Short Course Learner Billing is a new billing model launched by aXcelerate in 2022 to better align with the diverse needs of the training industry. Different training offerings deserve different pricing structures, so we now have three models to choose from based on your needs: Short Course Learner Billing, Long Course Learner Billing, and a Hybrid model.
If you only offer short courses, aXcelerate’s Short Course Learner Billing is the most accurate way to pay for your usage. For those offering only Long Courses, we still recommend our Long Course Learner licence fee model.
You’re also able to combine both billing models if you’re an organisation offering a mixture of short and long courses.
For current aXcelerate clients, switching over is easy. If you’re interested in finding out more about how this pricing model might be suitable for your business, give the friendly aXcelerate Support Team a call.
Tip: Before reading further, we recommend ensuring that you understand the key definitions found on our Billing Overview page.
Short Course billing overview
Providers who use Short Course Learner Billing are billed for the number of enrolments commenced in each calendar month. This pricing model ensures that the amount you pay for aXcelerate scales with your business - if you deliver fewer short courses in a month, you pay less for your system that month. It also makes it easy for you to report on the usage and costing of your Short Course offerings.
When a Learner commences a Short Course, they will count towards the Short Course Learner fee for that month. Where a Learner commences multiple courses, they will count multiple times.
In short:
- Billable commencements this month to date is the number of commencements from the start of your billing period to now. This is the confirmed number of commencements that you will be billed for if no more enrolments commence this month.
- Booked enrolments this month is the total number of enrolments that have been booked this month. This is what you will potentially be billed for if all booked enrolments commence.
Short Course billing calculations
Short Course Learner fees are calculated on the first day of the following calendar month, based on the fee table in your contract. The month in which the Start Date for a Short Course occurs is the month for which a Learner will be billed.
Short Course billing fee calculation
The fee table uses a system inverse to a tax-bracket system to calculate the Short Course Learner fees, like in the example table below. The fee per learner decreases as you reach higher brackets, whereas in typical tax-bracket system, the tax percentage increases.
An Organisation with the above rate card that has 240 Short Course Learners in a calendar month will be billed as below:
100 x X
+ 100 x Y
+ 40 x Z
= 100X + 100Y + 40Z
Rate cards are tailored for each organisation proportional to the courses being delivered. For more information, please contact our team.
Short Course Learner numbers are calculated by counting all Short Course enrolments with Start Dates of the current month.
Short Course billing example
For example, say in April I have had 150 Short Course commencements, and enrol another 90 Learners before the end of the month. Today, my counter for this month will be 240.
If I cancel 10 Learners, the counter will reduce to 230. If I then enrol a further 30 Learners throughout April, my counter will be 260.
On the 1st of May (the first day of the following calendar month), my counter of 260 will be translated into a $ amount depending on my rate card. You will be invoiced for this amount on the date of your monthly invoice.
Effectively, your numbers are not finalised until the first day of the following calendar month, meaning you are free to enrol, move and cancel Learners as required without worrying about attracting unnecessary fees.
Note: Unlike Long Course Learner Billing, if a single Contact commences multiple Short Courses in a calendar month, they will be billed for each Short Course.
For Learners not enrolled in Short Courses, a separate billing model is used. These Learners won’t count towards your monthly Short Course Learner Fees and will instead count towards your elected Long Course Tier. You can read more about how that billing model works here.
Enabling Short Course Learner Billing
After your new agreement is finalised, aXcelerate will enable Short Course Learner Billing in your account. If you only deliver Short Courses, you do not need to complete any system setup. We (aXcelerate) enable a setting to apply this globally to all of your courses, so every course will be automatically treated as a Short Course.
If you are a Hybrid organisation delivering a mixture of Short Courses and Long Courses, you will need to perform the following setup. By default, courses will be counted as Long Courses, so all instances of Short Course training must be identified in aXcelerate as such.
Configuring Workshop Types for Short Course Learner Billing
Courses
Workshop Types
- Either create a new Workshop Type by clicking the + Add New Workshop Type button at the top of the page, or select an existing Workshop Type from the table.
- Set Short Course Learner Billing to Yes to enable Short Course Learner Billing for this Workshop Type.
- You can now create Workshop Instances of that Workshop Type. Any Learners commencing those courses count towards your Short Course licence fees.
Once this setting has been enabled, you will be unable to turn it off, and you will need to contact aXcelerate's support team for assistance.
Warning: If you are transitioning from Long Course to Short Course, be aware that any existing courses will still be counted as Long Course. You will need to ensure that the commencement date of all courses are after you have enabled Short Course Billing for the Workshop Type. To be on the safe side, you could recreate your courses from scratch.
