The Project Office — managing a contracted DG project

The Project Office is where a DG project is run once its contract is signed: learners are verified, monthly submissions filed, cost returns checked and tranches paid. It is for SETA staff only. Open it from Funded Project Tracking with the Project office button, or with Workspace on a project's row.

The landing page

The header shows Committed, Contracted projects, At risk and Slipping, for the funding window and region chosen at the top.

Tab	Use it to
Analytics	See committed and paid amounts, active learners, dropouts, contracts ending soon, monthly submissions and open remedial items, with charts by region and intervention and a Watchlist.
Slippage register	Find a project by DG reference, contract or employer and filter by On track, At risk or Slipping. Export register downloads it; Bi-weekly progress report downloads, per running project, what happened in the last 14 days (uploads and reviews, learners verified, dropouts, tranches submitted and approved, money paid, alerts) beside where it stands - for the fortnightly progress meeting.
Payment queue	Tranches waiting for you. Submitted tranches wait for a verifier, verified ones for an approver. Open goes to the project's tranches. Manual payments register downloads every payment in the queue on the SETA's Consolidated Manual payment checklist for the week ending on the date chosen: payee, DG reference, intervention and 18.1/18.2, funding year, region, value, tranche, learners approved / claimed / reported, quarter, balance, project closed, sweeping, date submitted to Finance and date effected. The invoice number, date and stamp are completed by hand.
Weekly packs	Approved payments grouped per region per week. Approvers click Pack this week's approved payments, then per pack Pack (Excel), To Sage and Close.
Sage	Export approved payments to one CSV for Sage, and Import payment status from Sage (columns Reference and Status; Template gives the layout). PAID marks the tranche paid; any other status is recorded and finance is alerted.
Filing library	Every project's documents, in folders by DG reference.
Contacts	Extract contacts to Excel for the chosen window and region.
QA replacements	Replacement learners proposed by the Project Office. QA clicks Approve (only when every rule passes) or Reject.
Learners verified	Projects whose active learners QA has all verified with nothing open. Done is the QA sign-off: the stakeholders are e-mailed the next tranche's outstanding deliverables and a deadline (30 days, a setting), reminded 7 days before it and told weekly once it has passed. Undo takes it back.
Alerts	What the daily alert run sent or logged. Run the alert checks now runs it at once.
Settings	The rules and alert values (approvers and administrators).

A project is Slipping when a milestone or activity is 60 or more days late, two or more monthly submissions are missing, or the contract has ended with learners still active. It is At risk when anything is late, one month is missing, a remedial item or addendum is open, many dropouts are unreplaced, or the end date is within 90 days with learners still active.

The project workspace

The header links back to the DG application (Open the DG application) and shows slippage, the committed amount, active against approved learners and how much of the term has passed. The tabs run in this order:

Overview

The slippage verdict and its reason, cards for the execution checklist, learners verified, monthly submissions, dropouts, placements, payments and the amount Swept off the tranches for dropouts not replaced, and a tranche summary. Stakeholder contacts gathers the people on the application, the employer, its SDFs and the provider; Add a stakeholder adds someone else (tick Receives alerts to copy them on the project's alerts) and Extract to Excel downloads the list.

Learners

1. Deceased learners come first — see Declare deceased learners.
2. LMIS checks each learner automatically: the ID number and its check digit, that the learner is registered on LMIS, and that they are not active on another funded project. A failed check is a prompt, not a verdict.
3. Verify everyone whose checks pass, or open the learner's Actions menu (first column, as in the grids elsewhere in LMIS), choose Verify or raise remedial (Resolve remedial item for an open one, Update verification once verified) and in the dialog choose Verified, Remedial action needed (with the issue, the action and a due date) or Remedial resolved. An open remedial item alerts QA and the stakeholders and holds the tranches.
4. The same Actions menu also has Record dropout (date and reason), Propose a replacement (the replacement must already be on the project; Send to QA) and record a Placement — employed, absorbed by the host employer, self-employed or further study. Each opens in a dialog; Remove placement and Open learner profile are there too.

The person who proposes a replacement cannot also approve it.

