Class Sessions are important as they create 'time frames' for comparative analysis reporting. A session can cover an entire year or specific parts of a year (i.e., season) and is defined in the Drop-down List Editor with a start date, an end date, and a registration start date.
- Studios and schools that run perpetually should create Class Sessions; it can be as simple as by the calendar year, which would allow you to look at the difference year over year in many areas, including financial and enrollment.
- Convenient automatic posting of tuition during Online Registration! Assign the Tuition Billing Cycle of By Session to your classes, and Jackrabbit will do the math based on your settings, discount rules, and/or proration.
- Examples of sessions: 2020 (calendar year); 2020/2021 (school year); Winter 2021 (season/quarter year)
- Run concurrent sessions so that students can choose to attend one or more sessions.
We strongly recommend you limit the Session Start/End dates for your Sessions to no more than 365 days. Sessions that exceed 365 days in length will not display as an option in the drop-downs when you go to post your tuition fees.
Add Session Drop-Down Values
- Go to the Gear (icon) > Settings > General > Drop-down Lists (left menu).
- Select Session (left menu), in the Class section.
- Click Add Row to add a class session. Add the Session Name.
- When naming your sessions, shorter names will create shorter drop-down values, which will reduce word-wrapping on your screens and reports.
- Optionally assign Start/End/Registration Start dates for the new session.
- When you assign a Session to a Class, that class will inherit the Start and End Dates you specify here. Don’t worry, these dates can be changed on individual classes if needed.
- Mark a session value Hide from customers if you want to prevent that session drop-down value from appearing to the parent when registering via your website or Parent Portal. This can be helpful for sessions created for internal use only or for sessions that are no longer current.
Hiding the Session value from customers does NOT hide the classes in that session; it only prevents your customers from being able to filter using that Session value.
- Check the Hide from users box to prevent a session from appearing in the drop-down lists in your database or online. Over time you may find you have numerous past class sessions and don't need all of them to display in your Session drop-down choices.
- Click Save Changes.
Transition Completed Classes into a New Session
Using sessions makes transitioning your classes from one session to another super easy! Copy Classes and Edit All Classes are great tools to help you populate your new session with classes in minutes. You may have nuances specific to your organization but you can check out our Help article Transition to a New Session to walk through the process.
After your new session is created, you will have two 'sets of classes'. You may choose to switch your new session to have a class status of Future until you are ready to begin taking registrations and enrollments.
Once the classes in your ‘old’ session have ended and all related fees have been posted, you can Archive those classes to keep a clean house!
For organizations that run perpetual or ongoing classes, using Sessions may not be the best solution. Contact our Support Team to discuss what's best for your business.
