F. Understanding Timesheets and Off the Job Hours

A narrated video guide is available for this support resource and can be located at the bottom of the page.

What are Timesheets and off-the-job hours?

The Timesheets area of the One File portfolio allows the learner to record time spent throughout their apprenticeship according to a range of categories created during the centre setup process. If you find that there are not adequate categories for your learners to record their time, you should liaise with your centre managers and administration team to have these created.

When learners record time they can indicate whether the entry refers to training spent on or off the job. All entries are visible to the employers and tutors, and the Timesheets will automatically calculate the total off-the-job recorded and the overall percentage of their target hours met. If the learner records time spent during the upload of an piece of evidence as part of an assessment, or within the learning journals, they do not then need to log the time separately in the Timesheets area; One File automatically captures all time recorded across the portfolio.

Off-the-job training is defined as ‘learning that takes place outside the normal day-to-day working environment.’ The training must be relevant to the apprenticeship standard, and could include:

• Theory – such as lectures, role playing or online learning.
• Practical training – such as industry visits, mentoring or competitions.
• Learning support – such as assignments or assessments.

Apprentices must spend 20% of their contracted hours completing off-the-job training. Employers and training providers must decide when training is delivered.

How do I access the learner’s Timesheets?

Once you have logged into One File, access your Learner’s portfolio and locate the Timesheet icon in the Activity tab. You can also click on the off-the-job percentage value displayed on the Learner’s portfolio below the learning aims table, which will also direct you to the same Timesheets area.

Review the Learner’s Timesheets

When timesheet entries have been created either by the Learner or the Tutor/Assessor, you will see a list of all entries and a calculated total of time spent separated by timesheet category. These values will change based on the date filters displayed at the top of the Timesheets section.

Off-the-Job Overview

The off-the-job overview is the first tab of the Timesheets area and is displayed at the top of the page, it presents a summary of the following five values associated with the recording of time throughout the apprenticeship, they are:

• Total Contracted Hours – This value is entered by the Centre or User Manager during the Learner’s account creation. Please refer to latest ESFA Guidance when calculating total contracted hours
• Target Off-The-Job Hours – One File calculates this using the Target Off-The-Job value and the Total Contracted Hours value.
• Target Off-The-Job (%) – Apprentices must spend 20% of their contracted hours completing off-thejobtraining – which works out around 1 day per working week.
• Actual Off-The-Job Hours – This value reflects the total OTJ hours recorded by the Learner or Tutor on the portfolio, this is a running total and will update whenever a new timesheet entry is recorded, or when time is allocated to an assessment or learning journal.
• Off-The-Job – The OTJ percentage which is also displayed on the front-page of the learner’s portfolio is calculated using the following equation, (Actual Off-the-job Hours ÷ Total Contracted Hours) x 100, this means that once the Learner has recorded the total amount of target OTJ hours, the OTJ% will only ever show as 20% and not 100%.

Categories Overview

The categories overview will display a table comprised of three columns: category, off-the-job and total. Timesheet categories are managed and maintained by the Programme Administration team and will have been created to reflect the type of time that will be recorded, or that needs to be evidenced, throughout the apprenticeship.

Cateogories that contain additional information in brackets, for example below the first cateogry listed in the table is ‘Assessment (Assignment)’, refer to assessment evidence, with the value in brackets referring to the Assessment Method, or the category of the specific assessment.

The Off-The-Job columns provides a running total of the amount of time recorded against those categories that is currently counting towards the target off-the-job. The total columns displays the total time recorded inclusive of time that has not been classified as off-the-job.

Entries Overview

In addition to the overview reporting of Off-The-Job and Timesheet records, as the Employer you can also review a table containing each individual entry made in the Learner’s portfolio and a range of associated data points, the example image below shows two separate timesheet entries, and details the following:

• Time spent by – This value will display the Learner’s name, unless time has been spent by the Tutor.
• Time recorded by – This value will display the Learner’s name, unless time has recorded by the Tutor on the Learner’s behalf.
• Category – The Timesheet category selected during creation.
• Date from – When did the entry begin.
• Date to -When did the entry end.
• Description of Session – When the Apprentice records a timesheet entry, they are asked to provide a description in order to communicate what the time refers to and why it is being logged, for time that is associated with assessments, the description will show the title of this assessment, and is hyperlinked, meaning you can click this to be taken directly to the assessment.
• Time (minutes) – The amount of time recorded by the Learner or Tutor.
• Off-The-Job – A green tick symbol indicates whether this was recorded as off-the-job time.

Off-the-job Reporting

It is possible for Employers with multiple Learners allocated to their One File accounts to export a record of all Timesheet entries into a document that can be opened in Microsoft Excel, the report will provide a column for each of the following: Target OTJ (%), Target OTJ Hours Total and OTJ Hours Actual OTJ (%).

1. In order to access the report, open the Reports tab from the quick navigation menu in One File.

2. Then, from the Learner Reports section, click on the Off-The-Job report icon.

3. There are a range of filtering options available to you and by default you will see no learners presented. In order to run the report, adjust the ‘Expected Completion Date‘ value to include all relevant learners, to include all learners, simply select a date that is in the future of all your learner’s, the value does not have to be exact. Click Submit once you have amended the values to refresh the report.

4. You can now click Export to Spreadsheet and a CSV file will be downloaded to your computer. If you wish to format and style the document you have downloaded, you will need to open this in Microsoft Excel, and save the document as a Excel File, as CSV files will not store formatting changes once saved and closed.

Getting Started Video Guide – Timesheets and Off the Job Hours

To access a narrated video guide on Timesheets and Off the Job Hours, please click the thumbnail image below, which will redirect you to the relevant video hosted on the Panopto website. Please note that automatic captioning has been enabled on this video.

Please note: this support resource is specific to the Employer role within One File. The ‘Employer’ is an interactive role used in the assessment process, e.g. an employer or (expert) witness that may sign assessments and provide evidence for the Learner. If you are unsure of the user role you have been given, you can verify this by logging into One File, and reviewing the role listed underneath your full name, displayed in the profile card in the top-right of the homepage interface.