This page contains list of releases and changes for the Practique Server software.

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Compatibility - Practique for iPad

This table shows which versions of Practique Server and Practique for iPad are compatible. Versions indicated in bold have changed Practique server requirement for the iPad application.

Compatibility - Browser support

This table shows which versions of browsers have been tested with the use of Practique.

Known issues

There may be Known issues with Practique for iPad application which may be applicable to the version of the application which you're currently using.

It is important that you read carefully Known Issues documentation and make yourself familiar with the workarounds which are provided for each of the Known Issue before your exam.

Known Issues are published on Known Issues page for both Practique for Server & Practique for iPad, please read Known Issues page carefully.

Published releases

6.2.0 / 31st May 2019

Full Release Notes

6.1.2.3 / 3rd May 2019

Full Release Notes

6.1.1 / 30th January 2019

Full Release Notes

6.1.0 / 21st December 2018

Full Release Notes

6.0.0 / 4th June 2018

Full Release Notes

5.4.0.1 / 4th July 2018

Full release notes

5.4.0 / 4th June 2018

Full Release Notes

5.3.2 / 6th April 2018

Full release notes

5.3.1 / 12th March 2018

Full Release Notes

5.3.0 / 18th December 2017

Full Release Notes

5.2.4 / 18th December 2017

Full Release Notes

5.2.1 - 21st July 2017

Note - This release also includes fixes and improvements as detailed in 5.1.12

Features

Naming Combined Exams

PRAC-1617

It is now possible to name combined exams when they are created. Previously Practique named them by the 'Combined OSCE Exam' Blueprint. It is also possible to rename the exam by editing the exam details. This can be done from the main exam list, as shown below.

Item Set title

PRAC-1547, PRAC-1590

In this release, we have introduced the ability to name Item Sets. This is intended to make working with the sets easier, especially with multi day exams, and multiple item sets for the same exam blueprint. This can be set when creating the Item Sets, and edited on existing Item Sets. We have also improved the numbering of item sets in the audit and history logs, to make it easier to track them.

Insert Special Characters

We have made it easier to insert special characters in to written items. There is now a dedicated button, along with some medicine specific characters (alpha, beta, gamma, mu, and en dash). 

Exam Paper Export Improvements

PRAC-1591, PRAC-1511

In this release we have improved the way that exam paper exports can be styled. For DOCX/Word exports, it is now possible to use Word template styles to set the styling for Item Set previews or exam paper generation. For setting the styling of exam papers, please get in contact with us via the Service Desk

Improvements

PRAC-1585 Answer deletion option to SBA, VSAQ and EMQ question types 

In this release, we have improved the way that answer options can be deleted from Practique. A delete button now appears by each option, allowing users to change how many options are included in a question.

PRAC-1606 PSD-694 Added Bold Text to ARQ Items

In ARQ items, the 'not' in 'Both Assertion and Reason are true, and Reason is not a correct explanation for Assertion' is now shown in bold format.

PRAC-1525, 1523 Item import improvements

In this release, the item import process has been improved. It is no longer necessary to select the type of encoding for items (UTF-8/UTF-16). It is also now optional whether Practique will create unknown categories when importing items.

Practique also now supports importing categories with the same name in different BP hierarchy levels. The category hierarchies are denoted by '>'. Anatomy of the Limbs>Lower Limb>Osteology, Joints & Ligaments;Anatomy of the Limbs>Lower Limb>Nervous system' would tag an imported item with two categories.

PRAC-1521 Added filtering to suggest item replacement page

When changing an Item in an Item Set, it is now possible to filter using the same criteria as in the item bank. This gives a significant increase in speed when working with Item Sets.

PRAC-1536, PRAC-1583, PRAC-1523 Blueprint Category Improvements

In this release, we have included some improvements for Blueprint categories:

• It is now possible to add a new category with the same text as an already archived category.
• Multi Hierarchy BP categories are now ordered correctly when creating and editing the list of categories
• Archived BP dimensions no longer appear on the Edit Candidate and Edit Examiner Screens
• It is now possible to filter categories by 'All States'
• Filtering has been added to viewing Dimension Categories
• Added a 'Copy' button next to every category in the category listing, which copies the full path of the category to the clipboard. The copied category name then can be pasted into XLS/CSV file.

PRAC-1586 Display information about the current Standard setting method and its parameters on Items page

Practique now displays standard setting information on the exam Item page.

PRAC-1522 Item Set List Improvements

In this release, we have improved the speed at which Item Sets will load, and made them easier to work with. This has been done through a few different ways:

• Improving the way that the lists are cached
• Non-approved Item Sets no longer have warnings calculated when the list is being loaded.
• Improving the way that Item Sets are loaded

PRAC-1518 Improved speed of processing of incoming messages from iPad or Practique for Browser

In this release we have significantly improved the way that communications from the iPad and Practique for Browser are processed, yielding major speed improvements. From our testing, Practique 5.2.1 can handle most messages in less than 0.5s. Previously this would typically take 5-10s per message, which could allow the server to occasionally overload on very large exams.

Improved speed of Candidate marks list loading

We have improved the speed at which Candidate marks display on the Set Standard > View Candidates page

Fixes

PRAC-1383, PSD-806 Replacing Item in Item set reorders the Item Set

Previously, when replacing an item in the item set by clicking 'Replace', the new item would be ordered at the beginning of the item set. Now the new item takes the place of the item that it is replacing.

PRAC-1511, PRAC-1535 PDF/DOCX export of written Items shows incorrect resources

Previously when written item types were exported on to paper, they would not always include the correct resources. For some items they would include retired resources and notes, and for SAQs no resources would be included. The correct resources are now exported.

PRAC-1533 Non-breaking spaces cause Examiner Import to fail

Previously, if importing a spreadsheet of examiners with non breaking space characters, this would cause the import to fail. Practique now will sanitise non-breaking spaces from the import.

PRAC-1617 Wording of Exam actions is inconsistent

Previously, the wording of 'Advanced' exam actions was unclear. Practique used both 'Ignore' and 'Hide' to refer to excluding exams from stats. Practique now refers only to hiding and unhiding. Functionality remains the same.

Security

There are no security changes in this release.

5.1.12 - 21st July 2017

Features

There were no new features in this release. Just fixes and improvements!

Improvements

PRAC-1513 Candidate Feedback Report speed improvements

In this release we have significantly improved the speed with which the Candidate Feedback Report generates. This is especially prominent when there is a lot of blueprinting information within the exam. In some cases the improvement has made generating reports up to 10 times faster.

PRAC-1531 Increased OSCE backend updated timeout to 20 seconds

We have increased the OSCE update timeout to 20 seconds. The reason for making this change is that if the iPad or Backend are under high load, some synchronisation messages would come out of sync. Increasing this delay mean that all messages are processed in the correct order. This does however mean that there will be a delay of up to 20s for marks appearing on marshal's iPads.

PRAC-1485: Improvements to Candidate and Examiner Import

When importing Candidates and Examiners, it is now no longer possible to import duplicate email addresses. Candidates and examiners must have unique email addresses respectively.

Fixes

PSD-919 Candidate Feedback Report tables misaligned

Previously, Practique formatted tables to have content left aligned. This is now centered in the table columns.

PRAC-1549, PSD-881 Cannot publish a hidden exam

Previously, if an exam was hidden, it was not possible to publish it. Practique now lets you publish the exam, and also displays a warning message to let you know that it was ignored.

PRAC-1550 Practique does not show errors when uploading candidates to an exam

If uploading a csv allocation file containing errors, the system would not return any error messages, but just reload the page without completing the upload. Practique now communicates what the error is, and the row on which it occurs.

PRAC-1494 Practique shows pass mark with many decimal places

Previously in some places Practique showed the full calculated pass mark eg 16.899999999999/20. This is now rounded to two decimal places by default, although this can be customised on a client basis. If you would like to show to a different number of places, please get in contact with us via the Service Desk.

Security

There were no security updates in this release.

5.2.0 - 21st April 2017

New Features

Practique for Browser

With Practique 5.2.0, we are adding support for a new way of taking exams. Practique for Browser allows users to run exams on Windows, MacOS and Linux computers securely, as well as tablets and mobile devices. At the moment, this is for written exams, however in future we will be adding support to take OSCEs and MMIs on the same platform.

Practique for Browser is licenced as a separate module for Practique, so please do get in contact with us if interested in using the platform.

Extended Matching Questions

PRAC-807

A new written question type has been added to Practique, in the form of EMQs. Extended Matching Questions present candidates with a list of possible options around a single theme/subject area. A series of SBA style sub-questions are then asked relating to this theme, where the all of the answers come from one single list of options. 

Included in this is the ability to upload EMQs by CSV, which is detailed in the Item Upload page. Also it is possible to export EMQ into exam papers.

Example showing how to create EMQs:

Distribution of Candidate feedback report via e-mail

It is now possible to distribute candidate feedback directly from Practique. After generating the PDFs, an 'Email' button now appears. 

