English Partnerships – ITP for Technical Panels
User Manual
for External Users
ITP for Technical Panels
Prepared by: Cheryll Mapa
Updated by: Rachelle Grant
Version 1.5
9 May 2005
Contents
Introduction
What does ITP for Technical Panels Do?
Workflow
1.External Users (Consultant Staff)
Setting up WEB Access
Setting up EP Partners Extranet as a Secure Site
Viewing and Navigating through the WEB
The instruction document
Editing an Instruction
Delegating an instruction
Accepting an Instruction
Resetting the Accepted By Consultant Date
Completing the Instruction
Responding to a Send Back Email
Resetting the Completion Date
Creating a comment in regard to an Instruction
Contacting the Administrator
Introduction
What does ITP for Technical Panels Do?
English Partnerships (EP) contracts out work to Consultant companies in order to provide the necessary support for EP’s business activities. Consultant companies are appointed to a series of professional panels and for a particular commission an organisation is chosen from an appropriate Panel. As part of the process the consultant is given an Instruction to Proceed with a specific scope of work.
The ITP Technical system allows EP to manage the allocation of work to the Panel Consultants on a consistent basis.
Via the ITP Technical system, EP staff are able to ‘instruct’ a Panel Consultant. Details of the work, cost, and timeframes are stored on the Instruction document. The Instruction requires approval by an appropriate EP signatory before being passed onto the Consultant. Both EP staff and the Consultant are able to access the system to view information about the Instruction and monitor the progress of the Instruction.
ITP Technical was originally a Notes-based interface for EP staff (internal users) and a Web-based interface for Consultants (external users). In Version 2, the Web-based interface has been enhanced and now provides the functionality required by both EP staff and Consultants.
EP staff access the system via the EP Intranet (Intrepid). Consultants access the system via the EP Partners Extranet site ( Both interfaces share a common look and feel.
Workflow
The instruction documents are the main documents that are stored in the database. These documents store details about work that is to be carried out by an external consultant. Each document has a unique instruction number. The instruction goes through a workflow and at each stage different people involved with the work are given edit and read access to the document. Figure 1 illustrates the workflow stages.
Stages
- Instructing Officer creates an instruction and selects a person who will authorise the work.
- The instruction is signed off (authorised)
- Instruction is available to the assigned company and Lead Partner delegates the work
- Delegated Person accepts the work
- Delegated Person finishes the work
- Instructing Officer completes the instruction
Figure 1 Workflow of an Instruction Document
When the instruction document successfully changes its status emails are sent to the relevant people involved to alert them that work needs to be done. Below is a summary of the different stages
Status / Users who can edit the instruction / Users with read access / Alerts when the status changesDraft / Administrator
Creator
Instructing Officer / EP Staff / Sign Off Person
Awaiting EP Sign Off / Administrator
Creator
Instructing Officer
Sign Off Person / EP Staff / Lead Partner
Sent To Consultant / Administrator
Creator
Instructing Officer
Lead/Deputy Partner / EP Staff
Company / Delegated Person
Accepted By Consultant / Administrator
Creator
Instructing Officer
Lead/Deputy Partner
Delegated Person / EP Staff
Company / Instructing Officer
Creator
Lead Partner
Completed By Consultant / Administrator
Creator
Instructing Officer
Lead/Deputy Partner
Delegated Person / EP Staff
Company / Instructing Officer
Creator
Completed by EP / Administrator
Creator
Instructing Officer / EP Staff
Company / Lead Partner
Delegated Person
1.External Users (Consultant Staff)
Setting up WEB Access
External consultants must contact the Administrator of the system so that they can be given access to the system. Once this has been done the administrator will give the user a username and password to access the system.
The URL to the home page is . You will be asked for a username and password.
Figure 2 Log-in dialog box
You will then reach the EP Partners Extranet Home Page.
Figure 3 EP Partners Extranet Home Page
Once you are there click on Technical Panels, this will take you to the ITP Technical home page.
