DF EPA Community Guide for Apprentices on Applied | by Nicola Jones

When you’re coming up to the final months of the programme and preparing for your End Point Assessment (EPA), it can feel like there are a lot of different threads to keep hold of. This brief overview will help you to start untangling them.

Jargon busting:

End Point Assessment (EPA): Simply called EPA, it is the final assessment for the Data Analyst apprenticeship qualification. The assessment will be carried out by a third-party independent organisation called the End Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO), and it consists of two parts: 

• Assessment Method 1 (AM1): Work-based Project with presentation and questioning.
• Assessment Method 2 (AM2): Professional discussion with portfolio.

Each of these assessments contribute equally to your overall EPA grade.

Gateway: When all your learning is complete, and you are ready for your assessment, this is the meeting between yourself, your coach and your apprentice manager to confirm that you are ready for your EPA and have completed the portfolio of evidence required to support your Professional Discussion (Assessment Method 2). By this point, you will also have planned and prepared for your work-based project (Assessment Method 1).

Portfolio: Your portfolio is a showcase of your best real work projects and demonstrates your knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBS) against the competencies/Grading criteria of the standard. It typically takes a written format and yourself and your apprentice manager are required to sign declarations to ensure that the work is yours.

Apprenticeship Standard: This provides a description of the requirements for the Data Analyst apprenticeship. It details the duties that apprentices will typically undertake as part of their role as a Data analyst as well as the knowledge, skills and behaviours that somebody would need to demonstrate to be successful as a data analyst. Each assessment will be judged against its own Grading Criteria, consisting of the specific KSBs for that assessment.

Evidence Tracker: Competency mapping document which lets the assessor know where in your Portfolio and Work-based project report you have hit each of the KSBs.

Work-based project: The work-based project takes place after Gateway and is a piece of work that produces something which is of genuine benefit to you and your business. The project should address a data analysis task tailored to the organisational requirements of your business and allows you to demonstrate your analytical skills, use of varied methods of presenting data analysis outputs and ability to distil key data findings into a presentation. You work with your manager and coach to decide on an appropriate project and prepare the title and an overview for your Gateway.  You have a maximum of 8 weeks to complete this project, including writing up the project (3500 word report) and preparing a 20-minute presentation. 

Professional Discussion: A 60-minute two-way discussion with the independent assessor where you will actively listen and participate in a formal conversation about your portfolio and how your job role lets you meet the data analyst apprenticeship standard. The independent assessor will make their grading decision after the interview, based on a holistic view of your work for this assessment method (AM2).

Project presentation and questioning: A 40-minute session consisting of a 20-minute presentation based on your work-based project report and 20 minutes of structured discussion with the independent assessor. They will use this time to confirm their understanding of the presentation and to confirm relevant KSBs for this assessment. The independent assessor will make their grading decision after the discussion, based on a holistic view of your work for this assessment method (AM1).

What happens when? 

Top Tip: Add key dates to your calendar and block out time to get things done! Invite your Apprentice Manager to these blocks so they can support you.

As you approach the end of your apprenticeship, if you have not already got your Gateway date booked, your coach will work with you to set the dates for your Gateway meeting and work-based project. Here is what you would expect the last few months of your apprenticeship to look like. To know more about the EPA timeline you can look at the following flowchart.

Preparing for Gateway - How many projects should you include in your Portfolio?

Top Tip: Decide on a convention for citing/ referencing your evidence and KSBs in your portfolio and be consistent throughout. 

The portfolio is used to provide evidence of you achieving the apprenticeship standards in the work environment.  It will contain example projects of data analysis work you have undertaken in your role as well as testimonials and performance reports. 

Within your portfolio projects, you should demonstrate and evidence the different KSBs and ensure you meet their related Grading criteria (see resources on Applied to find a copy of the Portfolio Evidence tracker). During the Professional discussion, the independent assessor will determine if the evidence discussed is:

• Sufficient – Does the evidence as a whole cover the Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours listed for this assessment method in the Apprenticeship Assessment Plan
• Authentic – Is the evidence discussed all your own work.
• Relevant – Is the evidence discussed relevant to the Apprenticeship standard.
• Current – Has all the evidence discussed been completed during the Apprenticeship.
• Consistent – Is all evidence discussed at a consistent level.

The number of projects required for a portfolio varies, we recommend 3-6 projects as a guide but please discuss individually with your coach.

Top Tips: Use ‘I’ rather than ‘we’ and avoid acronyms or industry jargon. Always comment on a screenshot/ visualisation you’ve included.

Make use of all the resources that are available on the  EPA 2.0 resources page when preparing anything for your EPA , including your portfolio, work-based project report and presentation, as well as for your interview.

