Modelling Batch#
A modelling batch is designed to allow you to see the effect different numbers of available spaces is likely to have on your offers to external applicants. These batches perform the same steps that a Random Selection Batch does and provide the high level information required for you to make informed decisions.
Tip
This functionality is only available if your school have the Random Selection functionality enabled. Speak to your account manager to find out more.
Attention
The results generated by the modelling process are not designed to be used to make offers to applicants, they are simply there to allow the school to assess the impact of different configurations.
Tip
The content within a modelling batch references external applicants only. Internal applicants and their choices don’t feature in the random selection process as they are treated differently than external applications.
Attention
This process is only used for external applicants.
Before generating a new modelling batch you need to ensure the data is correctly configured to allow the process to run successfully. The following must be in place:
Available Places
You must enter into each Option Block Course mapping the appropriate number of available spaces.
Internal Applications
You must ensure all internal applications have had their “Likely To Achieve” option reviewed, in order to make the number of available places for externals as accurate as possible.
Any internal application with it’s likely to achieve option set to “Yes” will reduce the places available in their selected courses. Specifically their selected configuration will be used to reduce the spaces.
All internal applications reduce the places that are available unless they have their likely to achieve option set to “No” or they have a status that signifies a withdrawn application.
An internal application with a status that signifies offer, the likely to achieve option set to “No” and:
the “has evidenced results” option set to “No” will not reduce the places.
the “has evidenced results” option set to “Yes” will reduce the places.
You should ensure that any application that should reduce the available places does so. This can be done by updating those applications to a status that signifies an offer.
You should evenly distribute internal applications as well as any external special cases between the available courses to make the spaces available appear across the option blocks rather than in a single one.
Tip
It is a good idea to include in the number of available places a small number of additional places in order to make an over offering to applicants. This helps the school deal with people withdrawing and not achieving their required grades.
Your school should make an assessment on how many (if any) additional places should be added for over offering for each subject bearing in mind that once you make an offer you can’t rescind it.
Tip
If the school have a desired way of dealing with internal applications eg. placing them all into Maths in Option Block 1 then you will need to make sure that this is reflected in their course choices on their applications in order for the number of spaces to be reduced in that specific option block and course.
Attention
Because the special case applications are automatically offered a place it’s very important that you review that each claim to one is valid and correct any errors before running the process.
Attention
After the initial round of offers external applications at a status that signifies an offer also reduce the amount of places available. This is so that you can continue to run modelling batches as you progress throughout the year without needing to manage the number of available places.
Create A Batch#
To create a new batch select the create batch option from the modelling batches section of the side menu. Once on the create batch screen, complete the form, by selecting the statuses of applications you would like to include, updating the number of available spaces in each option block course mapping and clicking the generate batch button.
Caution
Before creating a modelling batch you should prepare the internal applications to provide the best possible configuration to maximise the number of external applicants that can be offered a place. Our recommendation would be to evenly split the internal applicants between each of the available classes.
For example if you have 9 internal applicants applying for Biology and you offer it in 3 option blocks, you should update their applications so that 3 of them have selected each of the 3 Biology classes. This would reduce the space available in each Biology course by 3 instead of within a single course by 9.
Important
The number of courses shown here is the overall total number of spaces within that option block course mapping and should not make any attempt to remove spaces that will be allocated to internal applicants or other special cases. In short the number here should be the size of the classes that you’re aiming for including any spaces added to allow for over offering. Don’t forget to double/triple the number if there are two/three or more classes of that course being provided within that option block.
The process uses the course places entered as a basis for calculating the number of places available for external applicants within each course.
Once generated you’ll be taken to the edit screen. Iterations for the batch are added to a queue for processing by our servers, this can take a few minutes so please check back for the batches progress shortly.
Modelling Batch Results#
You can view a batches detailed information by navigating to the View / Edit option from the Modelling Batch section in the side menu. You will be asked to select an academic year to view batches for.
