Corrections to implicit scope calculations on the national register, training.gov.au (TGA)

On Tuesday 27 August 2024 at 8:00pm (AEST) the TGA team will deploy logic to correct the way the TGA system calculates RTO historic implicit scope for units and skill sets.

Context

When RTOs are approved to deliver a qualification or accredited course, this “explicit” scope approval triggers the TGA system to calculate “implicit” unit scope for all the units within the qualification’s unit grid or course’s completion mapping table. An additional TGA process then calculates the RTO’s skill set scope, based on these implicit units (and any explicit units) on scope.

Since TGA was originally developed, there has been missing logic in how the system calculates and records implicit scope for units of competency and skill sets. The major limitation being that scope is calculated nightly only on the current release of each qualification and skill set, which means that historical implicit units from non-current qualification releases are not recorded in RTO scope history.

The TGA team has been working with stakeholders to remediate historical scope data to ensure it correctly reflects RTO scope history, as well as to ensure future scope calculations properly reflect policy on transition and teach-out dates.

The changes that will be implemented are outlined below.

Units of competency

Currently:

When qualification unit grids change between releases, TGA immediately removes the replaced units from RTO scope and does not record this in RTO scope history. Only the units from the latest release of the qualification appear in scope history. The new units are also incorrectly given a scope start date of the date the qualification was initially added to the RTO’s scope, which can be before the unit was released.

What’s changing:

The updated calculations keep replaced units on scope for 12 months to allow teach-out of the replaced version of the qualification. The scope end date for replaced units within a qualification will be the earlier of:

• The RTO’s registration period end date; or
• The qualification scope end date; or
• 12 months minus 1 day from the date of the new qualification release.

Scope start dates will also be corrected for units added in later releases of qualifications to reflect the date of the first release they were included in, rather than the start date of the qualification.

In cases where unit scope end dates are null due to their parent qualification having a null scope end date, this has been preserved.

Skill sets

Currently:

When skill set unit grids change between releases, and an RTO does not have one or more of the new units on scope, TGA removes the skill set from RTO scope and does not record this in RTO scope history. Skill set start dates are also incorrectly calculated based on the scope dates of their units, with some RTO skill set scope commencing before the skill set was released.

Skill set scope extent is also always calculated as “deliver and assess” even if a unit putting the skill set on scope is assess only.

What’s changing:

When skill set unit grids change between releases, and an RTO does not have one or more of the new units on scope, the skill set will remain on scope for up to 12 months to allow teach-out of the previous release of the skill set. The scope end date will be the earlier of:

• The RTO’s registration period end date; or
• The earliest end date of any individual unit within the replaced skill set release; or
• 12 months minus 1 day from the date of the new skill set release.

If the RTO subsequently has the units from the current release of the skill set added to scope, this will extend the scope end date to the earlier of:

• The RTO’s registration period end date; or
• 12 months minus 1 day from the date the skill set was superseded or deleted.

Scope start dates for skill sets will also be corrected to be no earlier than the release date of the skill set itself.

Skill set scope extent will also be calculated based on the scope extent of its component units to ensure that where any unit is assess only, the skill set will also be assess only.

If you have any questions about these changes or implicit scope calculations please contact the TGA team on tgahelp@dewr.gov.au. For general questions about RTO scope, please contact the relevant RTO regulator in the first instance.