Welcome back GOLA users 
GOLA recently celebrated 4.5 million tests taken since its launch in 2002. There are over 220 tests available on GOLA. 

List of available GOLA summative tests with test durations
List of available GOLA Underpinning Knowledge Tests (UKTs) with test durations

Updated: 17 August 2010

1. ESM and Administrator upgrade

2. Functional Skills GOLA test preparations (in England only)

3. GOLA Scheduling tips for Walled Garden

1. ESM and Administrator upgrade

 The end of the recent grace period for the upgrade of GOLA Enterprise Site Manager (ESM) and Administrator was Saturday 14 August 2010. If you did not complete the upgrade prior to Saturday 14 August then it will now become mandatory and you will no longer be able to continue testing until it has been successfully completed.

For those users who have already upgraded you will be prompted to take another upgrade from Sunday 15 August. This new upgrade grace period runs until Sunday 3 October 2010. Your testing will only be impacted if you fail to upgrade before this date.

Both standard and MSI installation routes are available to users. Where appropriate please speak to your IT advisor to agree on the most suitable option to take for your particular GOLA set-up.

Support materials include:
Standard (default) installation instructions (PDF, 418 KB)
or
Windows Installer Technology (MSI) installation instructions (PDF, 384 KB)

Important upgrade notes:

• If you are a sub-user on the account please consult first with the managing account holder or technical contact before proceeding with this upgrade.
• Full administrative rights are required to install the upgrade. Please ensure you have the appropriate staff available when you want to upgrade.
• Please upload all outstanding results in ESM prior to attempting the software upgrade.
  
  Please read the instructions carefully before proceeding with the upgrade. Should you require further support concerning this or other GOLA technical matters please contact the GOLA Technical helpdesk via email golatechnical@pearson.com or phone +44 (0)845 241 0070.

2. Functional Skills GOLA test preparations

Functional Skills tests for English Reading and Writing L1 and L2 become available from 1 September through GOLA. To ensure your test centre is ready to perform the tests without issue please check the following:

The current ESM/Administrator upgrade delivers the functionality used by City & Guilds to deliver the new Functional Skills (FS) tests. Therefore by upgrading before 1 September 2010 you will ensure that your centre is able to deliver the new format tests.

Please note that Macromedia Flash version 10 will also be required on all Test Taker workstations delivering FS tests. You can check your existing Flash version by clicking on http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/.

If you are required to install or upgrade your Flash Player to a later version:

• Ensure only one installation of Flash Player Active X is installed on your test taker computer. Please uninstall/remove any earlier version to achieve this.
• Install/upgrade Adobe Flash Player via your Internet Explorer browser.
• Ensure the Windows account used to login to the Delivery / Testing machines has Full Read/Write/Editable permissions granted to the following file locations:

C:\Windows\System32\Macromedia

C:\Documents and Settings\*Account Login Name*\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player

C:\Documents and Settings\* Account Login Name *\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

C:\Program Files\Promissor

Failure to install Flash correctly may cause the rich text item used in Functional Skills tests to not work properly.

If you encounter any problems with the Flash Player 10 Active X installation on your test taker computers, then please note the following troubleshooting tips provided by Adobe http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html

You can verify your Flash installation and readiness for Functional Skills testing by running the Flash based navigation test (9898-997) as outlined below. The ability to type into the text fields presented within the navigation test will confirm readiness.

The Functional Skills version of the Navigation Test (9898-997) is now available through the Walled Garden. Please take this opportunity to schedule a dummy test using the 'NAVTEST' candidate to check that your system is set-up correctly. Remember that all GOLA Navigation tests are free of charge. Other Functional Skills support information is available via www.cityandguilds.com/functionalskills.

The transition of GOLA test scheduling is now complete. This means that GOLA tests can only be scheduled using Walled Garden. Tests can no longer be scheduled using CatGlobal.com.  See below for full support materials to assist you in using the new scheduling system:

GOLA Test Scheduling demonstrations (best viewed with sound):

• Booking a GOLA test using the Walled Garden Shopping Basket
• Accessing GOLA related reports in the Walled Garden

GOLA Test Scheduling support documentation:

• Quick guide and troubleshooting (PDF 55KB)
• Detailed centre guide  (PDF 1.7MB)
• FAQs (PDF 1.7MB)
  
• Download our tips for managing the transition  (PDF, 38KB)

Important: Due to changes in the booking process we do ask you to check the status of your bookings after they have been submitted in Walled Garden. Please visit the 'Orders' reports section of your Walled Garden account and check the test bookings have been successfully processed as 'Booking Accepted' or 'Booking Complete'.

Key booking principles:

• Book the test against the correct GOLA (Promissor Center) Account ID, this is a unique ref eg ABC123.
• If you are submitting multiple bookings for the same candidate on the same day spread the times of your bookings. Make sure you give plenty of time between the start time of each test eg 1 ½ hours for a 60 minute test.
• Check your booking status of your order by using the Walled Garden Orders reports.

Troubleshooting guidance

Currently we have seen a number of bookings rejected with the following reasons that can be avoided by following the following guidance:

'Candidate already scheduled for another test at this date and time - 702'
This error occurs where you have not spaced test bookings for same candidate taking into consideration the test durations. If sufficient time is given between tests for each candidate this error will not occur. Remember GOLA tests can be sat at least 4 hours before and 4 hours after the scheduled time (UKT tests 24hrs before, 96hrs after). Therefore a test can always be delivered earlier than scheduled if the candidate finishes their previous test early. GOLA test durations can be located by clicking on the tests available links on http://www.cityandguilds.com/5361.html.

Booking timescales
We are advising customers to schedule well in advance of the test time. The change to the process allows users to book tests via Walled Garden immediately after candidate registration. However, we do require more time to process a booking from Walled Garden to CATGlobal and into ESM. This can take one hour to process your booking into CATGlobal. Please be aware of this as you place your bookings.

GOLA Account IDs
Finally I would like to stress that it is important to know your GOLA Account ID (also referred to as a Promissor Center ID) eg ABC123. Knowing this ensures you book the test to the correct ESM installation. To identify which GOLA Account ID you use log-on to your CATGlobal account and select 'Test Center info', it is displayed under the Center ID field. If during booking via the Walled Garden Shopping Basket screens you cannot select or view the correct GOLA Account ID then please report this to City & Customer Relations Team who will correct this for you.

All GOLA scheduling queries should be directed to City & Guilds Customer Relations team on Tel: +44 (0) 844 5430000 - option 2 GOLA query.