Certain areas of your aXcelerate system need to be setup before you can successfully enrol students online using the aXcelerate WordPress plugin.
Please be aware that these areas are required to be setup before your Online Enrolments project can commence. Ensuring that your system is adequately prepared is crucial to having your project completed in a timely manner.
Please be aware that many of these system areas are not necessary to configure for every project as specific requirements will vary between different RTOs. Many of these areas are predominantly used in most projects so please ensure that all relevant system setup has been completed.
Set workshop types to display online
From a Workshop Type Update page, you are able to set whether the Workshop Type will be able to display online. Any Workshops that you wish to display on the website using either the WordPress plugin or a custom API integration need to be set to display online.
Courses
- Click the name of the Workshop Type you wish to display online
- Set Display in Bookings Calendar to Yes
- Set Web Outline Accessible to Yes
- Click Submit
Tip: If you wish to remove any Workshops Types that are appearing on your website, simply set either of the aforementioned settings to 'No'.
Note: This is only necessary if you are intending to have Workshops available for Online Enrolment.
Set qualifications to display online
From a Qualification Update page, you are able to set whether a Qualification will be able to display online. Any Qualifications that you wish to display on the website using either the WordPress plugin or a custom API integration need to be set to display online.
Courses
- Click the name of the Qualification you wish to display online
- Tick Display Web Outline
- Click Submit
Tip: If you wish to remove any Qualifications that are appearing on your website, simply untick Display Web Outline.
Note: This is only necessary if you are intending have Qualifications available for Online Enrolment.
Create course instances for enrolment
Before online enrolments can take place via your website, there will need to be course instances available for enrolment present in your aXcelerate account.
Workshops need to have a future start date to be available for enrolment, classes need a future end date.
Please refer to our Workshop and Class help articles for further information on how to create classes and workshops.
Tip: The Workshop Type or Qualification associated with the course instances will need to be set to display online.
Notes: If students are enrolling into workshops with a linked class, enable the Online bookings: Add class enrolment setting in the Web & Other Integrations tab of your System Settings to automatically enrol them in the linked class.
If students are enrolling into courses with linked eLearning, ensure the Online bookings: linked eLearning enrolment defaults setting in the Web & Other Integrations tab of your System Settings is enabled.
Set default system templates
Default system templates will control the automated message sent to students upon completion of their booking containing their booking confirmation and attached invoice - if applicable. An alternate template can be set for the payer contacts who are not enrolled as part of the booking.
This area of the system also controls the template sent to students upon creation as a student user.
Please refer to our Default System Templates help article for further information.
Warning: Enrolments with an associated cost will not process correctly if you do not have a default system invoice template set.
Set Course Specific Booking Confirmation Templates
When online bookings take place a booking confirmation will be automatically sent to new students. You can select a custom template to be used for a particular Qualification or Workshop Type to send to enrolling students. By default, the Default System Online booking template will be sent.
- Update a Qualification or Workshop Type
- Select an Online Booking Confirmation Template
- Click Submit
Tip: If an Online Booking Confirmation Template has not been selected, the Default System Online booking email text template will be used. Please refer to our Default System Templates help article for further information.
Populate Workshop Type descriptions
The Workshop Type Description Fields contain the content that will appear on the course pages of your website when using the aXcelerate WordPress plugin.
The Short Description is typically displayed on both the Course List and Course Details pages of your website. This field should be comprised of a brief summary of the course.
The Introduction, Benefits, Target Audience, Learning Outcomes, Contents and Learning Methods fields will display in the Course Details page when a user has selected the corresponding Workshop Type from the Course List.
Courses
- Select the Workshop Type you wish to edit
- Select the Description Field you wish to edit and select the Update icon
- Populate the Description Field with relevant content
- Click Submit
- Repeat steps 2 through 4 until all applicable description fields have been populated with content
Tip: If you are intending to display images alongside the Course List in a tiled or listed format, refer to the Adding Images to the Short Description section of this article below.
Note: If copying and pasting course content from outside of aXcelerate, use the Source tab to ensure there is no styling present. Styling present on the course content will take precedence over the site's theme and appear differently to content elsewhere on the site.
Populate Qualification descriptions
The Qualifications Description Fields contain the content that will appear on the course pages of your website when using the aXcelerate WordPress plugin.
The Short Description is typically displayed on both the Course List and Course Details pages of your website. This field should be comprised of a brief summary of the course.
The Full Outline will display on the Course Details page and contain all relevant information about the course.
Courses
- Select the Qualification you wish to edit
- Select Short Description
- Populate the field with brief description of the course
- Click Submit
- Select Full Outline
- Populate the field with all information relevant to the course
- Click Submit
Tip: If you are intending to display images alongside the Course List in a tiled or listed format, refer to the Adding Images to the Short Description section of this article below.
