Switching apprenticeship software without losing a return.

Can you move apprenticeship systems mid-programme?

Yes, in principle: the ILR is built from data, not from a specific software product, and there is no rule that ties a provider to one system for the life of a cohort. In practice the risk sits in the handover: making sure every active learner’s history, evidence and funding data moves correctly, and that no return is submitted from incomplete records during the changeover.

The lower-risk pattern is to migrate between collection periods rather than mid-period, run the outgoing and incoming systems in parallel for at least one full cycle, and agree in writing who owns the ILR submission on the first return after go-live.

What to get out of the outgoing system before you switch.

Request a full export, not a sample. The categories below cover what a provider typically needs to carry an active caseload into a new system without a gap in the learner’s history.

• Learner and enrolment records: names, identifiers, start dates, standard and version, funding source and price.
• Off-the-job hours: the running total per learner, not only completed sessions, plus the evidence behind it.
• KSB and portfolio evidence: files, assessor sign-off, mapping to the standard’s knowledge, skills and behaviours.
• Reviews: progress review records, tripartite sign-off and any agreed actions still open.
• Employer and contact records: employer details, named contacts and any agreed pricing or cost-sharing.
• ILR history: what was submitted for this learner in prior returns, so the new system starts from the correct position.
• Audit trail: who changed what and when, for any record still inside an audit or funding-review window.

Keeping the ILR return continuous through the switch.

The ILR is cumulative: each return builds on what was submitted before, and an unexplained gap or contradiction between two systems’ figures is exactly the kind of movement that draws audit attention. Before cut-over, reconcile the outgoing system’s last submitted return against the data you are importing, so the new system’s starting position matches what has already been returned.

Agree explicitly who is responsible for the ILR submission that falls during or immediately after the migration — the outgoing supplier, the incoming one, or your own MIS team — and confirm it in writing. A migration project without a named owner for that first return is the most common place providers lose track of a figure.

Run both systems in parallel before you cut over.

A parallel-run period — typically one full collection cycle — lets staff and employers get used to the new system while the outgoing one is still the system of record. Compare a sample of learner records between the two systems at the end of the parallel run: off-the-job totals, review dates and evidence counts are the fields most likely to drift during a manual re-entry.

Only decommission the outgoing system, and stop paying for it, once the parallel-run comparison is clean and the first ILR return from the new system has been accepted.

• Week 0–2: export request, data mapping and gap analysis against the new system.
• Week 2–4: import into the new system, spot-check a sample of learner records.
• One full collection cycle: run both systems, compare outputs, train staff and employers.
• End of cycle: reconcile the ILR position, agree the go-live return owner, decommission the old system.

What to ask your outgoing supplier before you give notice.

Contract terms rarely spell out data-export obligations in enough detail. Ask these questions before you give formal notice, not after.

• What format will the export be in, and does it include off-the-job hours, evidence files and review history, or only enrolment data?
• How long after contract end will our data remain accessible, and what is the cost of a later export request?
• Will you provide a data dictionary or field mapping so we can check nothing is missed?
• Who submits the ILR return that falls during the notice period, and what happens if that return is disputed later?
• Is there a fee or delay for a full export, and is it written into the contract or discretionary?

Moving from a specific supplier.

The steps above apply whichever system you are leaving. Each comparison page below covers what to expect and where the largest gaps in a full apprenticeship management system usually turn up when moving off that specific product.