Getting to grips with RITS14 October 2010

Welcome and overview of the session

Fiona PethickDirector of Regulation

Objectives

Our objectives for the session are to provide for you:

An understanding of the reasons behind the system changes

A demonstration of RITS and the Register of Recognised Qualifications

Information on the timeline to the next release

Details of future developments

Information about where you can access further information and support

RITS is a key milestone in the Ofqual journey

ASCL Act and Consultation on our powers (Nov/Dec 2009)

Vesting & transitional regulatory arrangements (April 2010)

Our next consultations on:• ‘Transition to transformation’ & Economic Regulation (Oct 2010)• Single Equality Scheme & Examinations Appeal Board (Nov 2010)

Release 1 RITS (25 October 2010) …and other releases to Jan 2011

Transition to new regulatory model – throughout 2011-12

Why are we changing the systems?

Ofqual cannot deliver its regulatory commitments on unsupported systems that cannot be developed due to stability issues

Ofqual needs a flexible platform to deliver its statutory obligation under the Apprenticeship Skills Children and Learning (ASCL) Act

Ofqual must publish and maintain a list of:

- recognised awarding organisations

- what descriptions of qualifications they are recognised to offer

- their specific regulated qualifications

Ofqual can remove the bureaucratic burden from awarding organisations through more effective deployment of IT solutions

Ofqual has made a commitment to the full and proper regulation of the Qualifications and Credit Framework through our regulatory systems

Key messages

RITS goes live on 25 October that enables us all to stop using WBA and NDAQ

It won’t be perfect on day 1, but it is a huge step forward and only the beginning

There will be a further release during November with improved functionality and further releases in 2011

You will have a user guide and help text to assist and contact points to ask questions – all available at www.ofqual.gov.uk/RITS

You will have access to a shared training environment

Introducing RITS

Sue McGlynnRITS Super User

Introducing RITS and the Register

Moving on from using the pilot

The underlying assumptions on which RITS has been built

Development of the Register

Moving out of the pilot

All Awarding Organisations and unit and RoC submitters have had access to the RITS pilot since July

You have set up basic data and users have been set up

All the data you have input to the pilot will be available in RITS

Assumptions underlying RITS

AO recognition and unit and rule of combination (RoC) submitter approval

– An organisation’s ‘plan of provision’ will be carried over into RITS

– Recognition is an off-line process supported by the exchange of documents through the document store.

– Awarding organisations will have recognition numbers

Assumptions underlying RITS (continued)

Accreditation requirement

– RITS has been built to allow some qualifications to go straight to the Register without an accreditation process.

– AOs will be able to see their accreditation requirements within RITS

– There will be no differentiation on the Register between qualifications subject to the accreditation requirement and those that are not

– All qualifications will be subject to the accreditation requirement until new criteria and processes are implemented after consultation.

Policy underlying RITS (continued)

Qualifications will be formally structured

Each constituent part will have an identification number

Routes through a qualification will be described in free text as at present but will be automatically generated in later releases.

RITS will not collect answers to accreditation criteria questions

Other changes

Review dates for documents

Qualification dates– Date of regulation– Operational start date– Review date– Operational end date– Certification end date– Current accreditation end dates will be migrated as review dates

Other changes continued

Age ranges and funding

– AOs state the age ranges that a qualification is suitable for, which shows on the Register

– Within RITS, AOs say whether they wish the qualification to be considered for funding

– AOs give permission within RITS for this information to be passed across a data interface to SFA and YPLA

Other changes continued

‘Countries offered in’ is limited to England, Wales and Northern Ireland

SSC approval of a qualification will be collect within RITS via– A check box– The name of the approving SSC– An SSC identifier– Documentary evidence from the SSC

The Register of Regulated Qualifications

A three-country badged web-site hosted on the Ofqual website that replaces NDAQ

The means by which Ofqual fulfils the statutory requirement placed upon it by the ASCL Act to provide a public list of:

– recognised awarding organisations – what descriptions of qualifications they are recognised to offer– their specific regulated qualifications

Information on the Register

Recognised awarding organisations are listed on the Register; approved unit and RoC submitters are not.

The register will show an organisation’s recognition by qualification type/sub-type.

Regulated qualifications will be shown on the Register but there will be no differentiation between those subject to the accreditation requirement and those not.

Refreshment break and networking opportunity

RITS demonstration

Catherine AdlerManager for Accreditation Services

Introduction

Login

Navigation

Operational Plan

Build a Qualification Units Structures (Rules of Combination) Qualifications

Submit a Qualification for Regulation

The Register of Regulated Qualifications

Where to find help

Where to find RITS and the Register

RITS http://rits.ofqual.gov.uk

The Register http://register.ofqual.gov.uk

Via the Ofqual website: www.ofqual.gov.uk/rits

Getting to grips with RITS14 October 2010

RITS demonstration

Catherine AdlerManager for Accreditation Services

Login screen

Navigation – drop down menus

Navigation – Where to find help

Operational plan - overview

Plan of provision - Recognitions and Approvals

Plan of provision - Recognition Permissions

Accreditation requirements

Units

Create QCF unit

Create QCF unit – Learning outcomes and assessment criteria

Bank QCF unit

Confirm bank unit

Banked QCF unit detail screen

Amend QCF unit

Search units

Search my units

Search my units - Unit statuses

Search unit bank

Review units (confirmation screen)

Structures

Create QCF Rules of Combination (RoC)

Confirmation of create RoC

Adding groups to a RoC (1)

Adding groups to a RoC (2)

Linking units to groups

Validating a RoC

Valid RoC

Banking a RoC

Copying a RoC

Qualifications

Create qualifications

Add qualification information (1)

Add qualification information (2)

Add qualification information (3)

Created qualification

Maintain expected uptake/Configure documents

Add qualification expected uptakes

Link accreditation document (for example SSC Support)

Submit qualification for regulation

Submitted qualification with an accreditation requirement

Qualification rejected by the Regulators

Qualification accepted by the Regulators

Set end dates

Review qualifications

Closing remarks

Fiona PethickDirector of Regulation

What happens next?

Tomorrow, WBA will shut down at 17.00 hours

NDAQ will continue to be available until the Register goes live but won’t be updated

Your data will be migrated to RITS

We will test the data in RITS and in the Register

At midday on 25 October - RITS and the Register will go live!

Redirects from WBA and NDAQ will be in place

Help and support

Operational briefings have gone to all awarding organisations

There will be a user guide and help text attached to RITS

There will be a RITS information page on the Ofqual website (www.ofqual.gov.uk/RITS) where you will find the user guide, FAQs and other messages about RITS

Organisations will have access to a training version of RITS

If you need help or support, you can call our helpdesk on 0300 303 3346 or email rits@ofqual.gov.uk

Technical support will be provided by our suppliers, but all calls will be logged through Ofqual and redirected appropriately

We hope that you are leaving here:

With a better understanding of RITS (Release 1)

Knowing what you will need to do on and after 25 October

Feeling better informed

Confident that you will be able to work with RITS

Knowing that support is at hand: contact rits@ofqual.gov.uk

Thank you for your attendance