Advancements (Single & Batch)

How to Process Apprentice Advancements

This guide walks you through the process of managing apprentice advancements. It covers both single advancements and batch advancements, ensuring you have an understanding of the features and tools available.

Advancement Email Recipients

Before diving into advancements, it’s important to know who will be notified via email when advancement emails are sent out. There are three main groups:

1. Apprentice
   The apprentice email will be sent to the Apprentice’s Main Email. This must be added under the Personal tab in their Contacts (type: Email – Main).
2. Contractor
   Contractor contacts pull from the Apprentice’s current Contractor. It looks specifically for contacts configured to receive Advancement Notifications. Set this in the Contractors module > General > Contacts tab.
3. Union
   Union contacts pull from the Apprentice’s Union (specified under General > Overview in Apprentices). Configure Union contacts in the Settings module > Union Contacts tab. Union Contacts are Users; their Main Email is used.

Single Apprentice Advancement

Advancing a single apprentice is a straightforward process in TradeSchool. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Create a New Advancement Record

1. Navigate to the apprentice’s history section.
2. Locate the advancement records table.
3. Click in the bottom row to add a new advancement record.
4. Input the new pay period and press Enter or click outside the field to save.

Step 2: Automatic Data Population

When you save the record, the following data will populate automatically:

• Date of Advancement: Set to the current date.
• Pay Percentage Rate & Effective Date: Pulled from the apprentice’s pay scale settings.

Step 3: Send Advancement Notifications

1. Select recipients (apprentice, contractor, union).
2. Create or select a correspondence template in the Apprentice module. You may use one template for all recipients or separate ones for each group.
3. Click Email Current Record to send the notification.

Batch Apprentice Advancement

Part 1: Setting Up Batch Advancement

1. Open the Batch Advance settings by clicking the ⚙️ icon next to the batch advance button.

2. Configure templates for notifications:
   • Apprentices – Template from Apprentice module. Each apprentice receives an individual email.
   • Contractors – Template from Contractor module. One email lists all apprentices per contractor. The top part comes from your template; TradeSchool generates the list.
   • Unions – Template from Users module. One email lists all apprentices per union, formatted the same as Contractor emails.
3. Optionally, enable PDF attachments by selecting a letter template. Contractors and unions can access a PDF per apprentice and a combined PDF.

Part 2: Performing a Batch Advance

1. Search for Eligible Apprentices
   Use the Eligible to Adv search to find apprentices ready for advancement.
   
2. Preview and Confirm
   Click Batch Advance to preview eligible apprentices and details. Adjust advancement dates if necessary.
3. Process the Advancement
   Click Process to finalize and send notifications.

Additional Features

• Attach PDF letters for each apprentice.
• Combined PDF reports for contractors and unions.
• Verbose logging to track/troubleshoot batch processes.