What's New in 4.45?
Welcome to ebs 4.45, the much-anticipated statutory funding returns release. This year our focus has been on quality and performance, with the majority of our development resource across the world dedicated to updating the returns and associated functions.
As with the previous release, users of ebs: central will be prompted to view the release notes post-upgrade. All changes are documented in the release notes, which we recommend all customers read; they contain key information on product updates and how you can make use of them. As usual we won’t have a release webinar for the statutory release, but our colleagues in Customer Advisory are ready to support implementation and adoption.
Changes in the database for this release include new tables for HESA (snapshot for entry profile fields), UCAS (for applicant cancellations and withdrawals), and three new UIO tables for college development plan KPI records, New Zealand SDR data refresh fields, and HESA study locations specific information. Destination progression has been removed from the ILR, but we have not removed this from ebs, only the output. We know this data is still enormously important to institutions.
Our focus on continuous improvement has moved our focus to the Absence Reporting module, first launched in 2020. This module has been extremely popular, with adoption across all our institution types. In 4.45, the module has been refreshed with a new Angular UI to match ILP, Safeguarding, and Markbook. Mobile responsiveness has been improved, and learners now have the ability to cancel a planned absence before the first day of the absence, as well as being able to see previous absences.
Menu items that link to the de-supported ontrack Teaching & Learning modules (the old ILP, Markbook, and Pastoral) have now been removed from ontrack. In this release we also issue a desupport for the previous version of Markbook. Old Staff Markbook will be de-supported in 4.48 (excluding the verification screen). The Markbook module has been re-written in updated technology to give better performance (Page: Markbook) which was released in 4.44.
Making it as easy and secure as possible for staff to use ebs has been a long-standing priority. In this release, updates include replacing the dual authentication link for Hub and Contact Hub with a button. The button text, alternative text, and whether a logo (Google or Microsoft) is displayed are configured with institution settings. The menu navigation to allow users to switch personas in Hub are now available under a single View As menu item next to the user’s profile picture.
For the rest of the year our roadmap looks to improving our ontrack web platforms. This includes updating the Enrolments web services and starting work on self-service enrolments; moving the Support Fund Manager module into web and adding teacher and learner interaction (this module will then be called Fund Manager), and new integrations with CENTURY for diagnostics and Flywire for payments including currency conversion.
There is a new Communities group, ebs Ideas. The Product team actively monitor and respond to this group, so please do share your ideas, feature requests, and feedback. Good luck with the busy enrolment period, and we wish you the best with preparation for the new academic year.
Gabi Walshaw, Product Manager for Vocational Learning and Engage