Understanding Standards: Nominee Training Event Administration & IT National 5 and National 4 Combined Approach RGB colours for text Purple = R204 G153 B209 & Dark Blue =R0 G51 B102

Unit Principles General Standards

Admin Practices Outcome 1 (N4/5) Admin Theory & Practice (H) Error Tolerances Candidates are permitted error tolerances on all tasks for all assessment standards that are assessing IT skills: N3 1 error every 0 – 10 words N4 1 error every 0 – 15 words N5 1 error every 0 – 20 words Higher 1 error every 0 – 25 words Errors have no bearing on the achievement of theory Assessment Standards: Admin Practices Outcome 1 (N4/5) Admin Theory & Practice (H) 71 words @ N5 = 4 errors 12 words @ N3 = 2 errors 43 words @ N4 = 3 errors 79 words @ H = 4 errors

Dates Formats Accept any standard format eg 22 September 2016 22nd September 2016 22 Sept 2016 22/9/16 22/09/2016 September 22, 2016 Do Not Accept ‘the 22nd of September’ or American dates in number format. All dates must have a year. Consistent format required within a task. Count as 1 error Count as 1 error Inconsistent format – count as 1 error

Do not accept a.m. or p.m = 1 error Time Formats Accept a variety of formats eg 1000 hours 1000hrs 10:00 hours 10.00 hrs 10 am 10am 10.00 am 10.00am 2.30 pm and 4 pm within the one task is acceptable Do not accept a.m. or p.m = 1 error Consistent format required within a task – if not = 1 error

Text Formatting If a task asks for formats – minimum of 2 formats must be used. Accept use of: Size Bold Underline Italics Shading Colour Font change* Right alignment Centring Justification Borders Bullet points Word Art * unless change of font is asked for separately Remember to check the original efile as some text formatting may have already been applied and would therefore not count as candidate formatting.

Fonts Desktop Publishing tasks often ask for a variety of fonts – candidates must have a minimum of 2 fonts. Word Art can be accepted if the font looks different.

Enhancing Front Covers If a task asks candidates to enhance the front cover a minimum of 2 appropriate enhancements over and above any formatting asked for eg Size Bold Underline Italics Shading Colour Font changed Centre Page Border Graphics Word Art

Graphics Accept use of: Clip Art Photographs Scanned Drawings Word Art Watermarks Borders Graphic must not be clipped by margin or cover any data (count as 1 error if so) Higher: Design/ Picture Border N5 Change: A normal lined border can be counted as a graphic (to keep in line with N5 Assignment). Note: a border can be counted towards formatting or graphics – can only be counted once. Do not count if specifically as contributing to formatting or graphics is specifically asked to add a border in the task.

Word Art You will notice Word Art can be counted as: A font A format A graphic But can only be counted towards one of these.

Capitalisation Capital letters should be used at the start of sentences and for proper nouns. Consistency is key. Candidates should follow any specific instructions in the task or keep existing styles consistent within an efile used. Wrong capitalisation throughout a task is counted as 1 error.

Headings Headings should be enhanced in some way, eg: Block capitals with or without bold Initial capitals and bold Initial capitals and underscore Increased size of font. Headings with initial capitals, eg Functions in December - small words should not be capitalised.

Headings Do not accept lower case unless used in the task (older UASP versions). Headings added to a document must be consistent with the existing headings or it will be counted as an error.

Spacing & Fonts Spacing When finishing off a report or minutes from an existing efile, the spacing between subheadings and between sections must be continued throughout the information added. Font The font throughout must be consistent. When importing information from a spreadsheet or database into a word processing document the text should be consistent with the rest of the document.

