Glossary
The glossary contains brief definitions of key ebs terms and concepts.
| Term | Description |
| Additional Learning Needs (ALN) | A support system for children and young people with additional needs. |
| Address Integration | For more information, go to Address Integration. |
| Adult Community Learning (ACL) | A range of courses offered to adults. |
| Advanced Learner Loan (ALL) | Loans to help with the costs of a course at a college or training provider in England. |
| Advanced Level Information System (ALIS) | Provides performance indicators for learners over the age of 16. |
| AFD | For more information, go to AFD. |
| Amended Aggregate Score (AAS) | A score calculated from a learner’s results in various subjects. |
| Annual Maximum Fee Movement (AMFM) | A policy in New Zealand that sets limits on fees that Tertiary Education Commissions (TECs) can charge learners. |
| Application Programming Interface (API) | A communication protocol that allows a client (for example: a web browser) to request and receive data from a server (for example: rendering a web page requested by a URL). |
| Applications | For more information, go to Applications. |
| Apprenticeship Contract Type (ACT) | The type of apprenticeship agreement. |
| Apprenticeship Loan Bursary (ALB) | A grant to help learners with costs relating to their apprenticeship. |
| Awards Manager | For more information, go to Awards Manager. |
| Block Matrix | For more information, go to Block Matrix. |
| Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) | A Further Education (FE) qualification available in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. |
| Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) | A style sheet language used for creating web pages. |
| Change of Circumstance (CoC) | The Change of Circumstance (CoC) export file, which can be manually uploaded to the Student Loans Company (SLC) using the Provider Portal. |
| City and Guilds (CG) | Also known as City and Guilds of London Institute (CGLI) - an educational organization based in the United Kingdom. |
| City and Guilds of London Institute (CGLI) | Also known as City and Guilds (CG) - an educational organization based in the United Kingdom. |
| Civica Paylink | For more information, go to Civica Paylink. |
| Comma Separated Values (CSV) | A file commonly used by spreadsheet programs that uses a comma to separate values. |
| Consolidated Data Return (CDR) | For more information, go to Consolidated Data Return (CDR). |
| Content Security Policy (CSP) | For more information, go to Ontrack Hub Institution Settings. |
| Credit and Qualification Framework Wales (CQFW) | A framework used to recognize and accredit qualifications in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. |
| Curriculum | For more information, go to Curriculum. |
| Curriculum Planner | For more information, go to Curriculum Planner. |
| Custom Logs | For more information, go to Custom Logs. |
| Data Miner | For more information, go to Data Miner. |
| De-duplication | For more information, go to De-duplication. |
| DELETE | A verb used to describe the remove process for a REST service. |
| Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) | A government department in the United Kingdom responsible for policies, including child maintenance, state pensions, and welfare. |
| Digital Signatures | For more information, go to Digital Signatures. |
| Domain Name Service (DNS) | A naming system for devices connected to the internet or a private network. |
| DPS | For more information, go to DPS. |
| ebs: shape | For more information, go to ebs: shape. |
| Edge Integration | For more information, go to Edge Integration. |
| Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) | An agency responsible for funding education and skills for children, young people, and adults. Previously known as the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Skills Funding Agency (SFA). |
| Education and training inspectorate for Wales (ESTYN) | Provides advice and guidance to the Welsh Government on quality and standards in education and training. |
| Education business system (ebs) | Tribal's student information system. |
| Education Funding Agency (EFA) | Now known as the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). |
| Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) | For more information, go to Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). |
| Eligibility Disadvantage Funding (EDF) | Provides funds to support learners, aged between 16 and 19, from areas of economic deprivation. |
| Employability, Enrichment, and Pastoral (EEP) | Enrichment activities for students, including work experience. |
| Employer Data Service (EDS) | Also known as EDRS - provides a range of web services to enable partners to search employer information and validate employer reference numbers (ERNs) or unique reference numbers (URNs). |
| Employer Reference Number (ERN) | The Employer Reference Number (ERN) of the organization, which can contain alpha, numeric, and non-alphanumeric characters and has a maximum length of nine characters. |
| Endpoint Assessment (EPA) | An assessment completed at the end of an apprenticeship program. |
| Enquiries | For more information, go to Enquiries. |
| Enrolments | For more information, go to Enrolments. |
| Equivalent or Lower Qualification (ELQ) | An Equivalent or Lower Qualification (ELQ) is a qualification at the same level or below one already held. |
| Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) | An Extensible Markup Language (XML) based language developed by Microsoft. |
| Extensible Markup Language (XML) | A markup language used to encode documentation in several file types that can be read by both machines and humans. |