Note: If copying and pasting course content from outside of aXcelerate, use the Source tab to ensure there is no styling present. Styling present on the course content will override the theme of the site and appear differently to content elsewhere on the site.
Adding Images to Short Descriptions
If you are intending to display images alongside the Course List in a tiled or listed format, the image will need to be added to either the Qualification or Workshop Type Short Description in question.
The image will need to firstly be added to your Images Library. Please refer to our Images Library help article for further information. This image link will need to be copied as per the article above prior to undertaking the following list of instructions.
- Select the Qualification/Workshop Type you wish to edit
- Select Short Description
- Select Source
- Type <img src="copied image address">, where [copied image address] is the link copied from the Images Library.
- Click Source again and the image will appear
- Scroll to the bottom of the Qualification/Workshop Type and click Submit
Create a training category to filter your courses
As shown on the Categories Page on our Demo Site, Course List pages can be filtered by Training Categories to segment your courses in different pages.
Training Categories need to be created and have linked Qualifications and Workshop Types before the filtered course list will show courses.
Settings
- Click Add New Training Category
- Set the category Name
- Select any Linked Workshop Types you would like to display in the Course List
- Select any Linked Qualifications you would like to display in the Course List
- Click Submit
Tip: You will only need to link courses that will be displayed on the website and directly available for online enrolment.
Note: You will need to ensure that any of the linked courses are set to display online.
Warning: After the Course List has been created on your website, the name of the Training Category should not be changed.
Configure enquiry workflows
Unlike enrolments, enquiries will not automatically send an email template to enquirers. This can however be configured by simply creating a new automated task with the action set to Send Enquiry Template. The contact can either be set to dynamically send to the enquiring contact or to a statically set administrative user in the system.
Follow-up tasks can also be created upon enquiry by creating a new automated task with the action set to Create Marketing User Task. The follow-up task will be able to capture the course being enquired upon as well as the opportunity cost of the enquiry when relevant. A general enquiry will not create an opportunity as there is no associated cost.
Please refer to our Workflow Tasks help article for further information on how to Send an Enquiry Template and Create a Marketing User Task upon enquiry.
Tip: It is highly recommended that a workflow for creating Marketing User tasks is configured to best capture information in aXcelerate regarding online enquiries.
Note: This functionality is only available to accounts with the Workflow Engine enabled.
Set an invoice seed
An invoice seed determines the number of the first invoice set in your aXcelerate system. This will need to be set before invoices will be able to be created by the system for online enrolments.
- Click Invoice Seed
- Set the number of your first invoice in aXcelerate
- Click Save Additional Settings
Tip: If you have no previous invoices to account for, set the invoice seed as 1.
Note: If no invoice seed has been set, any online enrolments with fees present will return an error.
Warning: After setting your invoice seed it cannot be changed.
Setup a payment gateway
A payment gateway is used to facilitate credit card payments made directly through the Online Enrolment Form. The payment gateways that aXcelerate currently integrate with are EzyPay and eWay.
After you have created an account with one of these providers you will need to enter your account credentials into your system settings before payments can be processed through your website.
- Create an account with Stripe, EzyPay or eWay
- Select your Payment Gateway provider
- Enter your account credentials into the available fields
- Click Save Web Settings
Test your payment gateway
To ensure that your payment gateway is processing payments correctly, you can process a payment directly through your admin aXcelerate account.
This can be done by creating and paying off a $1 invoice with a credit card payment directly through aXcelerate’s Finance Management area.
Finance
- Click New from the Invoice tab
- Select a Contact to send the invoice to
- Select a Finance Code
- Set the Unit Cost to $1
- Select Issue Invoice Item
- Click Save
- Hover over the Payments tab and select Process Credit Card Payment
- Follow the prompts to make a credit card payment
Note: If there is an issue processing this payment, the credentials entered into your system settings may be invalid or there may be an issue with your payment gateway account. Please contact your payment gateway provider for assistance with these issues.
Configure online enrolment discounts
Discounts can be made available for Online Enrolments by creating and assigning discounts to the Classes & Workshops that are available online. Once the discount is applied to a course instance, it will appear in the enrolment form.
Discounts can be assigned to specific Workshop Types and Qualifications as well as specific course instances. Discounts can also be set to apply globally to training and be available for all offered courses.
Finance
- Click Add New Discount
- Select the Discount Type
- Set the Calculation Method
- Set the Calculation Value
- Click Submit
- View the Workshop Type or Qualification that the discount applies to
- Click Add New Discount
- Click Submit
Tip: To prevent a particular discount from displaying in your enrolment form, disable the discount or unlink it from the course type or course instance it erroneously applies to.
