SCL Cloud — User Manual

1. Introduction

SCL Cloud is the staff admin portal for the SCL onboarding platform. The platform has three parts that work together:

• SCL One — the learner mobile app (iOS & Android) where prospective learners create an account and complete their enrolment application.
• The web forms — public pages for event enquiries (/enquiry) and event check-in by QR code (/checkin).
• SCL Cloud — this portal, where staff manage enquiries, events, applications, centres, student Microsoft 365 logins, automation and settings.

SCL Cloud is reached at /admin on the platform URL. It works in any modern web browser on desktop or tablet.

2. Signing in & roles

Sign in with your SCL Microsoft account — click Sign in with Microsoft and authenticate as you would for email. There is no separate password to remember.

Your access level is decided by your Microsoft account's group membership. There are three roles:

If you sign in and see "access denied", your account isn't in an SCL Cloud group yet — ask an Admin to add you.

3. Navigation

The tab bar across the top switches between sections. Tabs you don't have permission for are hidden. The header shows your name, your role badge, a refresh icon (reloads the current tab) and Sign Out.

• Enquiries — people who registered interest at an event or via the web form.
• Enquiry Links — shareable web enquiry links per centre.
• Events — open days and visits, with QR check-in and attendance.
• Applications — learners who have created an app account and are completing their enrolment.
• Centres — the list of SCL centres/sites.
• Student Logins — Microsoft 365 account lookup, password and MFA management.
• Insights — reporting dashboards, split into Applications, Enquiries, Events, Welcome Emails and Returning Emails sub-tabs.
• Images — a library of hosted images with public URLs for use in other apps.
• Get SCL One — the app download QR code and links, to download or share with learners.
• Welcome Emails — email first-year (new) learners their Microsoft login details, with delivery tracking.
• Returning Emails — email returning learners a start-of-year reminder to their personal address.
• Email Log — a searchable record of every welcome and returning email sent, per recipient.
• Workflows Admin — automated messages and actions (visibility can be tailored by a Super Admin).
• Site Access — assign which centres each Reviewer can see (visible only to those granted the "Allocate site access" permission).
• Settings Super Admin — platform and app configuration, including role permissions.
• Audit Log Admin — record of who did what.

4. Enquiries

An enquiry is created when someone registers interest in SCL — either by completing the public web enquiry form, or by being checked in at an event. Each enquiry captures name, email, mobile, date of birth, school, preferred centre and which event(s) they're linked to.

Working with enquiries

• Click any row to open the full details.
• Each enquiry has a status — Open or Completed — that anyone can change from the dropdown on the row (or in the detail pane). Use it to mark off enquiries you've actioned. Filter the list by Open / Completed using the status pills above it. New enquiries start as Open.
• Every enquiry has a free-text Notes box in its detail pane that anyone can edit — jot down call outcomes, follow-ups or context. Click Save Notes to store them; enquiries with notes show a 📝 in the list.
• Enquiries linked to events show an Attended marker per event once they've checked in.
• Use Export CSV to download the list for reporting or import into other systems.
• Admins can delete an enquiry from its detail view.

5. Enquiry Links

This tab lists a ready-made enquiry web link for each centre. Share the link (on flyers, emails, QR codes or a website) and anyone who opens it lands on the public enquiry form. Submissions appear in the Enquiries tab and a copy is emailed to the configured enquiry address — plus the centre's own address if one is set (see Centres).

Use the copy button next to a centre's URL to grab the link.

6. Events & Check-in

Events are open days, taster sessions and centre visits. The Events tab lists them with date, centre and attendance figures.

Creating & editing events

• Create an event with a title, date, time and centre. Users and Admins can create events; editing/deleting an event is Admin-only.
• Each event has a unique QR code for on-the-day check-in.

Check-in on the day

Display or print the event's QR code. When a visitor scans it they reach the check-in page:

1. They enter their email address. If it matches an existing enquiry, they're checked in instantly and marked as attended.
2. If there's no enquiry on record, they complete a short "walk-in" form (name, mobile, DOB, school) which creates an enquiry and marks them attended in one step.

Attendance

Select an event to see its attendance list. You can review who attended and remove an attendance record if it was logged in error.

7. Applications

The Applications tab lists everyone who has created an account in the learner app. Each row shows the learner's name, email, progress, programme, preferred centre and a set of status badges (see Badge legend).