| Free Meals Eligibility (FME) | The learner's eligibility for free meals. |
| Fund Manager | For more information, go to Fund Manager. |
| Funding and Monitoring (FAM) | For more information, go to Funding and Monitoring (FAM). |
| Funding Information System (FIS) | For more information, go to Funding Information System (FIS). |
| Funding Year | The funding year dictates the dates between which the funds can run, usually the academic year from start to finish. |
| Further Education (FE) | Further education offered in addition to the education received at secondary schools in the United Kingdom and Ireland. |
| General Certificate of Education (GCE) | A qualification available in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. |
| General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) | An academic qualification taken by learners in secondary education in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. |
| General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) | A European Union (EU) law on data protection and privacy for all citizens of the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). |
| General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) | An occupation-related qualification. |
| GET | A verb used to describe the retrieve process for a REST service. |
| Graduate Outcomes | For more information, go to Graduate Outcomes. |
| Greater London Authority (GLA) | The regional governance body for Greater London and the City of London. |
| High Needs Students (HNS) | Learners aged between 16 and 25 that require additional financial support, which is over and above standard funding levels. |
| Higher Education (HE) | Tertiary or post-secondary education. |
| Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) | Distributes funding to universities and colleges in England. |
| Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) | Distributes funding to universities and colleges in Wales. |
| Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) | Gathers, evaluates, and publishes data about higher education (HE) in the United Kingdom. |
| Higher Education Students Early Statistics (HESES) | An annual survey performed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to assess the number of learners in higher education. |
| Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) | A markup language used to create web pages. |
| Individual Learning Plans (ILP) | An education program based on learners' levels of ability. |
| Individualized Learner Record (ILR) | For more information, go to Individualized Learner Record (ILR). |
| Institution Settings | For more information, go to Institution Settings. |
| Internet Information Services (IIS) | Microsoft's web server application for Windows Server. |
| Key Performance Indicator (KPI) | Used to measure the performance of an organization or activity. |
| Learner | For more information, go to Learner. |
| Learner Manager | For more information, go to Learner Manager. |
| Learner Records Service (LRS) | A United Kingdom government service that enables recognized training providers to register and access their learners' Unique Learner Number (ULN) and Personal Learning Record (PLR). |
| Learner Support Funding (LSF) | Financial support available to learners that are experiencing financial hardship, have dependent children, or have travel or accommodation costs relating to a placement. |
| Learning Difficulty Assessment (LDA) | Used to assess the support needed by a young person with learning and/or physical difficulties. |
| Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR) | For more information, go to Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR). |
| Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) | An application protocol used to share information across a computer network. LDAP is used by directory service providers, including Microsoft Active Directory. |
| Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool (LNAAT) | For more information, go to Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool (LNAAT). |
| Loan Entitlement Threshold (LET) | For more information, go to Loan Entitlement Threshold (LET). |
| Local Education Authorities (LEA) | Regional councils in England and Wales that are responsible for education in their district or county. |
| Managing Information Across Partners (MIAP) | For more information, go to Managing Information Across Partners (MIAP). |
| Microsoft Access Database (MDB) file | A database file that can be created or opened with Microsoft Access. |
| Microsoft Entra ID (ME-ID) | Microsoft has renamed Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) to Microsoft Entra ID (ME-ID). |
| Microsoft Entra External ID | A new customer identity and access management (CIAM) that is built on the same technology as Microsoft Entra ID. For more information, go to Entra External ID. |
| National Skills Academy (NSA) | Provides access to training and development for the health sector. |
| National Student Index (NSI) | A database that stores the unique National Student Number (NSN) used to identify every New Zealand learner. |
| National Student Number - National Student Index (NSN-NSI) | For more information, go to National Student Number - National Student Index (NSN-NSI). |
| National Student Number (NSN) | A learner's unique identification number, issued by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). |
| National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) | Now replaced by the Regulated Qualifications Framework, NVQs were work-based qualifications available in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. |
| NETBANX | For more information, go to NETBANX. |
