Head Counts - Complete Guide
Here at Upshot we would recommend that where possible a traditional register is recorded with individuals’ names. This allows for greater reporting based on the demographic data and custom fields collected on participant profiles as well as allowing organisations to track the work they complete with an individual participant.
We do recognise that
Head Counts can be helpful when you want to report on large numbers of people at sessions where the individuals aren't known, such as at events.
A
Head Count allows you to record the number of people who attended and can be broken down further by the Upshot default fields (gender, age range) or by your Custom Head Count Fields.
Reporting by Head Count will allow you to measure
attendance at your sessions
but not the number of unique attendees. The same individual may be counted in multiple Head Counts and therefore count as multiple attendances. This is an important consideration when deciding whether to record a session as a traditional register or a Head Count.
Note that you cannot record individual attendees and a head count in the same register. When creating the session, you have to choose one of the two options under
Type.
This guide explains how you can set up, use and report by
Head Count Fields.
Creating a Head Count Session
If you plan on recording attendance from a session via a Head Count this must be defined when creating the session. This is done by changing the Type from Register to Head Count.
Here you can also create
recurring sessions to save yourself time later. For more information on
Sessions please click
here.
If you only want to create one session click
Save and Add Register to record your Head Count straight away.
Submitting your Head Count
On your sessions list, find the session that you want to update the head count for and select Add head count.
Complete the field
Total number of participants first. Then select all the fields that you want to complete by clicking on
Specify…
The Upshot default fields contain a Gender split (Male/Female) and a sliding scale age range. To find out how to hide these or create your own
Custom Head Count fields please click
here.
Tick box fields, being binary, will automatically add up to the total number of participants. Single-choice fields can be less or equal to the total number of participants but not more.
Deleting a Head Count Session
A Head Count session can only be deleted when there is no data (around the 'Total Number of Participants') attached to it.
If there is no number in the 'Total Number of Participants' box, a user will see the option to Delete session from within the session itself as well as via the Session: List or via Edit Draft Sessions.
If a value has been entered into the 'Total Number of Participants' and a user wants to delete that session they will first need to enter a zero ('0') against the Total Number of Participants at the top of their head count fields and then click Submit.
As soon as this is done users will see the option to Delete session at the top of the screen.
Bulk Importing Sessions and Head Count data
It is also possible to carry out a process to bulk import session and register data.
In the majority of instances the existing methods of data entry mentioned above will be simpler and quicker for users and organisations to complete.
More about this can be found here.
Reporting - Statistics Report
To report on attendances across a whole project by Head Count Field, the Statistics Report can be used.
For the full guide on the
Statistics Report please click
here.
Notes:
1) Attendances (all people) includes all attendances recorded on session registers and Head Count sessions. This would be applicable if this field was recorded as both a custom attendee field for individual participants & a custom Head Count field on Head Count registers.
2) The column Attendances (participants) that you would find on other Statistics Reports is not shown as Head Count sessions do not differentiate by Attendee Type.
Reporting - Attendance Report
To report on attendances across a set number of sessions the Attendance Report can be used. Head Count Fields are included in this report when filtering by Session type - Head Count.
For the full guide to the
Attendance Report, please click
here.
The Attendance Report download includes all the Custom Head Count Fields that have been recorded against that activity. It will also include Custom Head Count Fields that are currently not displayed but may have data recorded against them from previous sessions.
Reporting - Measured Indicators
The information you are collecting using Head Count Fields can be tracked by Measured Indicators.
For the full guide to
Measured Indicators please click
here.
Head Count Fields can be included in three Indicator types:
Contact hours – This refers to the number of hours that an attendee spends in a session. For example: If a session lasts 2 hours and five people attend, that is 10 contact hours.
Number of attendances – This refers to the number of times participants have attended sessions.
Number of attendances on head count sessions – This refers to the number of times participants have attended head count sessions.
Note: For Contact hours and Number of attendances, you will need to select Include head count session data? to be able to track Head Count Fields. O
nly those Custom Head Count Fields that are also displayed as Custom Attendee Fields on the attendee registration forms will be shown. This is because data will be pulled from both traditional registers and Head Count sessions.
Key Terms
Attendance Report:
This report allows you to see all your session registers and head counts for certain projects/activities in a downloaded CSV file. For more information on this please refer to the
Attendance Report guide.
For more information please refer to the short video
here.
Attendee Data Fields:
These are extra custom fields, that your organisation wishes to collect information on. These will be presented on either your registration form for attendees or as additional fields on your head count register. Changes can be made to these by a System Administrator. Note extra fields created by your Facilitating Organisation may be also be present on your registration form and head count register. Data Fields can also be restricted by project, to find out more about this click
here.
Custom Head Count Fields:
These are additional custom fields defined by your organisation and will be presented on your head count registers. These allow you to gain more information from your head count sessions. The Upshot default for head counts is total participants, age range and gender. A System Admin will be able to customise the fields presented.
Custom Head Count fields can only be single-choice or tick box fields. A single choice field will allow you to enter figures that add to a total up to, and including, the total number of participants, whilst a tick box field is binary. This mean that for a tick box field the numbers submitted for the two options must always equal the total of participants. Data Fields can also be restricted by project, to find out more about this click
here.
Measured Indicator:
These provide certain quantifiable metrics that measure the performance of your project in real time. Targets can then be set against this, giving you a visual depiction of how your project is performing. For more information please refer to the
Measured Indicators guide.
For more information please refer to the short video
here.
Registers:
Registers are added to each session so you can record attendance. You can choose to record the names of people that attend or use a head count register, this is defined by the ‘Type’ dropdown when creating a session.
Using a full ‘register’ allows you to record the names of all the attendees at a particular session. It also allows you to define the attendee type (e.g. participant, session leader, support worker etc.), whether the attendees have paid for the session, whether they volunteered and how they volunteered. These options are shown in register (details) below. This extra information can enhance your reporting capability.
A head count allows you to record the number of people who attended and can be broken down further by the Upshot default fields (gender, age range) or by your custom head count fields.
Statistics Report:
The statistics report allows you to see headline numbers across different criteria in regards to your project:
•
Attendees (all people) – The number of people who attended sessions in any capacity.
•
Attendees (participants) – The number people who attended sessions as participants.
•
Attendances (all people) – The number of times anyone has attended in any capacity.
•
Attendances (participants) – The number of times participants took part.
•
Contact hours – The number of hours that each attendee spends in a session combined. For example if a session lasts 2 hours and five people attend, this represents 10 contact hours.
•
Session hours – The total length of time that sessions have been run for.
•
Sessions delivered – The number of sessions that have been delivered.
•
Accreditations gained – If any accreditations were gained as part of this particular activity.
•
Cost – The total cost of this activity to the organisation. This cost is then broken down as an average based on the filters chosen.
•
Cost per participant – The cost average to the organisation per participant.
•
Cost per participant attendance – The average cost to the organisation for each attendance on a particular project/activity.
•
Cost per hour delivered – The average cost per hour to deliver a particular activity.
•
Cost per session delivered – The average cost for each session that is delivered, within a particular activity.
• Cost per accreditation gained – The average cost to the organisation for each accreditation gained by participants on a particular activity.
For more information please refer to the short video here.