Note: If a discount is applied to a Workshop Type or Qualification it will apply to all future instances of the corresponding course type. The discount will not be automatically applied to any previously existing course instances.
Create a portfolio checklist for document uploads
Document upload is available within the enrolment form and will require a Portfolio Checklist to be created.
A Portfolio Checklist is comprised of a group of Portfolio Types. Each type will be listed in the enrolment form and allow a document to be uploaded. The checklist will determine which documents will be available for upload in a single step in the enrolment form.
For further information please refer to our Contact Portfolio help article.
- Click Add New Checklist
- Set the Name of the checklist
- Set the number of Points Required
- Select any Portfolio Types that you would like to be available for upload
- Set the number of points each portfolio type is worth
- Click Submit
Tip: The required points in the checklist will determine the necessary amount of documentation that is mandatory to provide before the student can be enrolled.
Note: During scoping of your Online Enrolment project, you will need to specify each portfolio checklist you would like to use in your enrolment form.
Create custom fields
Custom Fields are used to capture specific information in your aXcelerate system when a field to store the data does already exist.
Custom fields can be incorporated into the Online Enrolment Forms to obtain this information upon enrolment.
The field label will determine the name of the field that shows in aXcelerate. The Variable Name is what will be used in custom API integration or in Online Enrolment Forms.
- Click Add New Custom Field
- Set the Field Label
- Set the Variable Name
- Select the Field Type
- Select the area of the system that the custom field Links To
- Click Submit
Note: The Variable name should have no spaces nor special characters.
Warning: When a custom field is incorporated into an Online Enrolment Form, the field label should not be changed.
Contact, Class Enrolment & Workshop Booking fields are able to be used in Online Enrolment Forms.
Contact custom fields are used most often and will apply to the contact profile. This type of information is for data that applies to an individual person and will not change per enrolment.
Class Enrolment custom fields are stored against the student's class enrolment that is generated once a booking has taken place. This field type should be used to capture information that would vary per enrolment for returning students.
Workshop Booking custom fields are stored against the student's worrkshop enrolment that is generated once a booking has taken place. This field type should be used to capture information that would vary per enrolment for returning students.
Create an enrolment resumption template
The aXcelerate Online Enrolment WordPress Plugin has the feature to collect unfinished enrolments and send emails that invite users to complete their enrolment. Prospective students will clink the link sent in the email that will let them start again from where they exited the form.
To enable this, a template needs to be created that includes the string [Online Enrolment Link], which will be replaced by a URL that points a student to the Online Enrolment Form and populates the form with the relevant information.
This template will also be used to control the email sent to students when a duplicate email is detected in the login step of the Online Enrolment Form.
Courses
- Click Add New Template
- Set the template Name
- Select the template Category
- Populate the course description with a relevant message and include [Online Enrolment Link]
- Click Submit
Tip: An example of wording to use for this template would be: "Please click the following link to resume your enrolment: [Online Enrolment Link]."
Note: During scoping of your Online Enrolment project, you will need to specify the template you would like to use for this function.
Report incomplete post enrolments
A post enrolment form is used to allow student information to be captured after enrolment. When a student accesses the form they will have a Post Enrolment Status field which will be set to incomplete in their contact record. This status will only be updated to 'Completed' when a student enters all of their details and reaches the completion step of the form. If this enrolment setup applies to you, reports can be run on all students with the Incomplete status. Any students with this status will probably have some outstanding information to provide.
Reports
- Run a Class Enrolments Warehoused Report
- Set Post Enrolment Status to Has a Value of Incomplete
- Set the Class Start Date to Next Month
- Click Submit
Tip: This report can be used in conjunction with Workflow Report Row Events to send reminders to these students for them to complete the post enrolment form. The static link to the Post Enrolment Form can also be included so that students can access the form and fill out the missing information. This report will need to be saved to be able to use it in the Workflow engine. Please refer to our Workflow Automation help article for further information on Report Row Event Workflows.
Note: This is only compatible with the WordPress plugin online enrolment form. The enrolment process will need to be configured to use post enrolment form before this report would be relevant.
Warning: The Post Enrolment Status will not be updated immediately after a student exits or completes the form. Every two hours, the plugin will update the status of all students who completed or exited the Post Enrolment Form.
Essential Online Enrolments Webinar
This webinar demonstrates:
- An overview of what the Online Enrolment Advanced Package includes
- How to configure your aXcelerate account to prepare for your Online Enrolment Project
Advanced Online Enrolments Webinar
This webinar demonstrates:
- An overview of what the Online Enrolment Advanced Package includes
- How to configure your aXcelerate account to prepare for your Online Enrolment Project
FAQs
Can you change the contact note type against a booking confirmation sent from the plugin?
No.