This page covers some of the more significant changes in PICS 15.30 for the 2019/20 ESFA Contract Year. As this is a significant upgrade, there will be a short period of time where PICS will not be updated as regularly as usual.

Significant Dates

These dates are correct as of 18/06/2019, but may be subject to change.

• 25th June – A blank ILR form for printing and data capture will be released.
  
• 13^th August – The first release of PICS 15.30, which will migrate your learner data in accordance with the 2019/20 ILR Specification.
  
• 24th July - 6th August – ESFA Hub guaranteed availability window for R12 submission.
• 2nd September - 13th September – ESFA Hub guaranteed availability window for R13 submission.
• 7th October - 17th October – ESFA Hub guaranteed availability window for R14 submission. This is the final deadline for all 2018/19 ILR data.

Entering New Learners for 2019/20

This year, the changes to the ILR are so minimal that there shouldn't be any major issues with adding new year starts to PICS before 15.30 is released, as long as you are using 15.20.012.11 or newer. After the 15.30 data migration is performed when you Upgrade, you should check any learners you have entered earlier to make sure there that are no issues. For more details of cross-year ILR working in PICS, please refer to other pages in ILR Year-End Processes.

Changes to ILR Data Capture

Database Field Changes

The following changes will be made to reflect the new database specification:

• New annual fields will have data copied forward from the corresponding historic fields where possible. For a video explaining these more please see Upgrading to the New Version of PICS.
• Some obsolete fields from the 2019/20 specification will be moved into the Historic page of the ILR Form.

Database Field Removals

Various historic fields in the ILR form will be removed in 15.30. This will slim down the database and improve running times.

ILR Importer Changes

The /wiki/spaces/POH/pages/276450633 will be updated to recognise and import ILR files in the 2019/20 format, in both the single ILR Importer and /wiki/spaces/POH/pages/276452062.

ILR Exporter Changes

The following changes have been made to the ILR exporter to support 2019/20 specifications:

• The OTJ (Off-the-Job) field is no longer exported.
• Programme and Component aims now have 6 LDM FAMs instead of 4. 
• We export the LSDPostcode field and DAM FAMs, though the latter is for component aims only.
• We export the Planned Hours field, though only for Programme aims.
• The Achievement Date is now sent with App Standards (FM36 and ProgType25).

Web Application Changes

If you try to access an old PICS database on a newer version of a web app, you may receive a message informing you that the database has not been upgraded.

You will need to Upgrade the PICS database to be able to access the web app.

ILR PDFs for Printing

The Print ILR feature in PICS will include the 2019/20 format PDFs when version 15.30 is released. Blank ILR forms in the 2019/20 format are available on our website.

Blog posts

All Blog Posts relating to the 2019/20 transition can be accessed by selecting 2019-20 Changes from the Blog Categories drop-down menu.

Overview guide

A Training Document is available to guide you through all the main processes and considerations for the new ILR year and the 15.30 version of PICS.