VETtrak 4.4.0 Release Notes

If you are upgrading from any 4.3.x.x version of VETtrak, please read the version 4.4.0 release notes first.

Release 4.4.0.2 - 8/10/2013

This minor software update from version 4.4.0.1 fixes an issue with the the logic used in the new address format. There was the possibility that the postal address could have been wrongly saved.

Release 4.4.0.1 - 7/09/2013

This is a minor software update from version 4.4.0.0. It consists mainly of fixes for issues reported by customers, and some enhanced features.

Security changes

  1. Read-only wizards. A number of wizards can now be opened to view details when a user has read-only access to the entity. In many cases, if the user only has View access to entity X, instead of having an "Edit X" option in its right-click menu, there will be a "View X" option. This option will open the wizard to view the selected item, with all fields and the Finish button disabled, so the user can view but not change the details.
  2. Staff security access.User access to the "Staff" entity now affects the Client and Employer Managers when dealing with a client who is a staff member. This allows you to turn off View or Edit access to "Staff", which will also not allow the user to view or edit the staff members in the Client Manager. The rules are:
    1. If the user does not have View access to Staff, the Client Manager search will not show any staff members (regardless of search criteria).
    2. If the user does not have View access to Staff, the Employer Manager will not show any staff members in the Contacts and Employees nodes.
    3. If the user does not have Edit access to Staff, when a staff member is selected in the Client Manager, the "Edit client", "Edit personal details" and "Set problem payer flag" menu options on the Personal node will be disabled.
    4. If the user does not have Delete access to Staff, when a staff member is selected in the Client Manager, the "Delete client" menu option on the Personal node will be disabled.
    5. Opening the Client Wizard, Personal Wizard or Employer Contact Wizard from anywhere, for a staff member, will show it according to the user's permissions to Staff (ie. if the user doesn't have Edit access to Staff, the wizard is shown read-only, even if the user does have Edit access to Client). An error will occur if the user attempts to open any of these wizards for a staff member when they have no access to Staff.
    6. Opening the Client Wizard, Personal Wizard or Employer Contact Wizard from anywhere, for a client who is an employer contact (and not a staff member), will show it according to the user's permissions to Employer Contact (ie. if the user doesn't have Edit access to Employer Contact, the wizard is shown read-only, even if the user does have Edit access to Client). An error will occur if the user attempts to open any of these wizards for a client who is an employer contact when they have no access to Employer Contact.
    7. In the Client Wizard, if the user does not have Add access to Staff, and they are either creating a new client or editing a client who is not a staff member, the "Client is a staff member" tickbox is disabled.
    8. In the Client Wizard, if the user does not have Delete access to Staff, and they are editing a client who is a staff member, the "Client is a staff member" tickbox is disabled.
  3. Transfer and Reverse Payments. Transferring and reversing payments now require Edit permission to Payment, instead of Add permission.
  4. Remember last used role. When logging in, if you have multiple roles, the Select Role screen will now default to the role that you used last time you logged in.

Generate AVETMISS changes

  1. VIC tuition fee reporting. When generating AVETMISS in Victoria, enrolled units with a result of RCC or Credit Transfer, or that don't have a purchasing contract, are now reported with a tuition fee of blank instead of "0000".
  2. Session timeout. The potential to get a "session timeout" error after performing a long-running AVETMISS generation or report has been fixed.

Western Australia changes

  1. Accredited courses in WA CQR.It is important that users set the recognition status correctly in qualifications as it is now used in the WA CQR export. The recognition status is now being checked and for accredited courses (where the recognition status code is "12"), the following rules are being applied:
    1. For a certificate-type award (ie. the issued type field is reported as Q - qualification), you cannot have any units of competency listed.
    2. If you want to note the units of competency completed as part of an accredited course, you would need to instead issue a statement-type award (ie. the issued type field is reported as S - statement of attainment) and the qualification field would need to be left blank.
  2. Proficiency in spoken english in WA claims. When generating a claim in WA, if the client's spoken english proficiency is not "not stated", and the client's language spoken at home is English, a sign language or is not stated, the english proficiency will be reported as "9".

Client/employer changes

  1. Client search by debtor code. A new search option has been added to the drop-down in the Client Search panel, allowing clients to be found by the first part of the client external debtor code field.
  2. Autonumber clients preference. A new "Autonumber clients" tickbox option has been added to the File menu -> Global Preferences -> General Preferences, and is ticked by default. If this option is unticked, the client code "Auto" tickbox will be unticked by default when creating a new client, and the user must manually enter a client code (or tick "Auto" to generate one). This is useful for users who usually enter client codes from another system instead of using the VETtrak generated client codes.
  3. Refresh client search after create. If the Client Manager is showing, and you create a new client, the current search is automatically refreshed after creating the client. The same occurs in the Employer Manager when creating an employer.
  4. Client image resizing. When saving the Client Wizard, client images that are larger than 300x500 pixels are automatically resized correctly.
  5. Missing reports in Employer Manager. The missing "Show associated enrolments/occurrences report" option has been added back to the right-click menus on the "Enrolments (non contract)" and "Enrolments (occurrence)" nodes in the Employer Manager.
  6. Division field in Employer Contact Wizard. A problem has been fixed that caused the "Division" field dropdown to be blank when the "Use tree when selecting divisions" preference is on.
  7. Manager field. A new "Manager" field has been added to the Client Wizard. It is normally disabled. If you would like access to this field, so you can organise your clients into a management structure, and be able to view and manipulate this client hierarchy in a tree view in a new Management Structure Manager, you can add on the Management Structure Extension to your VETtrak installation - please contact VETtrak support for details.