Other Errors Do not accept alternative forms of spelling – accept only as given in task. Each of the following would be treated as one error no matter how often they occur in the task: incorrect spacing after punctuation at end of sentence incorrect spacing for commas, colons, semi-colons, brackets confusion of hyphen/dash omission of apostrophe highlighted punctuation at the end of a heading Missing full stops

Email, Web & Telephone If there is no specific direction in the task: For e-mail accept – e-mail, E-mail, E-Mail, email, Email, E, suitable symbol, or on its own. For web address – accept Web, Web Address, W, Website, suitable symbol or on its own. For telephone number accept –Tel, Tel No, Telephone Number, T, Phone suitable symbol or on its own. (There must be consistency in style over the above pieces of information) There should be no space in Telephone numbers – if there is, count as one error.

Email All emails must have appropriate subject heading, eg ‘Staff Handbook’ but not ‘Task 6’. Email messages must make sense and there has to be an opening, eg Hi/Hello/ Name/Dear Name there has to be a close eg Thanks/Regards/Yours faithfully/ Yours sincerely or a closing sentence. When using a one word close accept with or without a full stop. have the candidate name (accept first name only) should be inserted after the close. Ignore spacing between sections/paragraphs.

Email Hi Great news – the school fun day managed to raise £2,586.58! Well done! Regards Pupil Name No subject or proper email structure and the assessment standard has not been achieved.

Email The number of keyboarding errors permitted before the candidate fails to achieve the assessment standard depends on the level the candidate is sitting and the amount of text in the email. Use of 'text speak’ or ‘emoticons’ count as one error.

Ediary Unless stated in the task, a week can be a 5 or 7 days. If any information is truncated on ediary printout, supplementary printouts must also be provided. Location is not necessary on printouts (in line with N5 Assignment). However if it has been keyed in, errors will count towards the error tolerance.

Presentation Tasks The logo must be the same size and in the same general position on each slide and in no way clipped or covering text. Accept the slide number in any position as long as it’s consistent. Be aware that different backgrounds/design templates can change the font, size and capitalisation on original slides. New slides must be consistent.

Presentation Tasks At Higher most of the skills to be assessed cannot be checked from a hard copy. For verification we expect a checklist or notes on printout of what specific skills have been achieved or not. If there is no indication of this, accept assessor’s judgement marked on the grid – will be highlighted in Key Messages Report if needed.

Spreadsheets Candidates are expected to use the most appropriate formula in a spreadsheet. For addition – only accept the use of the + sign when adding 2 cells together or more than 2 non-adjacent cells. Addition of 3 or more adjacent cells should use the SUM function. For subtraction, multiplication or division do not accept =SUM at the start of the formula – even if the formula works. If statements must contain both conditions.

Spreadsheets Lookups – if there is no ending and the formula will still work for every scenario then accept. Pivots – accept any presentation as long as the required information is shown.

Spreadsheet Charts Charts should be designed to ensure they are fit for purpose. Labels used should ensure that every part of the chart can be understood. Charts with coloured segments, lines or bars printed on a black and white printer can make it very difficult to interpret. Candidates should be trained to ensure the chart template chosen is appropriate for the centre’s printer, eg black and white printer requires a black and white chart template.

Threshold Approach to Unit Assessment Short-term approach – for 2016-2017 For all National 4, 5 and Higher Units Now apply a threshold approach to the judgement if a candidate has passed or failed the unit. If a candidate successfully meets the requirements of the specified number of assessment standards they will be judged to have passed the unit overall and no further re-assessment will be required. Candidates must still attempt all assessment standards

National 4 Administrative Practices 6 out of 7 Assessment Standards. IT Solutions for Administrators 8 out of 10 Assessment Standards. Communication in Administration 4 out of 5 Assessment Standards.

National 5 Administrative Practices 6 out of 7 Assessment Standards. IT Solutions for Administrators 8 out of 10 Assessment Standards. Communication in Administration 5 out of 6 Assessment Standards.

Higher Administrative Theory and Practice 5 out of 6 Assessment Standards. Communication in Administration 2 out of 3 Assessment Standards. IT Solutions for Administrators 6 out of 8 Assessment Standards.