Setting up EP Partners Extranet as a Trusted Site
To use the functionality which allows information from the system to be exported into Word and Excel the user must set in their browser that the site is a Trusted Site. To do this you need to open the browser and set up a secure site. Figure 4 below outlines what you need to do.
Figure 4 Setting up EP Partners as a Trusted Site
Viewing and Navigating through the WEB
EP’s ITP system is accessed via the EP Partners website. There are two sections, one for Solicitors and one for Technical Panels. Enter ITP Technical by clicking on the icon or text of ‘Technical Panels’.
Figure 5 EP Partners Home Page
In ITP Technical, you are able to view all the Instructions for your Consultant company. The menu buttons across the top of the page allow you to navigate the system. The navigation contains links to the pages, which show instructions grouped in different ways (views).
Figure 6 ITP Technical Navigation
The menu buttons provided will be determined by what actions you are doing within the system. For example, when you are viewing documents, you will see the view menus; when you are viewing an instruction you will see the buttons you require for the instruction such as Edit, Save.
When viewing documents the following will be available:
- Home – this button is always available and will take you to the ITP Technical Home Page
- Instructions… - when clicked displays a number of options for how you would like to view instructions. Options are:
My Instructions – shows instructions that you are the Instructing Officer for
New Instructions – shows instructions that have been assigned to your consultant company, but are not yet delegated to a staff member to begin the work
All – shows all instructions assigned to your consultant company, grouped into Status
By Cost – shows instructions with their Original, Latest and Actual cost
By Date – shows instructions with their Original, Latest and Actual completion date
By Delegated Person – shows instructions grouped by the person allocated to do the work
By Town – shows instructions according to the location e.g. Milton Keynes
- Panel Consultant… - when clicked displays a number of options for information about your consultant company. Options are:
Offices – shows the offices, office addresses, Lead and Deputy Partners for the company
Staff – shows the Consultant staff with access to ITP Technical and their contact details
- Help – this button is available on all views, and will display the Help information for ITP Technical. If you have any queries, the Help page contains detail of who to contact. There is also a link to the User Manual.
- Back – this button is always available. It is the same as clicking the ‘Back’ button on your browser. It will display the page you were previously viewing. Note: If you click ‘Back’ after saving an instruction you will be shown the previous page as it appeared before you saved it. To update the page to the current information held in the system click on ‘Refresh’ on your browser.
The instruction document
The instruction form consists of three tabs: Details, Comments, and Audit. The Details tab contains the information regarding the work. Figure 7 shows the information on the Details tab.
Figure 7 An Instruction
The Comments tab contains any comments added by the consultant staff.
The Audit tab contains an audit trail of the changes made to the instruction. Information recorded here includes when the instruction was updated and the important dates when the instruction goes to another status. Details of changes made to target dates and costs also stored here.
Below is a table of the fields and their description
Field / DescriptionConsultant Name / Consulting Company who will carry out the work
Consultant Office / The Consultant Office where the instruction was sent
Lead Partner / Staff member who will choose who will do the work
Delegated Person / Staff member who will actually do the work
Consultant Reference / Reference number used by the consulting company
Instruction Number / Unique number which identifies the instruction
Project / Site Title / Project name or brief description of where the work is to be carried out
Program / Category of work being carried out
Location / Area where the instruction is in regard to
Instructing officer / The user who initiated the instruction.
Consultant Instruction Number / Code which identifies the work to be carried out
Work Details / Details of the work to be carried out by the instruction
Attachments / Any attachments, able to be added by EP staff and consultant staff
File Reference / Reference of the hard copy file
Verbal Confirmation / Yes/No
Notes / Notes of the verbal confirmation
Target Dates and Costs / Targets are split into three, Original, Latest and Actual.
Original targets are set by the Instructing Officer when the Instruction is created. These targets can be updated by the Instructing Officer during the life of the Instruction, and are shown as Latest targets. An audit trail details the changes.
Actual Completion date is set when EP has agreed work is completed and the Actual cost is calculated whenever an invoice is made for the instruction.