Enrolment changes

  1. Default date of status change. When creating an enrolment (non-contract or occurrence enrolment) or an occurrence, the "Date of status change" will now default to the enrolment start date. If you change the enrolment start date, the date of status change will automatically change to the same date.
  2. Classes in transferred enrolments. When transferring an enrolment between occurrences, and the destination occurrence has classes, the Enrolment Wizard that appears when creating the new enrolment in the destination occurrence will show the classes page, and only classes in the destination occurrence that are on or after the specified transfer date are ticked by default.
  3. Other name display in Programme Manager. The Programme Manager will now show the client's other name in the list of enrolments.
  4. Wording on Occurrence Wizard. The "Apply the changes to all enrolments in this occurrence" tickbox at the end of the Occurrence and Training Plan Wizards has been renamed to say "Set all details from the occurrence to the individual enrolments", to better reflect the fact that all details from the occurrence will be applied to the enrolments if ticked (not just any details that were changed).
  5. Viewing clients from Qualification Manager. The "View client in client manager", "Edit client", "Email client" and "SMS client" menu options are now available when right-clicking a client enrolment displayed in the Qualification Manager.
  6. Process Web Enrolments. A problem that could cause the same occurrence to be listed multiple times in the Process Web Enrolments Manager has been fixed.

Invoice/payment changes

  1. Payments against enrolments. The "Record payment" option will now still be available against an enrolment that has an invoice but has not been fully invoiced (for example, because you've increased the enrolment amount since recording the last payment), which will create another invoice and payment for the enrolment. Also, if you use "Record payment" against an enrolment, but then cancel the wizard, the automatically-created invoice will now be automatically deleted.
  2. Funds in holding message. When recording a payment for a client or employer that has funds in the holding account, the "funds in holding" alert message will now correctly take into account the scenario where holding funds have been used to pay for another client's or employer's invoice.
  3. Deleting exported invoices. If you have an extension that exports invoices, it is now not possible to delete an invoice that has been marked as exported.

Award changes

  1. Award Register fields. Columns for "Created by", "Created date" and "Document reference" have been added to the Award Register.
  2. Award location. The "Load all" button on the location field is now available when adding an award, if you need to specify a location in a different state.
  3. Error opening client awards. A problem has been fixed that could cause an "Error finding award to edit" error when attempting to edit an old client award.

Location/suburb changes

  1. Suburb list update. There is a new suburb list that excludes the "LVR" postcodes. In the Utility menu -> Update AVETMISS Fields, there is a new tickbox to "Purge unused suburbs before updating suburb list". If this is ticked, the update will delete all existing suburbs that are not used by any client, employer, location or organisation, before updating the suburb list (this will remove any unused "LVR" postcodes that may exist from the 4.4.0.0 update).
  2. Postal address suburbs. A problem has been fixed that caused the suburb list in postal addresses to not be filtered by the state.
  3. Overseas locations. If you have the "Enforce strict AVETMISS compliance" preference turned off, the Location Wizard will no longer force you to select a suburb with a postcode of "OSPC" when the country is not Australia.

Other changes

  1. HTTP proxy server support. VETtrak now supports the use of an HTTP proxy server when communicating with external servers (including downloading report updates, checking for a new version, automatic registration key update, sending SMS messages, VIC VSN transfers, and web enrolment processing). If you are using a HTTP proxy server, use the new proxy server fields in the "Gateway and Proxy" settings in Global Preferences to configure VETtrak to use it.
  2. New SMS template fields. New location fields (location name, and various location address fields) have been added to the SMS templates, in the Occ Enrolment or Occ Class contexts. This allows you to include some details of the enrolment's location in SMS templates.
  3. Extension updates. When you install a new custom extension, or a new version of a custom extension, the next time VETtrak is run, the updates will be applied. If this occurs, VETtrak will show a message saying that it must be restarted for the extension changes to take effect. Click OK on the message to close VETtrak, and then start VETtrak again.
  4. "Socket error" when downloading report updates. The "Socket error" that some users receive when attempting to download report updates has been fixed.
  5. Error when sending SMS from Waiter. The "Access violation" error that occurs in the Waiter when attempting to send SMS messages has been fixed.
  6. Organisation in Contract Wizard. If you have Multi-RTO and you change the organisation on a contract, the qualification field will now validate correctly (if the existing qualification is allowed in the new organisation, it will remain selected and no validation error will occur, otherwise the qualification field will be blanked out and a validation error will appear until a new qualification is selected).
  7. Bulk Assign Event Wizard error. The "unknown param" error that occurs in the Bulk Assign Event Wizard when using a Firebird database has been fixed.
  8. Backup Wizard. The second page, to FTP your database to VETtrak support, has been removed from the Backup Wizard. The "Upload database" page on the VETtrak support centre website should instead be used to upload a copy of your VETtrak database to us, when requested.

Release 4.4.0 - 03/07/2013

Version 4.4.0 is a major update from 4.3.x.x and includes database upgrades. Ensure you have a backup of your database before upgrading. If at all unsure please contact VETtrak support on 03 6333 0166.