Once selected the batches that have been created for that academic year will be shown. The table contains the batches ID number, Generation time and its status.
To view more detailed information about the batch, click the checkbox next to the corresponding row and click the edit icon in the tables action bar. This will open the batches edit view.
Here you can see the header details for the batch as well as some additional reference information.
The reference information includes the following:
Internal Applications
Total Number
The total number of internal applications at any status that does not signify offer or withdrawn.
Likely To Achieve YES
The subset of the total number that have their likely to achieve option set to yes.
Likely To Achieve NO
The subset of the total number that have their likely to achieve option set to no.
External Special Case Applications
Total Number
The total number of external applications at any status that does not signify offer or withdrawn and that have any of the Education Health and Care Plan, In Care or Child of Staff Member options selected.
EHCP
The subset of the total number that have their EHCP option set to yes.
In Care
The subset of the total number that have their In Care option set to yes.
Child of Staff Member
The subset of the total number that have their Child of Staff Member options set to yes.
Tip
The reference information is calculated using the applications details. Applications at a status that’s marked as “Signifies Offer” or “Signifies Withdrawn” are not included.
Details of the individual iterations within this batch can also be seen including:
The iterations ID number.
The time the iteration started and finished.
The number of successful applications.
The number of course places.
The status of the iteration.
You can view additional information about a specific iteration by selecting the corresponding checkbox and selecting View Course Places or View Sequence on the tables action bar.
Tip
If the selected iteration is the “Best in Batch” (meaning the one that would be used to make offers) it will be highlighted green in the table of iterations.
Course Places#
To view the iterations course places, select the corresponding checkbox and then click the View Course Places option on the tables action bar.
This shows details of each course, the number of places used out of the total, the places remaining and if full the time at which it became full.
Tip
This screen shows the total number of places available to external applicants only. Therefore you should not expect these numbers to match the total number of places available within each option block course.
The number of places available in an option block course is calculated by subtracting the number of internal applicants that have the likely to achieve option set to YES and that have selected that course from the total entered when creating the batch. The resulting number is what you see displayed in this section.
You can view a summary of what class sizes might look like by clicking the View Potential Class Sizes button.
This shows a breakdown of how the class sizes are made up including the following figures:
The Name of the Course and Option Block.
The number of internal applications that have either been already offered a place or not yet withdrawn. This consists of the internal applications marked as likely to achieve and any internal application at a status that signifies offer (regardless of what their likely to achieve flag is set to).
The number of external special case applications.
The number of standard external applications that are already at a status that signifies offer.
The number of successful external applications that this iteration places and the total maximum that were available within this iteration.
The number of places that would be filled should this model be used and the total maximum number configured against that option block course.
Attention
These figures are only estimates and not a guarantee of any number of students in classes. Due to the fact that applicants may withdraw or not achieve their minimum grades to be offered a place.
It is however a good indication of the potential position.
Tip
You can download the data that is displayed using the download option from the tables action bar.
Sequence#
To view the iterations sequence, select the corresponding checkbox and click the View Sequence option on the tables action bar.
This shows the order in which each applicant was selected and whether they were successful or not within this iteration.
Important
This information does not form a guarantee that the applicants will be selected in this order or end with the same successful/unsuccessful result when running the batch for real. It’s an indication of the result as a whole not on an individual level.
Using the Results#
Using the information provided as the result of a modelling batch you can make informed decisions about a number of aspects of your proposed curriculum for the coming year including:
Whether a course is likely to be full after some applicants drop out and others fail to meet the entry criteria.
Whether an additional class should be added to make space for more applicants.
Whether a course could be removed as no one is applying for it. Maybe there are multiple classes of a course planned but you only have enough applicants for a single one.
Whether increasing/decreasing the class size in some areas would be beneficial. In order to test you theory here you could always run another modelling batch with the proposed changes in place.
Permissions#
To provide a user with access to this functionality you should apply the following permissions.
Create Modelling Batches
View Modelling Batches