Clicking this will allow you to define the message template that you would like to send to candidates. It is possible to include the first and last name of the candidate using the variables *|FNAME|* *|LNAME|*. Candidates can be selected from the 'Candidates' box, where multiple candidates can be selected using Ctrl/Command and Shift keys. The 'Redirect To' field is useful to test the report distribution. By inputting your email address, the emails will be sent to this address instead of to candidates. Please note, that each email will be redirected - ie if you have 60 candidates, all 60 emails will be redirected to your email address. The reports are attached to the emails as PDFs. Practique also supports distributing audio candidate feedback to students via email.

Resource Bulk Upload

Practique 5.2.0 adds the ability to upload multiple resource files to Practique, by simply dragging and dropping them on to the page. These are created as draft resources, which can then be named and tagged as appropriate.

Exam blueprint constraints - Exclude previously used items constraint

New "Exclude previously used items" exam blueprint constraint has been introduced to allow exam teams to exclude items previously used in exams from newly generated Item sets. This constraint exclude items that have been used within a specified number of days from the date of new Item set generation.

Constraint only excludes items which have been used in an exam (at least scheduled exam) it will not exclude items which are just used by the Item Set. This means that should you create several Item Sets in advance of you exams this new constraint would not exclude used items in these Item Sets as the Item Sets themselves are not yet used in an Exam.

We have also added notification for an Item set view informing users that the Item Set uses items used in last exams and so violating the constraint should it be set.

An example of the constraint would be that you want to exclude Items used in exams in last month (30 days).

Exam paper preparation improvements

PRAC-1396, PRAC-1395, PRAC-1393, PRAC-1385, PRAC-1381, PSD-562

With Practique 5.2.0, we have started to overhaul the preparation of exam papers. Further improvements are coming in future releases, however in this release we have:

• Added in the ability to export to Word docx file format. This significantly improves the workflow and gives flexibility to reformat papers as needed.
• Improved the way that papers are generated, with the option to stop generation.
• Added options when previewing the item set on whether to include correct answers or not
• Improved the numbering of questions, to cover multipart questions
• Previously when exporting an item set with VSAQ items, Practique would just show the question stem. Practique can now export the VSAQ correct answer options, if it is selected to do so.
• When exporting items with DICOM images, a thumbnail will be shown on the paper

• Use the same font size for question text and available answers. 

New permissions selection UI

PRAC-1126

In this release, a new User Interface has been added when creating and editing user group permissions. It is now possible to easily see all of the permissions available, as well as a description of each one. As part of this, Review Assets has been renamed Review Resource Library.

Assertion-Reason Question type

We have also added Assertion-Reason Questions (ARQs), which are a type of SBA. For example:

Question Text

Assertion: Blood sugar level falls rapidly after hepactectomy.

Reason: The glycogen of the liver is the principal source of blood sugar

Available answers

• A. Both Assertion and Reason are true, and Reason is the correct explanantion for Assertion
• B. Both Assertion and Reason are true, but Reason is not the correct explanation for Assertion
• C. Assertion is true, but Reason is false
• D. Assertion is false, but Reason is true
• E. Both Assertion and Reason are false

Question Writing Guide

PRAC-1363 

It is now possible to have a linked PDF appear when writing items. This is intended to be included as a Question Writing Guide, so that question authors can see style/content information when writing items. In order to make the Question Writing Guide visible to question authors, this needs to be configured by the Practique Team. Please contact us via the service desk if you would like to configure this.

Improvements

PRAC-649, PSD-753 - Ordering of items on reports

Practique now shows the items in reports titled and ordered by the question number they had in the itemset. Previously reports referred to the items with their internal Practique ID eg Item #535. Now reports shows 'Question 1', 'Question 2' etc

PRAC-735 - Improvements to the way standards are calculated for multi-part written items

When setting the standards for written items with multiple parts (EMQ), this can now be done on a per sub-item basis, rather than the item as a whole.

PRAC-1323 - iPad device name is updated on Server

Practique previously collected and shown iPad device names on the View Logins page for each of the exam sessions. This device name has been registered by Practique when device first connected to the Server. When users renamed the device, Practique would still use the old name at the time device was first registered.

Practique now updates the name of the device automatically to provide accurate information on the View logins page.

PSD-461, PRAC-1328 Candidate allocation upload does not assign candidates correctly

Candidate allocation using CSV requires user to specify the Block & Session information in order for the CSV upload to correctly allocate Candidates.

Changes as been made to the CSV allocation handling to allow user to omit Block & Session information from the CSV file when exam has only one Block and Session. Changes has been documented in the inline help.

PRAC-789 Indication on server that some marks were rejected

If marks were rejected by the server (due to being invalid, or some other reason), previously there was no way to see that these marks had been rejected. Now Practique will display on the View Sessions page if there are marks that are missing due to being rejected by the server, which can then be corrected.

PRAC-1490 Improved speed when selecting Blueprint Categories

When tagging an item (either at item level, or Count As for observation criteria), this could take some time when there were many categories to choose from (500+). Practique now handles this better on a separate page, so the speed to tag the items is significantly quicker.

PRAC-1493, PRAC-1385 Changes to exam response exports
Previously Practique did not order the observation criteria and cases in CSV exports in any particular way. Practique now orders these by the order of the item in the item set, and the observation criteria by the order in the marksheet

Practique also now exports candidate responses as letter answers (SBA, ARQ, Discrete criterium) instead of full text answers. 

PRAC-1478 Exams that are hidden are now indicated as such in the Exam list

Previously it was not clear whether an exam was hidden when viewing all exams.

PRAC-1473 Changes to the default Ebel table

The default Ebel table values have been changed. The new defaults are as follows: 

It is also now possible to set a custom default value for when judges have not yet scored. This is set as 50% by default.

Item Resources improvements

PRAC-1446, PRAC-1445, PRAC- 1441, PRAC-1417, PRAC-1446 , PRAC-1452, PRAC-1453, PRAC-922

In version 5.2.0, Item Resources have been improved to provide a smoother experience when working with them. This includes:

• Changing permissions so that it is no longer possible to approve an item that had unapproved resources attached to it.
• When adding a resource to an item, the navigation back link now points to Item Resources instead of Item Overview. This is to simplify and speed up workflow when adding multiple resources. It is also possible to navigate from the Item resource detail page to the original resource item.
• If a user has "Review resources" permission, uploaded Item Resources will now be automatically approved. It is not possible to create an Item Resource if the user does not have have 'Add Resources' permission. 
• It is now possible to set a caption field for resources. This is displayed to candidates when taking an exam on Practique for iPad, and Practique for Browser. If no caption is provided, the title is used as a caption.
• When changing resources, it is no longer possible to accidently submit item
• Items cannot be submitted for approval with unapproved resources
• Its possible to tag resources that are Item Resources

PRAC-1416 Upload multiple DICOM resources in one ZIP file when uploading resources for an Item.

Practique now supports uploading multiple DICOM images from one zip file.

Updated example file for VSAQ question import.

We have clarified the template and example file for uploading VSAQ questions

Improvements to mark pages

PRAC-1352, PRAC-1353, PRAC-1457, PSD-593

We have improved the layout and design on mark edit pages.

Previously when making changes to candidate marks, there was an audit trail titled 'Reasons for changing marks allocated'. While this did capture the case where marks had been changed for a candidate, it did not capture the case where changes were made by changing the examiner, or the session when a candidate took the exam. The text has been changed to 'Reasons for changes'

Blueprint Tagging and Constraints 

PRAC-1378, PRAC-1368, PRAC-1311, PRAC-1247, PRAC-1359, PRAC-1427

We have made changes to the design and user interface for working with Blueprinting. Changes have been made to speed up how users work with Blueprinting - these include:

• Improving the UI for Blueprint Constraints. These are now added individually, and can cope better with very large sets of BP categories
• As part of this, archived categories are no longer shown in the BP constraints form
• Displaying the full path to a category on the Item Blueprinting and observation criteria BP pages. This is very helpful with large sets of nested categories, and especially when there are categories named similarly on different hierarchies

PRAC-1163, PRAC-1142 Improved item filtering is now included when adding items to item sets

This makes it much easier to navigate the bank and prepare item sets

PRAC-1118 Add Exam Start Date to list of Exams

The start date is now included in the exams table.

Fixes

PRAC-1330 iPad synchronisation may fail when exam is pushed many times (15+)

Due to implementation detail exams which have been pushed many times (and having specific internal IDs) did fail to temporary synchronise to the iPads because Server confused iPad by issuing the same synchronisation payload for the data pushes instead of correctly identifying each push to the iPads.

This issue was very rare and did depend on internal exam number and number of times users pushed the exam.

Practique now correctly and uniquely identifies each push to devices and synchronisation is always performed correctly.

PRAC-1469 Changed the way that boolean feedback is presented in the Candidate Feedback Report

In the Candidate Feedback Report, when boolean observation criterias were included as feedback, they would be displayed as 1s and 0s. eg "Candidate washes hands: 1". Now, Practique will show ticks and crosses for these eg "Candidate washes hands ✔︎"

PRAC-1370 Formatting support in Reference Ranges

Reference Ranges now support super and subscript characters and formatting, which can be imported by CSV.

PRAC-443 Send invite emails to Ebel Judges

Practique now supports sending emails to invite Ebel judges to score an Item Set.

