Where and which dates should be used for units and certificates?

Sunday, Feb 24, 2019

By default the start and end dates on a course date are used when reporting AVETMISS data. These are then overridden by the Document Topic Form (it is not possible to put dates on the document) if there are valid dates on those forms. If these fields exist on the document topics form, the first valid date on each of these fields is used in the order document topic form then course date, eg if Activity Start Date on the Document Topic Form has a valid value it is used.

Keep in mind that an activity is not exported if a valid outcome does not exist on the document topic form or document.

Location of field Field Name Field Name
Course Date Course Start Date Course End Date
Document Topic Form Activity Start Date Activity End Date

Scenario one: Where there are multiple units and the units start and finish on the same day as each other

Where there all units are completed on the same day(s), this could be more than one unit or just one unit.

Making these assumptions:

  1. All units are started at the same date
  2. All units are finished at the same date
  3. There is one enrolment that includes all the units.

Use just the Course Date start and end dates. These dates will then apply to all those units on the document. There is also an option to include the outcome on the document, therefore no Document Topic Form is required. This has the advantage that there is only one update required to be performed on the Document, moving these fields to the top of the document increases the efficiency greatly by removing the need to scroll to the Document Topics. However this does mean that a) the updates can’t be performed within the trainer portal and b) the same dates and outcomes are applied to all the document topics.

Statement of Attainment: the date of completion would in this case be the course date end date.

Scenario two: Where there are multiple units and the units start on the same day and finish on different days

Where there is a course that is then followed with a period of time that a unit is worked on and is submitted

Making these assumptions:

  1. All units are started at the same date
  2. All units are finished at different dates
  3. There is one enrolment that includes all the units.

Put the field Activity End Date on the Document Topic form. The activity start date will come from the course date, and the activity end dates will come from each unit’s document topic form. This gives flexibility for end dates, and can be updated when the outcome is updated.

Statement of Attainment: for the date of completion use the short code [DocumentTopicSummary:activityEndDate], the final end date of the document topics.

Scenario three: Where there are multiple units start and finish at different times

Making these assumptions:

  1. All units are started at different dates
  2. All units are finished at different dates
  3. There is one enrolment that includes all the units.

Put the Activity Start Date and Activity End Date on the Document Topic Form. Both dates will come from each unit’s document topic form. This gives the most flexibility. When the unit outcome is updated, the dates can be updated.

Statement of Attainment: for the date of completion use the short code [DocumentTopicSummary:activityEndDate], the final end date of the document topics. Certificate: use the course date end date, or a new field on the document form or use the short code [DocumentTopicSummary:activityEndDate], the final end date of the document topics.

Scenario four: Where there are multiple units and these units start at different days and finish at the same day

Where students are given learning materials at different times but then attend an exam or practical assessment at the same time, eg complete pre-course work at the time of enrolment and attend a workshop at a scheduled date.

Making these assumptions:

  1. All units are started at the different dates
  2. All units are finished at same date
  3. There is one enrolment that includes all the units.

Put the field Activity Start Date on the Document Topic Form. The certificate end date will come from the course date, and the activity end dates will come from each unit’s document topic form. This gives flexibility for start dates, and can be updated when the outcome is updated.

Statement of Attainment: for the date of completion use the short code [DocumentTopicSummary:activityEndDate], the final end date of the document topics. Certificate: use the course date end date, or a new field on the document form or use the short code [DocumentTopicSummary:activityEndDate], the final end date of the document topics.