Tip: If your Workshop Type is linked to one or more Units of Competency, you do not need to enable Short Course Learner Billing for the Qualification. Enabling it for the Workshop Type is sufficient to ensure any Learners count as Short Course Learners.
Configuring Qualifications for Short Course Learner Billing
Courses
Qualifications
- Either create a new Qualification by clicking the + Add New Qualification button at the top of the page, or select an existing Qualification from the table.
- Set Short Course Learner Billing to Yes to enable Short Course Learner Billing for this Qualification.
- You can now create Class Instances of that Qualification. Any Learners commencing those Classes count towards your Short Course licence fees.
Once this setting has been enabled, you will be unable to turn it off, and you will need to contact aXcelerate's support team for assistance.
Warning: You should only configure Qualifications to be Short Course Learner Billing if they are online-only courses. Accredited Workshops (i.e., Workshops that have linked Units of Competency) do not need the setting enabled at the Qualification; only at the Workshop Type.
Short Course billing logic
This section aims to detail the logic that is used to calculate Short Course learners. The query follows the following steps:
- Look for Workshops with the Workshop Start Date in the current month
- Filter Workshop bookings to include statuses of Booked, Moved, Approved, Completed
- Look for class enrolments with the earliest unit commencement date in the current month
- Note: The Class Start date must be after the date that Short Course was enabled for that Qualification.
- Filter Class enrolments to exclude enrolments where all units are NYS or W
- Associate the Workshop Bookings and Class Enrolments together in the case where they are linked (i.e., a Workshop with attached Units of Competency)
- Check whether the course is flagged as Short Course (Only applies to customers on both Long Course and Short Course billing)
Warning: Due to the filtering, Workshop bookings that have a status of Booked but have linked units with a status of NYS will still be counted in the month of the Workshop Start Date. However, they will not be re-counted once the units transition to in-progress.
Troubleshooting
If you have recently transitioned to Short Course billing and there are still learners being counted as Long Course learners, please review the following troubleshooting steps:
- Go to the Contact Profile of the affected Learner and ensure there are no other courses that fall into your billing period that may trigger Long Course billing
- Ensure that all E-Learning enrolments have an End Date
- Ensure all enrolments commence after the Short Course Billing payment setting is enabled. You can check this against the Workshop Type or Qualification attached to the enrolment.
Note: For Workshops with attached Units of Competency, ensure that you check both the Workshop, and the linked Class
Short Course billing FAQs
What if a Learner moves course after the Start Date?
That Learner will be billed twice. It’s essential that your data is up to date to prevent duplicate billing events.
What if a Learner is still tentatively booked after a Start Date lapses, and is only confirmed retroactively?
If the confirmation occurs before the end of the calendar month, the Learner will be billed correctly. If the confirmation does not occur until after the calendar month has finished, the Learner will not be counted. However, aXcelerate can recognise back-dated bookings, and will alert aXcelerate staff of any dishonest behaviour.
Can Learners be given access to course content and assessments outside the Start and End Dates of a Short Course?
Learners can have access to content and assessments outside of the listed Course dates, without being counted multiple times.
What if I offer a Short Course and a Long Course with the same qualification code?
You will need to use the Qualification Streams feature of aXcelerate to create multiple versions of the same Qualification.
How do I manage online-only (self-paced) Short Courses?
Online-only Short Courses are best managed within a Class instance. This will require a new Qualification with a single Unit of Competency, with the Unit of Competency Enrolment Only checkbox selected. If you are a Hybrid provider, ensure you enable Short Course Learner Billing for the new Qualification.
If my course runs for three days across the end of a month and into a new one, will my Learners be counted once or twice?
The commencement date is what triggers the Short Course Learner counter, so Learners will only be counted in the first month.
My Organisation delivers both Short and Long courses. Currently I’m paying a fixed fee each month - why would I want to enable Short Course Learner Billing? Won’t I be charged an additional dynamic fee for nothing?
You do not have to use Short Course Learner Billing as a Hybrid provider. However, your Short Course Learners are eligible for a lower per-Learner rate, so by creating short course Learners, you will be paying less overall.
Does Short Course billing use a similar Current and Maximum learner count to Long Course Learner billing?
No. Short Course billing only counts the true number of commencements recorded at the end of the Calendar month.
What happens if I have 0 Short Course Learners in a month?
It depends on your agreement terms with aXcelerate. We would recommend reviewing your contract for the exact details.
Will I be charged for learners that are enrolled and then cancelled?
If the enrolments are cancelled before the end of the month that they commence, you will not be charged for them. If the enrolments are cancelled after the end of the month, you will be charged.
What determines the Short Course commencement for Class enrolment?
Class enrolments are counted as Short Course commencements by taking the earliest Unit of Competency Start Date.