The most significant changes are:

 

Important upgrading notes

  1. As the VETtrak licencing model has changed, to complete the upgrade, you will need a new VETtrak version 4.4 registration key from VETtrak support. The database update utility has a button to contact VETtrak servers over the internet to obtain your new key automatically. If you will be running the upgrade on a server that will not have access to the internet, or if it has trouble obtaining your key automatically, you must contact VETtrak support to obtain your new registration key, preferably before you start the upgrade to avoid any VETtrak downtime.
  2. The software updater that you download has changed. When you run it, at the top, use the Browse button to select the folder where VETtrak is installed. Press the extract button to clear out all the old files from your VETtrak folder and copy all the new VETtrak files to your VETtrak folder. If the updater is unable to remove all old files, it will show a message, and you must ensure you are running the updater as a user with sufficient permissions to delete the files, or you can delete the files manually.
  3. When you download the VETtrak update or extension update from the VETtrak website, you must use "Save" in your browser to save the file to your computer, and after downloading, use Windows Explorer to browse to that folder and run it. Do not use the "Run" option in the browser to download and run it automatically.
  4. A new database update utility is used to perform the database upgrade. This utility is now called VTUpdate.exe, and will run automatically when you run VETtrak after copying in the new files if your database has not yet been upgraded. You need to read the messages, enter your new 4.4 version registration key (either by pressing the button and successfully obtaining it automatically over the internet or by copying-and-pasting it manually out of an email from VETtrak support), and tick the boxes to confirm that the database is ready to be upgraded, before you can press the update button. After pressing the update button, please be patient as the upgrade may take more than 10 minutes to complete on larger databases.
  5. If you are using Microsoft SQL Server for your VETtrak database, note that Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is no longer supported by VETtrak 4.4. If you are running Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or earlier, you must upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or later, before upgrading VETtrak.
  6. All the old VETtrak applications have been deprecated and should no longer be used - these are Administrator.exe, AdministratorPlus.exe, Advantage.exe, AdvantageLite.exe, AdvantagePlus.exe, AdvantagePro.exe, PremiumPlus.exe, PremiumPro.exe, Programmer.exe, ProgrammerLite.exe, ProgrammerPlus.exe, QuickReporter.exe, Recorder.exe, Security.exe, Trakker.exe, TrakkerLite.exe, TrakkerPlus.exe, TrakkerPro.exe and Viewer.exe. Any user shortcuts to these programs must be changed to a single shortcut to VETtrak.exe. Note that Waiter.exe still exists, so any shortcut to it should be kept. If a user tries to run one of the old application exe's, they will get an application that allows them to automatically modify any existing VETtrak shortcuts on their desktop, or place a new shortcut to VETtrak.exe on their desktop. All these old application exe's will be removed in a future version of VETtrak.
  7. If you have Security, the new role-based security is used to determine what functions a user can access, instead of what executable they run. Thus, everyone runs VETtrak.exe, and when a user logs in, they can only see the functionality that their role has been granted access to. The Security Manager is now built into the main VETtrak application, in the Manage menu (only users logging in with a role that has access to it can see it).
  8. If you have Security, your existing VETtrak modules, and the users with access to them, are automatically migrated into the new role structure (ie. there will be a role for each module you had), so the initial access for your users after upgrading to version 4.4 will be much the same as it was in the previous version. However, note that access to any extensions is not automatically migrated - after the upgrade, you will need to use the Security Manager, go to Application/Role Management -> VETtrak, right-click the role and use "Edit feature list" to turn on the appropriate extensions for each role. The security model in version 4.4 is more sophisticated and it is recommended that you consider your user access requirements carefully, and create/adjust roles and permissions as necessary in version 4.4 - for details, refer to the VETtrak Security User Guide.
  9. If you are running the VETtrak API or Tablet App, you must stop the API's application pool in IIS before starting the database upgrade. Note that you will also need to upgrade the API to the new version from the Downloads page in the support centre, as the old version will not work in VETtrak 4.4.
  10. Database connection information is no longer in VETtrak Preferences, so that users cannot interfere with it. Instead, use the separate application called VTConfig.exe if you need to change database connection settings.
  11. The VETtrak.ini file is no longer used to store preferences. Preferences from the INI file will be migrated to the database during the upgrade. If you have several INI files for the same database, you should perform the upgrade using the INI file that the users most commonly use, so that the settings from that INI file are migrated. The only settings in VETtrak.ini that will have any effect after the upgrade are the database connection settings and the new banner settings.
  12. If you have any custom extensions developed for you by VETtrak in the Extensions folder, they will need to be replaced with new versions for 4.4. If you have custom extensions, there will be a link on Downloads page on the support centre web site that you can use to download them. A number of add-on extensions are no longer required and will be deleted during the upgrade - this includes MultiRTO.bpl, API_VETtrak.bpl, ClientMerge.bpl, EmployerMerge.bpl, AVUpdater.bpl, VETtrakApp.bpl, ShortMessageService.bpl and Integrity.bpl.
  13. Due to changes to the database structure, some custom reports may produce an error and no longer work after this upgrade. Please email the .fr3 file for a broken report to info@vettrak.com.au and ask for it to be updated for version 4.4.0.
  14. Support for VTR custom reports has been deprecated for some time and has been removed from this version. The "VTR Reports" option no longer exists in the Report menu. If you have been using VETtrak for more than 5 years, you may still be using some of these reports, which are files with a ".vtr" extension. If you are still using some VTR reports, email them to info@vettrak.com.au and ask for them to be updated to FR3 reports for version 4.4.0.
  15. Be sure to update your built-in reports after the upgrade by going to the File menu -> Global preferences -> Report updates and click the "Check web for updates" button. Failure to do so will cause some built-in and system reports to fail and produce an error.
  16. Be sure to update your AVETMISS fields after the upgrade by going to the Utility menu -> Update AVETMISS fields and clicking the "Update VETtrak" button. There is an updated list of suburbs.
  17. If you are using a Firebird database and notice that accessing data in VETtrak (and in particular, running Generate AVETMISS) is significantly slower after the upgrade than it was in the previous version, please contact VETtrak support. Your database may need to be refreshed.

