need to be Uploaded to eCAF system meaning that the eCAF record has been uploaded to the eCAF system but has not yet received a response from the student. This wizard allows the user to upload a deletion reason.
- The eCAF system will send the student an email with instructions to proceed further. The student reviews general information about VET Student Loans, completes a quiz to test the student’s understanding of VET Student Loans, reviews the eCAF data and submits eCAF.
- The student's eCAF Status and Student Submit Date is now ready to be downloaded into VETtrak. This is done in bulk by going to Utility, VET Student Loans then clicking Download from eCAF system.
- The course of study will now have populated the eCAF ID, eCAF Status, Upload date and Student submit date from the eCAF system.
eCAF Progressions
Students are required to communicate that they intend to continue using a VET Student Loan to pay their tuition fees for their course. This is done through eCAF progressions and is detailed in the VET Student Loans Student Engagement and Progression document.
The progression requests are required to be sent to the student by the provider each February, June (July for 2017) and October (exact timing at the discretion of the provider). Students will receive an email notification and have 2 weeks from the receipt of the invitation email to complete and submit the progression form.
Please note that the eCAF ID and Student submit date from the course of study wizard will need to have been populated prior to attempting to upload an eCAF progression. If you created an eCAF through the eCAF web site these details can be entered manually by editing the course of study in VETtrak.
- If you want to upload a progression record for an individual right click on the eCAF Progressions node under the course of study and click Upload new eCAF progression.
If you would prefer to upload progression records in bulk go to Utility, VET Student Loans and click Upload eCAF progressions.
Click the Search button to search for students who are due for a progression. This will find students who's Student Submit Date from the course of study wizard is more than 4 months ago as well as not yet having a progression record uploaded for this progression period. This will also only find course of study records that have at least 1 unit of study with a Not yet completed Completion Status (355) to prevent withdrawn/cancelled records from showing.
- The eCAF progression record will now appear in VETtrak and in the eCAF web site with an Invitation Sent status.
- The eCAF system will send the student an email with instructions to complete the progression.
- Once the student has completed the updated progression status of the eCAF progression record can be downloaded into VETtrak.
- The records can be downloaded in bulk by going to Utility, VET Student Loans then clicking Download eCAF Progressions.
Click the Download to retrieve the records. This wizard will also pick up any progression records that were not uploaded by VETtrak and download them into VETtrak so that the full progression record history will be included in the client's course of study.
Click the Save button to save the records to the database.
- The updated status will now appear under the eCAF Progressions node in each client's course of study.
Troubleshooting
You may see the below error when clicking the Test eCAF connection button in the organisation wizard in VETtrak.
Unable to complete eCAF web service request to https...
API access requires Permission.ProviderAPI
151: HTTP protocol error. 403 Forbidden.
This means that the eCAF web service doesn't recognise this username and password as an eCAF Provider API Access role. You will either need to fill out the Government eCAF API system access request form to create a new role or change the username and password to match the eCAF Provider API Access role for your organisation.
You may see this error when downloading eCAF records.
Unable to complete eCAF web service request to...
Your password has expired. Please change your password before proceeding
151: HTTP protocol error. 403 Forbidden.
It appears that your eCAF Povider API Access role password has expired so this will need to be reset in the eCAF web portal. This can be done through the eCAF web portal https://ecaf.education.gov.au/provider. You may need to contact eCAF if you are unsure how this is done within this portal.
Once the password has been reset on the eCAF end you will also need to update this password in VETtrak by going to Manage - Configuration - Organisation, editing your organisation, click next to proceed to the second page of the wizard then update the password under the HEIMS password field.