PRAC-1403 Formatting changes on password reset pages

Previously password reset pages did not use the same styling as the rest of Practique. This has now been aligned with the rest of the system

PRAC-1428 SSO Login Redirection does not work properly

Previously Practique would not always redirect correctly after SSO Login. This has now been resolved.

PSD-540, PRAC-1406 Import of SBA/ARQ/EMQ items failed if unicode characters were used in Correct Answer field

This applied if the answer was not in the list of available answers. This has now been fixed to support unicode characters. 

PRAC-1354 Question statistic analysis report did not exclude candidates who did not attend, or did not answer question.

Previously in the Question statistic analysis report, if a candidate was excluded or did not answer a question, the statistics did not take account of this. So for example previously when 100 candidates were scheduled, and only 95 candidates attended, the score/average/stats would still be calculated based on the 100 candidates and not 95. This is now taken into account when analysing the exam. 

PRAC-1263 Exam randomisation setting did not persist when changing settings multiple times

Previously, if an exam was set to be randomised, this setting did not persist when making changes to the exam multiple times. Now once the setting is set, it will persist.

PRAC-1327 Item Titles were inconsistently mandatory

Previously Item Titles were required in some places (eg creating item) but not in others (eg edit item). This is now consistently required.

PRAC-1347 Unable to generate Candidate Feedback Report if no candidate is selected for preview

It is now required for a candidate to be selected in order to generate preview or batch CFRs 

PRAC-1479 - Ignored exam is not displayed properly in exam list

Ignored exams appeared with status 'published' in the list of exams. This was confusing, as they were not published, only hidden. Hidden exams are now shown correctly, with the correct status and separate indicator showing if they are hidden.

PRAC-1105 Review Item Set permission depended on Review Item Bank permission

Previously, in order to review Item Sets, users needed to have review Item Bank permissions as well. These are now independent permissions.

PRAC-1025 Examiner report formatting misalignment

There was an problem with the alignment and formatting of the exported Examiner Report. This has now been resolved

PRAC-1349 Item Results page summary formatting

The Item results page shows a summary of the item content. If this is too long, it would mean the formatting of the page is incorrect. Now the summary is limited in length.

PSD-594 Do not rely on mimetype but use extension when uploading a ZIP file.

This fixes problems when uploading ZIP files on different versions of Windows, as Windows will report the ZIP file as unexpected MIME type, rendering detection unreliable.

Security

PRAC-1205 Cross-domain script include improvements (remove CDN JS loading)

We have changed the way that external resources were loaded in to the system, to improve security and prevent XSS attacks.

PRAC-1454 Session timeout Timezone incompatibility

Where a session timeout has been set (as part of SSO policy), if the timezone was non-UTC there was an error loading the timeout window. This did not allow access, however it was not clear to the user they needed to log in again. This has been resolved.

5.1.11 - 21st April 2017

New Features

No new features in this release. Just fixes and improvements.

Improvements

PSD-747: Station Statistic Report question numbering is inconsistent

Previously, the station statistic report displayed questions in the wrong order and used the Item number for the question title instead of order within the exam paper. For example it would display "Question: 70" for the first question in the paper.

The report has been fixed so that the questions are in the same order as in the Item set, and the numbering is natural to the exam paper -  so if an exam has 50 questions, the report will display 1 - 50. This is valid even if users select only certain items to be included in the report (eg. only select items 30-40, report will have 10 stations with Question 30 to 40).

Fixes

PSD-752, PSD-761: Observation criteria not linked to Borderline Marker affected calculation of cut scores

This only applies if using Borderline Regression in Practique.

If an observation criteria on an OSCE station was not linked to the Borderline Marker that had been set up on that station, it would in effect raise the cut score for the exam. This was because it would count towards the marks for the station, but not the regression line. This was confirmed to only be affecting 1 user, as they were the only user that had unlinked observation criteria. 

This was resolved by amending the calculation to include the unassigned observation criterias, and preventing unlinked observation criteria from being created.

PSD-765: OSCE - Incorrect pass/fail calculation when Angoff standard setting is used for OSCE

When OSCE exam used Angoff standard settings, Candidate screen as well as Set Standard would display incorrect values.

Calculation & display of the standard setting information for Angoff standard setting method has been fixed and works as expected.

PSD-753: Order of Items on Station Cut Scores and other reports for combined exams is wrong

For combined exams several reports displayed Items in a different order than defined in the Item set or original non-combined exams.

Reports has been fixed so that the order of Items is consistent with the Item set or original non-combined exam.

PRAC-1492: Written - SBA Item import CSV example file has wrong structure

Example files for SBA question import had not up to date structure. This caused problems during import when such template file has been used.

Example CSV file templates for importing the SBA question and other CSV file templates has been reviewed and amended to reflect current functionality.

PRAC-1474: OSCE - Unable to create new version of item under certain conditions

Only applicable when Multiple Borderline feature has been enabled. When user specified multiple borderline markers with the exactly the same name (for example Global & Local) Practique would refuse to create new versions of such item. This is corner case which is usually caused by user error as there should not be multiple borderline markers with the same name.

This is now fixed and Practique will handle such situation gracefully.

PSD-653: Session expiration feature does not take into account local timezone

Practique contains optional session expiration feature which detects user inactivity and logs user out after certain amount of time. When local timezone is different then UTC/GMT expiration time is calculated wrong.

We have added handling of the local timezone. It is now possible to use Session expiration with local timezones.

PSD-656: Graphs on Candidate Feedback report not visible (and other reports)

When data necessary to prepare graphs contained special characters (for example ') graphs would fail to display.

Changes has been made to handle special characters correctly.

5.1.10 - 9th March 2017

Improvements

PRAC-1434 Added sort by "Item title" for Items and sort by "Blueprint name" to Item sets

• Item list can be sorted by Item title
• Item set list can be sorted by the associated blueprint name.

PRAC-1435 Improved exam results CSV

There are new columns in exam result CSV download.

• Exam max score
• Max score for every item

Fixes

PRAC-1069 Allow only one correct answer for SBA items and require at least two answers

It was previously possible to create and approve SBA question without correct answer or with more than one correct answer which might have caused incorrect behaviour of the exam. It is now only possible to select one "correct answer"

PRAC-1123 Fixed Change examiner function

Changing examiner on a completed session was not always possible. Changing examiner to Examiner who did not participate on any exam was not possible.

PRAC-1266 Fixed full text search

Some search terms might cause Unhandled errors. It was mainly when search term ended with a space character.

PRAC-1394 Extended maximum length of Station title.

Station title can be up to 255 characters now. Previous limit was 100.

PRAC-1398 Fixed search for categories (Filtering)

Search for Items or Resources using Categories did not work properly when category name was picked using search box. It only worked when the category was selected using mouse.

PRAC-1399 Unable to preview Exam cover page under some conditions

If exam was not fully scheduled, it was not possible to preview exam cover page.

PRAC-1414 Avoid double publishing of exam results

It was possible to click on the exam Publish results twice and it could raise unhandled error.

PRAC-1419 Fixed media URL for resources if Apache is used as a front end server.

PRAC-1420 Fixed error on an Item if there is no borderline marker set and criteria text contains unicode characters

PRAC-1421 Borderline marker issues

There might be a situation when Global borderline marker is not set up properly or changed and OSCE item mark sheets may contain incorrect borderline marker settings. If such situation happens, there will now be a warning displayed on the Item page. There will also be a new button "Update borderline marker" which will appear on Marksheet page of the affected item. Clicking that button will fix Global borderline marker for that item.

PRAC-1430 Remove Delete button on Item resource page

On Item resource detail page there was displayed a Delete button. This button was related to the Item, not the actual resource. Since this was a confusing behaviour, the button has been removed.

PRAC-1431 Unable to change CountAs for a criteria

It was not possible to change CountAs for a criteria under some conditions

PRAC-1440 Fixed Back link from Item resource page

Back link form Item Resource detail page points to Item Resources list instead of Item Overview page

PRAC-1442 When exporting Items, export only dimensions applicable to Items

Item export included all dimensions defined in the system. Now Item export will only include dimension applicable to items.

PRAC-1449 Fix for Examiner report and Exam analysis report format

These two reports might not displayed properly on PDF export.

Minor issues

Fixes in importing items which should fix occasional issues with accented characters

5.1.9 - 10th January 2017

Fixes

PRAC-1350 Fixed SBA mark amendments

Amending candidate responses to SBA question in Practique backend on a running or completed exam (View sessions -> View items -> View)did not properly handle "No answer" response. It was not correctly processed and mark was not changed.

PRAC-1351 Fixed mark edit form on "Individual marks for ..." page.

Changing responses on "Individual marks for..." page (View sessions -> View Candidates -> View marks -> Edit) did not update the Candidate's result for that item. The update was done only when results were previewed for reporting purposes or exam data published.

Minor issues

When a Candidate's responses were added in backend, for example entering responses from a paper marksheet, the Item overview did not display correct number of Submitted mark sheets.

5.1.8 - 5th December 2016

New Features

McManus Standard setting

The standard setting method created by Bruce McManus at the University of Southampton has been added to Practique. This requires candidates to satisfy two criteria in order to pass the OSCE - an aggregate score across the exam, and a minimum number of stations to pass. More information on the method can be found on the poster below.

