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Sessional Courses are multi-part Courses, as the Course is split into multiple parts, they can be used to track attendance on multiple-day Courses, they can be used for Courses that contain a combination of formats such as classroom, web, and eLearning elements, and they can be used for Courses where you need to use different Resources on different parts - such as a different trainer on each day.
Benefits
Here are the benefits of using Sessional Courses
Flexibility in Course Delivery
Sessional Courses allow you to build Courses where your Delegates can attend only certain days of your Course, providing flexibility and options to your customers, to accommodate varying schedules. You can easily incorporate eLearning, classroom, and webinars into one comprehensive package to suit a range of learning styles.
Improved Resource Management
Each Session of your Course has it’s own Resource allocations, this means you can assign different trainers and venues to individual sessions, optimising your resource availability!
Increased Attendance Visibility
As you can monitor attendance for each session, you can easily identify patterns of drop-out through your Course and make changes to increase engagement.
Cost and Booking Flexibility
You can choose to charge your customers a fixed price for the full Course or charge for each Session they book.
Streamlined Administration
Your Sessional Plans (the structure of your Sessional Course) are defined on your Course Templates, this means that when you schedule the parent Course, all of the child sessions are automatically created which saves time and reduces manual administration.
Key Terms and Glossary
Sessional Course
A Course that contains multiple parts
Parent Course
Another name for a Sessional Course
Child Course
A Course that is contained within another (Parent Course), it can be booked on as a part of the parent
Session Plan
Details of the Sessions that are included within a Course, including when they are running and whether each Session is mandatory or optional
Session Plan Item
Details of the Sessions that are included within a Course Template, including when they are expected to run and whether each Session is mandatory or optional
Offset
Time period that this Session will run, based on the start date of the Parent Course, for example:
A Session with an ‘Offset’ of '0 days' will start on the same day as the Parent Course
A Session with an ‘Offset’ of '2 days' will start 2 days after the Parent Course, e.g. 1st & 3rd
Clone Trainers
An option when adding a Session Plan Item to automatically assign the allocated Trainers on the parent Course to this Session, this option only works when the Course is first scheduled
Clone Venue
An option when adding a Session Plan Item to automatically assign the allocated Venue on the parent Course to this Session, this option only works when the Course is first scheduled
How Sessional Courses work
Sessional Courses are used for any Courses that are made up of multiple parts! This includes:
Multi-day classroom Courses, where you want to track attendance on each day (Session), or to assign different Resources to each Session
Course which have mandatory and optional parts for Delegates to choose from
Blended Courses, which could contain some classroom Sessions, eLearning Sessions, and webinar Sessions
No matter the reason for setting up a Sessional Course, all Sessional Courses have the same two elements; a Parent Course, and a selection of Child courses.
Parent Course
The Parent Course is the Course that your customers will book onto, this is the Course that they will add to their basket.
The Parent Course contains most of your Course information; including the full duration, the course aims and objectives, and the ‘Sessions Plan’ where you define which Sessions are included within this Course, and which of these are optional or mandatory.
Child Course
The Child Courses (aka the Sessions) are the Courses that your Delegates will attend/complete. Each Classroom Session, Webinar Session, and eLearning Package to be included in your Sessional Course will be a Child Course.
The Child Courses contain information relevant to the Session, such as the start & end time of the Session, the trainers, and the venue.
Considerations
Whilst Sessional Courses are great for offering a greater level of granularity to your Courses, there are also some considerations to make before you begin to use them
Delegate and Placeholder transfers become more complicated and therefore the accessplanit transfer wizard cannot be used.
Each session booked is counted as a booking, so if your accessplanit contract is based on the number of bookings you process, you should double-check that using Sessional Courses will not cause you to go over your booking limit.
Example Sessional Courses
Here are two example Sessional Courses, and how these appear within the Course Calendar for administrators, and the Checkout Basket for your customers.
1. Multi-day Classroom Course
This example is a First Aid at Work Course, made up of three Sessions; two mandatory classroom Sessions and one optional classroom Session Here is how it the Session Plan for this Course has been set up: How this is Course displayed in the Course Calendar: Here is how this Course appears within the Checkout Basket, when it is being booked:
2. Blended Course
This example is a Nutrition Masterclass, made up of three Sessions; an eLearning Session, a Webinar, and a Classroom Session. Delegates need to attend all three Sessions, so they are all mandatory. Here is how it the Session Plan for this Course has been set up: How this is Course displayed in the Course Calendar: Here is how this Course appears within the Checkout Basket, when it is being booked:
Where to find Sessional Courses
Open the ‘Class’ or ‘Web’ Courses DataGrid from your main navigation menu on the left If you do not yet have a DataGrid Filter to show you Sessional Courses, click the ‘Filters’ button below your DataGrid search bar Click the ‘+ Create New’ option Create a Filter using the options ‘Sessional’ - ‘Equal To’ - ‘Yes’ Give your Filter a name and Save it for future use This filter will now be applied to your DataGrid, showing only Sessional Courses
Open the ‘Class’ or ‘Web’ Courses DataGrid from your main navigation menu on the left Find the Course you would like to view the Sessional settings on by applying filters and/or searching the Courses DataGrid Right-click on the Course in the DataGrid and select the ‘Edit’ option from the content menu Click on the ‘Sessional’ section header to jump down the page to your Sessional settings For more information about the Sessional Cost Types, please see To review the Sessions on this Course, click on the ‘Sessions’ option in the Course Management Menu on the left This will open the Sessions DataGrid where you can view and manage the Sessions on this Course
Sessional Course Management
Learn how to create and manage Sessional Courses in your platform:
Can a user book onto a session only, rather than booking onto the entire Sessional Course?
