How to Add Student Groups/Intakes

How to Add Student Groups/Intakes

Idea
Overview
In this tutorial, we’ll guide you through the process of adding Student Groups or Intakes after you’ve set up your units, program, and program instance in the Student Management System (SMS). Regardless of whether your program type is Intake-based or Dynamic, a group must be created for each Program Instance.

This tutorial will also demonstrate how to restrict the visibility of a group on the enrolment form based on specific conditions.

Warning
IMPORTANT: Before creating your Student Groups or Intakes, ensure that your Program Instance has been set up.

Notes
Step Tutorial
1. From the Dashboard, navigate to the Schedule section, then go to the Student Groups/Intakes tab, and click the + button in the upper-right corner of the page.


2. Complete the following fields:
  1. Group Name - The name assigned to the student group for easy identification within the system.
  2. Active - Indicates whether the group is currently active and available for use or enrolments.
  3. Program Instance - Refers to the specific instance of the program/course the group is linked to.
  4. Group Start Date - The date on which the group officially commences training or classes.
  5. Group End Date - The date on which the group completes its training or classes. This field is automatically calculated based on the duration of the Program Instance; however, you can modify it and select a different date if required.
InfoNOTE: Group Start and End Date fields will be available after selecting a Program Instance.
  1. Available on Enrolment Form - When enabled, this group will appear as an option on the enrolment form.
  2. Auto Remove - Automatically removes students from the group under certain conditions (Never, Date only, Max students only, Max students or date). Relevant fields will appear dynamically based on what you select:
    1. Remove Prior to Start (Total Hours) on Enrolment Form - Sets a threshold of hours before the group start time during which students can no longer enrol via the enrolment form.
    2. Show Places Remaining on External Calendar - Displays the number of remaining places in the group on the external calendar, helping to inform prospective students of availability.
    3. Maximum Students - Defines the maximum number of students that can be enrolled in the group.
  3. Location - The physical location or campus where the training will be delivered.
  4. Online Location - The URL or virtual meeting link where online training sessions will be conducted.
  5. Trainers - Lists the trainers assigned to deliver the training for this group.
InfoNOTE: If the Program Instance is connected to an LMS course, the assigned trainer will be automatically enrolled in that LMS course and its associated group, with the appropriate permissions based on their user account.
  1. This group is not available for Waitlisting - Enables a waitlist for the group, allowing students to register interest once the group has reached maximum capacity.
Once done, click the Save icon. Your group or intake is now ready for use.


InfoNOTE: When you create a group or intake in the SMS, it may take up to 30 minutes to reflect in the LMS. 
Info
Additionally, when a Group in SMS is created as an LMS Group in a related Moodle Course, the Group Name in the LMS course will include the SMS Group ID following the name format: [SMS Group Name] - [SMS Group ID]

Once you’ve created a Group or Intake, the system will generate an enrolment link that allows students to directly enrol into the specific Program Instance and Group. This streamlines the enrolment process and helps ensure students are correctly allocated, reducing administrative effort.



Other Program Instances

After creating the Group, you can also edit the existing Group to configure additional settings, including Other Program Instances. 

The Other Program Instances feature allows you to link multiple Program Instances to a single group, so shared seats or places can be managed collectively. This is useful when different types of students need to attend the same group but require different enrolment, pricing, communication or reporting settings.

For example, students undertaking funded training may need to be recorded under a different Program Instance to meet specific funding or reporting requirements, while other students in the same group may be fee-for-service. Each Program Instance can have its own settings, such as pricing, confirmation emails and reporting requirements, while all students share the same group capacity.

This provides flexibility to manage different student cohorts within the same group without needing to create separate groups for each Program Instance.

InfoNote: The Other Program Instances field is only available when editing an existing Group or Intake. It will not appear when initially creating a new Group.

How to Configure Other Program Instances

After creating the Group/Intake, you can link additional Program Instances to the Group using the Other Program Instances field.

Important: The Other Program Instances field is only available when editing an existing Group/Intake. It is not displayed when creating a new Group/Intake.


To configure Other Program Instances:

  1. Navigate to the existing Group/Intake.
  2. Click Edit.
  3. Locate the Other Program Instances field.
  4. Select the eligible Program Instances you want to link to the Group.
  5. Save the Group/Intake.

The Other Program Instance dropdown will only display Program Instances that meet the required criteria:

  • The Main Program Instance must be configured for Smart Enrol.
  • The available Program Instances must have the same related program, units, and program type as the Main Program Instance.


Note: Once an Other Program Instance has been selected, the Main Program Instance becomes a hyperlink and cannot be changed. This prevents the relationship between the Main and Other Program Instances from being broken.

How to Modify the LMS Course Start and End Dates Beyond the Initial SMS Group Date
For groups linked to an Intake Program Instance, you can modify the LMS Start and End dates beyond the initial Group date.
WarningIMPORTANT: This process does not apply to Dynamic Program Instances.

1. Select a Group/Intake, then click on the Units tab.


The Units tab will display the following date fields. 
  1. Start Date - The plotted event's start date will display here. If no plotted schedule is set, the recorded Group start date will be used.
  2. End Date - The plotted event's end date will display here. If no plotted schedule is set, the recorded Group end date will be used.
  3. Start LMS Course on Enrolment - When toggled ON, it disables the LMS Start Date. This will start the LMS course immediately after enrolment.
  4. LMS Start Date - This can be different from the Group start date. Whatever date is set here will be the actual LMS start date. If left blank, the SMS Unit Start Date will be used.
  5. LMS End Date - This can be different from the Group end date. Whatever date is set here will be the actual LMS end date. If left blank, the SMS Unit End Date will be used.
  6. SMS Start Date - This will be the proposed start date of the enrolment. It is usually the same as the enrolment's Start Date 
  7. SMS End Date - This will be the proposed end date of the enrolment. It is usually the same as the enrolment's End Date.


To update the dates for a unit, click the pencil icon.


Once done, click the Save button.

Congratulations on completing this tutorial. We hope this has been helpful to you and your organisation. For any questions or concerns regarding this function, please reach out to the contact support via email.