Introduction
Assessment is a core part of Competence Management, and the Assessment module of ACMS enables the planning, conducting, monitoring and reporting of assessments. It also provides facilities to mine the assessment data for the purposes of verification, standardisation and process improvement.
Assessments can be planned using schedules and then conducted electronically, using the aAssess app or online directly through ACMS. Results from paper-based assessments can also be saved.
It is possible to complete assessments on both ACMS and aAssess. Typically, they are used in conjunction.
- ACMS holds the information about the personnel. Many people would understand this as the competency file. This is on the web, and can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection.
- aAssess is specifically there to replace the paper for the assessment. This is specifically done offline such that the assessment can take place somewhere where there is no internet connection (e.g. a tunnel or at a station with no Wi-Fi)
Information recorded on one of these systems can be synced to the other.
Glossary
Schedule: competency cycle
Schedule Periods: window of opportunity in which an assessment should be completed
Criteria Set: the performance criteria that a candidate needs to be assessed against.
Assessment Planning
CMS Events
One of the functions that assessors use most frequently on ACMS is CMS events. The CMS Events screen lets you see, at a glance, any assessments that are overdue, or coming up, so you can plan your workload accordingly and react to anything that’s been missed.
The screen shows assessments on a company, region and depot level. If you click on one of the numbers, you can see a list of which events are outstanding, for which candidates.
AssessTech can configure CMS events to include or exclude authorised overdue assessments by default, just raise a ticket if you need this changing!
It's possible to request an overdue authorisation through CMS Events by right clicking on an assessment.
Schedule Timetable
In order for an assessment to be carried out, a candidate must have a schedule.
Schedules allow control of the set of activities required in respect of assessing candidates. Schedules on ACMS consist of two elements; schedule types and schedule templates, which respectively define when assessment windows occur and what needs to be assessed during the windows. A schedule must be added so that the system knows what type of work the specific person does.
A criteria set is assigned to each schedule which dictates the performance criteria that a candidate needs to be assessed against.
Once a schedule has been added to a candidate you can look at the schedule timetable by double clicking the schedule. The timetable shows the assessment windows in which each period must be assessed. Once an assessment has been completed, the date upon which it was completed will show under the 'Completed date' column.
Overdue assessments will show in a red font and upcoming assessments will show as amber.
From the schedule timetable page it is possible to complete two different actions, both completed through right clicking on a period:
Track Assessment: this is only used by customers during the transition period when starting to use ACMS. This allows an assessor to state that an assessment has been previously completed using a different system (e.g. paper). When selecting Track Assessment you simply need to put in the date that the assessment happened and comments on why this is being tracked. Once submitted, evidence that the assessment has been completed, such as a scanned copy of the paper assessment, can be attached to the assessment. This is done by clicking into the assessment via the Assessment tab.
Request authorisation: this is for stating that an assessment has gone overdue and stating a reason why. This will then get sent for approval.
It's possible to view the full authorisation history for an assessment by right clicking on a period and selecting 'View Authorisation History'.
Completing an Assessment
There are 3 different states that assessments can have:
Draft: the assessor and candidate have not signed the assessment and therefore changes can be made
Complete: the assessor has signed it and candidate can sign it, no more changes can be made however the assigned assessor can unseal the assessment and put it back into Draft so that changes can be made
Sealed: the assessor and candidate have signed the assessment and therefore no changes can be made
Attachments can still be added by an assessor to a completed or sealed assessment.
A user video demonstrating how candidates can access and seal their assessments is included in the Candidate - ACMS user guide.
Completing a Schedule
Once a schedule has been completed, the schedule can be closed and a new schedule added. If the schedule is related to the competence of a candidates role then the current competence date should be updated to align with the new schedule start date. This will update the expiry competence date for the candidate's role in line with the system competence date rules. Once the competence dates have been updated the complimentary certificate should be reissued to reflect the updated competence dates.
Useful Reports
Reports are available to users based on their security group. If you believe you should have access to a report which you can't currently see, please contact your ACMS admin.
- E5 or My Teams CMS Events - displays the CMS events for a given team.
- A10.01 - shows overdue and due assessment periods ordered by due date for CMS schedules.
- A1 - lists all assessments started within the given date range.
- A9 - list of assessments within given date range where candidate has been marked Competent/Not Competent
- Assessment Report - a pdf copy of the assessment that has been completed on ACMS or aAssess.
Useful Widgets
CMS Events
Displays assessments that are overdue and upcoming by region and depot.
Incomplete Assessments
Displays assessments that are in a draft status and therefore recognised by the system as incomplete.
My Teams
Lists the teams that you have been allocated as Team Leader for. From this widget it's possible to generate a version of the E5 report which picks up only you team's CMS Events.
FAQs
Can I re-open an assessment?
Yes. The assessor who completed the assessment can unseal an assessment on ACMS by right clicking on an assessment in the Assessment tab and selecting 'Unseal'. This will set the assessment back to a draft state which allows changes to be made. Once submitted you will need to seal the assessment by right clicking on the assessment and selecting 'Seal', this will set the assessment state to 'Complete.
What do I do if the assessments been completed against the wrong period?
If an assessment has been completed against the wrong period then AssessTech can help! Just raise a 'Support - GDPR' Redmine ticket detailing the incorrect assessment and which period it should have been completed against and we'll sort the rest.
Do candidates have to seal their assessments?
No, this step is optional. As long as an assessment is in a 'Complete' state then it will not be displayed as upcoming or overdue.
What aspects of an assessment are mandatory?
In order to complete an assessment you must have added summary notes, stated whether or not the candidate is competent and finalised any review items. The following can be configured to be mandatory or optional; waypoints, assessed criteria and candidate pin.
Why is my tracked assessment staying in a draft state?
This is probably because the criteria set assigned to the assessment is missing the 'Tracked' criteria item. Every criteria set requires this item and sometimes it gets missed but luckily AssessTech can add this at a later date, just raise a Redmine ticket.
Can a candidate Seal/object to an assessment after the schedule is closed?
If an assessment is completed by an assessor on a candidate then the schedule is closed before the candidate has provided feedback and sealed the assessment, the candidate is still able add feedback and seal this assessment.