VETtrak 20.3.0 Release Notes - 16/09/2020

Nick Jones

Modified on: Tue, 21 May, 2024 at 2:21 PM

Version 20.3.0 is a major update from 20.2.x and includes database updates. If your VETtrak is locally installed, ensure you have a backup of your database before updating. If at all unsure please contact VETtrak Customer Support on 1800 838 872 or email support@vettrak.io.

The most significant changes are:

Finance System (MYOB/Xero) Integration add-on.
MyProfiling Integration add-on.
Spell checking and AutoCorrect.
Two-factor authentication (2FA).
Award verification via VETenrol.

Changes in 20.3.0.3 patch (23/11/2020)

VIC outcome 79. Generate AVETMISS in VIC will no longer convert outcome 79 to 70 in the NAT120 file when a unit continues into a subsequent year, so that the claim exclusion code ERA can be used for it. The warning that outcome 79 should only be used for apprenticeships has also been removed.

Changes in 20.3.0.2 patch (10/11/2020)

AVETMISS address with building but no street. If you have a client address with a building name but no street number or street name, you can now leave the street number and name empty and VETtrak will automatically report the street number as "0" and street name as blank in Generate AVETMISS.
VIC claim exclusion code "ERA". The new VIC claims exclusion code "ERA" (Exclude from reapportioning) has been added to the VIC page in the Enrolment wizard and in the Edit AVETMISS Values wizard. Generate AVETMISS will validate that the unit outcome must be 79 (Waiting employer signoff) if the claim exclusion code is "ERA".
NSW Smart and Skilled Provider Calculator specification version 2.1. New fee/waiver codes, and new strategy code options, have been added to the NSW Smart and Skilled eligibility tabs in the Enrolment wizard.
WA employer invoiced flag. The WA Enrolment Export wizard will now show a warning if the Employer Invoiced flag will be automatically changed from "Y" to "N" for reporting because there is no course fee.
Training Plan delivery strategy. The Delivery Strategy drop-down in the Training Plan wizard will no longer list archived delivery strategies, except any that were already selected in that enrolment.
Repeat add client. When using the Repeat tickbox to create more clients in the Client wizard, the email address and mobile number fields will now be cleared for the next client.
Duplicate occurrence error. An error that could occur in rare circumstances when duplicating an occurrence with a class that has a blank description has been fixed.
Finance Integration
1. MYOB hybrid flag override. As the MYOB API does not always accurately indicate whether your MYOB instance supports hybrid invoices, you can now override the flag in the Finance System Configuration wizard.
2. Xero accounts without a code. An error that occurs if you have any accounts in Xero without a code has been fixed. You will need to enter a code in Xero against any accounts you wish to use in the integration.
3. Invoice item quantity. The quantity of any inventory items entered in a VETtrak invoice will now be sent to the finance system when transferring the invoice.
4. API logging. To help diagnose any issues with the integration, you can now right-click the Finance Systems node in the Configuration and "Turn on API call logging" to log the technical details of all calls made to the finance system during your session. To view the log, right-click the same node and "View API call log".
Client Importer
1. Prior education recognition. An issue importing a client's prior education recognition identifier using the Client Importer has been fixed.
2. VIC industry of employment. An issue importing a client's VIC Industry of Employment using the Client Importer has been fixed.
3. Open record. An issue causing the Open button to open the wrong record after sorting the grid in the Client Importer has been fixed.
Data Insights VIC industry of employment criteria. An error that occurs when using "is any of" criteria for the VIC Industry of Employment field in Data Insights has been fixed.
Continuing unit icon. The continuing unit icon has been made a darker green to better contrast against the light green tick used in the completed unit icon. This new icon is now also used in the Units/Modules Not Completed node in the Client Manager.
QA rejection notification email. Some issues with the QA rejection notification email have been fixed.
Email AutoCorrect. The AutoCorrect functionality has been removed from the Email wizards, as it was not working correctly. Spell checking will still work as normal.
No default enrolment status. The Enrolment wizards will no longer show an error if the database has no default enrolment status set.
SMS original sender. A column to show the staff member that sent the SMS message that has the delivery receipt, or was replied to, has been added to the Retrieve SMS Replies and Delivery Receipts wizard.
Canvas and MyProfiling. An error that occurs when linking an occurrence to Canvas, when a MyProfiling integration is set as the default for the organisation, has been fixed.

