Exam search updated to include active search option

In exams manager, the exams search popup screen has been updated to include an active flag search condition that only searches for active exams by default.

Not applicable

Update to forecast grade fields

The forecast grade fields in the EBS Central are no longer restricted to the GCE/GCSE and SQA board types. All board types can now use the Forecast First Grade field.

This update applies to both the Exam Entry Results screen and the results grid.

Not applicable

NI New institution setting for CDR Statistics

A new institution setting is now available to support institutions when generating CDR statistics. You can find the setting in General (cross system).

• Setting name: Calculate previous funding year statistics.

• Type: Drop-down (Y/N)

• Default value: N

This setting allows users in Northern Ireland to choose the funding year they want to use when running CDR statistics.

General (cross-system) institution settings

New institution setting for syncing forecast grades

A new institution setting has been added to give customers control over whether forecast exam grades are synced from the Markbook Verification grid.

Previously, the Sync Grades to Exams… setting controlled both the Forecast and Actual grade columns. This behaviour has now been separated as follows:

• The existing setting now applies only to actual grades.

• A new setting, Sync Forecast to Exams in Markbook Verification Grid, has been added under Institution Settings > Markbook.

If the new forecast‑sync setting is set to no, the toggle for the Forecast column is now hidden in the Markbook verification grid.

Markbook institution settings

Email address setting for absence reporting notifications

You can now specify an email address in Institution Settings to receive absence reporting notifications.

This update allows institutions to direct notifications to a single mailbox, a group email address, or individual recipients, removing the need for an in‑app inbox or distribution list.

The configured email address is used by workflow features that trigger when a request is submitted.

Registers institution settings

Interview management in Ontrack Staff Hub

A new institution setting named Interview Organisation Code is now available in Institution Settings > General (Cross‑System). This setting provides a drop-down list that allows you to choose whether the interview organisation code maps to the owning organisation or the offering organisation.

When the setting is configured to owning organisation:

• You can enter an organisation code on the Interview Management screen.

• When booking an interview slot (as a learner or staff member), only interview slots linked to the owning organisation of the course you applied for are displayed.

When the setting is configured to offering organisation:

• You can enter an organisation code on the interview management screen.

• When booking an interview slot, as a learner or staff member, only interview slots linked to the offering organisation of the course you applied for are displayed.

General (cross-system) institution settings

Room bookings in Ontrack Staff Hub

A new institution setting, Default event type room booking, has been introduced to Timetables that allows the configuration of the default event type used for room bookings.

Timetables institution settings

AFD enhanced email validation institution setting removed

The AFD Enhanced email validation institution setting has been removed. When email validation is in use, an enhanced check will always be performed, hence there is no need for the setting to remain.

AFD institution settings

Global institution settings for AFD validation widgets

We’ve introduced new institution settings that let staff enable or disable the AFD Phone Validation and AFD Email Validation widgets across all Ontrack pages. These global settings make it easier to manage widget availability without configuring each page in designer.

A new check-box will be available in designer for teams that need granular, page‑specific control. However, the new institution settings provide a simpler way to apply widget behaviour consistently across your organisation.

The new institution settings are as follows:

• Enable AFD Phone Validation Widget in Ontrack

• Enable AFD Email Validation Widget in Ontrack

AFD institution settings

New institution settings for AFD validation in correspondence manager

We’ve added new institution settings that let staff control whether the AFD email and phone validation widgets appear in the correspondence manager feature of EBS Ontrack Staff Hub.

The new institution settings are as follows:

• AFD Email Validation for Ontrack Correspondence Manager

• AFD Phone Validation for Ontrack Correspondence Manager

These settings allow organisations to align validation behaviour across all correspondence workflows.

AFD institution settings

New AFD institution settings for additional API parameters

Two new AFD institution settings are now available. These settings allow institutions to supply additional parameters supported by both the lookup and retrieve AFD API endpoints:

• AFD API Lookup additional parameters

• AFD API Retrieve additional parameters

Each setting accepts a string value containing one or more parameters. Parameters must be formatted with an ampersand & prefix.

For example:

A value of &maxquantity=5 in AFD API Lookup additional parameters limits the number of returned results to five.

You can include multiple parameters by concatenating them, each prefixed with &.

For additional supported parameters, go to AFD documentation.

AFD institution settings

New institution settings for usage stats

New institution settings for controlling usage stats as follows:

• Usage stats - collect data and send email - Y/N (not available for cloud customers).

• Usage stats - email addresses - comma separated list of email addresses to send stats to.

General (cross-system) institution settings

Absence reasons - Mandate evidence and additional Info flags

New flags have been added to the reference data for Absence reasons as follows:

• Evidence required

• Additional info required

These flags can be set to Y or N.

Note the following:

• Evidence Required = Y, this will trigger the Document upload control to be a mandatory requirement in Ontrack.

• Additional Info Required = Y, this will trigger the Additional information field as a mandatory requirement in Ontrack.

Absence reasons

New roles for bulk correspondence management in Ontrack Staff Hub

The following roles have been added to the group EBS: Ontrack Correspondence Manager:

To enable the sending of bulk correspondence from Correspondence manager, the following roles have been added:

• Send bulk correspondence - applications

• Send bulk correspondence - enrolments

• Send bulk correspondence - learners

Additional roles have also been introduced to allow the sending of correspondence from the Course applications, Course enrolments, and Course interviews screens as follows:

• Send multiple correspondence - application

• Send multiple correspondence - enrolment

• Send multiple correspondence - interview

EBS Ontrack correspondence manager

New roles for group management in Ontrack Staff Hub

A new user management group, EBS: Ontrack Group Management is now available. The following roles have been introduced to support the new group management features:

Roles for Group Management

View Group Management

Create and Update Group Management

Roles for Group Membership Management

View Group Membership Management

Create and Update Group Membership Management

EBS Ontrack group management

New roles for interview management in Ontrack Staff Hub

A new role named EBS: Ontrack Interview Management is now available. This role includes three related permissions:

• View Interview Slots

• Create/Edit Interview Slots

• Delete Interview Slots

These permissions allow organisations to control who can view, create, update, or remove interview slots within interview management.

EBS Ontrack interview management

New role for room bookings in Ontrack Staff Hub.

A new Room Booking role has been added under the EBS: Ontrack Hub role group to support controlled access to room booking functionality.

EBS Ontrack Hub role group

New role for managing E-Payments in Ontrack Staff Hub.

A new Manage E‑Payments Access role has been added to enable the management of E-Payments in Ontrack Staff Hub. Note that staff without this role can only view transactions.

EBS Ontrack Hub role group

Scheduled workflow to collect and email monthly usage stats

New scheduled workflow that runs at 5 AM on the first of each month to collect and distribute EBS usage statistics data.

As well as sending the data to Tribal, customers can choose to add further email addresses that the information will be distributed to.

Not applicable