The details view

Click a learner to open their full record, grouped into sections: Account, Personal details, Address, Emergency contact, Employment, Residency, Qualifications, ID document and Declaration. The Account section also shows whether app notifications are on or off and when that was last confirmed.

Actions (User & Admin)

• Set status — move a learner through your custom pipeline statuses (configured in Settings).
• Notes — add internal staff notes to a learner record.
• Send a message — push an in-app notification (and a push notification if the learner has them switched on) to the learner.
• Reopen application — the "unlock" action clears the submitted/completed flags so the learner can edit and resubmit their application.
• Resolve support — clear a learner's support-request flag once you've called them back.
• Delete Admin — permanently remove a learner and all their data.

Messaging learners

The Compose Message panel sends an in-app message (plus a push notification to learners who have them switched on). Write a Title and Message — the message supports rich text (bold, italic, underline, lists and links). Then choose who receives it:

• Send to selected — tick individual learners in the list and send to just them.
• Send to a group — combine any of Centre, Pathway, Sport and Application status filters. The recipient count updates live as you change filters, so you can see exactly how many learners will receive it before you send.

Formatting and links appear in the learner's Messages screen in the app; learners can tap links and delete messages they no longer need.

Account deletion requests

Learners can request deletion of their account from inside the app (a "Delete my account" option on their home screen). When they do:

• Their account is flagged and they're signed out — they can no longer log in (the app shows them "Account Deleted").
• Their data is kept for reporting and audit until a staff member permanently removes it — nothing is deleted automatically.
• The learner shows a 🗑 DELETION REQUESTED badge in the Applications list. Use the 🗑 Deletion Requested filter pill to see all such requests, and open the learner to see when they requested it.

To action a request: open the learner → review → click Delete (Admin only) to permanently remove the record and all their data.

To reverse a request: if a learner changes their mind, an Admin can open the learner and click ↩ Reactivate account in the deletion notice — this clears the flag and lets them sign in again.

8. Badge legend

Badges on each application row give an at-a-glance summary:

9. Centres

The Centres tab lists every SCL site that learners can choose from. Each centre has a name, address and postcode used for distance/geocoding. Admins can edit centre details and re-run geocoding if an address changes.

Sport

Set each centre's sport (Football, Cricket or MMA) from the dropdown on its row. This tag drives the sport-themed progress bar a learner sees in the app once they've chosen or enquired about that site, and it's one of the filters available in group messaging. The tag is stored separately, so it survives the overnight ProSolution sync.

Per-centre enquiry email

Each centre has an optional ✉ enquiry email field on its row. When set, new enquiries for that centre are emailed to both the default enquiry address (Settings) and that centre's address. Leave it blank and enquiries for the centre go to the default only. Like the sport/device tags, it's stored separately so it survives the ProSolution sync.

10. Student Logins

This tab manages students' Microsoft 365 (M365) accounts — the school login used for email, Teams and college systems. It connects to Microsoft (Entra) directly to create accounts and perform real password and security resets.

Importing accounts

• Upload the ProSolution CSV export (the Conditional Offer Acceptance report) — drag-and-drop or click the box. The default mappings already match its columns, so no editing is normally needed.
• Once a file is chosen, use ✕ remove file to clear it and pick another. Re-selecting the same file reloads it (useful after you've edited the CSV).
• New students get an @sclstudent.co.uk account created in Entra with a memorable initial password (force-change at first sign-in), and are added to the search list.
• Returning students (who already have an account) are not recreated — they're added to the search list so you can manage their password, and their details are refreshed. Their account isn't given a new password.
• The results list shows, per student, whether the account was created or already existed, and names any fields that were updated (e.g. "Entra updated: Application Type").
• Clear all records wipes the imported search list only — it does not delete accounts in Entra (Admin-only).

Mappings — which CSV column fills which Entra field

• Open Mappings to control which CSV column populates which Entra attribute (e.g. Application Type → extensionAttribute2). The SCL email → login (UPN) mapping is fixed and can't be changed.
• Tick update existing on a field to also write it to the account when the student already exists in Entra (e.g. refreshing academic year each year). Unticked fields are only written when a brand-new account is created.
• Tick Also set display name… to update returning students' display names to the "Firstname Surname (Student)" format.
• The import summary names each field it updated, and flags any ticked field that had no value in the CSV so you can spot gaps.

Finding a student

Search by student name / SCL email, then select the result to open their login card showing centre, academic year, Application Type, personal email, M365 login and their sign-in status. To list a whole centre, pick that site in the top-bar site filter — the results (with a Signed in column) narrow to it. Large lists are capped at 2,000; choosing a site narrows them.