Changes in 20.3.0.1 patch (6/10/2020)

TAS NAT130 empty date completed. An issue causing the "empty" date completed of 01/01/9999 to be reported in the wrong format in the NAT130 file in TAS has been fixed.
Employer enrolment email merging. An issue causing an error when merging employer enrolment emails has been fixed.
Email employer accounts contact. A new recipient type option for "Employer accounts contact" is available when sending template emails, to email the accounts contact for the employer.
Unit icons. The unit icons have been updated. Continuing units are now shown with a green icon instead of yellow, to better contrast them with not-started units. Continuing units within an award are now correctly marked with the green icon. Optional units in an occurrence in the Programme Manager now show with a blue icon instead of green.
Hosting VTDocs document previewing. If your VETtrak is hosted and you have VTDocs, it is no longer necessary for your user to have access to VTDocs to be able to preview documents within the document database in a web browser in VETtrak.
Staff manager class text truncation. An issue that could cause the text in classes nodes in the Staff Manager to be truncated has been fixed.
Delete Occurrence Classes Use header. An issue that caused clicking the Use column header in the Delete Occurrence Classes wizard to not do anything when the top row is disabled has been fixed.
Foundation skills assessment ACSF indicators. "Digital Literacy .12" and "Digital Literacy .13" ACSF indicators have been added to the Foundation Skills Assessment wizard.
Self-service award reports verification QR code. You can now show a verification QR code on award reports you design in the Self-Service Reports Manager. This utilises the VETenrol award verification service.
Self-service reports issue. An issue that can cause report options not to show when switching between reports of the same kind has been fixed.
Client Importer employment matches. An issue causing the Client Importer to incorrectly match an existing employment record with a different employer has been fixed.
QA rejection notification issue. An issue that could cause an error when rejecting a QA item, if there's a problem with the rejection notification, has been fixed.
Award verification information. A "What is this?" link has been added to the "Available for verification" tickbox in the Award wizard to explain what it is for.
Database upgrade issues. Some issues with the 20.3 database upgrade have been fixed:
1. An issue that causes a "Reports could not be updated automatically" message to appear when upgrading an older VETtrak database has been fixed.
2. An issue that can cause the database upgrade to fail with an "index size" error in Firebird 1.5 has been fixed.
3. An issue that can cause the database upgrade to fail in SQL Server with a "Cannot find REPORTSCHEDULE" error, if the Report Scheduler extension had previously created the table in a different schema, has been fixed.
Finance integration add-on issues. Some issues with the finance system integration add-on have been fixed:
1. Invoice transfer. The Invoice Transfer wizard will now transfer payments for any new invoices at the same time the invoices are transferred, without requiring the process to be repeated.
2. Xero authentication in hosting. An issue causing the Xero authentication process to not work in hosting has been fixed.
3. Minimum invoice date. The Minimum Invoice Date is now required when setting up a finance system integration, to avoid the issue of transferring all invoices initially.

Finance System (MYOB/Xero) Integration add-on

The new Finance Integration add-on allows you to connect VETtrak to your MYOB or Xero finance system to help streamline accounting processes. The initial functionality includes:

Connect VETtrak to your finance system using the Finance Systems node in the Configuration Manager. If you're using Multi-RTO, each organisation in VETtrak can be connected to a separate finance system.
Map your finance system accounts to VETtrak ledgers.
Map your finance system items to VETtrak pricing items and inventory items.
Bulk upload VETtrak invoices, along with the invoicee (client or employer) details, line items and any simple payments against them, to your finance system.
Bulk upload any subsequent updates made to client or employer details in VETtrak to the finance system.
Invoices can be marked to not upload them to the finance system.

For more information about VETtrak's Finance System integration, refer to this article. To activate the Finance Integration add-on, please contact VETtrak Sales on 1800 838 872 or email sales@vettrak.io.

