Manage Group Costs
Use the Group Costs functionality to set up small groups of learners who require the same support (for example: a group of three learners who need the support of a sign language interpreter). Group costs allows you manage the single costs that are distributed across the group.
A group cost can only be set up for a unique fund type and funding year combination (for example: ALS fund code for funding year 24).
Use Fund Manager to:

To create a planned group cost:
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Select the Learners tab in Fund Manager.
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Use the Condition Builder to display the required learner records.
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Select learners in the grid for the required fund code and funding year.
You can select multiple records using Shift-click (for a series of records), Ctrl-click (for individual records), or Ctrl+A (for all records).
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Click the Group Cost button on the ribbon, and then select one of the following:
- Selected - adds the selected learners to the group cost
- All - adds all the learners in the grid to the group cost
The Group Costs page is then displayed. A record is created in the grid, and the learners in the group are displayed in the Group Cost Learners section.
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Enter the details in the relevant fields.
The fields in the Group Cost grid are described in the following table.
This field | Holds this information... |
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Fund Code | The fund type for the group cost. |
Fund Description | The fund description. This defaults to the description of the fund type when the group cost is saved. |
Funding Year | The funding year for the group cost. |
Group Code | A user-defined code that identifies the group cost. |
Group Description | A user-defined description of the cost group. |
Cost Category | The cost category of the group cost. The available options are the cost categories set up with a fund type of null, or with the fund type selected for the group (for example: if the fund type of the group cost is ALS, only cost categories set up with a fund type of ALS or null in Reference Data are available). |
Support Type | The support type of the group cost. The available options are the support types set up with a cost category of null, or with the cost category selected for the group (for example: if the cost category of the group cost is Exam Support, only support types set up with a cost category of Exam Support or null in Reference Data are available). |
Start Date | The start date for the group cost. |
Unit Type | The unit type. This is automatically populated with the Default Unit Type of the support type, if specified. |
Unit Cost | The unit cost. This is automatically populated with the Default Unit Cost of the support type, if specified. |
Number of Units | The number of units. This is automatically populated with the Default Num Units of the support type, if specified. Otherwise, this defaults to 1.00. |
Total Cost | The total cost. This is calculated by multiplying the Unit Cost by the Number of Units. |
Support Coordinator | The person code of the staff member who will be the main co-ordinator for delivering the group support. Enter the code or click the Search button to search. |
Support Coordinator Name | The name of the staff member who will be the main co-ordinator for delivering the group support. This is automatically populated on selecting the Support Coordinator. |
Delivered |
Whether to create a delivered group cost. Refer to Create delivered group costs for further information. This field is only editable on saving. |
When you enter the Group Cost details, the Total Cost is calculated and displayed.
The learner records in the Group Cost Learners grid are updated with the Distributed Cost for each learner (that is: the Total Cost divided by the number of learners).
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If required, enter the adjustment details in the Adjustment Amount and Adjustment Reason fields. This will update the total cost in Support Plan Manager and on the Group Costs and Support Plans tabs for the selected learner, and the distributed cost amount for the group support plan records updated accordingly.
Only negative amounts can be entered as adjustment amounts for support plan records linked to group costs.
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Click Save.
On saving, all fields become read-only, except for the Delivered field.
When a group cost is saved, the following records are created:
- SUPPORT_GROUPS
- SUPPORT_PLAN - for each learner
- SUPPORT_GROUP_LINKS - links each SUPPORT_PLAN record to the SUPPORT_GROUPS record

To create a delivered group cost:
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Select the Group Costs tab in Fund Manager.
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Click in the Delivered field of the relevant record to change the N to a Y.
A confirmation message is then displayed.
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Click Yes to create a new record in the Group Costs grid.
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Make any changes to the Unit Cost and Number of Units fields, if required.
The learner records in the Group Cost Learners grid are updated with the Distributed Cost for each learner.
You can add an Adjustment Amount to amend the Distributed Cost, if required. An Adjustment Reason must be entered where there is an Adjustment Amount.
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Click Save.
The delivered group cost is then read-only, but can be deleted.

To delete a group cost:
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Select the Group Costs tab in Fund Manager.
- Use the Condition Builder to display the required group records.
- Select the Group Cost record(s) you want to delete in the grid.
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Click the Delete button on the Support Manager ribbon.
A confirmation message is displayed.
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Click Yes to mark the record for deletion.
- Click Save to delete the record.

To add learners to a group:
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Select the Group Costs tab in Fund Manager.
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Use the Condition Builder to search for and display group cost records.
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Select the required group cost record in the Group Costs grid.
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Select a learner in the Group Cost Learners section to enable the Add button.
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Click the Add button on the Support Manager ribbon.
The Learner Search window is displayed.
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Enter the required search criteria, and then click the Search button.
The search results are displayed in the right-hand pane.
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Do one of the following:
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Select the required learners from the search results, and then click the Add Selected Learners button at the top of the Learner Search window to add the selected learners to a fund
You can select multiple records using Shift-click (for a series of records), Ctrl-click (for individual records), or Ctrl+A (for all records).
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Click the Add All Learners button at the top of the Learner Search window to add all learners to a fund
To clear the selected learners and filter criteria, click the Clear button at the top of the Learner Search window.
A confirmation message is displayed.
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Click Yes.
The following message is displayed.
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Click Yes if you want to retain the existing adjusted amounts for all learners. Otherwise, click No.
The selected learner records are then added to the group.
A record is added to the Group Cost Learners grid for each selected learner.
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Click Save.
The selected learners are added to the group, and the distributed cost is recalculated and applied for the learners in the group.

To delete learners from a group:
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Select the Group Costs tab in Fund Manager.
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Use the Condition Builder to search for and display group cost records.
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Select the required group cost record(s) in the Group Costs grid.
You can select multiple records using Shift-click (for a series of records), Ctrl-click (for individual records), or Ctrl+A (for all records).
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Click the Delete button in the Support Manager group on the Support Manager ribbon.
A confirmation message is displayed.
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Click Yes to mark the selected records for deletion.
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Click Save.
The selected learners are deleted from the group, and the distributed cost is recalculated and applied for the remaining learners in the group.