Has the student signed in? (activation status)

Each learner shows whether they've signed in to their Microsoft account yet:

• ✓ Yes — they've signed in and set their own password.
• — — no sign-in detected; still on the password we issued.
• ? — not checked yet.

Because student licences don't expose sign-in logs, this is worked out from whether the learner has changed the password we issued. It's refreshed automatically once a day, and you can update it on demand with ↻ Refresh sign-in status on the Welcome Emails tab.

Inbox engagement (read / unread)

For learners who have signed in, the Inbox column shows how many messages in their SCL mailbox are read vs unread — an at-a-glance engagement measure while they're getting ready to start. It's refreshed once a day (and on demand with 📥 Refresh inbox stats), and covers all signed-in learners. Totals appear on the Insights → Welcome Emails sub-tab.

Password & MFA

• Reveal password — shows the initial password assigned at import (or the last one reset here). Disabled once a learner has signed in, because they've since changed it and the one on record is no longer valid — use Reset Password instead.
• For returning students we don't hold a password (they've set their own), so Reveal shows a message explaining it can only be reset, not viewed.
• Reset password — issues a new password from the same pool used at account creation. The student must change it at next sign-in, and resetting also clears a "too many wrong passwords" lockout. After a reset the learner returns to not signed in and their new details can be revealed again. Who can reset passwords is controlled by a Super Admin under Settings → Role Permissions → Action permissions (Admins by default).
• The new details are emailed to the learner automatically — when you reset a password, the learner is sent an email (to their personal email on record) with their username and new temporary password. The card confirms whether it was emailed. If there's no personal email on record the reset still works; it just isn't emailed.
• Reset MFA — shows the student's registered multi-factor methods and lets you clear them (e.g. when they've lost their phone) so they can re-register.

11. Welcome Emails

The Welcome Emails tab emails first-year learners their Microsoft login details (username and temporary password) to their personal email address, so they can get into their college account for the first time. It also tracks delivery and who has since signed in.

The template

• Click the Welcome Email Template header to expand/collapse the editor. Edit the subject and body with a rich-text toolbar (bold, lists, links).
• Use the placeholders {{first_name}}, {{username}}, {{password}} and {{student_ref}} (their student reference number) — they're filled in per learner when you send.
• Add attachments that go out with every welcome email. The template also carries MFA / Microsoft Authenticator guidance and a sign-in link.
• Send test sends a copy (with sample details) to an address you choose, so you can preview it. Save template stores your changes; Reset to default restores the built-in wording.

Sending

• Filter the learner list by Scope (all learners or a single site) and Status: Not yet emailed, Bounced / failed, Already emailed (view only) or All (view only). The two "view only" statuses let you review who's had it but can't be bulk-sent to.
• Refine the list further with the search box (name, SCL or personal email), the Eligible only tick-box (hide learners who can't currently be emailed), clicking any column heading to sort (click again to reverse), and the ⏷ column filters — click the small ⏷ on Type, Offer, Centre, Welcome status or Signed in to pick exactly which values to show (Excel-style). Filtered columns turn green. These are display-only aids — they don't change who a bulk send reaches. Your ticked selection is kept as you search, sort and filter.
• Send to selected — tick individual learners and send to just them.
• Send to all matching filter — emails every eligible learner matching the current Scope + Status, not just those shown. It confirms the exact count first, then sends in the background in throttled batches with a live progress bar and a Stop button. Ideal for a whole intake at once.

Delivery tracking & the Signed-in column

• The Welcome column shows each learner's status: Not sent, ✓ Sent, ✓ Delivered, ⚠ Bounced or ✗ Failed. Delivery and bounce results come back automatically from the email service.
• The Signed in column shows who has activated their account (see Student Logins). Learners who've signed in can't be re-sent a welcome (their password has changed).

Fixing a bounce

If a welcome email bounces or fails (usually a wrong personal email), the row shows a ✎ Fix & resend link. Enter the corrected email address and the welcome is resent in one step. A corrected address is locked (shown with a 🔒) so a stale address still sitting in your import file can't overwrite it on the next re-import.

12. Returning Emails

The Returning Emails tab is the counterpart to Welcome Emails, but for returning learners — those whose Application Type is classed as "Returning" (see Settings → Learner Types). Returning learners already have a Microsoft account and their own password, so this email is a start-of-year reminder (their SCL username and student reference) — sent to their personal email address, the same as welcome emails, since it's the address you can rely on reaching them at before term starts.