New software licensing model

  1. The VETtrak software has a new licencing model. The existing modules (such as Trakker, Advantage and Premium, in Lite, standard, Plus or Pro) are now bundles of features. Features include "VETtrak Base", "Trainee Management", "Short Courses", "Bookings", "Event Management", "Finance", "Security" and "Multi-RTO". For example, if you had 2 Trakker modules and 1 AdvantageLite module, you will be migrated to a total of 3 VETtrak Base features, 3 Custom Reports features, 2 Trainee Management features, 1 Short Courses feature, 1 Finance feature, and 1 Waiter feature.
  2. If you have Security, you specify for each role which of your features each user in that role will have access to and take up a licence for when they log in. Although not available yet, the new model could allow the future possibility to mix-and-match and add-on just the features you require - for example, an old TrakkerLite user could add events by just adding on the Event Management feature, or an AdvantageLite user could add employer enrolments by just adding on the Bookings feature.
  3. If a user logs in when you have run out of licences, they can still use VETtrak, but any features that you have run out of licences for will be read-only (the user will be warned of this). The new model allows unlimited read-only users.
  4. Software maintenance information is now within your registration key. VETtrak will warn you when your maintenance period is due to expire, and the status of your maintenance is shown near the bottom-right corner of the screen. A few business days after you pay your annual fee, you should upgrade your registration key over the internet. To do so, go to File -> Global preferences -> Registration key, and click the "Update key automatically" button. If your software maintenance expires, VETtrak will continue to work, but software and report updates and training package downloads will not be available.
  5. When you change your licencing mix, or have paid for new licences or annual maintenance, and after VETtrak support have recorded it, you can update your registration key over the internet. To do so, go to File -> Global preferences -> Registration key, and click the "Update key automatically" button. Then restart VETtrak for the changes to take effect.
  6. If you have any trouble using the "Update key automatically" button to update your registration key over the internet, VETtrak support can email your registration key to you. Highlight and Copy the whole registration key out of the email, then in VETtrak go to File -> Global preferences -> Registration key, press the "Update key manually" button to open the Registration Key Wizard, and press the Paste button to paste your key into the wizard, followed by Next and Finish. Then restart VETtrak for the changes to take effect.
  7. Most customer's licencing arrangements have been automatically migrated to the new model.

New role-based security system

  1. If you have Security, you can use the enhanced Security Manager. It is no longer a separate application, it is available in the Manage menu (if you are logged into a role that has access to it).
  2. The Security Manager allows you to create roles for your organisation. Within a role, you nominate what features will be used (and thus, what licences will be used) when a user with that role logs in. You can also nominate what permissions that role has. You then assign users to the role.
  3. Each feature contains a set of entities which defines the functionality that is in that feature. When you expand a feature, you see categories, and within each category are the entities. Each entity can have its own set of permissions in the role.
  4. Within a role, entities like "Client", "Employer" and "Enrolment" are concepts that can be given none, some, or all of the following permissions: View, Edit, Add and Delete. For example, you can turn off delete permission to clients to prevent any user in that role from deleting clients. You could deny all permissions to employer, to prevent any user in that role from accessing employers at all.
  5. Within a role, entities like "Generate AVETMISS", "Client Manager" and "Global preferences" are functions that have just have one access level: View. If you grant view permission, the user can open that function. If you deny view permission, the user won't see the function at all.
  6. You can make a role read-only. Any users assigned to a read-only role will have read-only access to the things that have been enabled in the role. Any users logging into a read-only role will not take up any licences. Thus, you can have unlimited free read-only users.
  7. A single user can be assigned to multiple roles. When they log in, they will be asked to select which of their roles they would like to use for this session.
  8. There are some default roles supplied with the software that your existing users have been automatically migrated to. If you wish, you can use these as-is, customise their permissions, or delete them after creating your own roles and moving all your users to your new roles. The default roles are:
    1. If you had more than one type of VETtrak module, there will be a role for each module that you had. The features and permissions have been set up in each role so the functionality is practically identical to the old module. Users have been assigned to these roles based on the modules they had access to. If some users are read-only, additional read-only versions of the roles will also exist with the appropriate users assigned to them.
    2. VETtrak default role - has full access to all your features.
    3. VETtrak default read-only role - has read-only access to all your features.
    4. Waiter default role - has full access to Waiter. Any non-readonly users with access to the Waiter module have been migrated to this role.
    5. Waiter read-only role - has read-only access to Waiter. Any readonly users with access to the Waiter module have been migrated to this role.
  9. The Security Manager has a "Session Management" section that allows you to view details of users who are currently logged into VETtrak, and allows you to log them out.
  10. The Security Manager has a "Licence Utilisation" section that allows you to see what features and how many licences of each you have, and view how many and which users have access to them and are currently using them.
  11. Customers who do not have Security will notice very little difference in use.
  12. The Help -> About window now has tabs to show you what standard and custom features the user is using (and whether any are read only).
  13. For details on how the new Security Manager works, refer to the VETtrak Security User Guide.

