Introduction
Conducting a gap analysis is crucial before publishing a programme in Bud. This guide will walk you through the process, ensuring all areas of the apprenticeship are covered. By identifying and addressing any gaps in your programme, you can ensure it meets all necessary standards and qualifications. Follow these steps to perform a thorough gap analysis and prepare your programme for successful approval and implementation.
User Role
- Programme Contributor
- Programme Manager
How to: Carry Out a Gap Analysis
The following video goes into detail about how to use gap analysis for both programmes created around a standard and a framework. If you would prefer to read through the process, please see the steps detailed below the video.
How to Carry Out a Gap Analysis - Written Steps:
Currently, Bud doesn’t have a gap analysis tool for a programme related to a standard but does have this functionality for frameworks.
Gap Analysis for Standards
For standards, we suggest using a basic spreadsheet to map your programme against all standard and associated qualification criteria to make sure there are no gaps in learning.
The example spreadsheet below shows the title of your activities down the left-hand side and then the criteria for the standards along the top row. You can then simply put a colour in the cell where the relevant criteria are met through the activity.
We recommend covering all criteria at least twice in a programme. In the example below, you’ll see that once a piece of criteria is met twice, the piece of criteria is colour-coded green to show it has been met. Essentially, once you have all criteria green across the board, your programme has no gaps. Again, this is just a suggestion, you may wish to meet the criteria more or less times.
We would also recommend, putting in all criteria for any associated qualifications along the top row. This will allow you to map activities across all associated parts of the programme.
Gap Analysis for Frameworks
If the programme you are creating is a framework, you can navigate to the “Gaps” tab:
The “Gap Analysis” page will now open:
Any criteria that have not been met the desired amount of times will display on this page. For this example, we wanted all criteria to be met at least twice. You will see the number “1” highlighted on the right-hand side next to the assessment criteria. This is telling us that this particular assessment criteria has only been met once and hence, we will need to create another activity for it to be met again.
Any criteria that have been met the minimum amount of times will not show on this page. The idea is to have no assessment criteria showing before you publish a programme. This means that all criteria are met.
It’s worth noting that if you meet a piece of criteria above the maximum number of times you requested (in this example it is set to 4 times), this criteria will show up again on this screen:
This is just a warning to you that you have met the criteria above your desired amount of times and you may wish to adjust your activities.
Under or over-mapping activities does not stop your ability to publish a programme. This gap function is only a guidance tool.