Setting up a program
Tell XPortal what a program teaches, in what order, what must come first, and how long the whole course may take.
Before XPortal can plan anyone's studies, it needs to know what the course actually is. That lives in two places: the program's settings, and its Academic Rules. Get these right once and every study plan built from them follows.
Before you start
Have these ready first. Everything else builds on them.
- Campuses. Open RTO → Locations and confirm each campus exists, with the classrooms you teach in.
- Subjects. Open Academic Planning → Subjects and confirm every unit in the program has been created.
- The program itself. Open Academic Planning → Programs and create or open the program.
Set the course length
Open the program and fill in Total Duration Weeks (full course). This is the finishing line for every student.
When XPortal builds a study plan, it counts forward from the student's first day by this many weeks. It counts the week they start in as week one and finishes on the Sunday of the last week. Every subject has to start before that Sunday, or the plan will not fit. The final subject is trimmed so it ends on that Sunday at the latest.
Without a duration, XPortal cannot tell where a course ends, so it will not build study plans for the program at all. The Enrollment tab will ask you to set it first.
Choose a realistic duration
Base the duration on the time a student needs to get round every subject once at your busiest campus, including your usual breaks. If it is too tight, students who start at an awkward point in the loop will not fit.
Open the Academic Rules
From the program's edit page, select Academic Rules. The page has two cards:
- Program Prerequisites: subjects that must be done before the course starts.
- Required Subjects: every subject in the program, in order, with anything each subject needs first.
Make your changes, then select Save Changes. Nothing is saved until you do.
Required Subjects: what the program teaches
Every subject a student must complete belongs in Required Subjects. Each row has:
| Column | What it does |
|---|---|
| Order | Drag rows to set the order students work through the subjects. |
| Subject | The subject. Each subject can appear only once. |
| Nominal Hours | The subject's nominal hours, used in reporting. |
| Funding | The default AVETMISS funding code for this subject in this program. Leave it on Use enrolment default to use the funding set on each enrolment. |
| Requires | Other subjects that must come before this one. See Prerequisites below. |
Why the order matters so much
In a rolling intake, the order is a loop, not a line. Students do not all start at subject one. Each student starts at whichever subject is running when they arrive, carries on through the list in this order, and wraps back round to the top until they have done everything.
So the order should describe a sensible sequence from any starting point, not just from the top. If the order says WHS, then Tools, then Framing, a student who starts at Framing will do Framing, then everything after it, then WHS, then Tools.
Your delivery calendar should follow the same order. If Tools always runs the week after WHS at a campus, a student who finishes WHS moves straight on to Tools. This is covered in Subject deliveries.
Prerequisites
A prerequisite is a subject that has to happen before something else. XPortal asks two questions about each one: before what? and how should it be scheduled?
Before what?
- A Program Prerequisite must be done before the course begins. For example, a white card before a construction course. Add it in the Program Prerequisites card. It must also be listed in Required Subjects.
- A subject prerequisite must be done before one particular subject. Add it in that subject's Requires column. It must also be listed in Required Subjects.
How should it be scheduled? Each prerequisite has a Scheduling choice:
- Manual dates: XPortal does not look for a run of this subject. Staff enter the dates themselves.
- Delivery: XPortal schedules it from your subject deliveries, like any other subject.
Here is exactly what each combination does to a student's study plan:
| Scheduling: Manual dates | Scheduling: Delivery | |
|---|---|---|
| Program Prerequisite | Shown at the very top of the plan with a Program prerequisite badge and Needs dates. Staff enter the dates before the application is submitted. It is never given a run or classes. | XPortal picks the most recent run of it, at the student's campus, that finishes before the student's first day. If there is no such run, the plan cannot be built. |
| Subject prerequisite | Taken out of the loop. Shown just before the first subject that needs it, with a Prerequisite badge and Needs dates. Staff enter the dates before submission. It is never given a run or classes. | Stays in the loop at its normal place in the order, marked with a Prerequisite badge. |
Delivery prerequisites follow the loop order
A subject prerequisite set to Delivery is scheduled in its normal place in the order. XPortal does not move it earlier for students who start partway round the loop. If subject #33 needs subject #1 and a student starts at subject #22, they will reach #33 before #1. Keep delivery prerequisites close before the subjects that need them, and check the preview for students who start late in the loop. If a prerequisite must always come first, consider making it a Program Prerequisite instead.
Rules XPortal enforces on this page
- Every prerequisite must also be a Required Subject.
- A subject cannot require itself, and each prerequisite can be added only once per subject.
- At least one required subject must stay a normal scheduled subject, not a program prerequisite or a manual prerequisite. Otherwise there would be nothing to build a loop from.
Funding defaults
The Funding column sets a default AVETMISS funding code for a subject within this program. When a student is enrolled, each subject takes its funding code from:
- The code chosen on the subject in the student's plan, if staff set one.
- Otherwise, this program's Funding default for the subject.
- Otherwise, the funding set on the student's enrolment.
Leave the column on Use enrolment default unless a subject is genuinely funded differently from the rest of the program.
What changing the rules affects
Academic rules shape new study plans. When you save changes:
- Draft applications pick up the new rules the next time their preview is calculated.
- Submitted applications and existing enrolments keep the subjects and dates they already have. XPortal never rewrites a student's plan because the rules changed.
- Groups and trainers follow the rules straight away. A group can only be linked to classes of subjects in its program's rules. A trainer can work with the subjects in the rules of the programs their groups belong to.
If existing students genuinely need a different plan, change them one at a time from their profile. See After orientation.
Program setup checklist
- The program has a sensible Total Duration Weeks (full course).
- Every subject is listed under Required Subjects, in a sensible loop order.
- Prerequisites are added where they belong, each with the right Scheduling choice.
- At least one subject is a normal scheduled subject.
- Funding defaults are set only where a subject differs from the program.
- You selected Save Changes.
Next, give every subject its runs at each campus: Subject deliveries.