New division structure

  1. Departments and Sections have been removed. Instead, you can have divisions within divisions to as many levels as you like. During the upgrade, your existing division/department/section structure is automatically migrated to a division tree structure.
  2. Every VETtrak database now has at least one division, the "Root Division". This is the top-level division that cannot be changed.
  3. Users with Security can use the Security Manager to create and maintain their division tree. It is possible to drag-and-drop any part of the tree, to reorganise the hierarchy.
  4. To control what clients, enrolments and groups a user can view, use the Security Manager to grant users access to one or more divisions. By being granted access to a division, that user can view any clients, enrolments and groups that have been assigned to that division or any of its descendant divisions. If you grant a user access to the "Root Division", the user will be able to access every division and thus every client, enrolment and group in the database.
  5. Any users who had access to the Security module have been given access to the Root Division during the upgrade, to ensure that you have some users that can access the entire division tree.
  6. A new preference to "Use tree when selecting divisions" has been added to the File -> Global preferences -> General preferences page. If this is ticked, all division drop-downs will show an expandable tree that you can select from.
  7. Division is now a mandatory field for clients, enrolments and groups. It will be set and disabled automatically if the user has access to only one division.
  8. During the upgrade, if you are using divisions and have any clients, enrolments or groups not assigned to a division, a new division called "Unallocated division" will be automatically created under the Root Division. All clients, enrolments and groups that do not have a division assigned will be assigned to the "Unallocated division". All your users will be granted access to the "Unallocated division", so they can still see all those clients, enrolments and groups that did not have a division assigned.

New AVETMISS 7 address fields

  1. AVETMISS 7 will split the current address line field into 4 separate fields: "Unit/Flat Details", "Building", "Street Number" and "Street Name". Postal addresses also have a new "PO Box" field. In addition, the usual residential address of clients will be reported in the NAT80 file in AVETMISS 7. AVETMISS 7 reporting comes into effect starting in 2014.
  2. To give you time to prepare for the changes, these new address fields have now been introduced into VETtrak. The address page on the Client Personal Wizard now has two separate sets of address fields - the top one in the AV6 format, and the bottom one in the AV7 format (the citizenship/passport/visa fields have been moved to the client images page to create room). For the rest of 2013, the AV6 address fields will be reported in AVETMISS files. There will be another update to VETtrak towards the end of 2013 to change the Generate AVETMISS to AV7 format in 2014, and this will use the new AV7 format address fields.
  3. For students continuing in 2014, you should fill out both the AV6 and AV7 address format fields. The recommendation is to fill out the AV6 fields first, then press the "Copy to AV7 fields" button - this will attempt to split the AV6 address into separate parts and set the AV7 address fields automatically. You need to then review the AV7 fields and correct if necessary.
  4. The new address fields have been added to a new second page of the Fast Client Wizard.
  5. The address fields in the Employer Wizard have been changed to the new format. The 4.4.0 database upgrade will automatically migrate your employer addresses to the new format as best it can, but you should run the Employer Export report (in System Reports) and check the addresses, as some may need corrections to be made manually.
  6. The address fields have been added to the Location Wizard so you can record the address of a location. These fields are optional, but are slated to become mandatory in VIC only in 2014.
  7. The state and postcode fields are now disabled in all addresses. They are automatically populated when you select a suburb from the drop-down.
  8. When editing an address, the suburb list will only contain suburbs from one state - if the address already has a suburb/state/postcode selected, the suburb list will only contain suburbs that are in that selected state, otherwise it will only contain suburbs that are in the state selected at the top of the screen. This is to make the suburb list smaller and improve performance. If you need to select a suburb that is in a different state, click the "Load all" button above the suburb drop-down to fill it with suburbs from all states, and you can then select a suburb from a different state.

New dashboard

  1. The roadmap that used to display in the centre of the screen, with buttons on it, has been replaced with a new dashboard concept.
  2. The dashboard initially displays on the left edge of the screen, but can be dragged to the right edge, or closed. The dashboard is always visible along the edge of the screen, if it isn't closed, even when managers are showing. If and where the dashboard is displayed is a per-user setting - some users can show it and others can hide it. If you've closed it and want it back, go to the File menu -> Reset user preferences, place a tick in the Reset tickbox for "Dashboard layout" and Next/Finish.
  3. Multiple dashboards are supported - use the drop-down at the bottom of the panel to select different dashboards. The initial dashboard that is supplied is much like the roadmap it replaces, with buttons to open various managers and wizards.
  4. VETtrak can offer a custom dashboard development service. If there is information or buttons that you would like shown on the dashboard, for a fee we can develop custom dashboards for you - please contact us.

State-based changes

New South Wales

  1. You can now change the Amount field on the DET APL page of the Enrolment Wizard after creating a withdrawal data file for the enrolment.
  2. A problem has been fixed where Generate AVETMISS could wrongly give an error that "Some clients not in the AVETMISS files" when reporting a client who is doing two different qualifications at the same time, with different course site IDs, and with the same claim number.

Victoria

  1. The prior education check warning messages when generating AVETMISS are now optional and off by default. The warning messages can be turned back on by ticking the "Show warnings on prior education" box on the first page of the Generate AVETMISS Wizard. The prior education checks now calculate the client's age as at Jan 1 of the year of the VIC course commencement date.