ASME poster on McManus Standard Setting

Setting the standard setting method to McManus:

Improvements

PRAC-1301 Item Approver can notify Allow to notify submitter of an Item if the item is rejected

Practique now allows Approver to notify user who submitted Item which is being reviewed by e-mail in case Approver rejects the Item. Approver can provide reason for rejection and choose if he wants to notify user who submitted Item for review.

PRAC-1310 Attaching a Resource to an Item list of resources does not show resource tags

When user choose to select Resources from the Resource library they're presented with the list of Resources. Each Resource is represented as a card with thumbnail.

This card now includes Resource blueprint tagging information.

Fixes

PRAC-1306 When Adding Item to an Item Set user returns to first item selection page

When user manually added Item which was not on the first page of the list of available Items to add to an existing Item Set user would be returned to the first page of the list of Items instead of on the page from where he added the Item.

For example user would navigate to 4th page of the Item list and add the Item to Item set, Practique would redirect user back to 1st page of the list instead of the 4th page.

This is now fixed and user is redirected to the correct page.

5.1.7 - 28th November 2016

Improvement

PRAC-1261 Resource detail header includes Resource number

Items and Item sets include number in the header of the detail page for these objects. Resources now include the same information in the detail page for Resource to provide consistent UI.

PRAC-1297 Import Item title when importing written questions by CSV

It is now possible to import Title for Written Item types (SBA, VSAQ, ...) using CSV file. Documentation for importing each of the types has been amended accordingly.

Fixes

PRAC-1266 Full text search does not work for search terms with more than one word

When user use search functionality using search term with more than one word separated by space, Practique does not return results.

Practique now correctly searches when using multiple words separated by space.

PRAC-1275 Data is not synchronised back to iPads when both OSCE & Written exam is pushed

Practique supports multiple concurrent exams which can be either OSCE or Written exam. In case that the Written exam has been pushed first and then OSCE exam Practique would refuse to synchronise OSCE exam.

This has been fixed to allow any combination of exams to be pushed to devices and synchronised.

5.1.6 - 14th November 2016

New Features

Reference Ranges

Reference Ranges have been added to Practique, to enable faster question authoring. Using reference ranges standardises technical information that is used across multiple questions. For example, Adult IgM (Immunoglobulin M) would have a reference range of 37-286 mg/dL*. By using reference ranges in Practique, there is a centralised way to manages this information. This can be found under Settings > Reference Ranges.

Here, you can see a list of all the Reference Ranges within Practique, and search for them. You can create new Reference Ranges by clicking 'Create new Reference value'.

New Reference Ranges can be created here by clicking 'Create Reference Range'.

Reference Ranges can be edited and deleted, however this will not affect the Reference Range used in the question. So that the item bank provides a correct archive of questions asked to candidates, all historical Reference Range information will be retained in questions.

Reference Ranges can be inserted into any written question type (SBA, SAQ, EMQ, VSAQ) using the question editor.

The Reference Range feature can also be used to insert any standardised text into questions.

Improvements

PRAC-1222 Added "show all exams" option for the Exams filters

By default Practique does not show Published and Ignored exams on Exams list to provide user with most useful information in it's default view. Users can now use Filter feature and choose to show "All exams".

PRAC-1228 Exam results CSV export improvements

Exam results CSV export file format has been improved to contain more information in order to simplify post processing of the results.

CSV file now includes following information:

• Candidate ID
• Candidate full name
• Exam title
• Block title
• Block date
• Session Title
• Circuit number
• Total number of stations (per block)
• Number of passed stations for candidate
• Number of failed stations for candidate
• Total score for candidate
• Pass / Fail for candidate

After this initial columns there will be 4 columns for each Station

• Station Examiner ID
• Station Score
• Station Pass/Fail
• Station Borderline Marker 1..N (numerical value)

Fixes

PRAC-1243 Unable to assign a non-editable dimension (automatically imported dimension) to a Blueprint Map

PRAC-1248 Creating blueprint map with the same as another map fails

5.1.5 - 8th November 2016

Improvements

PRAC-1211, PRAC-1229 Allow import items with multiple Blueprint Dimension tagging

It has been previously possible to import Items with Blueprint Dimensions (eg. Learning Outcome, Speciality, ...) where each column could contain single value for the dimension. With introduction of Multiple blueprint tagging CSV import has been improved to allow importing multiple blueprint tags.

When user wants to for example import item tagged with multiple Learning Outcomes they would use Semicolon separated list of learning outcomes for the Learning Outcome column in CSV. Column would define Dimension (Learning Outcome) and for each of the items value such as "learning outcome 1; learning outcome 2" would be specified.

This change also impacts possible & correct answer values for SBA import.

Changes to the CSV format has been documented on the Item Import page.

Fixes

PRAC-1227 Not possible to combine filters using multiple Blueprint dimensions

When user wanted to filter Items using multiple filters using Blueprint dimensions (for example filter on Speciality and Learning Outcome dimensions) search didn't take into account filters which has been set by user.

It is now possible to combine filters using multiple Blueprint dimensions. User simply adds filter for 1st Dimension and then 2nd Dimension and applies filters. This works for any number of Blueprint Dimensions.

5.1.4 - 4th November 2016

Fixes

PRAC-1223 It is not possible to edit a Resource because form is validated for existing resource number

When user edited the Resource it was not possible to save the changes because the invalid validations has been introduced which required the Resource number to be not present on the system.

This has now been fixed and in case of editing Resource number is not validated in order to allow saving the information.

5.1.3 - 3rd November 2016

New Features

Multiple borderline markers (disabled by default)

Practique now supports multiple borderline markers on a single OSCE marksheet. This means that borderline regressions can be run separately for each section of a marksheet. Any discrete criteria on a marksheet can be designated as applying to a particular borderline marker.

By default, multiple borderline markers are disabled within Practique, but this can be enabled by contacting us via the service desk.

Improvements

PRAC-1179 New exam pin is generated with every push to devices

Previously exam session would have the same exam pin even if user would Reset exam and push it to Devices repeatedly.

New exam pin is now generated every time user pushes exam to Devices.

PRAC-1192 Adding an item always shows the latest item number regardless of item type

When adding new Item to Practique, user is now provided with new item number (latest item number + 1) for each of the Item types. Practique maintains separate sequential numbers for each of the Item types.

For example when using Practique to manage OSCE and SBA Item types, both types will have sequential numbers from 1 to N and user is provided with highest number for each type when creating item.

PRAC-1213 Rename "Latest published" widget to "Version history"

Section listing versions for a particular Item, Item Set and Resource has been renamed to "Version history"

PRAC-1212 Approve imported item automatically only when there are no warnings after import

When user imports set of Items using CSV file Practique automatically approves items included in the file regardless if the items have all necessary information.

This has now changed and Items are automatically improved only if Item has all required information. This is especially useful when using import with Blueprint maps when Item must specify tagging for each map.

Security

This Practique release contains following security fixes which has been identified during penetration testing.

PRAC-1196 Secure input fields (such as passwords) has updated to instruct browsers to turn off autocompletion

PRAC-1197 Secure attribute has been added for the cookies set by Practique

PRAC-1198 All pages which are accessed via HTTPS are now not cached by the Browser

PRAC-1199 Practique used special hidden directories for it's infrastructure, these has now been removed 

PRAC-1200 Added HttpOnly attribute for Practique session cookies

PRAC-1201 Practique no longer uses permanent cookies to store sensitive session information

PRAC-1202 Practique health check URL has been removed and replaced by the status page

PRAC-1204 Each user account now require unique e-mail address to uniquely pair user with e-mail address

Fixes

PRAC-1193, PSD-386 Unable to view published and ignored exams

New user interface mistakenly did not allow users to work with Published & Ignored exams.

It is now possible to work with Published exams as well as Ignored exams (and un-ignore them as well)

PRAC-1210 Item number required during CSV import

When user created CSV file which contained item number column, Practique require user to specify Item numbers using the column in the CSV.

Practique now provides item numbers automatically when values for the Item number column are not specified.

5.1.2 - 13th October 2016

Fixes

PRAC-1157 Unable to attach resource from resource bank to an Item

When attaching a resource to an Item from the resource library, an error message was given that there was an 'error loading the pop up'. This prevented the user from attaching a previously uploaded resource.

It is now possible to successfully attach a resource from the resource library to an Item.

Support for Practique for iPad 4.2.2

Previously running exams on 5.0+ with an iPad app version 4.2.2 could lead to stability issues if multiple exam sessions were pushed.

This has been addressed by improving support for running iPad app version 4.2.2 (Single Exams) with Practique Server 5.0+ (Multi Exams). With the upcoming release of Practique for iPad version 5.0, support for iPad version 4.x will be dropped.

PSD-359 Not possible to access Role Player Options if an exam has Items with marking rounds greater than 0

If the Items in an OSCE/OSPE/MMI exam have a non-zero marking round, and the venue size is set so that there is not enough room (venue size hints Practique how many rooms it generates for schedule) to hold candidates then it was not possible to access Role Player options.

It is now possible to access Role Player options for an exams using various settings for marking rounds exam settings.