Preparing for your Gateway meeting

Top Tip: Uploading all the documents on to Applied will save you time and allow you to use the meeting to discuss with your coach regarding important questions about the work-based project.

Your coach may decide to do a group Gateway meeting, in which case your whole or groups from your cohort will attend with their Apprentice Managers. You must join the meeting with everything fully completed as there will not be time to amend anything. You must ensure all your projects have signed declarations from yourself and your manager, and you must have the title and a short summary of your work-based project prepared. In order to prepare for the meeting in advance, you can upload all the necessary documents onto Applied. 

1. Upload your portfolio here
2. Make sure to log OTJ and bring it over 100%/0 hours left to log.

On the day of the Gateway meeting, you and your apprentice manager will receive an email from the EPA team with two PandaDoc forms:

1. EPAO Gateway readiness declaration form
2. OTJ declaration form

During the Gateway meeting, your coach will guide you through filling those forms. You must also complete Gateway Checklist and End-Point Impact Survey.

Once your Gateway is complete, the EPAO will reach out to you to confirm acceptance of your submitted paperwork, allowing you to begin the project.

Work-based Project…

Top Tip: Your coach can’t help you with your work-based project...but your Apprentice Manager and peers from your cohort can! Schedule time to talk through ideas with them.

You will provide an overview of your work-based project in your Gateway form. The start date may be a minimum of 10 working days after Gateway, subject to EPAO approval (please note that it could take up to 10 working days for this to be approved). You can use this resource provided by the EPAO to help prepare for the project. 

Top Tip: Make sure to check out the following resources on Applied: WBP step by step guide, WBP report template, WBP presentation template.

Below is the typical timeline from Gateway to EPA completion:

• All documents submitted at Gateway - EPAO confirm Project start date and combined AM1 and AM2 discussion date (+10 days)
• Work-based project is completed (including write of report and presentation with speaker notes) and submitted within 8 working weeks of Project start date (+40 days)
• Interview scheduled at least 10 working days after completion of the Project (+10)
• Attend and complete Professional Discussion (AM2) and Project report questioning (AM1) (lasting approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes)

This means your EPA typically lasts around 3 months. The result is usually released within 7 - 10 working days after the interview.
This timeline assumes you start your work-based project within 10 working days of Gateway. This timeline may be shorter depending on EPAO processing times of information submitted at the Gateway meeting. 

Your Interview Day…

This is the final part of the EPA process; it is conducted after the completion and submission of your AM1 project report and presentation. It will be undertaken by an independent assessor, who is an experienced data professional. Both your AM1 Project report presentation and questioning and AM2 Professional Discussion will occur on the same day (unless you request otherwise). The interview will be conducted remotely, is recorded and you will need to provide ID for verification purposes.

Top Tip: Think about the language you use to make it as easy as possible for the assessor to tick off the Grading criteria. Remember that no notes are allowed, only the submitted documents (i.e. portfolio, WBP report, and WBP presentation). Speaker notes must be included at submission and cannot be added later.

The assessor will be looking to discuss how you produced your evidence, as well as what you submitted for both assessment methods. 
The questions for AM1 are designed to:

• Explore what the Apprentice has done and how they have done it, based on evidence contained in the Presentation and Project. 
• Explore and identify the range and depth of technical knowledge and skills demonstrated by the Apprentice against the requirements for this assessment method listed in the Assessment Plan. 
• An opportunity for the Apprentice to provide further commentary on their project and the outcomes.

The questions for AM2 are designed to:

• Explore what the Apprentice has done and how they have done it, based on evidence contained in the Portfolio.
• Explore and identify the range and depth of technical Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviours holistically demonstrated by the Apprentice against this assessment method. 
• Confirm and validate the quality and authenticity of the work undertaken by the Apprentice against the KSBs listed against this assessment method. 
• Allow opportunities for the Apprentice to provide further evidence and clarity using their portfolio of evidence to exemplify a point they are discussing.

The Interview is used by the independent assessors to gather additional evidence and/or explore the evidence presented in more detail against any of the relevant Grading criteria across both assessment methods. 

It increases the accuracy and validity of your overall grade, by providing the assessor with an opportunity to assess both the depth and breadth of your knowledge and skills with respect to the application of your underlying knowledge, skills and behaviours.

Top Tip: The assessor is looking to understand the reasons why you undertook a certain activity, as well as the eventual outcome; Make sure you prepare for your interview by reading through your work carefully so that you can demonstrate your understanding of concepts as well as how you applied them. 

As with your portfolio you should use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format for responding to the assessor’s questions. Remember, like most interviews, this is an opportunity to show how amazing you are and the assessor wants you to be successful!
And finally… if you don’t cover a Grading criterion in enough depth in your portfolio/project write up/presentation, then the assessor will make sure to check this when questioning you. The assessor really is on your side!