Queensland

  1. Support has been added for reporting tuition fees in your AVETMISS files in Queensland. This is required to be reported for Certificate 3 Guaranteefunded training in Queensland from July 2013. Queensland Tuition Fees Help Sheet.?> The features include:
    1. Use the "Funding Models" entry in the Configuration Manager to set up funding models in Queensland linked to your qualifications with full and concession amounts, per unit, for each year. You can set a default one for each qualification.
    2. The "Tuition fee calculation method" field in the Fee Exemption Wizard allows you to specify which fee exemptions cause the concession tuition fee to be applied or the tuition fee to be waived.
    3. Two new fields have been added to the Queensland AVETMISS page in the Enrolment Wizard: The State Funding Model field allows you to select the funding model that applies to the enrolment, and the Fee Exemption field allows you to select which fee exemption applies to the enrolment (which will determine whether the full, concession or no tuition fee amount is applied to the units).
    4. A new "Calc tuition fees based on selected funding model" checkbox has been added to the Queensland AVETMISS page in the Enrolment Wizard. If this is ticked, the tuition fees on all the units in the enrolment will be calculated and set, based on the selected funding model and fee exemption, overwriting any previous values. Note that this checkbox is off by default when editing an enrolment.
    5. A "Tuition Fee" column in the Edit AVETMISS Values Wizard shows the last-calculated tuition fee amount for each unit. This can be edited for each unit in Queensland.
    6. If you wish to set and report the Units' Tuition fees based on their hours (rather than the same amount for each Unit based on the Funding Model), you will need manually work out and enter the correct tuition fee amounts in the Edit AVETMISS Values Wizard.
    7. Note that, while tuition fees are entered in dollars-and-cents format in the Funding Model Wizard and Edit AVETMISS Values Wizard, they will be rounded up to a whole dollar amount when reported in AVETMISS in Queensland.
  2. The following new state funding sources have been added if they didn't already exist: "Pre-apprenticeship Initiative No Fees" (PSI), "Higher Level Training Subsidies" (HLS), "VET In Schools" (VIS), "Certificate III Guarantee" (ENT), "Certificate III Guarantee (student fees paid by a JSA)" (ENJ) and "Single and Teenage Parent Program (STPP)" (STJ).
  3. The following new fee exemptions have been added if they didn't already exist: "Non-concessional student not accessing an ICL" (N), "Non-concessional student accessing an ICL" (L), "Concessional student not accessing an ICL" (C), "Exemption (CLP clients only)" (E) and "Fees paid by an Australian Government agency (usually a JSA)" (F).
  4. A new outcome code 65 for "Transferring participant to a superseding qualification (Qld)" has been added. If you want to use this outcome, you will need to create a result type linked to it.

Tasmania

  1. The following new state funding sources have been added if they didn't already exist: "The Skills Fund - Existing Workers - Skill Sets" (30), "The Skills Fund - Existing Workers - Full Qualification" (31), "The Skills Fund - Job Seekers - Full Qualification" (32) and "The Skills fund - Mind the Gap" (33).

Client and employer changes

  1. Parent employer hierarchy. In the Employer Wizard, it is now possible to specify the parent of an employer that is itself a parent. This allows you to set up a hierarchy of employers.
  2. Employer search. The Employer Manager now has more search options. Using the drop-down under the search text box, you can now search by the "Debtor code", "User code" and "VT code" fields.
  3. Staff members in Client Manager. In the Client Manager, if you view a client who is also a staff member, the text "(Staff Member)" will appear in the Personal node.
  4. Client occurrence classes report. A new right-click menu report has been added to the Classes node within an occurrence enrolment in the Client Manager, to show a report of the client's classes in the occurrence.
  5. Client creation performance. A problem has been fixed where, when creating a client or employer with a common name, it could take a very long time to generate a new username and password.
  6. Read-only users. The "Read only" tickbox has been removed from the Client Wizard. Instead, you make a user read-only by assigning them to a read-only role using the Security Manager.
  7. Bulk change of event staff. The Bulk Staff Changer now also allows the staff members on events to be changed in bulk.

Enrolment and unit changes

  1. Adding units to enrolments. The screen to add units to an enrolment or occurrence has been improved. There is now a "Use" tickbox column, and only units with "Use" ticked will be added to the enrolment. Any unit you add to the list will have "Use" ticked by default, but you can untick (instead of remove) the ones you don't want. Clicking the "Use" column heading will toggle between unticking and ticking all the Use tickboxes. This is useful when using the "Elective" or "Core" buttons - it allows you to click the "Elective" and/or "Core" button to fill the list of units, and if you don't want most of the units, you can then press the Use column heading to untick all the units, and only tick the ones you want (instead of having to remove all the ones you don't want). When you use the "Core" or "Elective" buttons, a new column will show C or E to indicate which units were added with which button. The "Elective" button now works like the "Core" button in that it just adds the elective units to the list (without first clearing any existing units in the list). In addition, you can now sort the list by unit code, name, or core/elective by clicking the headings. Use the red-X button at the top-right corner to clear the list of units.
  2. Organisation is now mandatory. Every VETtrak database now has at least one organisation - if you didn't already have one in your database, the upgrade will create one called "Default Organisation". You can change this in the Configuration Manager. Multi-RTO is still required if you wish to have more than one organisation. Enrolments and awards now require an organisation to be selected. If you do not have Multi-RTO, all organisation drop-downs will be visible but will select the organisation and be disabled automatically.
  3. Enrolled unit expiry date. A new "Expiry" column has been added to the state grid in the Unit/Module Wizard in the Qualification Manager. This allows you to specify the number of months, per state, after which a competency in the unit should expire. When a completed result is recorded for an enrolment in the unit, an expiry date is automatically recorded against the enrolled unit, calculated as the result finish date plus that number of months. This date can be viewed and edited in the Enrolment Results Wizard when "Show claims columns" is ticked. It can then be used in custom reports to find clients that have unit competencies that are expiring. It is intended to be used for units that need to be recertified, such as First Aid or CPR.
  4. Not granted result types. The "RPL not granted" and "RCC not granted" results have been changed to a continuing result, instead of a final result.
  5. Continuing result display. In lists of enrolled units, units that have a continuing result now have a yellow icon.
  6. Linked units display in awards. The units under an enrolment that is under an award will now show the link icon if they have come from linked enrolments.
  7. Location drop-downs. The location drop-down in the Enrolment and Award Wizards now only show locations that are in the state which is selected at the top of the screen.
  8. Inactive qualifications and courses. In the Enrolment Wizard, inactive qualifications and courses no longer display in the list when creating an enrolment after using the "Show courses in list" option.
  9. Training plan sequence. The Training Plan Wizard now has little up-and-down arrow buttons in the Sequence column, allowing you to change the order of units by clicking the buttons, as well as by drag-and-drop.
  10. Default commencement payment due date. In the Contract Wizard, the default commencement payment due date for a new contract has been changed from 3 months to 6 months from contract commencement date.
  11. Contact Record user interface. In the Contact Record Wizard, the TAB key now works within the grid to move between columns, and pressing the Add button will add the new row at the top of the grid instead of the bottom (or if a row in the grid is currently selected, just above the currently selected row).
  12. Enrolment reports. When right-clicking an enrolment, the report options have been moved to a "Show report" submenu, to reduce the size of the menu.