| New Zealand Immigration Service (INZ) | New Zealand's immigration service, responsible for issuing visas to visit, study, work, or live in New Zealand. |
| New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) | A New Zealand government organization that administers assessments and qualifications for secondary school learners. |
| New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF) | New Zealand’s qualification framework administered by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). |
| New Zealand Standard Classification of Education (NZSCED) | New Zealand’s subject-based classification system for courses and qualifications at the tertiary level. |
| Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) | NEET is a term used to describe young people (aged 16 to 24 years) who are not in education, employment, or training. |
| ontrack Designer | For more information, go to ontrack Designer. |
| ontrack Hub | For more information, go to ontrack Hub. |
| ontrack Learner Hub | For more information, go to ontrack Learner Hub. |
| ontrack Prospect | The previous name of ontrack Learner Hub |
| Operating System (OS) | Manages computer hardware and software resources. |
| OPTIONS | A verb used to describe the query process for a REST service. |
| Organization Management | For more information, go to Organization Management. |
| Payment Card Industry (PCI) | For more information, go to Payment Card Industry (PCI). |
| Payment Providers | For more information, go to Payment Providers. |
| Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) | New Zealand’s tertiary education funding process that provides financial support to tertiary education organizations (TEOs). |
| Portable Document Format (PDF) | A document file format developed by Adobe that can include text, graphics, images, and interactive multimedia elements. |
| POST | A verb used to describe the create process for a REST service. |
| Pupil Premium Funding Eligibility (PPE) | The learner's eligibility for PPE funding. |
| PUT | A verb used to describe the update process for a REST service. |
| Quick Address (QAS) | Address verification software from QAS that ensures valid address information and format. |
| Reference Data | For more information, go to Reference Data. |
| Reports | For more information, go to Reports. |
| Representation State Transfer (REST) Services | For more information, go to Representation State Transfer (REST) Services. |
| Screen Manager | For more information, go to Screen Manager. |
| Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) | A network protocol that provides secure communications over a computer network. |
| Short Message Service (SMS) | A text messaging service that enables mobile phone users to send and receive short messages. |
| Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) | A communication protocol used to send and receive electronic messages. |
| Single Data Return (SDR) | For more information, go to Single Data Return (SDR). |
| Single Sign-On (SSO) | A form of access control that enables a user to log in to multiple software systems with a single username and password. |
| Skills Funding Agency (SFA) | Now known as the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). |
| SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) | A Microsoft application used to generate reports. |
| Structured Query Language (SQL) | A Microsoft application used for relational database management. |
| Student Loans Company (SLC) | Provides loans to learners on behalf of the United Kingdom government. |
| Support Manager | For more information, go to Support Manager. |
| Technical and Further Education (TAFE) | An education and training provider based in Australia. |
| Territorial Authority (TLA) | Local government in New Zealand. |
| Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) | Supports the tertiary education sector and provides career services to the New Zealand government. |
| Tertiary Education Organizations (TEO) | An organization that provides third-stage or post-secondary education. |
| UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN) | A unique number used to identify learning providers in the United Kingdom. |
| Uniform Resource Locator (URL) | The address of a website or file that can be accessed with an internet browser. |
| Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI) | A learner’s unique, candidate identification number, used to identify the modules studied and associate examination results. |
| Unique Learner Number (ULN) | A learner’s unique learner reference number, supplied by their school or further education (FE) provider. |
| Unit Instance (UI) | A version of a module or course. |
| Unit Instance Occurrence (UIO) | A specific version of a unit instance that can be scheduled in a term and have learners enrolled. |
| Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) | Oversees the university application process in the United Kingdom. |
| User Management | For more information, go to User Management. |
| Vocational Certificate of Education (VCE) | A qualification that used to be available in the United Kingdom that prepared learners for work in their chosen profession. |
| Work Based Learning (WBL) | The WBL programme offers learners the opportunity to gain work experience. |
| Work Related Experience (WRE) | A compulsory assessment of specific work-related experience gained by the learner. |
| Workflow Manager | For more information, go to Workflow Manager. |
| Workplace Learning (WPL) | Accredited training offered by employers to their staff. |
| WorldPay | For more information, go to Worldpay. |
| Youth Guarantee (YG) | A European Union (EU) scheme aimed at targeting youth unemployment. |