Create and manage "A la carte" sessions

TABLE DES MATIÈRES "A la carte" mode presentation "A la carte" session creation Formula pricing Package selection modification Manage granted credits and certificates according to your packages Other settings that can be paired with the "A la carte" feature

NOTES I. The 'A la carte' mode is not recommended for administrative registration, as it requires a personal selection. An administrator who wishes to register a user must assume the user's identity in order to make the selection on their behalf and complete the payment for them. II. To create an à la carte session, you must first set up certain prerequisites:  a. You must have activated your shopping cart on at least one portal. Refer to the article Creating and Configuring a Portal to learn more about this . b. You must have created a session with in-person or virtual classroom activities. To learn how to create a session, refer to the article Creating and Managing Sessions. To learn how to add activities to your session, refer to the article Adding Content to Trainings and Events.

Introduction

Since version 2019.10, it has been possible to create A la carte' sessions. This type of session provides administrators and training providers with an additional way to manage events. Participants must choose from the available activities and may pay a different amount depending on the combination and selection of activities they choose.

"A la carte" mode presentation (back to the top) 

"A la carte" sessions allow you to offer multiple registration options to potential participants in the form of packages that require user selection. These trainings offering "A la carte" packages are easily identifiable when browsing your training catalog, as they will display the "A la carte" label below the presentation thumbnail.

After clicking on the training tile, a visual similar to the one shown below will appear at the bottom of the description.
In the example presented in this article, the active session is titled General Health Conference.

In this case, the packages included in the session are preceded by an Information Field that provides details about the associated program. These Information Fields can be used in various ways depending on the structure of the packages. For example, a general overview could be displayed before the first package, followed by a list of available packages, or—as illustrated—a description of the activities associated with each package could appear above each one.

The different packages in an à la carte session are displayed under a training session at the bottom of the catalog’s training presentations, following the layout shown in the example below:

Creation of an "A la carte" session (back to the top) 

Before to begin, let's make sure that... Your Shopping Cart is activated on the portal where your "A la carte" training will appear for subscriptions; Your event and session are already in place, and synchronous activities are included as part of the content.

• Creating content: 
  Before defining your packages, all content elements (in-person activities, remote activities, and associated documentation) must already exist within the session content. Please refer to the articles Creating and configuring training and events, Creating and managing sessions, and Adding content to training and events for guidance.
• "A la carte" mode activation: 
  To access the package creation settings in your training session, start by activating the "À la carte" mode from the corresponding menu using the action button .
  
  
• Create an information field: 
  Including an information field before listing the packages is optional, but it helps potential participants better understand the offer and make informed choices. This step is therefore highly recommended. You can include one or more information fields as a general introduction, above each package, or based on your needs and the selection structure you wish to implement.
  When you click on , you are redirected to a writing space where you can insert a title and text that will ultimately be displayed to the user when viewing the available packages.
  
• Create a formula: 
  The  option is responsible for structuring your activities into packages that will be offered to potential participants. It allows you to group the activities to be selected so that a price based on the selection is displayed in the catalog, enabling users to choose the package that best suits their preferences and schedule.

  The various available buttons will respectively allow you to: Change the order of information fields, packages, or blocks  Add a block to your package Modify your package title Delete your package Show or hide content

• Create a bloc: 
  The block is essential for creating a package. The available conferences associated with each package must be inserted into one or more blocks using the option available to the right of your package title.

  In the window that appears, you can name your block and initially define how many activities the user will be able to select from those included in the block. You may only need one block, but to clearly display the selection, multiple blocks can be created within the same package—for example, to distinguish morning activities from afternoon ones.

  
• Add your activities: 
  

  Online or in-person conferences must be added to blocks, with at least one block required per package. At this stage, the activities already listed under the Content tab and  button should be used to populate the blocks. The same activities can appear in different packages. For example, if the event takes place over two days, it could be presented in three different packages: one offering a selection of activities from Day 1, a second allowing participants to choose activities on Day 2, and a third covering both days, including all activities and allowing participants to select those they wish to attend across both days.

• On the administrative side, the modules used to build your à la carte package are intuitive and reflect the structure seen in the catalog. Therefore, the initial setup on the administrative side for the first package might look like this:
• 

  The action buttons in the "Mandatory" column allow you to define which activities in your package are required or included and do not need to be selected. Other activities that are not mandatory can be selected or skipped by the participant.

  NOTE: If your virtual or in-person activities have a maximum number of participants, once your packages are finalized, you can return to the content item settings to access the "Maximum participants" field and fill it in according to your needs.

• Link your documentation to each activity:
  If documentation (file, image, document, video, survey, etc.) is part of the content, once the "A la carte" mode is activated, additional settings become available for these items. It is then possible to define which activity selection will trigger the display of a file or survey to the participant. This option can be found in the content item's settings, under the new "Visibility" tab.
  

