This article's topic of interest barely needs introducing: programmes and classes are offered year-round at every single institution working with us, and managing intakes is one of the main reasons people come to FULL FABRIC. 🤗 During the implementation phase, it's up to FULL FABRIC to create a school's intakes and set everything up nice and neat, but an important part of a school's transition towards autonomy and self-reliance is having this process down ahead of new intakes. Besides, it's so easy it's worth a try! 😉
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How to create and edit a programme
Programmes are the cohesive sets of subjects teaching students new skills and in-depth theoretical knowledge in a given area of study where they're awarded a recognised qualification, such as a degree or a diploma, in preparation for a career in a specialised industry. 👩🔬 In other words, they're the academic studies offered by universities. Naturally, new programmes should be created whenever new studies become available and edited if an existing programme changes its name or another relevant detail. 🎓
To do so:
1) Tap the gear on the top right-hand corner and then General settings
2) Click the tab Institution
3) Go into Programmes & Classes
Here is where you'll find the complete list of your school's programmes:
To enter a programme and make edits:
1) Click the gear in front of the programme's name
2) Switch to Details
3) Change the Name of the programme and/or its Order of display in the Programmes & Classes tab
However, if you want to create a new programme:
1) Return to Programmes & Classes
2) Click the button Create a new programme
3) Insert a NAME
4) Press Create programme and add more info
You'll be automatically redirected to the Details tab, already shown above. But another tab is also available: Classes – which, as the name suggests, is where you can create and edit classes for that programme.
Let's explore it together, shall we? 🔎
How to create and edit a class within a programme
Classes are the intakes of a programme. 👨👩👧👦 For every new intake, a new class must be created and accordingly updated whenever specific details (such as dates, names, owner, etc.) are obsolete or incorrect.
If you've read all of the foregoing, by now you know how to enter a programme. To go from there and enter an existing class:
1) Move to the tab Classes, where you'll find the complete list of your school's intakes
2) Click the gear to the left of the class
Alternatively, if you wish to create a brand new class inside a programme:
1) Access the Classes tab
2) Click the button Create a new class
3) Set what date your class ENDS ON
4) Press Create programme and add more info
Let's look into settings now. Boy oh boy, do we have a lot to say about classes! 🔊
For starters, it's relevant to note that classes can have up to four tabs, depending on the set-up of your school: Details, Data, Application templates and Automation. Only Details and Automation are ever-present. For the purpose of this article, we'll focus on the Details tab, which is where all of the essential, can't-miss-or-you're-screwed configurations are located, but following articles will cover the rest. 💪
In no particular order (kidding, we're definitely following the order in the page):
Name: This is the default name of a class. It’s automatically generated by the system in relation to the End Date that was submitted upon the creation of the task, particularly the year. So, for instance, if "March 31, 2020" was selected, the resulting Name will be "Class of 2020"; if "October 1, 2021" was selected, the result will be "Class of 2021", and so on and so forth. Later changing the End Date will likewise change the default Name of the class after refreshing the page.
Custom name: Empty by default. This field gives you the opportunity to name your class however you'd like; the Custom name will then replace the default Name in your school's Admissions Portal, meaning that it's the name that's visible to applicants and their ilk. Embracing custom names is especially useful if a programme has multiple yearly intakes to distinguish between them – e.g., "March-2020", "Oct-2020", etc.
State: This is a drop-down menu with five options, each corresponding to a specific state the class can be in. States represent the various phases comprising the lifecycle of a class, with different repercussions on the admissions process and on the statistics of said class. There are two ways to manage class states: Update state automatically, which automatically shifts the class from state to state based on the dates and times that were set; and Do not update state automatically, in which the progression of a class must be manually updated by staff. Let's go through the states one by one:
➜ NEW – A brand new class to which nothing is happening yet because the application season is still to open. Consequently, it's not available as a class choice in application templates nor Portal pages, although profiles can be manually added to it by staff.
➜ APPLICATIONS OPEN – This signals the beginning of the application season. Classes will remain in the aforementioned state for as long as the application phase is underway. Therefore, they can finally be chosen in application templates and Portal widgets. In addition, automations for forms and events will work for classes in this state.
➜ APPLICATIONS CLOSED – This marks the official end of the application season, giving way to evaluations, offers and enrolments. Depending on how the application template was set up, classes with the state Applications Closed can still be selectable there; profiles can also be added to it still.
➜ CLASS IN PROGRESS – Classes being taught over the course of a school term. Profiles can still be manually added to them by staff.
➜ CLASS DONE – A class that's completely over. Again, profiles can still be added by staff.
Let's continue with the other settings:
Order: Set the order in which you wish to exhibit this class inside the Classes tab.
Owner: The staff member who's primarily responsible for the class, picked from a dropdown list featuring every registered staff member. This setting is absolutely fundamental as the class owner is the default recipient of any system notification concerning the profiles in the class, such as email notifications about submitted applications. If no owner is assigned, system notifications won't have anyone to be sent to; hence, noteworthy goings-on will be easy to miss.
Applications open on / Applications close on: Which dates and times the application season starts and ends, respectively. Must be accurate due to their impact on the class state.
Class starts on / Class ends on: Which dates and times the schooling portion of the class takes place.
Price amount: The total cost of the class, excluding scholarships and other discounts.
Price currency: The currency you charge in.
Campuses: If your school has more than one campus, select which ones carry the class, and in turn, applicants will be asked to choose their campus of interest when applying.
Minimum capacity / Maximum capacity / Target capacity: Define the capacity of the class, which will allow you to build class automation workflows informing applicants when it's fully booked and they've been put on the waiting list, as well as review the performance of each class compared to its target capacity through the global statistics export.
Awesome, you have a fully formed class now, kinda like a cute little sprout! 🌱 But that's not to say it's ready to go live, or that you wouldn't benefit from our elective, but nevertheless highly convenient advanced settings! Soon we'll have an article discussing how to link your class to an application template and make it available on your Student Hub, so stay tuned! 😃
How can I delete a programme or a class?
For security reasons owing to the delicacy of the data, staff users cannot delete classes nor programmes, but if there's a class you'd like to delete or even an entire programme, get in touch with us and we'll sort you out. 🤙
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You have reached the end of this article. Thanks for reading! 🤓 If you have any questions or comments on the topic at hand, or if you enjoy reads like this and have article requests, feel free to start a chat or email us at support@fullfabric.com. Also, please leave a rating below. Your feedback is highly appreciated! 💖
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PUBLISHED: July 16, 2020
LAST UPDATED: July 16, 2020 at 04:54 p.m.