Instruction Status / Current Status of the document
Prepared By / The user who actually created the instruction
Instructing Date / Defaults to the current date when the instruction is Draft
Finance Type / This is how the work is to be paid (Revenue or Capital)
Finance Code
Accepted Date / Date the Delegated person started the work
Completion Date / Date the delegated person finished the work
Editing an Instruction
For external consultants the following fields are editable within an instruction.
- Delegated Person
- Consultant Reference
- Add Attachment
- Accepted Date
- Completed Date
Depending on the user and the status of the instruction different fields will become available
Function / Fields / User / StatusDelegating / Delegated Person / Lead/Deputy / Sent to Consultant
Accepting / Accept Date / Delegated Person / Accepted by Consultant
Completing / Complete Date / Delegated Person / In Progress
Delegating an instruction
This function is only available to the Lead or Deputy partners of the company. When an instruction has been approved internally within EP an email is sent to the Lead partner to inform them that a new instruction has been issued. The document also become available to view on the web to the consulting company it has been assigned to.
The user can click on the URL link to the instruction within the email and it will take the user to the instruction directly or the user can go to the website and using the views locate the instruction by the Instruction number.
To edit the document click on the edit link and this will make the instruction appear in edit mode.
Figure 8 Delegating an Instruction
To accept select from the drop down list, which contains all the people within the company that have been registered with EP, then click on Save. An email will automatically be sent to the delegated person and the instructing officer.
The lead partner and deputy can edit the instruction at anytime and re-delegate if required by doing the same process.
Accepting an Instruction
This is available only by the Delegated Person. When an instruction has been delegated an email is sent to the delegated person and the instructing officer to inform them that it has been delegated. The document also becomes editable for the delegated person. The user can click on the URL link to the instruction directly or the user can go to the website and using the views locate the instruction by the Instruction number. My instructions view is particularly useful since this contains the instructions that have been delegated to the current user. To edit the document click on edit and this will make the document appear in edit mode. To indicate the work for the instruction is in progress select a date using the date picker and save the document.
Figure 9 Accepting an Instruction
This will automatically email the lead partner and instructing officer that the work has been started, the status also changes to In Progress.
Resetting the Accepted By Consultant Date
A delegated person may change their mind in regard to starting the work. To change this the delegated person can reset this by editing the instruction and clicking on the link Reset next to the accepted date. This will email the instructing officer and lead partner that the instruction has been reset and the status is put back to Accepted By Consultant.
Figure 10 Resetting an Accepted Instruction
Completing the Instruction
Once the delegated person has completed the work the user can complete the instruction. To do this, the delegated person edits the instruction, selects a date using the date picker and saves the document. An email is automatically sent to the instructing officer and lead partner. The status changes to Completed by Consultant.
Figure 11 Choosing a Completion Date
Responding to a Send Back Email
On occasion the Delegated person will indicate that the work has been completed but the instructing officer disagrees. The instructing officer will then Send Back the instruction, this means that the instruction is reset from Complete to In Progress. An email will be sent to the Delegated person to let them know that it has been sent back and why. Once the work has been completed by the delegated person the Delegated person can complete as usual.
Resetting the Completion Date
A delegated person may change their mind in regard to finishing the work. To change this the delegated person can reset this by editing the instruction and clicking on the link Reset next to the completed date. This will email the instructing officer and lead partner that the instruction has been reset and the status is put back to In Progress.
Figure 12 Resetting the Completion Date
Creating a comment in regard to an Instruction
To create a comment click on the Add Comment link and this will take you to a new form
Figure 13 Adding a Comment for an Instruction
When the comments have been saved an email will be sent to the Instructing officer to let them know and the comments appear in the Comments tab of the instruction.
Figure 14 Comments Tab for an Instruction
Contacting the Administrator
If you have any queries, problems or changes to staff members who require access to ITP Technical, please use the contact information on the Help page to inform the Administrator. The Help page can be accessed using the Help button at the top of all views.
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