MyProfiling Integration add-on

VETtrak's LMS Integration add-on can now integrate with the MyProfiling platform. MyProfiling provides functionality for RTOs to more easily track student workplace activity, gather RPL evidence, manage training plans, and manage assessments. Find out more about MyProfiling at https://www.mytrainingplan.com.au/

Features of VETtrak's integration with MyProfiling include:

Connect VETtrak to MyProfiling using the LMS Integrations node in the Configuration Manager. You can connect VETtrak to multiple instances of MyProfiling, useful if you're using Multi-RTO.
Send VETtrak enrolments to the Profiling, RPL and/or Training Plan sections of MyProfiling. This can be done for individual enrolments, multiple enrolments in an occurrence, for many enrolments in bulk through Data Insights, and in Triggers and Actions.
Trainer and employer information is also included when sending enrolments to MyProfiling.
Changing the status of an enrolment in VETtrak to cancelled or completed will automatically archive the student's account in MyProfiling.
Download Profiling, RPL and Training Plan outcomes from MyProfiling, which records them as unit results in VETtrak. You can configure which types of MyProfiling outcomes you want recorded in VETtrak, and can map each MyProfiling outcome type to a separate VETtrak result type per state.
The VETtrak Student Portal allows students that have enrolments in MyProfiling to jump straight to their account in MyProfiling, without having to log in separately to MyProfiling.

For more information about VETtrak's MyProfiling integration, refer to this article. To activate the LMS Integration add-on, please contact VETtrak Sales on 1800 838 872 or email sales@vettrak.io.

Spell checking and AutoCorrect

VETtrak can now perform automatic spell checking and AutoCorrect as you type in all long description (multi-line) fields. Words not in the dictionary will be underlined with a red squiggle and can be right-clicked to correct or add to the dictionary. A new Global Preferences -> General Preferences -> Spelling tab allows you to turn off spell checking and/or AutoCorrect, and change various spell check and AutoCorrect options.

Two-factor authentication (2FA)

VETtrak users can now set up two-factor authentication (2FA) to increase the security of their account, in the VETtrak desktop and web portals. With two-factor authentication, you'll use two forms of identification when you log into VETtrak - your normal username and password, plus a passcode generated by a two-factor authenticator app on your mobile device. You can use any authenticator app such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Twilio Authy or LastPass Authenticator. In VETtrak desktop, go to the File menu -> "Configure two-factor authentication" to set it up. The features include:

QR code setup. When setting up 2FA, VETtrak will show a QR code that you scan into the authenticator app on your mobile device, that contains a key. VETtrak will then ask you to enter the 6 digit number shown on your authenticator app to verify it is set up correctly. This number changes every 30 seconds, so you do not need to remember it.
Login verification. After you have set up 2FA for your account, when logging in, VETtrak will ask you to enter the 6 digit number currently showing for the application in your authenticator app, to verify that you have your mobile device. There's a new 2FA page in the File menu -> Security Settings wizard allowing you to configure how often VETtrak will ask for this 2FA verification when users log in, this defaults to once a day.
Backup codes. When setting up 2FA, VETtrak will show 10 backup codes. You should make a record of these and store them somewhere securely. If you lose access to your authenticator app or mobile device, you can use one of these codes to bypass the 2FA verification when logging in. Each code can only be used once - if you are running out, you can go back into the Configure 2FA wizard to generate a new set of backup codes.
Change 2FA setup. If you've already set up 2FA, going back to the File menu -> "Configure two-factor authentication" will allow you to make changes to your 2FA setup. You can replace your existing 2FA key with a new one (useful when setting up a new device, and you want to invalidate the old one), show the existing QR code to allow you to set up an additional device to access your account, show your unused backup codes or generate new ones, or remove 2FA from your account.
Force use of 2FA. Normally, the use of 2FA is optional and each individual user can choose whether they want to use it. If your organisation requires all users to use 2FA for security reasons, there are options on the 2FA page in Security Settings to allow you to specify that 2FA must be set up and used by all users of an application by a specified date. You can set a different rule for the VETtrak desktop and each of the web portals. If you set VETtrak to enforce the use of 2FA, when a user without 2FA set up logs in, VETtrak will prompt the user to set up 2FA.
Skip 2FA on next login. If a user has lost access to their authenticator app and does not have their backup codes, a user with access to Security in VETtrak can flag another user's account to skip the 2FA verification on the user's next login, allowing the user to access VETtrak and adjust their 2FA settings. This can be done by right-clicking the user in the Security Manager, or by ticking "Skip 2FA at next login" in the Client wizard for that user.