Packages pricing (back to the top) 

• Define the rates and associate them with each respective package: 

  For each package, a rate must be defined for the session and linked to the respective package. In the session settings, under the "Pricing" tab, create your rates and select the package to be associated with these rates in the "Assign to a package" field.

• Restriction rules:
  Even if the "A la carte" mode is active, restriction rules may still apply individually to each defined rate. If restriction rules have been set up in your environment, please select the applicable restriction rule from the corresponding dropdown list available.
• Add a survey to the registration fee:
  Various reasons may require surveying the user before they proceed with payment for a package registration (e.g., meal choices, carpooling, etc.). For each defined rate, a survey can be presented to the user before finalizing the payment. The icons to the right of the defined rate will open three options:
  

  Create new survey will open a survey-type content item, where you can build an entirely new survey. Link a survey will allow you to access your 'My Resources' section to use an existing survey and consolidate all responses provided by users. Deleting price allows you to remove the defined rate.

  
   
• Set the maximum of avalaible seats for your activity: In the settings of content items representing in-person or online activities, under the "General Information" tab, two fields allow you to define the "Minimum participants" and the "Maximum participants" for the activity.
  Please note that a few mandatory prerequisites must be considered, as outlined in the NOTES at the top of the article.
  

  A minimum and maximum of registrants can be set per activity if the capacity of the conference rooms or virtual rooms is limited.

  
  

Modifying the selection of activities in a package (back to the top) 

Once a participant has registered for a package and selected the associated activities, they cannot make any changes to their selection unless they cancel their registration and complete a new one, provided the settings allow it. 

As a platform administrator with the required specific permissions, it is possible to modify a participant’s activity selection for the package they have chosen.

If the participant wishes to change the overall package they selected, they will be required to cancel their registration and complete a new one.

Managing granted credits and certificates according to the selected packages  (back to the top) 

Until now, the predefined fields related to sessions applied to the session as a whole. With the new A la carte session feature, you can now grant training credits and certificates based on the specific training activities selected by the participant.

Grant training hours for the items included in your package

The duration of the activity (resource) may differ from the number of hours recognized for that activity, whether in-person or online. For this reason, the "Hours Equivalence" field is available and can be used on certificates, using the two predefined fields [Completion_Hours] and [Completion_Credits], to reflect a value that differs from the actual duration and instead corresponds to the recognized value of the event.

Grant training credits for the items included in your packages

To grant credits only for the resources (activities) completed by participants registered in your A la carte session, go to the settings of each resource and assign a "number of points" for completion using the field of the same name. For example, as shown below, a virtual activity may be worth '2 points', or two credits.

Display the selected activities and accumulated credits on the certificates

Now that you’ve added completion points (credits) to each of the resources in your A la carte package, you can include this achievement information on the certificate issued upon successful completion of your training activities. To do so, go to the relevant certificate. Once in the HTML editor of your A la carte session certificate, click where you want to insert this information, then click the "Predefined Fields"  action button highlighted below:

Once you’ve clicked this action button, the following page will appear. Click on "Completion" to access the two predefined fields highlighted below:

To add a field to your certificate, simply click on the desired field and it will automatically be inserted at the selected location. In admin mode, the field will appear in "code" format. When a participant views their certificate, this field will automatically be replaced with the specific information related to that participant.

The "Resource_Completion_List" selection opens a new window that first summarizes the content of each field that can be included. You can choose the display format for the list of activities from the available options, as illustrated below. For each certificate issued, it is important to ensure there is enough space for the list of activities to be displayed properly.
The predefined field "Completion_Resource_Total_Value" allows you to display the total value earned by the participant based on the activities they are associated with and have completed.

Two other fields may be useful on certificates for a “A la carte” training program. These can be found under the “Registration” tab:

• “Subscription_ActivityListInfo” will display the list of activities the user is associated with in the case of a regular session 
• “Formula_ActivityListInfo” will display the list of activities, along with the elements associated with those activities, selected by the user during registration for an “A la carte” session
• "Formula_SelectedActivityListInfo" will display only the list of synchronous activities selected by the user during registration for an “A la carte” session.

Other settings that can be combined with the "A la carte" feature (back to the top) 

Trainings offering "A la carte" packages may also provide the option to enable authorization "Approuved by an administrator". 

When authorization is enabled for an "A la carte training", the user will be able to complete a survey at the time of payment—if one is configured—before their registration request is submitted.

Payment must also be made at the time of the registration request, unlike the usual behavior where payment is required only after the registration request has been accepted.

Enabling a waitlist on an "A la carte" session is not recommended, as it is incompatible with this feature.

To learn how to create and configure a certificate, please refer to the article Creating and Managing Certificates.