Hi

On the first question, not sure what a short course is anymore?  Sounds strange but... credit baring vs non-credit baring vs conference attendance, or short courses where the department retains any money or short courses where the fees are included the central pot and therefore activity included in a planning round?  So may combinations its really difficult to advise without much asking for much detail.  However the second point on managing apprentices etc... we use Maytas.  This is an apprenticeship accountancy package that manages all aspects of the apprenticeship wrapper and assessment processes etc.  This also means the IRL is generated directly from that software without the worry of the central record not coping.  Having said that, it would be a lot more convenient if the Maytas data was integrated with the main student system... give it time I suppose.

BW

Phillip