I run an online school and have to track the courses we run and the teachers who teach them. Right now, I have one Board to hold Teachers and one to hold Classes.
I use the terms Course and Class to mean different things. A “Class” is a single session and “Courses” can be made up of one or more Classes. Just to complete the picture, a Course might meet on Monday, July 7, or it might be made up of three Classes on three consecutive Mondays, the 7th, 14th, and 21st.
My fundamental question has to do with how to structure the Classes board. Right now, each individual Class session is a separate item and if a Course consists of multiple Classes, I number them. It looks like this:
Current Model
- Class A
- Class B (1/3)
- Class B (2/3)
- Class B (3/3)
- Class C
- Class D (1/2)
- Class D (2/2)
I can think of at least two more approaches. In the first, the sessions which comprise a Class are Subitems, and in the second, Courses and their component Classes are in separate Boards (with the appropriate Link Columns):
SubItem Model
- Course A
- Class A.1
- Course B
- Class B.1
- Class B.2
- Class B.3
- Course C
- Class C.1
- Course D
- Class D.1
- Class D.2
Separate Board Model
- Courses Board
- Course A
- Course B
- Course C
- Course D
- Classes Board
- Course A
- Class A.1
- Class B.1
- Class B.2
- Class B.3
- Class C.1
- Class D.1
- Class D.2
Can anyone help me with a recommendation as to what the best approach is?
If you have read this far, thank you. Here are some relevant issues that might inform your choice:
- We have 25-40 classes per month. There are a lot of them. I’d like to automate the process of creating the Classes which comprise the Courses as much as possible.
- I have to track the cost, registration, and revenue of each Course.
- The cost of a Course is based on the teacher stipend and number of Classes involved. (Cost={Stipend} x {#Classes}. So I have to run calculations and roll-up math.