Everything
Everything
Everything
Everything
Everything.
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Does it allow cadets and staff to sit exams and pass classifications? Does it update SMS with this information and allow you to get success reports?
So it cannot be âeverythingâ. Be specific.
1, Error 5 needs HQAC input.
2, Not intuitive
3, OCs Canât see what LOs were failed - it has to be via the cadet account.
4, The report function is over complicated.
5, Staff have to add cadets individually, by name.
6, Password resets can only be send to the OC email account.
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Thatâs about it with 3-6 being the most problematic, creating admin for the sake of admin.
Another is it is a dump for all manner of documents and detritus that are not used for classifications.
How long did it take for it to update SMS?
As MVL says the reporting function is far too complicated.
How long was it before it worked for more than 3 people in the country at the same time on a parade night?
When are we going to get specific software that works and get used like we expect it to and not being done on a thinned shoestring? itâs not like work where you can spend time during the day messing around and get things done by talking to people, rather than the system we have. So the expectation is we turn up at the squadron launch and go and it does need to be everything to everyone.
.
Are we talking about what bothers us about the system as it exists at the moment, or shall we whinge about problems which have been resolved or improved already?
3 Likes
You mentioned historic faults that took far too long to fix and missed this one.
HQAC and the minions within need to understand the nature of customer relationships and we are customers.
I mentioned nothing of the sort; I listed some of the current functionality.
It might do them now, but didnât. So the meantime we had to put up with a hugely flawed system.
Iâm not so sure that cadets in themselves are really that different, but the world they grow up and live in is off the scale in terms of expectation and pressure to what I knew, and we as organisation quite gleefully add to it, to âdevelopâ them. I will openly admit that I have done some of this, but got a rude awakening when our own kids started GCSEs and getting additional work to do, which we had to fit around family and the other things they did and on occasion the latter suffered. It changed my view of what we do and how we treat cadets almost instantly. Now I have across 3 schools all Yr11s doing Saturday and holiday classes. Weâve got a flying detail in a couple of weeks and filling the places with older kids has proved interesting, with parents not happy it could get called off at the drop of a hat.
It doesnât help that we seem to have developed a group of staff who think the ATC is a career and do things to make them look good, so they get onto Wing / Region / HQAC or now via the matrices, promoted. One of the adult SNCOs has been staffing cadet NCO courses, as they have told me openly just to tick the box and I will sign them off without a blink. They have 2 young children and weekends are so important when you have young children.
It is an irony when mental health is becoming a big media topic, HQAC have instigated a multi strand stressful environment for cadets and staff, when they donât get enough of that already from their day to day lives.
Hobbies should be an escape from the day to day. If you decide to make it more, thatâs fine, but donât expect or try and drag others into it.
I tend to feel the single biggest thing we learned, is social skills, we had to speak to people face to face or at the most on the phone, although many of us didnât have phones at home. I canât remember how many times I had mates knock at the door or Iâd knock on their door, if that happens now without it being prearranged by text or SM, it would be a rarity, even as adults.
On cadet trips on a coach we chatted to the people around us, sang songs, someone might have had a stereo, lit farts, drew on people if they fell asleep; staff read, chatted or slept, but now within 2-3 minutes phones out, headphones in everywhere which is very dull.
We have changed and not particularly in a good way.
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Which is of relevance to a list of things that are currently broken�
Anyone else rather go back to a paper based system? I think I would. Exams sent out when theyâre due to be done, completed in exam conditions and then sent away for marking.
I feel like the qualification would have more value than the open book/ Google based system we have nowâŚ
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But that doesnât mean itâs OK to introduce / do more, like PTS, where the off squadron levels mean staff giving up more time.
As it was relayed to me it was across the board and we should respect peopleâs family life.
Itâs optional in theory.
But it is very very random due to the requirements for staff to be qualified. I donât think it would really affect retention, if we just did a few things as we used to. Retention wasnât highlighted like it is now, but I feel retention in recent years has been affected by things out of our control, hence people doing things to try and keep cadets interested. IMO PTS was introduced to do this.
Heresy ⌠I like it.
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Absolutely not. I will accept the deficiencies of the current system in exchange for the flexibility and speed it provides.
@incubus
But what if the current systems defencies are not being sorted? Theyâve replaced a slow system that worked for a system that doesnât work and is not being sorted any time soon.
Also it would mean that the progression is annually and more in line with the cadets age/maturity. Like I say, back in my day, which isnât that long ago, us master air cadets knew our stuff whereas youâve got master air cadets now that know very little.
So in my eyes, the current system does not work.
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I agree.
Even now I can pick up any of subjects and instruct, purely as we had to sit in classes learning the subjects and pass an exam that had rigour. Even when I was Staff 1 and prepping for Staff 2 I could instruct in anything, when I did my Staff 2 lesson I did nothing then I donât do now. I must have done something right given the number of cadets Iâve seen through the classifications right the way to (old) Staff Cadet.
We have created a misnomer with MOI as cadets seem to think they canât instruct without it, but I point out to NCOs what do they think they are doing when they show cadets how to do things.
I have a variety of positive news stories for you and I am just the messenger! All of this is gen, no duff.
Ultilearn upgrades and changes
Ultilearn is going to get an upgrade with some new enhancements and the Organisation is working with Ultimedia about this at the moment.
The Organisation is also liaising with Ultimedia about password complexity and seeing if that can be made more cadet friendly.
Lesson Content Rewrite
The training content is (slowly) being rewritten and professionally re-authored by a civilian company that specialises in online content. This will radically improve the presentation of the materials and ensure the content is actually from this century 
Office 365/Azure
in the future, Bader will migrate over Azure and everything will sit behind the Office 365 authentication mechanism.
What that means is that cadets will login to the same login screen that staff use (which is a Single Sign-On tool) to access Ultilearn or Cadet Portal and the login experience will be the same. So, both cadet systems will use the same login information and they will be able to self serve their own passwords with no more password resets being sent to the OC.
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Thank God!
Now is there a timeframe to this magic?
If Iâd known they were prepared to pay I wouldnât have re-written MAS for free! 
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