5.1.1 - 11th October 2016

Improvements

Log in and SSO

Added the ability to customise the various text information when using SSO integration. It is now possible to customise text of the Login Button, text of the Link for users who do not have SSO login with the organisation as well as welcome text on the left side of the logins screen. This provides compete customisation of the login screen for the customer.

5.1.0 - 7th October 2016

New Features

Filtering and searching within Practique has been overhauled, with a new unified design for filtering the Item Bank, Item Sets, Resources, Exams, Candidates, Examiners and Users.

The filtering design:

1. Filters can be applied or removed easily, and allow for filtering based on Blueprint Dimensions, as well as dates and users.
2. It is possible to add multiple filters - these are added using AND logic. This means that an item (or resource/candidate etc) must meet all of the criteria set in the filters. It is also possible to select multiple categories within the same dimension - this will use OR logic, where an item must be either in one of the selected categories.
3. Similar to existing usage, it is possible to filter items based on their review state
4. It is also possible to filter based on the type of Item (or resource etc)
5. It is now easier to sort through the filtering results.
6. As well as filtering by Blueprint Dimensions, it is possible to filter by the date that an item has been created or updated, as well as the user that created the item.

Example usage:

Improvements

VSAQ Improvements

PRAC-1009 There have been significant improvements to the workflow of marking VSAQ responses

• Candidates can no longer have differing marks for the exact same response. If two (or more) Candidates have responded in the same way (including case and punctuation), they now have to be given the same mark
• Identical Candidate responses are now collapsed in to one row in the responses table, meaning that it is now much quicker to mark Candidate responses
• When viewing a VSAQ item in the Item Bank, the possible responses are now shown alphabetically 
• When creating a VSAQ, it is now possible to delete responses in the answer form, and no longer possible to add repeated identical possible responses
• VSAQ answers can now have scores other than 1. It is now possible to actively mark a response 0 if it is a common wrong answer, for example.
• It is now possible to add new answers to VSAQ items retrospectively, so that over time the quality of the responses and the marking time improves. This creates a new version of the item.

User Groups

Roles have been renamed to User Groups, as this more accurately reflects how they are used in Practique. We have simplified the user interface, so that it is now easier to see which User Groups a User is part of. We have also removed the 'Senior Administrator' role from all users exept Fry-IT administrators.Existing 'Senior Administrators' will be moved to Administrators. This will not affect any users abilities on the system.

Fixes

PRAC-1024 Examiner ID Validation Error

Previously it was possible to create an examiner with any ID. It is now only possible to have an Examiner with an alphanumeric ID 

PRAC-1073 Exam duration and Item title are should mandatory when creating an OSCE station

When creating/editing OSCE station user could omit information about Exam duration. Such OSCE station - if scheduled - would cause problems during scheduling. Both Exam duration and Item title field has been made mandatory in order to prevent such errors.

5.0.0 - 19th September 2016

New Features

User Interface Update

The new User Interface will likely be the most prominent change in Practique 5.0. The primary driving force behind this is to provide a better and easier experience for people using Practique on a day-to-day basis. There will be some noticeable changes to the system in some parts in order to standardise the design. However the core workflows within Practique have not changed, unless documented below.

The new design also conforms better to the W3C AA standard, meaning that the system is significantly easier to use for people with accessibility requirements. The new design lays the foundation for further improving accessibility, with Practique aiming for 100% AA coverage and aspiring to AAA coverage in the future.

1. Navigation
   
   Navigation within the system has been standardised, and added to the top navigation bar.
   
   This will allow users to access all parts of the system from whatever page they are currently accessing, rather than going back to the dashboard each time. A new 'Help' section has been added, with ways of accessing the different types of support that we offer. The Settings drop down has been extended to detail all system-wide settings. These include all OSCE Marksheet settings (Global Observation Criteria, Sections and Schemas), management of Examiners and Candidates, Practique User account management and permissions, and device management.
   
   
   
2. Colour Scheme
   
   The colour palette of Practique has changed, including the main theme colour of Practique. The new colour scheme provides a much higher contrast, and a standardisation of colours for the function of buttons
   
   
3. Standardisation of Item Bank, Item Sets, Resource Library and Resources
   
   The design of the Item Bank, Item Sets, Resource Library and Resources Library (formerly Asset Library) has been improved and standardised. This will enable quicker navigation and use in future.
   
   
4. Forms
   
   Forms styling within Practique has been standardised, which now provides a better layout for showing help text for each field. Optional fields are now marked as such.
   
   
5. Application Information
   
   Application information has been moved in to a new page footer, which is helpful for debugging the application.
   
   

• Dashboard
  
  
  The design of the dashboard has changed significantly in the new release. The main navigation buttons have been moved to the top bar, and we have moved unpublished exams to a new 'Exams' page. This means that only exams that are currently pushed to iPads will show on the dashboard, in the Exams in Progress table.
   

• Exams
  
  
  The new Exams page shows all exams throughout the preparation workflow. New exams are created from this page, current exams are viewable here, and complete exams are also shown. This brings exams into the same layout and presentation as other elements in the system, which will allow for easier use. There has been no change to the workflow of exams - the steps needed to create, prepare, run, set standard and publish exams are still the same. Exams can now only be hidden from this screen and results processing (by going to Advanced > Hide) if they are not currently on pushed iPads and the exam has not finished.
  
  
  
  
  

DICOM Image Support

Practique now supports the use of DICOM images (including multi-slice images) on the back end. DICOM image support is currently limited to black and white images only. Currently DICOM images can not be used in exams - this feature is in preparation of the upcoming Practique desktop client. The ability to pan, zoom, rotate, window and move through slices will be the same in the desktop client as it is in the back end.

Single Sign On Integration

Practique can now integrate with SSO services (SAML2/Shibboleth), meaning that it is possible to use your institution-wide account (eg university account) to access the Practique Server. This has the advantage of having the same username and password as all other institution services, and bespoke password and username policies can be enforced.

It is possible to have both SSO and non-SSO users within Practique, and to configure whether a user has to use SSO to sign in or not. This setting can be configured by going to Settings > Practique Users > (Select a User) > Edit.

Use of SSO requires coordinated set up from both the Practique Team and institution IT services. Please get in contact if you would like to start using SSO to access Practique. As well as using SSO to authenticate users in Practique, it is now also possible to use the SSO to fetch user permissions and groups from central institution user data.

Session Expiry

We have introduced session expiry in to Practique. User session will expire after a given period of inactivity, a user will be logged out of the Practique Server. Inactivity period is a configurable length of time, and defaults to unlimited length making Session Expiry switched off by default retaining current behaviour.

Session Expiry is useful as a security measure to ensure that users do not accidently leave an unattended computer logged in to Practique. To set Session Expiry up, please contact the Practique Team.

Multiple Concurrent Exams

It is now possible to run multiple exams at the same time in Practique. Exams are pushed at a block level, meaning that it is possible to push multiple blocks, and their respective sessions, to the iPads simultaneously, including if the exams run across multiple days.

This will make the scheduling of exams considerably simpler - before where an exam had to be set up with multiple days, blocks and sessions, can now be set up as multiple individual exams. The process of preparing and pushing an exam remains the same, with the addition of being able to start multiple sessions simultaneously.

This inevitably has an impact on the iPad application, insofar as it must be recording information for the correct exam. When multiple exam sessions are synced with an iPad, the examiner or marshal logging in is presented with the option to select which exam session they would like to log in to. This mirrors the similar current functionality of logging in to an exam session when the iPad is offline. This relates to the improvement of being able to have custom names for sessions and blocks, as it will be easier for an examiner to select a correct session called "Hospital Building A - afternoon session" rather than "25th November 2016 - Session 5". Further information on the selection and use of multiple sessions is available on the iPad release note page.

• Multiple Venue Exam Example:
  Lets say we have an exam running across two venues, Hospital Building A, and University Building B. We are running this exam across two days, and each day has a morning session and and afternoon session. The two days will use different Item Sets.
  
  Previously this would not have been possible in Practique, however now we can set this up with multiple exams. We set up one exam per venue per day, so a total of four exams. We schedule a Day 1 and Day 2 exam for Hospital Building A, and University Building B. The four exams each have two sessions AM and PM. By scheduling each exam separately, it allows us to completely control who examines where and when - for example some examiners may only be able to travel to University Building B.

Multiple Blueprint Tagging

Practique 5.0 has introduced multiple blueprint tagging. Previously it was possible to tag an item or observation criterion with only one category per Blueprint Dimension. With the introduction of Blueprint Maps, we have enabled items and observation criteria to be tagged with unlimited number of categories. For example, previously for a Domain blueprint dimension, with categories 'Communication', 'Patient Safety',  'Differential Diagnosis' and 'Data Interpretation', it would only have been possible to say that a question is one of these. It is now possible to add a blueprint map, and add a 'Communication' coordinate and a 'Patient Safety' coordinate. This is also possible for individual markseet criteria as before.

As well as adding Blueprint Maps, we have introduced versioning and an audit trail to the Master Blueprint. Dimensions can now be archived, and Blueprint Maps go through the same submission workflow as items, resources and item sets.