For more information about two-factor authentication, refer to this article.

Award verification via VETenrol

A new award verification function has been added to VETenrol. A QR code can be placed on your award reports to verify the award. The QR code contains a web address that, when scanned, goes to a VETenrol page to verify the award in your VETtrak database using the client's surname, given name, and award parchment number. The page shows a list of completed units in the award, with the completed date and outcome name of each.

A new "Available for verification" tickbox has been added to the Award wizard, which is ticked by default. You can untick this for any award that you do not want to be available for verification.

If you wish to utilise this feature, you will need:

VETenrol
Version 20.3 or later of VETtrak and the VETtrak API
To raise a report request in the Support Centre to request an award verification QR code to be added to each of your award reports you need it on

For more information about the VETenrol award verification feature, refer to this article.

AVETMISS changes

National

Delivery mode descriptions. The delivery mode descriptions in VETtrak have been updated as per the current NCVER advice, clarifying that "External" should be used when classes are being delivered online in real-time.
Calculating program commencement date for subject-only enrolment. In both VIC and TAS, when Generate AVETMISS is generating a program commencement date for an enrolment that does not have a qualification, it will now only consider the units in that enrolment. Previously, if the client had multiple state reportable enrolments without a qualification, it would use the earliest unit start date in all those enrolments.

New South Wales

NSW Smart and Skilled Provider Calculator version 2. The new Welfare Type 17 "Jobseeker Payment", and the new Fee or Waiver code W221 "National Infection Control Strategy - Student at School Waiver", have been added to the Eligibility tabs in the Enrolment wizard in NSW, as per version 2 of the "Smart and Skilled Provider Calculator Data Specifications and User Guide - Multiple Student Process".
Extend NSW Unit Dates end of month. An issue that can cause the Extend NSW Unit Dates wizard to extend units to the day before the end of the next month, instead of using the last day of the next month, has been fixed.

Victoria

VIC funding source updates. The list of state funding sources in VIC have been updated as per the 2020 Funding Source Identifier STA supplement.
VIC outcome 79. Generate AVETMISS in VIC will now show a warning in the NAT120 if outcome 79 "Waiting for employer signoff (Vic)" is recorded for a unit in a non-contract enrolment. This outcome is only intended to be used for apprenticeships/traineeships.
VIC workplace ABN. Generate AVETMISS in VIC will now always report the Workplace ABN as empty in the NAT120 if the outcome is Credit Transfer or RPL.

Queensland

Change purchasing contract. The Change Purchasing Contract wizard in QLD now allows you to choose whether units that start or finish after the entered date will be changed. In addition, the wizard now allows you to select to change units with competent results as well.

Western Australia

Resource fee warning. The pricing page in the Enrolment wizard will now show a side-bar warning if any resource fee pricing items are entered at the enrolment level in a WA reportable enrolment. Resource fees should be entered at the per-unit level in WA.

Tasmania

Update TAS program enrolment status on award. When adding or editing a TAS state-reportable award that has a qualification, VETtrak will now automatically update the program enrolment status (if present for any enrolments related to the award, and is not "Completion of lower level of program", "Nested program", "Superseded program" or "Streamed program") to either "Program completed (issued)" or "Program completed (not issued)" depending on whether the issued tickbox is ticked. This is the same logic that already applies in VIC.
TAS NAT130 empty date program completed. As agreed with Skills Tasmania and NCVER, a "Date program completed" of 01/01/9999, instead of blank, will now be reported in the NAT130 file in TAS for any program enrolments that are not yet complete, so that the file can pass AVS validation.
New TAS funding source. The new TAS funding source 213 "Rapid Response" has been added.

