Wednesday 15 & Thursday 16 July

EBS Opening Session

This opening session sets the tone for the conference, bringing you up to speed on our annual growth and wins, and outlining our commercial strategic themes for the year ahead. We'll share highlights from our product modernisation journey, including what we've delivered since last year's conference, and give you a candid update on our cloud transition and what it means for your organisation.

EBS 5 Preview: What's Next and What's Possible

Get an exclusive first look at what’s coming next. This session showcases live development progress, highlights emerging capabilities, and shares insight into delivery timelines. A rare opportunity to see innovation in action and hear directly from the product team shaping the future of the platform.

Customer Transformation - 3 years on

In this session, Chris Hayden, Assistant Director of Digital Innovation at South & City College Birmingham, reflects on the college’s customer transformation journey three years on, covering digital transformation, improvements to learner outcomes, and wider college performance. Building on themes from the previous event, the session draws on the latest data to demonstrate progress and distance travelled, while also sharing recent learning, including reflections from the latest Ofsted visit—highlighting what worked well, what was anticipated, and how actual needs differed from initial expectations.

Discovering Tribal Services

A relaxed drop‑in session designed to help you get to know the Tribal support and services teams, understand how we work with institutions, and explore how we can support you beyond day‑to‑day system use.

Attendees will gain:

• An introduction to the Tribal services and support teams — who we are and how we help
• Clarity on the range of support available (from onboarding and training to ongoing optimisation)
• Insight into how to raise issues, access guidance, and get the most value from your Tribal solutions
• An opportunity to ask questions, share challenges, and make direct connections with the team

The Evolution of Correspondence: From Letters to Learner Engagement

Communication has transformed, and so has our correspondence module. This session reflects on its journey from letters to SMS and email, its recent move to web, and what comes next. Learn best‑practice guidance on communication channels and why push notifications are becoming key to learner engagement.

HESA: what to expect: JISC

HESA will present an update on the in-year Student data programme reflecting on the journey so far and the future direction of travel for the programme with the first in-year data collection planned for 2028/29. Gain a clearer understanding of the evolving landscape, with practical signposting to existing in-year guidance and insight into what comes next.

The session will also explore the latest developments around modular provision and the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), including the implications for providers and the preparations needed ahead of the 2027/28 collection. Access valuable insights into future changes, key timelines and the practical steps you can take to prepare for what lies ahead.

Security by Design: Protecting Data, Building Trust

Join us for a focused session examining the steps we have taken to further enhance the security of EBS. We will outline the architectural improvements, strengthened development practices, and advanced safeguards incorporated over recent releases to support a more robust and resilient security posture. The session will also provide guidance on the considerations customers should evaluate when deploying EBS, including recommended configurations and responsibilities within their own environments. This session is designed to support organisations in delivering secure, compliant, and well‑governed implementations

Best PS Solutions of 2025/26 

This session will showcase a selection of EBS software solutions from 2025/26, with a strong focus on user experience and realised benefits. Using real examples, we explore how these solutions can enhance staff effectiveness, improve the learner experience, and help organisations achieve their intended outcomes.

We will highlight the key factors that underpin successful implementations, including clear goal setting, strong collaboration between customers and Tribal teams, effective planning, and practical onboarding approaches. The session will also address common challenges, such as evolving requirements and user adoption, and share strategies to overcome them.

Aimed at software users, this session offers practical lessons and ideas to help organisations get more value from their software and feel better prepared for future implementations.

Supporting ALN / SEN Provision: Today and Tomorrow

This session provides a high‑level overview of how ALN / SEN provision is being supported today, alongside emerging priorities and future opportunities. It explores evolving needs, inclusive practice, and how organisations can adapt to better support learners now and in the years ahead.

Improving Learner Data Quality in EBS – Practical Results, Real Impact

Accurate learner contact data underpins everything from funding compliance to communication and student engagement. In this session, we’ll show how colleges can strengthen data quality within Tribal EBS using fully integrated address, email, and phone validation. With over 200 colleges trusting AFD, and more than 15 years of partnership with Tribal, we’ll demonstrate how validation can be seamlessly embedded into existing workflows to ensure high-quality data is captured at source.