When creating a branch, within the settings for the branch, you might notice the option 'Course assignments deduct balance' (1).
Selecting this option will make any course assignments created by the branch admin deduct credits from their balance and not from the branch users' balance.
The amount of credit for a branch admin is given to them by the system's super administrator. This balance, owned now by the branch admin, is used for branch-wide course assignments.
Let us take the process step by step, in order to describe it in more details.
Selecting this option will make any course assignments made by the branch admin to deduct credits from his/her balance and not from the branch users' balance. The amount of credit for a branch admin is given to him/her by the system's super administrator. This balance, owned now by the branch admin, is used for branch-wide course assignments.
Charges and refunds
Let us take the process step by step, in order to describe it in more details.
Assume that a branch admin is credited a certain amount of credits, which now appear in his/her balance. When the branch administrator now wants to assign a branch course to a branch user, he/she is actually purchasing this course on the user's behalf.
Because of this, the branch user is not charged with the cost of this course, but the branch admin is getting charged for the course assignment...
...and the cost of this course is deducted from the branch admin's balance.
In case of a course enrollment, the credit can be refunded, assuming of course that the refund rules, described in the previous section apply.
Keep in mind that in case of a price track, for example, if a course is on sale, this price track applies to the person making the purchase, in this case, the branch admin, and not to the user who is assigned to the course.
Assigning balance to end users
Branch administrators as described before are able to purchase the course on behalf of their branch users. Another option is to share their balance with their branch users and let branch users spend their balance according to their will.
Assume that a branch administrator has been credited with 1000 credits of balance.
A branch admin can visit the branch users list, and for a specific user, when view user details, again on the “E-commerce” tab, share some of the balance he/she has to the user.
The credit shared with the user is deducted from the branch administrator's balance.
The users consequently can spend the credit that was shared with them, purchasing courses on their own.
Request access to courses (moneyless payments)
Finally, another means for users to get courses is to request access to it. This is a moneyless transaction. A user is able to request access to a course, and the branch administrator can decide whether to grant or deny access to the user.
Usually, this form of acquiring a course, allows users to request access to a course through eFront, but complete the payment for the course through some other way of payment or agreement, outside of the eFront platform. To find out more about this option, please visit this article.