A cohort of three and a cohort of thirty
You run taught cohorts for some standards, starting on set dates, and roll in learners on others. Your business development team is out talking to employers, each of whom wants a start date that suits them. One cohort next month has three learners. Another has so many that the trainer is worried and two coaches will be over capacity.
The planning lives in a spreadsheet of cohorts, a separate one of employer pipeline, and your delivery manager's knowledge of coach caseloads. Business development promises dates without seeing capacity. Delivery finds out about the numbers when the start packs arrive.
Why starts and capacity do not line up
- The employer pipeline is in a CRM or spreadsheet that delivery does not see.
- Cohort dates are set once a year and not revisited as demand changes.
- Coach caseloads and trainer timetables are held by the delivery manager, not shared.
- Business development is rewarded for starts, not for well-planned starts.
- Learners who are ready early wait for a cohort, and some drift away.
What poor start planning costs
Undersized cohorts cost money to run and give learners a thin peer group. Oversized ones overload coaches, whose reviews and marking then slip across their whole caseload, not just for the new learners. Employers who are told a date that later moves lose patience, and some take their apprentices to a provider who can start them sooner.
The tension between business development and delivery is costly in its own way. Both teams want the same thing, but without shared numbers, every conversation about starts becomes an argument about who should have known.
A start planning view both teams share
- Upcoming cohorts per standard are listed with dates, trainer and the capacity your delivery manager sets.
- Employer opportunities from your CRM or pipeline spreadsheet are shown against the cohort they are aiming for, with a confidence level your business development team sets.
- Confirmed starts from the start pack tracker are shown separately from hoped-for ones.
- Coach caseloads are read from your MIS, with the number of new learners each can take in the coming months.
- Each cohort shows a simple status: needs more learners, healthy, near capacity, over capacity.
- When a cohort is at capacity, business development sees the next available date to offer, and delivery can decide to open another cohort or allocate more coaches.
| View | Used by | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Cohorts by standard | Delivery manager | Which cohorts are thin or overfull |
| Pipeline against cohorts | Business development | Which dates to offer employers |
| Coach capacity | Delivery manager | Who can take new learners and when |
| Confirmed versus hoped-for | Both | How reliable the numbers are |
Planning meetings with shared numbers
The monthly planning meeting now looks at one screen. A cohort in six weeks is thin, so business development focuses calls on the employers likely to fill it. Another is near capacity, so new employers are offered the following date, or delivery agrees to open a second group. Coaches can see their likely new starts and plan their time.
The view also helps with the questions that come up between meetings. When a large employer asks whether you can take eight apprentices on one standard in March, the business development manager can see straight away whether March has room, whether a second group would be needed, and which coaches would carry them, before promising anything. Delivery gets a say before the commitment is made, not after.
Employers are given dates that hold. Learners ready early are placed in the next suitable start rather than waiting for a date nobody has confirmed.
Is start planning a tug of war?
- Some cohorts run nearly empty while others are overfull.
- Business development promises dates without seeing capacity.
- Coaches find out about new learners when the paperwork arrives.
- Employers have their start dates moved.
- Pipeline and delivery numbers are in separate spreadsheets.