12 April 2012
The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is pleased to announce the scope of the first release of the ITR refinement project.
ITR refinement project � scope of first release
The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is pleased to announce the scope of the first release of the ITR refinement project.
There are six items in the scope of the first release which we have grouped into three broad themes.
Higher quality data
Three of the scope items will support to ITOs to report more accurate data.
Re-enrolling in unit standards
The first change relates to unit standards that had been reported as achieved but where that achievement was reported in error.
ITOs have been able to ask the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (the NZQA) to update the learner�s record of achievement, but the ITR has not permitted the trainee to be �re-enrolled� in the unit standard.
The change will mean that ITOs will be able to report the enrolment of the trainee in the unit standard, and enable the achievement of the trainee to be attributed to the ITO.
Modern Apprenticeships Co-ordinator visits
The second change relates to the reporting of the date of Modern Apprenticeships Co-ordinator visits.
ITOs have been unable to report these visits after the date that the training agreement ended where those visits occurred before that date.
The change will mean that all visits that occurred prior to the end of the training agreement can be reported to the ITR.
Withdrawal dates
The third change relates to the validations governing the withdrawal of training agreements.
ITOs have been able to record a withdrawal date for a training agreement that is earlier than the data at which they had previously reported that the trainee would actually commence their learning.
The change will mean that the withdrawal date cannot be earlier than the start of participation in the relevant programme.
Improving reporting
Two of the scope items will be used by the TEC to improve the quality and timeliness of reporting of ITR-related data. These scope items involve correcting errors in the way in which the learner training agreement ID is being reported, and enabling the ITR to store key attributes such as date that an XML message was sent.
Better support for ITOs
The last scope item will mean that the ITR status webpages are more accurate by correcting a conflict that arose when the ITR was being synchronised with the latest set of achievement data from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
Development work for release one commenced on 19 March 2012. The completed items are scheduled to be released into UAT on 10 April 2012, and into production on 17 April 2012.
No changes will be required to the trainee management systems as a result of this release.
We will let you know more about the scope of the ITR and the timing of future releases in the near future.
New Zealand Qualifications � ITR issue
The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) has identified an issue with the registration of New Zealand Qualifications for funding purposes through the Industry Training Register (the ITR).
In order to register a programme for funding purposes the ITR checks whether there is a strand associated with the programme. The check relies on there being some information in relation to a strand, including to verify the absence of a strand.
The ITR is not currently able to process messages relating to the registration of New Zealand Qualifications for funding purposes because the required strand information is not being provided.
Staff from the TEC and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (the NZQA) are working to resolve this issue. As the issue you have raised has implications for all organisations using this new type of qualification we will let you know when it has been resolved through an ITO update.
Ensuring that all Tertiary Education Organisations are able to accurately report data to the TEC for funding and reporting purposes is very important to the TEC, and we would like to assure ITOs that all reasonable efforts are being made to resolve the issue in a timely fashion.
Once the issue has been resolved, ITOs will be able to report the registration of this programme and report the relevant enrolments retrospectively, and will not be disadvantaged from a funding perspective.