Client changes

Bank account for clients. A new node for "Bank account" has been added to the Client Manager. You can right-click this to add or edit bank account details for the client. This function is now available for all customers, for both clients and employers, and no longer requires the Agent Commissions add-on.
Update enrolment status when archiving client. When archiving a client in the Client wizard, new options have been added to the Archive Client wizette to allow you to also update the status of all the client's active enrolments and contracts to the one you specify.
Employer prefix. A issue causing the employer prefix to not be applied to the client code when creating a client with a primary employment record has been fixed.
Referral source field. A issue causing the Credit Terms field to overlap the Referral Source field when the Client wizard is wider than standard has been fixed.

Occurrence changes

Add multiple clients to multiple classes. You can now right-click the Classes node for an occurrence in the Programme Manager and "Add clients to classes". You select one or more enrolled clients, or ad-hoc clients, and then select one or more classes in the occurrence to put all those selected clients into. The column headers in the classes grid now have filtering options, and pressing the Use column header will toggle only the filtered classes. These class column filters are also now available in the Change Occurrence Classes wizard.
Sort gantt by Programme Code. A new option to sort by code has been added to the gantt chart view in the Programme Manager. This will sort the top level (depending on the selected display mode, the Programmes, employers, rooms or staff) by code instead of name. The Programme code is shown alongside the Programme name.
Class Calendar clashes. Improvements have been made to the clashes page on the Class Calendar wizard. For each class with a clash, there is now a menu allowing you to show that class in the calendar, edit it directly, or move it to another day with some rule selections. You can also do the latter in bulk for selected clashing classes.
Parchment number validation for awards. When creating multiple awards for an occurrence, parchment number is now only required if the award is reportable and issued, otherwise a sidebar alert is shown if any parchment numbers are empty.
Employer on employee enrolment. When adding employee enrolments to an employer enrolment, the employer field will now be defaulted from the employer enrolment, instead of from the occurrence.
Employee enrolment invoicing. When right-clicking an employee enrolment and selecting "Create invoice", the new invoice will now be made out to the employer instead of the employee.
Error enrolling employer in QLD occurrence. An issue causing an error to appear when enrolling an employer into an occurrence in QLD has been fixed.
Delete Programme error. An issue that causes an error when deleting a Programme that has a code which is more than 10 characters long has been fixed.
Side-bar flicker. An issue that can cause the side-bar warning to appear and disappear several times when adding occurrence enrolments has been fixed.

Task changes

Task require percentage. A new "This task requires a percentage when completed" tickbox has been added to the Task wizard in the Configuration Manager. If ticked, VETtrak will require the user to enter a percentage when completed activity is being recorded for that task.
Canvas result task start date. When downloading results for tasks from Canvas, if the task doesn't have a start date, VETtrak will now use the earliest start date of all the commenced units that are linked to the task (if any).

Merge template changes

Programme fields in award merge context. Merge fields for Programme Code and Programme Name are now available in the Award merge context. This will use the programme from the first enrolment linked to the award, if any.
Unit code and name in enrolment merge contexts. Merge fields for the 1st Unit Code and 1st Unit Name are now available in the Enrolment and Occ Enrolment merge contexts. Since these will use the first unit in the enrolment, they are mainly intended to be used for single-unit enrolments.
Status and date of status change. New merge fields for the Status, and the Date of Status Change, have been added to the Enrolment, Occ Enrolment and Employer Enrolment merge contexts.

Email/SMS changes

Email wizard exclude non-marketing recipients. In the Email wizards, an issue that prevents a click on the recipients Use header from working when "Exclude non-marketing recipients" is on and the top recipient is a disabled non-marketing recipient has been fixed. In addition, when ticking "Exclude non-marketing recipients", any recipients that you had previously unticked Use for will now remain unticked.
SMS wizard mobile numbers. The Mobile number fields in the SMS wizard will now only allow digits and spaces to be entered.

