Assessments - Flexible Learning
This release completes assessment handling within the learning plan, so you can manage the full assessment journey in one place:
- Add assessments directly to a learner's plan, so expectations are set and learners always know what's ahead of them.
- Schedule or book assessments and track every attempt, giving staff a clear operational record and giving learners certainty about when and how they'll be assessed
- Capture results and share outcomes, so learners and trainers always know where things stand
- Let outcomes drive progress automatically — assessments mark as complete or flag for retake, so there's no manual chasing to work out who's done and who isn't
And learners get their own view of their assessment records, so they can see their results and what's still outstanding without having to ask.
Coming soon: assessments in the Library and Programme Definitions, so you can set them up once and reuse them across programmes.
Log of Hours - Flexible Learning
This release introduces a new Log of Hours page: a single view of every hour logged against a learner's plan, with a direct click-through from any entry to where it was logged — so you can see, catch, and fix risky hours in one place.
That single view makes three risks easy to catch and resolve:
- Overlapping hours, where the same time has been logged twice and inflates the record
- Hours logged against completed activities that haven't yet been approved, left sitting in limbo
- Hours that run well beyond what was planned, prompting a review before they become a data or compliance problem
Learners get the same view and the same route to act, so accuracy becomes a shared effort rather than something your teams police alone.
For more information and guidance see this article.
Make a file optional for Submissions – Flexible Learning
We are enhancing our Activity submissions, so that a user can determine for a given activity, if a file should be included as part of the submission. This moves our activities towards more traditional ‘learning’ activities, whereby a file doesn’t need to be marked, but it ensures trainers still have the authority to close the activity out as completed.
This release provides the first two parts:
- Trainers can add manual activities and mark them as not requiring a file on submissions
- Programme users can mark activities in the Programme definition as not requiring a file on the submission.
For more information on this capability, see this article.
Our next release will include the capability for activities created within the Library.
Learner change of Standard Version - Assessment Reforms
Built to support the Assessment Reforms and the rule changes that now allow a learner to move to a later version of their standard in situ — where previously this meant withdrawing and restarting them — this release gives you the built-in capability to make that switch directly in Bud, when you decide it's the right move.
- Switch a learner to a later version of the same standard in a single action — no withdraw and restart
- Make the call yourself: the capability is there when you judge a move is right, rather than being forced down a workaround
- Control who can perform the switch with a new dedicated permission, keeping a significant action in the right hands
- Where KSBs have fundamentally changed, the old KSBs are removed and the new versions added
For now, where KSBs change you'll need to remap any completed activities to the new KSBs manually — though we're making that far simpler in the next release (below).
We've more still in progress to make this even better next release:
- The version a learner moves to will be reflected on their Compliance documents
- Trainers will be able to remap a completed activity's KSBs from the old version to the new — all within the activity, in one simple step
To see more on this capability, see this article.
Bug Fixes
In this release we have fixed the following bugs:
- Exempted units showing as available for activity mapping We have resolved issues with a small number of programmes where exempted units were still being displayed in the learning plan and were able to be mapped during activity marking.
- TNP values being updated before the funding document has been signed We have addressed the scenario where TNP values are changed during the edit flow, and the ILR updates those values before the funding document is fully signed (i.e. the user exits the flow without signing). From this release forward the new TNP values will only be committed to the ILR once the required documentation is fully signed in line with other changes applied in the edit flow.
- Unable to “print screen” following Side Nav updates The recent updates to the Bud user interface resulted in users not being able to use the windows “print screen” functionality to create a physical copy of the on-screen information as the pages were truncated. This issue was resolved in a non-scheduled release which was performed on the 28th May.
- Image sizing not restricted in learning plan A small number of customers reported an issue where images inserted into activities during the programme build phase were not displaying the same when subsequently viewed within a learning plan activity. This has now been resolved - an image size should remain consistent across all areas of the platform where they are displayed.
Business Intelligence Release - 10th June 2026 @ 3:45pm
Finance Reporting
We've made several improvements to financial reporting and forecasting.
Apps Indicative Data is now available within the Data Warehouse, providing additional data for reporting and analysis. Full details of the new fields are included within the Data Warehouse Updates section below.
The Financial Forecasting report now includes an Operations Manager slicer, making it easier to analyse forecasts by manager and support caseload planning activities.
Employer participant for missing signature reports
The Standard Reviews and Employer Reviews Missing Signatures report has been updated to display the employer participant associated with the review, rather than the overall employer contact.
This provides a more accurate view of whose signature is outstanding and reduces the time spent identifying the correct individual to follow up.