The way that examiners and candidates can be blueprinted has not changed, however we have now added this method of tagging to resources. Previously, resources (assets) only supported simple tagging, with little control and flexibility. Now the same way of tagging has been added to resources, where a blueprint dimension can be defined as applying to items, candidates, examiners and resources.

Improvements

PRAC-957 Performance improvements for incoming mark submissions

In order to improve experience during large exams (hundreds of students sitting one exam) changes as been made to processing of the received marks by the Practique Server. Server now queues incoming marks for processing instead of immediately processing the marks to allow better & more stable performance during peak periods.

Due to this change there may be slight delay (up to 10 seconds) between the time when mark is visible (and re-distributed to the Marshal iPads) on the Practique Server and the time when Practique Server received & en-queued mark for processing. This behaviour is correct and does not affect normal exam workflow as times will rarely reach 10 second delay.

PRAC-604 Inconsistency of Pass Mark and Passing Score

A different marker method was being used for Set standard (correct) and for Candidate list (wrong) when viewing the passing score for an exam

PRAC-875 Broken URLs when an examiner is manually assigned to a given session date

This was allowing only exams with IDs of single digits to have manual changes made. Any exam ID can now have changes made to it

Fix for Failed on CSP alert message on candidate list page

Fixed redirection to next page when changing the dates of an exam

This now returns the user to the continue preparations screen

PRAC-979 Unable to add examiners to Make Manual Changes

Examiners that had not previously been allocated to the exam (by manual, CSV or random allocation) were not able to be added to an exam when making manual changes. Now any examiner in the system can be added to an exam manually

PRAC-978 Item Cut Score report does not work if there is not a borderline marker set

The report is now able to be run when there is not a borderline marker set up on the item. However a warning message is displayed explaining that a borderline marker is not set up.

PRAC-829 related: View logins page displayed incorrect information when candidate starts on a rest room

Fixed so that View logins page works correctly, and the examiner with no candidate still shows the room where they should be

PRAC-973 An error is raised when trying to allocate examiners in existing exams

Fixed so that an examiner is created if they do not already exist when they are uploaded

PSD-219, PRAC-953 Blueprint dimensions show on Item list even if they dont apply to Items

The UI of tagging Items with blueprint dimensions has changed in the new version, Which has removed this bug.

PRAC-982 Stopping a session where some candidates are absent asks you to force stop the session

If a session has candidates that are marked as 'Did Not Attend', when you try to end that session you are asked to force stop the session, with a warning that some marks may not be submitted. This is no longer required, and the session can be stopped normally.

PSD-260, PRAC-996 Error when allocating an examiner with a special character in their name

Examiners with full unicode names can now be used in the system, and will not have allocation problems.

PSD-304, PRAC-1082 Cannot export candidate responses when response contains special character

When written exams have responses with special characters, this prevented the exam results from being exported

Report title was uneditable

It is now possible to edit the title of a report template once it had been created.

PSD-317 Error in uploading OSCE schedule when file has incorrect MIME type

This error was caused by inconsistencies with opening spreadsheet files between Windows operating systems and macOS 

4.3.9 - 19th July 2016

Improvements

PSD-279, PSD-287, PSD-291 : Ability to set Cut score per station

It is now possible to set Cut score per individual OSCE station and not only globally for whole exam as previously. Setting Cut score does override Practique default calculation of the Cut score, it is possible to revert back to Practique calculation if necessary.

In order to set Cut score per station navigate to Set Standard > Items where you can use Amend button to change Cut score.

When Cut score is set per station there is a visual indication - ⚠ -  on the Set Standard > Items screen for the station which has adjusted Cut score. The same visual notification is present on the Set Standard screen.

PSD-290: Candidate feedback report PDF page breaks improvements

Under some circumstances (depending on the content of the report) it was possible that the generated PDF had page breaks in wrong places. For example headers of the report sections such as Analysis would be separated from the content and put on different pages.

PDF generator has been updated to ensure that the section header is not separated from it's content.

Fixes

PRAC-963: WRITTEN - Fixed Unicode error on (V)SAQ mark edit screen

4.3.8 - 14th June 2016

Improvements

PSD-257: Removed Pass mark & Pass/Fail columns from analysis part of Candidate feedback report

Analysis section of the Candidate Feedback Report presents information about student's performance broken down by the selected Blueprint domain. Section did contain calculations of Score and Pass/Fail for each category of the blueprint dimension. This information was difficult to grasp by students and was more confusing then adding real value to the report.

These two columns have now been removed.

Fixes

PSD-254: Unable to generate Examiner report for exam with has excluded stations

It is now possible to generate report for exam which contains stations excluded from statistics. Report does omit excluded stations from the report and only include information for non excuded stations.

4.3.7, 4.3.6 - 3rd June 2016

Improvements

PRAC-520 Improved scheduling of Candidates and Examiners

Significant improvements have been made to scheduling both Examiners and Candidates to give users more flexibility and control over the scheduling process.

• It is possible to allocate Examiners/Candidates to Session, Circuit, Room
• It is possible to upload complete schedule for Examiners/Candidates via CSV/XLS to allow external preparation of schedule
• It is possible to adjust uploaded schedule for Examiners/Candidates
• It is possible to manually prepare schedule for Examiners/Candidates
• It is still possible to let Practique generate schedule automatically

4.3.5 - 20th May 2016

Improvements

PRAC-971: Keep order of items when combining exams

When you're combining exams Practique now keeps the order of the items the same as it was in the exams being combined and does not change order at all.

PRAC-970, PSD-138: WRITTEN - Updated Question statistics analysis report

Report now lists questions only as Question 1, 2..., it does not contain question stem as it was too long, Facility is displayed with 2 decimal place precision.

PRAC-872, PSD-186: Improved examiner z-score report

Examiner report now groups examiners per station they have examined during the exam. Also for each examiner report shows the Z-Score, Mean score and Standard deviation, this information is also presented in a graph for easy comparison.

4.3.4 - 10th May 2016

Fixes

PRAC-969, PSD-231: OSCE - Unable to change Station with special characters in it's title

When attempting to change station in View Sessions > View Rotation > View Start rooms which has special characters in it's title, Practique fails and does not show list of stations.

This has now been fixed and it is possible to change stations even if they contain special characters.

4.3.3 - 10th May 2016

Improvements

PRAC-967: OSCE - Role player scheduling improvements when scheduling Role players to multiple sessions

Practique used random allocation when distributing Role Players to circuits in different Sessions. This resulted in schedule where Role Players were not in the same circuit/room when scheduled to more than one session.

It is now possible to choose how Practique should handle Role Players when scheduling them to multiple sessions. You can choose from the following options:

• • Copy and Rotate circuit: Role players are copied to other sessions and rotate circuits as well
  • Copy and keep Circuit: Role players are copied to other sessions but stay on the same circuit
  • Don't copy: Role players won't be copied to other sessions

4.3.2 - 5th May 2016

Fixes

PRAC-968: OSCE - Global observation criteria does not allow to set Borderline marker

Bug when adding new global observation criteria prevented that criteria to be marked as Borderline marker. This bug has been introduced in 4.3.0.

It is now possible to create new observation criteria and mark it as Borderline marker.

4.3.1 - 4th May 2016

Fixes

PSD-217, PRAC-947: OSCE - Candidate/Examiner import from LDAP does not specify dimension type

Bug in the integration code with LDAP caused that the LDAP groups imported for Candidates/Examiners created Blueprint dimensions with wrong type which might lead to duplicate Blueprint dimensions.

This has now been fixed and LDAP integration will import groups as Blueprint dimensions with correct type which prevents duplication. 

4.3.0 - 12th April 2016

New Features & Improvements

Updated Marksheet editor

Item Marksheet has been updated to provide better user experience, provide useful hints and help texts as well as allowing introduction of new features such as Critical Stop Points (described in next section).

1. As the Creation and Editing of the Observation criteria is becoming more complex due to new features and additional settings we have moved the user interface into separate screen accessible via Add new criteria and Edit buttons.
   
   
2. Introduction of new column to indicate that the Observation criteria is functioning as Critical Stop point, see Critical Stop Point section.
   
   
3. Mandatory, Feedback Visible and CSP settings for an Observation criteria is now highlighted on the marksheet to provide strong feedback as these settings directly influence marking on the iPad.
   
   
4. Clear visual indication of Marksheet sections throughout the editor as well as quick links to edit Global Marksheet. Each section of the marksheet is now split (if necessary) into Global and Local subsections. This allows you to quickly identify which Observation criteria have been defined in Global marksheet and which are Local to the item.
   
   
5. Order of the sections visible on the marksheet editor matches order defined in Manage Sections and will be the same as order in which marksheet is represented on the iPad during exam.
   
   
6. Count as settings visual feedback - If you use Count as feature to assign Observation criteria to Blueprint dimensions this settings will be indicated by changing the Count as button to Change Count as.

Critical Stop Points - OSCE

Critical Stop Points (CSP) is a new features which allows Exam teams to create marksheets which allows Examiners to indicate candidate's critical error, serious professional concerns or stop point during the exam/procedure. When Examiner marks candidate performance with CSP the Candidate will fail the station at which the CSP occurred regardless their achieved score.