Report changes

Enrolment mapping reports. VETtrak now allows more right-click reports to be added for enrolments. To do this, you'll need the VETtrak Customer Support team to create or change a report to work as an enrolment mapped report. The Award Report Mappings page in the Report menu -> Report Mappings has been changed to allow you to select a record type (currently award or enrolment) and add mapped reports for that record type. Any enrolment reports you add here will be available in a new "Mapped reports" sub-menu when right-clicking an enrolment, and also available in Bulk Run Reports for a single enrolment or when querying enrolments in Data Insights.
Self-service award report improvements. You can now adjust the position and size of text boxes on the report. Any elements that are made not visible will be shown in a grey colour in the list.
Run Report email recipient types. When emailing reports in the Bulk Run Report wizette, there's a new option allowing you to choose which recipient types are selected by default on the email. This is particularly useful in the Run Reports action in Triggers and Actions.
Report Scheduler field length. An error that occurs when too many characters has been entered in the Output Prefix field has been fixed.

Data Insights changes

Tasks for a class. A "Tasks" relationship has been added to classes so you can access the tasks linked to a class in Data Insights.
Staff status. When querying staff, the "Archived" field has been replaced with "Status" and now allows you to use the status of "Pending" for query or update.
Payment ID. The Payment ID field is now available when querying payments in Data Insights.

Security changes

Add file note access. A user now only requires view access to an entity (rather than edit access) to be able to add file notes to it. The user still also requires add or edit access to the File Note entity to be able to add or edit file notes.
Last update user. Changes have been made in various places to set the update user when updating records, to make the User Entry Report more accurate.
Reset User Preferences filters. Column filters have been added to the grid in the Reset User Preferences wizard to make it easier to find a particular setting to reset.

CRICOS changes

Principal CoE. The CRICOS CoE and Student Details Importer has been changed to import the new "Principal CoE" column in the spreadsheet. A new tickbox for this field has been added to the first page of the CRICOS CoE wizard. No more than one CoE per student can be marked as the principal CoE.
CRICOS CoE navigation bar. A navigation bar to easily jump to other pages has been added to the top of the CRICOS CoE wizard.

Web portal changes

Default Trainer Portal attendance mode. If you haven't yet used the Trainer Portal, and have the default attendance types "Present" and "Absent", the Trainer Portal will now use the simpler "custom attendance" mode by default.
QA rejected notification. VETtrak will now send a notification to the trainer in the Trainer Portal if an item they submitted for QA is rejected in the QA Manager in VETtrak. Trainers can configure how they receive this notification like any other.
QA of ad hoc attendance. In Global Preferences -> Trainer Portal -> QA tab, there are now separate options for Attendance vs Ad Hoc Attendance. This allows you to, for example, only send attendance for ad hoc clients recorded in the Trainer Portal through QA, but not attendance for enrolled clients.
Training Plan documents access in Student Portal. The Training Plan entity is now available in Global Preferences -> Student Portal -> Documents tab, allowing students to view documents that have been uploaded against their Training Plan.
Trainer Portal My Students page. New options have been added to Global Preferences -> Trainer Portal -> Standard tab to control whether the My Students page in the Trainer Portal shows students that are associated with the trainer via enrolments, classes, events and/or occurrences.
VTDocs QR scan processed notification. New settings have been added to Global Preferences -> FileTrak Preferences -> VTDocs Portal tab allowing you to configure a staff member or email address for VTDocs to send a notification email to when an incoming QR scan document email is processed.

Other changes

Hosted document previewing. If your VETtrak is hosted, you are using VTDocs, and the "Enable online viewing of documents via Google" preference is on in Global Preferences -> Portal Preferences -> Settings, when you open documents within VETtrak, they will now be previewed in a VETtrak window using the Google document viewer. This allows you to view documents that otherwise cannot be opened in the hosting environment. Only some document types can be previewed. If you prefer to preview documents in the web browser, you can turn on the new "Always open files from VETtrak in an external browser" preference in the same place.
Less intrusive subscription expiry message. When your VETtrak subscription expiry date is approaching, a less intrusive message will now appear briefly in the corner after starting VETtrak, and the expiry date on the dashboard will show in red.
State in Award Register. A new column for the award location's state has been added to the Award Register.
VET Student Loans eCAF upload error. An error that occurs when uploading an eCAF for a course of study that has "Bulk upload to eCAF system" turned off, and you also have the "Show debt information when uploading individual eCAFs" preference turned on, has been fixed.
Tabbed MDI off error. An issue that causes an access violation error to occur each time a window is opened if the "Use tabbed MDI" preference is off and the "Maximise windows" preference is on has been fixed.