FAQs
Find answers for the most frequently asked questions on ACE360, from adding apprentice records to resits and costs for EPAOs and LTPs.
ACE360 does what it says on the tin – we have no hidden costs and our features aim to make your life easier. Don’t like using our system? Don’t worry, there are no strings attached! Our pay as you go approach allows organisations to work at their own pace, so why not try out our software today?
The End-Point Assessment Organisations will let you know how they wish to receive the information from you. This could mean that you have several different ways of sending information through different bespoke systems as a result. As a customer though you have a great deal of influence over the process. ACE360 ensures that there is one standard approach for sending gateway information and receiving EPA decisions for individual candidates on Apprenticeship Standards.
The End Point Assessment Organisations available to select are determined by the standard and the current list of End Point Assessment Organisations on the ESFA register which can be accessed here:
As the End-Point Assessment market becomes more and more competitive, employers and training providers have greater choice in selecting an End Point Assessment Organisation. Our system makes this change in industry more manageable.
ACE360 holds the comprehensive list of standards, and we have carefully selected all the key information that you will need. Click here to see the standards and associated assessment plans in full.
Generally we recommend that Training Providers and Employers don’t delay until EPA. What we mean by this, is that it’s best practice to upload your Apprentice records as soon as possible so that EPA runs smoothly later down the line. Failing to do so can result in holdups later on in the process as EPA Organisations will not have otherwise had time to plan ahead. For best practice tips, check out our blog piece explaining benefits of uploading records early here.
ACE360 is an Apprenticeship Management IT system that enables you to manage Apprenticeship Standards delivery efficiently, securely and without paper. It links into your Learner Management System to ensure that data is accurate and joined up. It covers the whole Apprenticeship journey, all the way through from enrolment to certification. For more information see our Features page.
No – contact us and we can change the assignment of the End Point Assessment Organisation free of charge.
Yes- When you activate an ACE360 account you are able to set different permission levels which mean that any supporting or subcontracting provider an access ONLY the records that you give them access to.
You should recommend that they create an account with ACE360. It is your responsibility to ensure candidate information is shared in a way that ensures that you are GDPR compliant and we can ensure this for you.
As the ACE360 system develops and subject to user feedback we want to ensure that you are able to access all of the information you need to your job as effectively as possible. If there isn’t an existing report, let us know the information you require for the report and we will be able to provide the information in password protected EXCEL or CSV format.
ACE360 is hosted in a secure data warehouse in the UK. We ensure that organisations using ACE360 are approved to support Apprenticeship Standard training and assessment. Each user that is invited to use ACE360 has a defined role which ensures they can only access the information that they need to undertake their role. Our systems are regularly penetration tested and maintained in line with industry-wide data security best practice. ACE360 complies with all relevant legislation including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Recent feedback for ACE360 mentioned that our ongoing support is the #1 service benefit of choosing ACE360 so we are delighted to lend a helping hand when needed. Although our system is very user friendly, we understand that users appreciate the occasional guidance to teach them about newly introduced features on the system.
Yes, you can upload MP4/MP3 Files. You can also upload multiple files which means you could have a transcript and recording. There is also functionality to add notes if you want to draw particular reference to a part within the film/recording/document.
Yes, contact us for supporting information to help with setting up processes and to access support guides on the system.
There are a few ways that apprentice records can be added to ACE360. If you work with a learner management system such as PICS, this can be integrated with ACE360. Alternatively you can request our bulk upload form, for 5 learners or more, fill it in and password protect it for GDPR compliance. Contact us for a copy of the form.
Yes……. Information for ESFA Security Requirements.
We will be implementing and using the ACE360 system for managing apprentice records for our End-Point Assessment activity. ACE360 is the industry leading apprenticeship standards management software, that has been developed by the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards (FISSS). FISSS have been trusted to manage the contract for Framework certification and have stored evidence for over 2 million apprentices since 2012 in their ACE, ACW and MA online systems. The data centre for ACE360 is ISO27001 and ISO9001 certified and the Federation hold Cyber Essential Plus certificate for their cloud services. ACE360 is hosted on the Federation Private Cloud within a Tier 3 certified data centre. The system should only go down for routine, planned maintenance. Notice of which will be sent out to users. ACE360 is backed up in two secure UK locations using VEAM, the storage it uses is set up in RAID 10. The servers are failover tested twice a year to ensure failover acts as expected. The storage arrays have 4 hour mission critical support. Penetration testing is undertaken annually by an external partner, and vulnerability scans are undertaken on a weekly basis of the Federation network. In Addition, ACE360 has a tested business continuity plan was a disaster recovery site, ensuring that in the event of the disaster recovery plan requiring to be implemented all systems and staff can be operational within four hours.