CSP - Marksheet authoring

In order to provide CSP functionality we have updated Item Marksheet Editor to allow creating marksheets with Observation Criteria functioning as Critical Stop Points.

Observation criteria as Critical Stop Point (see above screenshot ②)

• Can be only of type Boolean
• It is automatically set to have weight of 0 to exclude it from Candidate score
• Is automatically set not to be mandatory

CSP - Electronic Marking

This feature has minimal impact on electronic marking and only impact is validation of the marksheet before submission by the Examiners, for more details see Practique for iPad release notes.

CSP - Result processing and statistics

Candidates which have failed station due to CSP are included in statistics and results processing as usual. Critical Stop Point only influence calculation of the Pass/Fail for the station which is marked as CSP. This can then result in situations where it is possible to have candidates with high score for a station but still be Fail due to CSP.

Candidate feedback report has been update to indicate if the station has been Fail due to CSP or not.

Standard setting screen has been updated to indicate how many Fails is due to CSP.

4.2.2 - 12th April 2016

Improvements

PRAC-903: Written - Improve sorting of (V)SAQ answers wile marking

SAQ and VSAQ answers are now sorted by given response with the most frequent answers first which allows quicker marking.

Fixes

PRAC-650, PRAC-845: OSCE - Export OSCE results not transferring text feedback

4.2.1 - 5th April 2016

Fixes

PRAC-624: ASCII error when downloading results from View standard screen

Case when Candidate information or Marks contained special characters outside the ASCII range caused Practique to fail.

It is now possible to download results containing special characters.

PRAC-829: Examiner room not showing when the examiner has no Candidate

When the Examiner started in Rest room there was no room number on View Logins screen for that examiner.

View Logins now correctly displays room number for all Examiners regardless if they start in Rest rooms or not.

PSD-210: Written - Unable to mark incorrect VSAQ answers as correct in a batch operation

When marking VSAQ questions of the written exam it was not possible to mark wrong answer as correct one in batch operation and Practique would display an error. When marking one question at a time the problem didn't occur.

It is now possible to use batch operations during VSAQ marking.

PRAC-895: Possible to corrupt an exam and trigger iPad crashes

It was possible to corrupt an exam by changing date of the exam while the exam had already locked locked Item sets and Examiners.

This has been fixed by allowing to change date of the exam only when all sections on the Continue preparing screen are all unlocked.

4.2.0 - 31st March 2016 (requires Practique for iPad version >=4.1.0)

New Features

Combining exams

Combining exams feature provides means how multiple OSCE or Written exams (more specifically exam blocks) can be combined into single exam of the same type to allow desired results processing.

This feature allows you for example to run 2 day exam with the same Candidates on both days but with different Item sets (2 part OSCE) and then combine these 2 parts into single exam for processing. After combining the exam you can use all result processing and reporting functionality for Combined exam as you'd use normal exams.

Changes to the current functionality

• Create new exam now allows to create Combined exam
• Combined exam can be crated by combining any number of exam blocks of the same exam type (OSCE / Written)
• Dashboard has been enhanced
  • to indicate which exams are Combined exams
  • to indicate which exams are part of the Combined exam
• Completed exams screen allows to display exams which are part of Combined exam, these exams are not displayed by default
• When working with Combined exam or Exams which are part of Combined exam user is notified about this to prevent errors.

Communicate to iPad that the candidate ‘Did not attend’

Practique Server allows marking Candidate as ‘Did not attend’ via View logins screen. This information has not been previously propagated to iPads meaning that examiners still had Candidate visible on their schedule and could mark Candidate who did not attend. User interface for the ‘Did not attend’ features has been reviewed and updated to be consistent and easier to use.

Practique now propagates ‘Did not attend’ to iPads so that Examiners are clearly notified that the Candidate did not attend and are not able to mark such Candidate.
Please refer to Practique for iPad release notes for more details.

Show which iPad has been used by which user in View logins screen

View logins screen has been improved to provide information which iPads are used by each user. There is a new column ‘Devices’ which is populated over the time of the exam with iPad Device Names for each user. This feature is very useful (especially in off-line mode) when marks needs to be extracted for specific Examiner. Previously exam team would need to either keep records themselves or check every single iPad to find one used by specific examiner.

Separation of Examiner/Candidate ID and their Passwords for iPad application

Practique used Examiner/Candidate IDs which were imported or synchronised (LDAP) into Practique as passwords for iPad application as well as Examiner/Candidate identifiers. This caused problems as there was transformation (removing letters, etc...) of the identifiers into the passwords which were hidden from the exam teams and done automatically. As a result and despite Examiners/Candidate has been imported with correct IDs it may happen that iPad passwords were unexpectedly different.

Practique now separates Examiner/Candidate IDs from iPad passwords. New field Password is now available for Examiners/Candidates. You have also option to import Examiners/Candidates with new 'password' field which should be populated with desired iPad password 'as is' should you wish to have different passwords from Examiner/Candidate IDs. If you wish to have iPad passwords same as Examiner/Candidate ID you omit 'password' field from your import files or won't set it during editing and Practique will use ID as password.

Improvements

PRAC-705: Show assigned Blueprint Dimension Category including whole breadcrumb trail

Practique now displays complete information about assigned Blueprint Category on the Item > Overview and Item > Blueprinting screen. This allows users to clearly see what Dimenstions & Categories are assigned to the Item

PRAC-804: Edit Global Marksheet - ‘Apply If’ show whole path in Blueprint category drop-down

When using ‘Apply If’ feature via Edit Global Marksheet it was difficult to distinguish different Blueprint Dimensions and their Categories because dropdown menu to select the Blueprint Category only contained Category names. This has been improved and dropdown now shows complete information including Blueprint Dimension and parent categories  (if any).

PRAC-823: "PIN" is used inconsistently throughout the user interface

Multiple pages (Dashboard, View Logins) had field "PIN" which showed different information on each page which made it inconsistent and confusing.

Dashboard has been changed to read "Exam PIN" to indicate PIN required for students to login into Written exam. View Logins page has been changed and "PIN" has been renamed to "Password" to reflect that the fields is used as password for the iPad application (for Examiners/Candidates/Marshals).

PRAC-831: Allow to set "Show on Candidate feedback report" during creating the criteria

In order to show particular Observation criteria on the Candidate Feedback Report users had to first create the Observation criteria and then Edit that criteria in order to be able to indicate that the criteria should be visible on the Candidate Feedback Report.

This has been now improved and users can indicate the desired feedback during creation of the Observation criteria.

Fixes

PRAC-865: Candidate drop down select for Reporting is not sorted in any way

Drop-down with Candidates was not sorted in any way which made very difficult to find specific candidate in order to generate his/her report.

Drop-down is now sorted alphabetically by Candidate ID ascending.

PRAC-889, PSD-203: Inaccurate error message when importing candidate schedule fails

When user tries to import CSV file (in Specify Candidates step of Exam preparation) with invalid format Practique will display error message. This error message has been wrongly formatted and could result in long string of letters in one column instead of row.

Practique now displays correctly formatted error message as well as correct format hint.

PRAC-500: Generated PDF reports are not regenerated when Standard settings changes

When users generated PDF reports using Standard Settings before finishing exam result customization then reports may have not reflected all changes made by users. This problem could have been experienced if the workflow of the Exam team included generation of the PDF reports before they perform result adjustments.

Practique now correctly purges old PDF reports as changes are made to the exam results or Standard Settings.

PRAC-709: Saving an Item may fail due to full-text search index

When an Item (OSCE/Written) contained very long texts (2000+ characters) error would be triggered when saving such an item.

Limit for 2000 characters for Item text information has been removed.

PRAC-787: Displayed wrong number of registered devices

Devices screen did not accurately inform about total number of registered devices (all devices which are/have been approved to communicate with the Server).

The total number of registered devices now indicate correct number.

PRAC-824: Blueprint dimensions and categories are not enforced to be unique

It has been possible to create Blueprint Dimensions and Categories with exactly same name which lead to the duplicates. This could later cause problems during Import and assigning the Dimensions/Categories.

It is now not possible to create Dimensions or Categories (within Dimension) with the same name.

PRAC-632: WRITTEN - Upload results template CSV file has wrong format

CSV file template for uploading results available to download via View Sessions > Upload Result CSV provided CSV file with wrong format. The file contained headers for each column with full question names instead of question code.

CSV template is now provided in correct format where headers only contain station codes such as "SBA: 1", etc...

PRAC-815, PSD-112: WRITTEN - Importing Written exam Item with duplicate Blueprint Dimension(s) cause error

When user tries to import Written exam Item using CSV which contains Blueprint dimension more than once Practique return Unhanded error. For example there are 2 columns named 'Speciality' in the CSV file it will cause an error as Multiple Tagging is not supported by Practique.

Practique now displays correct error message allowing user to rectify the issue (remove second Domain column) with CSV file.

4.1.11 - 22nd March 2016

New features

PRAC-896: Added settings to have different number of decimal places on the Candidate Feedback Report

Since 4.1.10 all mark related indicators are displayed with 2 decimal place precision through out the system. This changes allows to generate Candidate Feedback Report with different number of decimal place then it's set globally for the system.