Generate AVETMISS changes

  1. Funding sources that require a purchasing contract. A new "This funding source requires a purchasing contract" tickbox has been added to the Funding Source Wizard. The appropriate funding sources will have this ticked in VIC and TAS. If this is ticked, the Enrolment Wizard and Generate AVETMISS will report an error if the funding source for an enrolment says that it requires a purchasing contract, but the enrolment does not have a purchasing contract assigned.
  2. Qualification award based on. If you are using Multi-RTO, there is a new validation in Generate AVETMISS to ensure that, if you are reporting a qualification that has an "award based on" qualification set in the Qualification Wizard, that the "award based on" qualification also belongs to the organisation that you are generating AVETMISS for.
  3. Large AVETMISS exports. The Excel button on the Generate AVETMISS wizard will now export to a HTML format that supports more than 65,536 rows. You can still open these files from within Excel, as well as opening them in a web browser.

Programme manager changes

  1. Ad-hoc clients in classes. It is now possible to add any client to a class in an occurrence and record attendance for them, even if that client is not enrolled in the occurrence. To do so, use the new "Ad-hoc clients" tab in the Add Clients to Occurrence Class Wizard. On this tab, you can search for and select any clients and add them to the class. Clients added in this way are shown with a red person icon and an "(Ad-hoc)" note under the class.
  2. Transfer occurrence enrolments. The mechanism for transferring an occurrence enrolment to a new occurrence has been improved. It is now possible to transfer a client who has attendance recorded in classes in the occurrence. When transferring, you are shown the Add Occurrence Enrolment Wizard with the fields pre-populated, allowing you to customise the new enrolment. The client's enrolment in the original occurrence is automatically cancelled, the client is automatically removed from any future classes in the old occurrence, and any existing attendance records in the old occurrence remain. In addition, if the client has an invoice in the old occurrence, it is automatically credited out and the funds moved to holding, which could then be applied to an invoice in the new occurrence.
  3. Re-transferring occurrence enrolments. It is no longer possible to transfer an enrolment again that was used as the source of a previous transfer (you can of course still transfer the new enrolment that was the result of the previous transfer).
  4. View occurrence in programme manager. A new right-click menu option has been added to occurrences shown in the Client Manager to "View occurrence in programme manager". This will bring up the Programme Manager and automatically search for the occurrence in it. Note that it will show a message if it cannot find the occurrence because the date range in the Programme Manager does not cover the dates of the occurrence.
  5. Auto-creating invoices. When auto-creating invoices for an occurrence, if the "show enrolments in date range" preference is ticked, only employer enrolments that are in the Programme Manager's date range are automatically invoiced. This is now consistent with how auto-created client invoices works.
  6. Client display in Programme Manager. In the Programme Manager, the client code is now shown in the Enrolments node. The client code is in round brackets, while the enrolment ID is still shown after it in square brackets.
  7. Optional units in enrolments. When adding units to an occurrence enrolment, the "Default" column is now called "Optional" and the units that are marked as optional in the occurrence are ticked.
  8. Employer display in waitlist. When enrolling clients from a waitlist, the client's employer is now shown in the grid.
  9. Enrolling employers. A problem has been fixed where if an employer was linked to a client enrolment in an occurrence, it was not possible to enrol that employer into that same occurrence.
  10. Duplicating occurrences. When duplicating an occurrence, the occurrence's funding model is now copied across as well.