SQMR report - the milestone Complete learner reporting document supplied by SETA (and its apprenticeship and bursary/WIL/work experience versions) has a Download SQMR report button beside Upload. It gives the project's learners on the SQMR in Excel, with the NSDP reporting template's columns and output indicator codes for the intervention: entries on the first tranche, completions on the close-out tranche. The same entries report is in the Learner verification header for every intervention. Likewise the milestone Completed Drop-Out/Replacement reporting document (and the apprenticeship close-out's apprentice drop out report) has Download replacement report beside Upload.

Verification report (in the Learner verification header) and Replacement report (in the Replacements header) download the learners' checks, verification and remedial items, and each dropout with its replacement and QA's decision, as Word documents in the FP&M SETA's branding: the SETA logo, navy and green, and a footer with the page number on every page. Every section in the workspace folds: click its heading to hide or show it.

Placement reports - a placement records whether the job is permanent or temporary and the position. The Placement reports section, under Deceased learners, has its downloads in the header, like the deceased letter. It produces the SETA's placement letter in Word: the date, the DG reference and every learner placed in employment, on the employer's letterhead - choose a letterhead image (PNG or JPEG) in the section once and it is printed at the top of every placement report for the project. Chips in the header show how many learners are placed and how many placements still lack permanent/temporary or the position. Learner placement report and Placement report - final tranche payment give the same letter, named for the claim it supports.

Implementation Plan

The SETA's prescribed implementation plan: the programme and each unit standard or module, with Start, Assessment, Moderation, Completion and Proposed verification dates. LMIS builds it from the learners' enrolments, or, before anyone is enrolled, from the programme's own unit standards scheduled by credits. The pill on each row says where its dates came from: enrolments, captured or scheduled.

• Build from the qualification starts a plan; Rebuild from LMIS starts it again (it asks first, because corrected dates are lost).
• Change a date and click Save dates — the row becomes captured.
• Add a unit standard or module offers the programme's unit standards not yet on the plan in a dropdown. If LMIS has none for the programme, search by code or title.
• Download implementation plan gives the plan on the SETA template.

The Timeline above the plan draws every row on one scale: a bar from start to completion (green when completed, blue in progress, pale when not started), dots for assessment and moderation, a square for proposed verification, and a line for today. Click a row for a note with its details, as on the project plan's timeline: whether it is completed, in progress or not started, the type and credits, the start, assessment, moderation, completion and proposed verification dates, and the days from start to completion. Click the row again, click elsewhere or press Esc to close it. Fold the card away with its header.

Cost returns

The employer's monthly returns of what was spent per learner. The totals show what was claimed, how much of that is verified, and what was funded. Open a return for a month and Open; Stipend spreadsheet exports the stipends on the SETA's stipend template.

In a return, capture per learner the dates started, left and completed and the cost elements, and attach the logbook or attendance and the proof behind each cost. Copy the first row to all verified learners saves typing.

• Only learners verified by QA can be claimed or filed for. Unverified and remedial learners are locked.
• Submit the return stays disabled while any captured cost has no supporting document.
• Mark verified and Send back with a query are for staff allowed to evaluate DG claims, and you cannot check a return you submitted yourself.

Learners who dropped out are listed under the totals.

Tranches & payments

Each tranche shows its share, what was Swept and what is Payable, and a checklist of requirements, numbered as the MOA annexure numbers that tranche's milestones: the number is green with a tick when met and red with a cross when outstanding, a bar shows how many are met, and a check LMIS adds that is not in the annexure (e.g. learners verified by QA, previous tranche paid) is tagged LMIS. Each unmet requirement has a shortcut: Upload the document, Download list (the prescribed learner list), Download plan, Open the plan or checklist, or go to Learners.

1. Submit for payment is available only when every requirement is met; LMIS also refuses it on the server. After a rejection or query the button reads Resubmit.
2. A payment verifier ticks every item on the Payment checklist and clicks Verify payment.
3. A payment approver (the manager) does the same and clicks Approve payment. Either can Save ticks, Query or Reject (a reason is required).
4. When the national office step is switched on (setting NATIONAL_OFFICE_STEP), someone whose job title carries the national office right confirms the checklist in its own column and clicks Verify for the national office. Only then does the payment go to Finance.
5. The payment goes to a weekly pack and to Sage. When Sage reports it paid, Upload POP and Send POP to stakeholders.