The template

• Expand Returning Email Template to edit the subject and body with the same rich-text toolbar as welcome emails.
• Available placeholders are {{first_name}}, {{username}} and {{student_ref}} (their student reference number). There is deliberately no {{password}} — we don't hold returning learners' passwords, as they set their own.
• Add attachments (up to 7 MB each) that go out with every returning email. Send test previews it to an address you choose; Save template stores changes; Reset to default restores the built-in wording.

Sending

• Filter by Scope (all learners or a single site) and Status: Not yet emailed, Already emailed (view only) or All (view only).
• Refine the list with the search box (name, SCL or personal email), the Eligible only tick-box, clicking any column heading to sort (click again to reverse), and the ⏷ column filters (click the ⏷ on Type, Offer, Centre, Returning status or Signed in to pick which values to show, Excel-style) — display aids that don't change who a bulk send reaches; your ticked selection is kept as you search, sort and filter.
• Send to selected emails the ticked learners; Send to all matching filter emails every eligible returning learner (with a Formal Offer) matching Scope + Status, confirming the count first and sending in throttled batches with a progress bar and Stop button.
• As with welcome emails, bulk send only applies to "Not yet emailed" — to re-send to someone already emailed, use the ✉ on their row. The Returning column shows who's already had it.

13. Email Log

The Email Log is a single, searchable record of every welcome and returning email the platform has sent — one row per recipient, covering both bulk sends and individual sends. Use it to answer "was this learner emailed, when, by whom, and what happened?" without digging through each tab.

What each row shows

Per recipient: When it was sent, the email Type (Welcome / Returning), the learner's Name and Email, the Result (Sent / Skipped / Failed), a Reason (why it was skipped or failed), the Scope it was part of (e.g. a site for a bulk run), who sent it (By) and the Source (Bulk or Individual).

Filtering & sorting

• Filter by Type, Result, Source, a free-text name/email search, Scope (site), Sent by (admin), and a From / To date range. Click Apply, or Clear to reset.
• Click a column heading (When, Type, Name, Email, Result, Scope) to sort by it. Results are paged — use ← Prev / Next → to move through them.

14. Insights

The Insights tab (titled Reports & Insights) is reporting dashboards, split into five sub-tabs. Every sub-tab obeys the top-bar site filter, so choosing a site narrows all the figures to it; the Applications sub-tab also has a ↓ CSV export.

Applications

Headline KPIs (enquiries, registered, submitted, events, attendances), a conversion funnel, an applications-over-time trend (month / week / day), breakdowns by programme, centre and status, an incomplete-by-stage chart and an operational summary.

Enquiries

Reporting on the enquiry population — volumes and breakdowns for people who've registered interest, narrowed by the current site filter.

Events

The events list with an All / Upcoming / Past filter, showing registrations and attendance.

Welcome Emails

Reporting for the first-year welcome-email population: KPI cards for first-year learners, welcome sent, delivered, bounced/failed, not sent and signed in — plus a per-centre breakdown table. Use it to see, at a glance, how far through onboarding each centre is. A Mailbox engagement row (covering all signed-in learners) shows total messages read, unread, and how many learners have nothing unread.

Returning Emails

The equivalent reporting for the returning learner population (Application Types classed as Returning) — how many are eligible and how many have been sent their returning email, with a per-centre view.

15. Images

The Images tab is a small library of hosted images. Upload an image and it's stored with a public URL you can copy and use anywhere — for example a Chromebook screensaver, a website, or another app. Delete an image to remove it (its URL then stops working).

16. Workflows Admin

Workflows automate communication with learners. A workflow waits for a condition and then acts — for example, sending a reminder message if a learner hasn't finished a step, or nudging learners who haven't supplied a particular field. Admins create, edit and delete workflows here; the platform runs them on a schedule in the background.

17. Site Access

Site Access is how you restrict a Reviewer to specific centres. Reviewers are read-only and site-restricted: a Reviewer only ever sees enquiries, applications, events, student logins and insights for the centres assigned to them here. Super Admins, Admins and Users are never restricted — they always see every site and don't appear here as needing assignment.