Invoice and payment changes

  1. Funds in holding notification. When recording a payment for an invoice, if the invoicee has funds in their holding account, VETtrak will show a message to inform you.
  2. Exported invoices and payments. Read-only "Exported Date" and "Batch Number" fields have been added to the Invoice and Payment Wizards to show when they were exported. Custom invoice and payment exporter extensions will often use these. Payments and invoices that have been marked as exported (eg. by a custom exporter extension) can no longer be edited.
  3. Delete payments. If you have Security, it is now possible to allow roles to delete payments. Delete access to Payments is disabled in the default roles, but can be enabled if desired. Some types of payments cannot be deleted, such as refunds, those that have been transferred to holding or those with negative amounts.
  4. Invoice inventory items. When adding an inventory item to an invoice, you can now click the Code or Description header to sort by those columns.
  5. Payments against enrolments. If you now use the "Record payment" option in the right-click menu on an enrolment, VETtrak will automatically create an invoice for the full amount of the enrolment, made out to the enrolee, to record the payment against. Payments are always made against invoices. The "Record payment" option will not be available on an enrolment that already has an invoice - to record any subsequent payments for the enrolment, you must record them against the invoice.

Email and SMS changes

  1. SMS low balance warning. A new "SMS low balance warning limit" preference has been added to File -> Global preferences -> Email/SMS preferences. After sending SMS messages, if your remaining SMS balance is at or below this level, VETtrak will warn you that you are running low on SMS credit.
  2. SMS employer contact. When using the "SMS employer contact" menu option for an employer enrolment, it will now show the employer contact on that enrolment. Only if there is no contact selected for the enrolment, will it show the employer's primary contact.
  3. Email employer contact. When sending email to an employer contact, the sent email is now recorded under the client.

Other changes

  1. Different state per user. The state selected at the top of the screen is now remembered per-user. This means that different users can have their own state selected, and the state drop-down has been removed from the VETtrak.exe Login screen.
  2. Purge credit card numbers. A new "Purge credit card numbers" option has been added to the Utility menu. If you record credit card numbers against payments, for security reasons you can use this utility to automatically wipe out some of the credit card number digits on older payments from your database. You can specify how many digits at the start and end of the number to keep, and how many months old a payment has to be before its credit card number is purged. Note that this utility changes the credit card numbers permanently.
  3. Preferences. The File -> Preferences menu option is now called "Global Preferences". A new "Reset user preferences" option has been added to the File menu. This shows any user preferences that the logged-in user has customised for themselves. You can reset any of them back to system defaults by ticking the Reset column for them and Next/Finish.
  4. Automatic login. New default username and password fields have been added to File -> Global preferences -> General preferences. If you do not have Security and do not want to login to VETtrak each time you start it, you can enter the username and password here. VETtrak will automatically login with this username and password each time it starts.
  5. Banner. VTConfig.exe has an option where you can enable and customise a warning banner colour and message to display at the top of the VETtrak screen. The settings made here are saved in the INI file. This is useful if you have separate live and test VETtrak databases, with separate INI files - you can set a different banner colour and message in each to make it more obvious to the user which database is being used.
  6. Class descriptions. A problem where class descriptions could be cut off when saving them in the Calendar Manager when using a SQL Server database has been fixed.
  7. Calendar student counts. A problem where the student counts in classes in the Calendar Manager could be incorrect has been fixed.
  8. Multi-RTO Award Manager. When using Multi-RTO, the Award Manager will now ensure that the qualification selected is valid for the organisation.
  9. Client code display in Waiter. Waiter will now show client codes as well as names.
  10. Waiter notes. The notes field in the Waiter will now drop-down to a larger text box when clicked, making it easier to enter and edit longer notes.
  11. Set AVETMISS fields automatically. The "Set AVETMISS fields automatically" preference in File -> Global preferences -> AVETMISS preferences has been renamed to "Set client personal AVETMISS fields to most commonly used values" to better describe what it does.
  12. Booking Manager sorting. In the Booking Manager, clicking the Start column now sorts by the date instead of the day name.
  13. File save location dialog. The file save location dialog that appears in various places to let you select a folder to save a file to (eg. when exporting data to a file) now has more obvious "Create Folder" and "Delete" buttons at the top to allow you to create and delete folders from within the dialog.

Web enrolment processing changes

  1. Extension now built-in. The API_VETtrak.bpl extension is no longer required. This functionality is now built into VETtrak, but still requires your registration key (and your role, if you are using Security) to contain the API Functions feature for you to be able to access the functionality. The Enrolment Processing Manager can be opened by going to the Manage menu -> Web Enrolments as normal, or by clicking the icon of a world with a pencil in the toolbar or the dashboard, or by pressing the F11 key.
  2. Publish Occurrences Wizard. In the Publish Occurrences Wizard, a problem where the "Current" column could be incorrect has been fixed. A problem where it would not show occurrences that have an employer assigned has also been fixed.
  3. New address format. The Client and Employer Match Wizards will now show, and allow editing, of the addresses in the new AVETMISS 7 format. Note that if the web client has an address, updating/creating the client will update/set both the client's AVETMISS 6 and AVETMISS 7 address fields to the new address.
  4. Change employer name. In the Employer Match Wizard, it is now possible to change the name of the web employer on the right, but only when using the Create New Employer option.
  5. Client division. The Client Match Wizard now shows the division of the web client, if it was specified by your website. If the division was not specified, it will show blank, and if you create the new client, the client will be assigned to the division of the occurrence they are enrolling into (or, in the case of a waitlist entry where there is no occurrence, they will be assigned to the Root Division).
  6. Additional data display. Any additional data that your website has specified for a web client or web employer is now visible in its raw form, and can be changed, in the Client and Employer Match Wizards.
  7. View occurrence. The Occurrence IDs in the Manager are now links, and clicking a link will view that occurrence in the Programme Manager.
  8. Employer in waitlist entries. It is now possible for your website to specify the employer for a client in a web waitlist entry. The Waitlist tab now allows the employer, if specified, to be matched.

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