Moving to new MIS system

For continuing apprentices I think you should replicate the 24-25 record on the new system as it will need the old PMR1s, TNPs, LSFs for the new ILR return.  One thing to watch out for is that the new system predicted QAR reports may be inaccurate because earlier withdrawals and early completers aren't included (we have just added these to ours for this reason).  

Hi, some things to be aware of that I've come across in the past, mostly fairly obvious but still easy to miss:

• For learners who carry over to 25/6, if you make any changes or updates in one system, remember to replicate them in the other so the data is consistent across years.
• Likewise, any late-notified starts in 24/25 that you don’t discover until after R12 submission – remember to enter them in the old system as well as the new, so they are included in both ILR submission years.
• Some MIS will create the LRN automatically for new records - if so, when entering the carryover to the new system, you'll need to enter or change it to match their LRN from the previous system. Easy to forget...
• Will you still have access to the old system to get QAR figures for previous years? Or any other historic reports that may be useful?
• Another QAR issue - early leavers in 24/25 (or earlier) with a PED in 25/26 (or later) are counted in the latter year QAR. If you don't enter them in the new system, you'll need to add them manually to your own 25/6 (or later year) QAR figures from the new system.

All good points from Timmo With the third one though, you can use the ILR field PrevLearnRefNumber to put their old learner ref in to help the various DfE systems match them up, rather than having to force old numbers into the new system. Two things to note about the field though:

1. Because QAR uses ULN as its primary identifier now, you shouldn't need it for that, but do carefully check it's working as intended.

2. You only put it in FOR ONE YEAR, so if you've got an App finishing in 26/27, you only need it in 25/26's ILR, you then need to remove it for 26/27 (which is *fun* between 1 August and R14!!!)

Hi,  Thank you for your advice & comments.  For the first couple of returns we will need to use ILR File merge as not all current learners have been migrated onto the new system.  When using this tool does it look at LearnRefNumber to match records?

Thanks 

So for 25/26 you would create ILR files from the old and new systems, then bring them together ('and in the darkness bind them'...) using the file merge to (hopefully) remove duplicates?

I've not used the file merge tool and can't see any documentation on exactly how it matches records. I assume it uses LRN but it would also have to at least use other aim details, as the same LRN can have more than one period of learning in a year. I don't think it uses PrevLearnRefNumber as that refers to the value in a previous year, whereas you are merging two files for the current year. If it does match on the principle date values, I don't know what it does then - does it then just ditch one record or does it then consider subsidiary records such as PMR/TNP/ACT, employment etc across the two and try to match & merge them? Instinct, and some experience of the complexity of matching & merging records, says not. I think it was mainly designed for use by providers with multiple locations or systems where duplicates were unlikely to occur. TBH, if at all possible I'd try to get everything on the new system and submit R01 from there.

Certainly you would need to be sure that everything matched up exactly between the two systems to have a chance, and then check the resulting merged file very carefully. It is possibly one way to see if you have entered the new records correctly and definitely best to experiment well before the R01 submission deadline! Might be worth raising as a separate post to attract the attention of people who have used the merge tool?