Our training providers/employer providers will register apprentices for EPA through ACE360. The apprentice and employer information will be stored on ACE360. The Gateway evidence and the gateway declaration form will be uploaded and submitted to ACE360, the secure, online platform. Our employees will approve the evidence for EPA and upload EPA evidence and grade EPA components on ACE360. Our Assessors will be provided secure access direct to ACE360 and will be allocated records and the information that is relevant to complete their role.
Our customers and ourselves agree to the ACE360 terms and conditions which covers aspects of GDPR and Data protection.
Yes, contact us for more information and free support in setting up your systems and process. We have helped many EPAOs join the register.
If you only intend to deliver one or a few Apprenticeship standards with integrated End-Point assessments you may feel that your internal systems can readily and securely exchange information on Gateway.
Although as the Apprenticeship standards market matures and HEIs have a combination of integrated and non-integrated degree apprenticeships, using ACE360 will reduce bureaucracy and also ensure separation between staff involved in the teaching and those involved in assessment only of apprentices.
ACE360 also pre-checks existing qualifications which means gateway evidence such as English and maths can be pre-populated thereby saving time and reducing administrative errors.
As an HEI delivering EPA you may be working with a number of both HE institutions and / or FE Colleges, each of these will have their own internal data systems and learner management systems.
ACE360 will provide a single portal for you to collect all the information on individual apprentices, help you to plan the pipeline of apprentices coming through for assessment and will reduce the burden of dealing with multiple different systems. ACE360 will also ensure that you remain GDPR compliant and reduce cost and human error in the exchange of learner information.
As soon as you get your confirmation of EPAO status from ESFA, contact us to set up your account.
Data can be uploaded from your existing LMS using approved APIs, allowing ACE360 to read and write data to your LMS. We’re developing additional APIs for popular LMS systems so please contact us to find out more.
ACE360 is free of charge for the majority of users. There is no setup cost, license or support fee. The only cost is a £7.50 (plus VAT) fee per Apprentice payable by the organisation first creating the Apprentice record.
As many as you like! Separate roles can be assigned for each user with varying levels of access also.
We are happy to say there are 3 different options to upload records, ideal for different sizes of Organsations. Click here to read our blog piece highlighting which option may be best for you and your business! We generally advise that you don’t delay until EPA, and buy tokens as soon as you can when you start using the ACE360 system to avoid holdups later on in the process. Doing so gives your EPA Organisations adequate time to plan their workloads ahead.
The Lead Training Provider/Employer Provider will set up an ACE360 account and invite partners for instance, on programme training coordinators and End Point Assessment Organisations to join in order to manage the Apprenticeship record.
If you are a training provider visit our log in page to sign up and start using ACE360. We’ll ask for details of your Accounts department to ensure that your organisational account is fully set up.
No, and this is becoming more and more apparent, it may be that your chosen End Point Assessment Organisation does not have the resource in that area or an employer has requested you work with a particular End Point Assessment Organisation for their standards. So it is possible that a training provider will work with more than one EPAO per standard.
We frequently run standardisation training sessions which are free of charge to attend. Contact us to save your place!
Can my training co-ordinators and Assessors add gateway information direct to the apprentice record?
Yes- You control the access that each individual member of staff has which will allow them to identify just their own students and add information to their records, such as evidence / qualifications that demonstrate they are gateway ready.
Mention that you will be using ACE360 to them and we can set them up and provide training on the system. They can start adding apprentices to ACE360, and once you have received approval they can be allocated to your account.
We are a charity with charitable intent; this is why we have no hidden charges and no catches. Our system is priced fairly and accessible to all. Our interests lie in the support and development of the industry and not commercial gain.
Resits can be managed through ACE360. The training provider can request a resit by opening the apprentice record and clicking request resit. The EPAO will then consider the resit request and has the option to accept or reject the resit request.