4.1.10 - 15th March 2016

Fixes

PRAC-871, PSD-180, PSD-178: Fix inconsistent pass/fail calculation due to rounding of the cut score

Issue
Practique Pass/Fail calculation for Candidates has been affected by inconsistent comparisons of rounded exam pass mark with not rounded Candidate score. This inconsistency may result in false Passes for Candidates whose score was very close to the rounded exam pass mark.

Example
Assume Exam pass mark (not rounded) is 32.23 then rounded value is 32 (mathematically rounded down) and Candidate score of 32.11.
When Practique calculate the Pass/Fail for above Candidate comparison is made using following expression “Pass when candidate_score >= rounded_exam_pass_mark (32.11 >= 32) otherwise Fail” which would indicate Candidate Pass despite he should have Failed because non rounded comparison of the values is 32.11 >= 32.23 indicating Fail instead of Pass.

Changes & Resolution
Changes have been made to calculations for Candidate Pass/Fail so that non rounded values are always used for comparison. This ensures that Candidate Pass/Fail will be calculated accurately.

It would be impractical to display raw values (precision of 16 decimal places) for mark related values (pass mark, mean score, etc…) on screens such as Standard Settings and others. Therefore Practique now consistently displays these values mathematically rounded to two decimal places throughout the system. Keep in mind that the rounding of the values is solely for the purpose of display.

False positives/negatives
While the calculation of the Pass/Fail is now accurate there can still be confusion when checking the results due to the fact that in very rare occasion two students with the same score (will be displayed rounded with 2 decimal places precision) will have different Pass/Fail which is due to the rounding of the values for display, Pass/Fail is accurate.

This would happen for example in case of scores 32.112342 (A) and 32.114234 (B) with exam pass mark of 32.113123. In this case student A would Fail with displayed score of 32.11 and student B would Pass with score 32.11.

The chance of this happening are very slim as the difference in score vs rounded score is at this level of precision negligible.

List of Screens and Reports affected by changes described above

Screen changes

• • Set standard page 
    • Pass score
    • Download as CSV
  • Set standard - Candidates)
    • Score
    • Max score
  • View sessions - Candidates
    • Score
    • Max score
  • Set standard - Items - View marks 
    • Score
  • Set standard - Examiners
    • Mean score
  • Examiners - View (Examiner detail)
    • Total score

Report changes
Candidate feedback report:

• • Changed format of percentage values
  • Accurate Pass/Fail

Exam analysis report:

• • Changed format of percentage values
  • Minimum score
  • Maximum score
  • Median
  • Mode
  • Mean
  • Standard error of mean
  • Standard deviation
  • Cut score
  • Pass Score rounded
  • Cut Scores & SEM
    • Number formatting
    • Accurate Pass/Fail

Station cut score report:

• • Mean score
  • Cut score
  • Max score
  • Standard deviation

4.1.9 - 10th March 2016

New features

PRAC-878: Practique Server Status page

Status page provides means for IT services to monitor Practique Server status and status of it's sub services. Status page can be provided in various formats so that integration with different types of monitoring tools is possible. For full documentation please see Practique Server Monitoring.

Fixes

PRAC-887, PSD-199 & PRAC-878: Monitoring & Recovery of the Database server and iPad communication

Under certain circumstances (server restart, maintenance, etc...) it was possible that the underlying Practique Server Database connection has been lost while status indicator for WSI (top right corner of the screen) still indicated fully working state. This caused issue with communication between iPad and Server. Manifestation of the issue was that iPad indicated that it is waiting for Server to respond but it never received the response.

We have improved monitoring and auto-recovery for the Database server within Practique so that the WSI indicator does provide accurate information. Also we have incorporated auto-recovery in case that the problem with the database is temporary.

The same status indication is now provided by the Practique Server Status page.

PRAC-877: Written, Student logins for Practique for iPad has been truncated when containing both numbers and letters

Certain format of Candidate IDs has been transformed unexpectedly by Practique which caused problems for Candidates to log-in into Practique for iPad application. For example when Candidate has been imported with ID of 'XY1230Z' Practique would schedule such Candidate into the exam with iPad password of '1230' which would be unexpected.

This has now been fixed and Practique always uses Candidate ID field as iPad password, so 'XY1230Z' from above example.

Security

PRAC-890: Clickjacking protection enabled

We have enabled security feature for the application server protecting it from the Clickjacking attacks. Protection adds X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN HTTP header to the server response which can be used by supported browsers.

For more information about Clickjacking please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickjacking. For more information about implementation see documentation.

4.1.8 - 19th February 2016

Fixes

PRAC-843, PSD-176: OSCE, Candidate Feedback Reports did not reflect correctly pass/fail for the candidate under certain conditions

When exam results has been processed and Minimum items to pass settings has been set to value other then 0 on the Set Standard screen then Candidate Feedback Reports have been generated with false Pass for the Candidates who had been failed due to the Minimum items to pass settings. Results on the Set Standard & statistics for an exam have always been calculated correctly.

Candidate Feedback Report generator has been fixed to accurately reflect settings from the Set Standard screen.

 PRAC-863: OSCE, Options to customise Candidate Feedback Reports were not taken into account when generating the report

This issue only applies to reports generated for OSCE exams. Candidate Feedback Report provides customisation options to show or hide various information such as:

• • Include item breakdown
  • Include cohort average
  • Include number of questions
  • Include class average
  • Include questions overall

Unfortunately all options in italic have been ignored by the report generator and produced the same results regardless of the user selected settings. This is now fixed and report customisation works as expected.

4.1.7 - 26th January 2016

Fixes

PSD-112: Problems importing SBA questions using CSV and XLSX formats

• Unable to import CSV file on MS Windows platform
• Unable to import CSV/XLSX file when it contained multiple columns with the same Dimension
• Unable to import XLSX file when it contained empty rows (included in 4.1.4)

It is now possible to import CSV files on MS Windows platform without problems as well as XLSX files (correct format assumed).
Described problems here are connected to certain MS Windows platform and CSV/XLSX files with not entirely correct format.

4.1.6 - 26th January 2016

Fixes

PSD-130: OSCE Reporting: Station Cut Score graph has been improved:

• Cut score line is now rendered from the edge to edge of the graph
• Cut score value is displayed above the cut score line
• Borderline marker has been indicated in different colour from the Cut score line

PSD-83,PSD-143: OSCE: Edit mark screen has been improved in order to accomodate for longer examiner text feedback.

It is now possible to comfortably review the text feedback provided by examiners. Also the height of the text boxes is set to fit the text to minimise scrolling and put all content on screen.

4.1.5 - 20th January 2016

Fixes

PSD-170, PSD-152: Additional fix for the Special characters issue.

Previous fix introduced in 4.1.4 didn't solve the issue with special characters completely and throughout the system.

4.1.4 - 17th January 2016

Fixes

PSD-170, PSD-152: Inputing special characters such as Emoji, Currency symbols and other special characters result in Marksheet rejection by the Server and synchronisation errors on the iPads.

Changes has been made to the Marksheet processing on the Server to correctly accept input from iPads including special characters.

PSD-129: Fixed display of missing “Passing criteria” statement on the OSCE Candidate feedback report.

PSD-112: Fixed import of the Written exam SBA Items using Microsoft Excel (XLSX) format

It was not possible to import XLXS files if any of the columns in the source XLSX file were empty or the XLSX  file contained empty rows. Please refer to release notes for 4.1.6 for more details.

4.1.3 - 11th January 2016

Fixes

• PSD-129 OSCE: Updated Candidate feedback report to render properly (removing not necessary columns) when only "Include item breakdown" is selected.

4.1.2 - 6th January 2016

Fixes

• PSD-132: Reports / Candidate feedback (OSCE) - Removed duplicate candidate information (ID & Name) from the report so it's displayed only once

4.1.0 - 15th December 2015

New features & changes

• New Examiner and Candidate tagging & filtering (see Managing Candidates and Examiners documentation for more details)
  • Examiners and Candidates can now be organised into the groups using Blueprints
  • Candidate and Examiner selection and filtering has been updated to take advantage of the groups
• PSD-132: Reports / Candidate feedback - It is possible to hide 'cohort average', 'number of questions' and 'class average'
• Reports - removed option to generate PDF and permalinks from the 'old' reports - users should use exam overview page

Fixes

• Fixed initial synchronisation huge size when pushing Written exams to iPads
• PSD-132: Reports / Candidate feedback - Removed bulleting for station title under Feedback from Examiners
• Make sure that the Item maximum score is updated correctly when changes are made to Mark Scheme, Local or Global observation criteria
• Standard setting grade on the Edit marks screen has been made read only and is populated from the actual marks given to the candidate so it's not necessary to edit the information twice. Standard settings grade can be changed when editing individual marks for the candidate.
• Fixed circuit dropdown order throughout the system to be ordered ascending consistently by circuit number

4.0.9 - 11th November 2015

• Fixed problems importing marks into an exam

4.0.8 - 10th November 2015

• Fixed PRAC-623 Drag & Drop on view starting rooms not working properly
• Fixed PRAC-733 Station Cut score report - regression graph does not start from min value

Change history