The flow is submitted → verified → approved → (national office) → exported → paid. The stakeholders are e-mailed when the payment is packed for Finance, when it goes to Sage, and when the proof of payment is uploaded for a paid tranche (it is sent automatically; Send POP to stakeholders sends it again). The verifier cannot be the person who submitted; the approver can be neither the submitter nor the verifier; the national office can be none of the three.

Payment requisition checklist — open the card below a tranche's requirements, type the Tax invoice number, the Payment beneficiary (as per invoice), any 3rd party payment – SLA and notes, and click Download the checklist. LMIS fills the rest of the SETA's requisition and checklist workbook: beneficiary, contract number, Pivotal or Non-Pivotal, MOA value, inception and termination dates (and a signed extension), intervention, 18.1/18.2, the tranche and its value, approved and claimed learners, sweepings, payments already made per tranche, whether the project is closed, and who prepared, verified and authorised it.

Sweep dropouts not replaced — tick the learners, give a reason and Sweep selected. Each learner's share (committed amount ÷ approved learners, per tranche) comes off every tranche not yet claimed. A swept learner cannot be replaced unless the sweep is reversed; Reverse works while the tranches are unclaimed.

Project Execution Checklist

The activities that deliver the project — deliverable, responsible person, start and end dates, learners, tranche, budget, status (Planned, In progress, Done) and comments. Start from the standard template, Add an activity, Edit or Remove. An activity past its end date and not done counts towards slippage.

Files & monthly

Documents to review appears at the top when the employer has uploaded something on the project portal. A payment verifier, approver or QA opens each document and clicks Accept, or types a reason and clicks Reject - the reason is e-mailed to the stakeholders and the uploader. Only an accepted document meets a tranche milestone; documents SETA staff file themselves are accepted as they are filed. The tab's amber count shows how many are waiting.

File any document: choose the Document type, the tranche, month or learner it belongs to, a note and the file(s), then File it. Files are listed by category with view, download and remove.

Monthly submissions shows, per month of the term, whether the expenditure report, the attendance register and each learner's stipend proof of payment are in. A month's window closes on the 10th of the following month (a setting). Stipend proof attached to a cost return counts.

Addendums & alerts

Two sub-tabs:

• Contract addendums — each addendum has Download addendum: the addendum on the SETA's template, filled from the request (the organisation, DG reference, MOA date, the original end date and what changes to what - worded for an extension of time or a change in learners, budget or scope; on an apprenticeship, Apprenticeship third year uses the SETA's third-year template - the extension plus the third-year allocation, claimed 20% with an additional third tranche and 80% on proof of completion). Have both parties sign it and Upload signed copy; a signed copy uploaded by the employer waits for review like any other document. Request addendum: extension of time, change in learners, change in budget or change in scope, with the new end date, learners or amount and the reason. The request alerts the approvers and stakeholders, and again if still unsigned after the set number of days. Mark it Signed (with the date) or Declined. A signed extension becomes the end date used for alerts and slippage.
• Alerts — every alert for the project, and whether it was e-mailed or only logged.

Who is told what, along the way

When	Who is told
The employer captures learners on a contracted project	BIWA (BIWA_MAILBOX) and QA, the next morning, with the names
A learner remedial item is raised	The stakeholders and QA
The last active learner is verified	The stakeholders and the project team - the project can move to its claim, with the next tranche's deliverables
A deliverable is rejected	The stakeholders and the uploader, with the reason
Every requirement of the tranche to claim is met	The project team (start the payment process) and the stakeholders
A payment is submitted, verified, approved, verified by the national office	The next person in the flow
A payment is packed, sent to Sage, paid (with the POP)	The stakeholders
A tranche is paid and the next is not yet claimed	The stakeholders, every CLAIM_REMINDER_DAYS (30) until it is submitted
A month's submission window opens or closes	The stakeholders, and each learner for their own register