How it works

• Users appear automatically. Everyone who signs into the portal is listed here after their first login — no manual set-up. The list is also pre-populated from historical sign-ins, so existing reviewers are already there.
• Assign centres: filter to Reviewers, click ✎ Edit sites on a reviewer, tick the centres they should see, and Save. It takes effect on their next page load — no need to sign out.
• Deny-by-default: a Reviewer with no sites assigned sees nothing until you assign at least one centre. They're flagged ⚠ No sites — sees nothing.
• Use the Assignment filter (All / Unassigned only / Assigned only) to quickly find reviewers still waiting to be set up.

New sites

When a new centre is added (via the overnight ProSolution sync) it belongs to nobody until a reviewer is assigned to it — so a new site's data is never exposed by accident. Assign reviewers to it here when you're ready.

The "no sites" message

If a Reviewer signs in before they've been assigned any sites, they see a banner telling them what to do. You can edit that wording under Settings → Reviewer — No Sites Message.

18. Settings Super Admin

Settings is grouped into cards:

Testing Mode

Switch the app into testing mode and set a warning message shown to learners (e.g. "Data entered will not be used for enrolment"). Use this during trials so test data is clearly flagged.

App Features

Toggle features on/off in the learner app (takes effect next time the app opens):

• Messages — the in-app notifications inbox.
• Events — the events list and registration.
• Yoti — Yoti identity verification.
• Learner Login Importer Visibility — choose whether the Student Logins tab is shown to User and/or Reviewer roles.

Email Settings

• Support Request Email — receives an email when a learner requests a call back.
• Enquiry Email — receives a copy of every web enquiry submission.
• Alert Email — receives an alert if monitoring detects the API is down.
• Welcome / Returning Email BCC — blind-copied on every welcome and returning email sent to students, so you can confirm they're being delivered. Leave blank to send only to the student; separate multiple addresses with commas.

Reviewer — No Sites Message

The banner shown to a Reviewer who signs in with no sites assigned. Use it to tell them what to do (e.g. who to contact). Leave it blank to use the built-in default. You can also set a Contact on Teams email — when set, the banner shows a 💬 Message on Teams button that opens a Teams chat to that person.

App Store Links

Store the public Apple App Store and Google Play links, used when sending install links to learners.

Role Permissions

Choose which tabs each role can see, with a column for Admin, User and Reviewer (Super Admin always sees everything). Settings stays Super-Admin-only and Audit Log stays Admin-level. Workflows is configurable but still needs admin-level access to work, so only grant it to Admins. Use Save Role Permissions to apply, or ↻ Refresh to reload the saved settings.

Below the tabs, an Action permissions table controls who can use specific privileged actions — currently Reset password (Student Logins), the Refresh sign-in status / Refresh inbox stats buttons (Welcome Emails), and Allocate site access (whether a role can open the Site Access tab and assign centres to reviewers). Tick the roles allowed each action; Super Admin can always use them. This is enforced server-side, so a hidden button can't be used another way.

Tab Order

Reorder the top tab bar (for everyone) using the up/down arrows, then Save Tab Order. Reset to Default restores the original order. New tabs added in future appear here automatically.

Learner Statuses

Define the custom pipeline statuses (with colours) that you can assign to applications — e.g. "Contacted", "Interview booked", "Enrolled".

Learner Types — New vs Returning

Each Application Type (e.g. SP-First Year, SP-Progression (YR2), HE) can be marked New or Returning. New types are eligible for welcome emails (first-time login details); Returning types never are. Types you haven't set default to Returning if the name contains "Progression", otherwise New. New Application Types appearing in imports show up here automatically to be classified.

19. Audit Log Admin

The Audit Log records significant actions — sign-ins, password/MFA resets, status changes, deletions and more — with the actor, timestamp and IP address. Filter by action type or search to investigate who did what and when.

20. The learner app — SCL One (for context)

The learner-facing app is called SCL One. Understanding the learner journey helps when supporting them:

1. Enquiry / check-in — the learner registers interest online or at an event.
2. Download & register — they install the app and create an account. Using the same email as their enquiry carries their details over.
3. Choose a programme and preferred centre(s).
4. Complete the application — a guided, multi-step form covering personal details, address, emergency contact, employment, residency, qualifications, ID document and a final declaration.
5. Submit — the application is locked and appears as Submitted/Completed in SCL Cloud.

The app also has an events list (register/unregister, with an add-to-calendar reminder) and a Messages inbox — where the messages you send appear, with any formatting and links; learners can delete messages they no longer need. Learners can request a call back, which raises the 🚩 SUPPORT flag here.

During the application the learner sees a sport-themed progress bar (football, cricket or MMA) based on the sport set for their chosen or enquired-about centre.

21. Common tasks