We've recently added the ability for caseworkers and delivery officers to enter the conversion date in the application.
Users can also update the opening date in the application.
This is all part of a bigger piece of work which will help funding teams more easily understand where conversions are in the process.
Sharing information to prepare funding
We know that funding teams need to see which academies are going to open and when.
They use this information, which they colloquially refer as the "openers list", to keep track of project progress and prepare funding agreement letters. These letters are sent to the:
- school
- trust
- MP for the constituency the academy is in
- the director of children's services at the local authority that the academy is in
These letters confirm that the conversion will happen on a particular date and that legal responsibility for the running of the educational establishment will pass from the local authority to the trust.
There are several pieces of information that the funding teams need to know before they can send those letters.
They need to know that the:
- conversion date is confirmed
- legal documents are cleared and signed
- school and trust have completed all their tasks
This is something known in the teams as "all conditions met".
Showing a list of academies due to open
When users complete the all conditions met task in the task list, that updates the information the product stores about the project.
We present this information in a table, along with the school and trust names, their identifying numbers and a link to the project.
Funding teams will then be able to check this table to find out which projects are ready to convert.
This information is updated live. As soon as a caseworker or delivery officer completes the associated tasks or actions, the openers list is updated.
This takes away the need for them to wait until a particular point in the month to prepare the letters and funding in bulk if they would like to work that way.
It also removes the need for multiple versions of the data to be created and shared in multiple spreadsheets. Users are able to access a single source of accurate information.