QAR Report
Learner names have been added throughout the QAR report to make it easier to identify and investigate individual learning plans during QAR management processes.
Standard Reports
The Programme Management and Programme Management Activities reports now support archived programmes.
Archived programmes remain excluded from the initial report view but can be included using the Programme Status slicer when required. This helps identify learners who may still be active on archived programmes and supports broader programme management activities.
Learner Age at Start of Programme has also been added to the following reports to support identification and monitoring of key DfE initiatives:
- In-Flight Learners
- Monthly Starts
- Learning Support
Bug fixes
In this release we have fixed the following bugs:
-
Completed breaks missing from the Clawback Report
Resolved an issue where learners who returned from a break or subsequently withdrew could be removed from the Clawback Report. These learners will now remain visible, ensuring clawback values are calculated and reported correctly. -
Inactive learners appearing on the ILR Compliance Report
Fixed an issue affecting a small number of providers where inactive learners could appear within ILR Compliance reporting. Inactive learners will no longer be included in reported figures. -
Working hours values in the Data Warehouse
Corrected an issue affecting learner working hours data within the Data Warehouse and Custom Data Exports. Working hours values, codes and groups will now be reported accurately.
New Data Warehouse fields
We've made an adjustment to activity status values to align reporting terminology with the platform.
Activities previously labelled "Assessment Complete" will now be labelled "Awaiting Confirmation", matching the wording used elsewhere in Bud. This status continues to represent activities that have been completed but are awaiting final sign-off.
Customers using this status within bespoke reports should review any report logic or filters that reference the previous label.
The following new Data Warehouse fields have been introduced as part of this release to support enhanced reporting and analysis capabilities.
| Table Name | Column Name | Description | Data Type | Length of Column | Column is Nullable |
| Application | Prisoner - Consent to Inform Employer | Whether consent has been given to inform employer of Prisoner or Prison Leaver status (where applicable) | bit | Yes | |
| Application | Prisoner - Current Status | Current status of Prisoner of Prison Leaver (where applicable) | varchar | 50 | Yes |
| Application | Prisoner - Is Prisoner or Leaver | Whether learner is a Prisoner or Prison Leaver (where applicable) | bit | Yes | |
| ILR HRSRecord | CreatedDateTime | Date and Time created in the DWH | datetime2 | Yes | |
| ILR HRSRecord | HRSAmount | See DfE documentation | int | Yes | |
| ILR HRSRecord | HRSCode | See DfE documentation | smallint | Yes | |
| ILR HRSRecord | HRSType | See DfE documentation | varchar | 3 | Yes |
| ILR HRSRecord | LearningDeliveryID | Foreign Key to ILR Learning Delivery. Not persisted - Regenerated nightly | int | No | |
| ILR HRSRecord | TrainingProviderId | Bud TrainingProviderId | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | 16-18 Additional Payments for Employers | 16-18 Additional Payments for Employers in Pounds | decimal | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | 16-18 Additional Payments for Providers | 16-18 Additional Payments for Providers in Pounds | decimal | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Academic Year - Month | Academic Year and Month in the format 2025-26 July | varchar | 17 | Yes |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Aim Completion Earnings | Aim Completion Earnings in Pounds | decimal | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Balancing Payment Earnings | Balancing Payment Earnings in Pounds | decimal | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | English and Maths Balancing Payment Earnings | English and Maths Balancing Payment Earnings in Pounds | decimal | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | English and Maths On Programme Earnings | English and Maths On Programme Earnings in Pounds | decimal | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | First Day of Month | First Day of the month that this payment relates to | date | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | ILR Year | ILR Year | char | 7 | No |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Included In ILR | Whether record is included in the ILR: 1 = Yes, 0 = No | bit | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Is Last Academic Year | Set to 1 if ILR Year was last academic year | int | No | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Is Next Academic Year | Set to 1 if ILR Year is next academic year | int | No | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Is This Academic Year | Set to 1 if ILR Year is the current academic year | int | No | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Learner Reference Number | Learner Reference Number | varchar | 12 | Yes |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Learning Support Earnings | Learning Support Earnings in Pounds | decimal | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | LearningPlanId | Bud LearningPlan ID | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | On Programme Earnings | On Programme Earnings in Pounds | decimal | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Planned Length of Stay | Planned Length of Stay for this Aim in months | int | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Reporting Period | ILR Reporting Period in the format 2025-26 R12 | varchar | 11 | Yes |
| Indicative Earnings Report | Total Price Applicable | Total Price Applicable | decimal | Yes | |
| Indicative Earnings Report | TrainingProviderId | Bud TrainingProvider ID | uniqueidentifier | No |