Yes, any course can be marked as Advertise by an Administrator, even if it is part of Sessional Course. In most cases 'sessions' are not set to advertise because they are intended to be booked as part of the Sessional Course bundle. To advertise an individual course, visit the Course Template and make sure that the Course Template for the session is set to Advertise, then check that the Course Date itself is not set to Hide From Web.
When updating the status of a Parent (parent) session, will this automatically update the status of its sessions?
No, the status of the session will need to be updated manually.
When updating the dates of a Parent (parent) session, will this automatically update the dates of its sessions?
No, the dates of the sessions will need to be updated manually.
Should we update the status of all the Course sessions once the Sessional Course is completed?
We recommend updating each session as soon as it has been delivered. Although sessions form part of a larger programme, each one is an individual learning event, so its good to keep them as up to date as you can. There are a few benefits to updating session statuses and Delegate attendance shortly after each session: Greater accuracy - Course details are still fresh in your trainers' and administrators' minds, which means you reduce the risk of mistakes or forgotten attendance updates More reliable reporting - Your reports, Dashboards, and completion stats are accurate, this gives you a true picture of learner progress and course delivery Improved Delegate experience - If any of your Delegates log into their Learner Portal they can clearly see their progress through their Sessional Course, e.g. which sessions they have attended / what is still to come Less admin later - Updating sessions little and often avoids you having to deal with a large backlog of administration at the end of the Course!
Can I set up my Workflows to only send for the parent session and not each individual session?
Yes, to do this add in a rule to your Workflow which says: ‘Is session Candidate' - ‘Equal To’ - 'No’
Can I use Partial Payments with Sessional Courses?
Yes - however, if your Head Session uses a Sessional Cost Type that includes the cost of the Child Sessions, you need to make sure to enable Partial Payments on all your Child Sessions in addition to the Head Session.
How can I generate an Invoice for one session/module of a Sessional Course only?
Invoices for Sessional Courses are always generated from the Head Session (parent course), not from individual child sessions — attempting to invoice from a child session will typically be greyed out or unavailable. To invoice only specific sessions, ensure your Sessional Cost Type is set to Sum of Sessions or Course Cost Plus Optional Sessions — this way, the invoice will only reflect the sessions the Delegate is actually booked onto. Alternatively, if a customer only needs to attend a single session, you can advertise the child session as a standalone Course and book the Delegate directly onto it (not via the Sessional plan), then generate an invoice from that course's Delegates DataGrid as normal.
How do I manage course sessions?
Please follow the steps listed below for how to manage your course sessions. Open the Class or Web Courses DataGrid from the main navigation. Find the Sessional (parent) Course using filters/search. Right‑click on the Course and choose Sessions (or choose Edit then use the Sessions option in the Course Management menu). This opens the Sessions DataGrid for that Course, where you can view and manage all its sessions.
How to find the parent Course for a Session
To find the parent Course for a Session, you can use the Parent Course ID or Sessional fields available on the Class and Web Courses DataGrids. Follow the guidance listed below for how to do this: Method 1: Filter the Courses DataGrid by Parent Course ID Open the Class or Web Courses DataGrid from the main navigation menu Add the Parent Course ID column to your DataGrid if it's not already visible The Parent Course ID column will show the ID of the parent (Sessional) Course that each Session belongs to You can apply a filter using Parent Course ID to group all Sessions under a specific parent Course Method 2: Filter the DataGrid using the 'Sessional - Yes' filter Open the Class or Web Courses DataGrid Apply a filter on the Sessional field and set it to Yes This will display only Sessional (parent) Courses, making it easy to identify the parent Courses that contain Sessions From there, you can right-click a parent Course to drill into its Sessions Method 3: Navigate from the parent Course's Sessions tab If you're working the other way around (from parent to Sessions): Open the Class or Web Courses DataGrid Right-click on the parent Course Select Sessions from the context menu This opens the Sessions DataGrid showing all child Sessions linked to that Course
