Where dispatch progress comes from

The progress milestones of automatic dispatch (35%, 70%...) follow the class progress: the share of course hours completed, which arrives through the classes spreadsheet, the integration with the academic system or the classes screen. The milestone goes out when that number reaches it.

Stalled progress

The system records when each class's progress last arrived — including when the number that arrived is the same as before, because receiving the same number shows the diary is being kept up to date. Editing the class name, size or teachers does not count.

A running class that has not received progress for more days than the institution threshold (default: 14) shows up:

• on the classes screen, with the "progress stalled" badge and the date of the last progress received;
• in the outcome of each dispatch rule with a progress milestone that reaches it, and in My week, with the count of stalled classes.

The warning exists because a class stuck at 30% for three weeks cannot be told apart, by the number, from one that really is at 30%: the 35% milestone simply never arrives. The warning goes away on its own when progress is received again.

The course end and dropout milestones do not depend on progress: they follow the class end date and the date the student left.

Calendar-estimated progress

Without an integration, progress only moves when someone uploads the spreadsheet. The institution can turn on the calendar estimate: for a running class with start and end dates registered, the system estimates progress as the share of business days already elapsed between the two dates, in the institution calendar — Monday to Friday, excluding national holidays.

Rules of the estimate:

• Progress received on time wins. The estimate only applies to a class that never received progress or whose progress is stalled.
• It never lowers the received value. If the last progress received is higher than the estimate, the received one applies.
• It does not change the class number. The progress shown on the classes screen is still the received one; the estimate is only what dispatch reads.
• No start or no end date, no estimate. The class keeps the received progress and, if it stalls, shows up as stalled.
• The source is recorded. Invites and responses sent by an estimated milestone are marked "estimated from calendar", and the export shows it next to the course position.

The consequence

With the estimate on, the milestone goes out by the calendar even if the class is behind: if the course is halfway through the content planned for 35%, the 35% survey goes out anyway. The estimate is linear in business days: a class that meets only on some weekdays, with interleaved modules or with its own recess falls outside the real count — state and municipal holidays and recesses still count as business days.

That is why the estimate starts turned off. Turning it on or off requires reach over the whole institution and is recorded in the audit trail.