Create and Configure Lottery Groups

Learn how to create and configure lottery groups.

What's included in this article?

• What is a custom lottery group?
• How do I create a lottery group?
• How do I create a lottery group design?
• Where do I set lottery group designs for use in the lottery?

What is a custom lottery group?

If your lottery process requires additional grouping of applications within a single grade at a single program, discuss turning on Custom Lottery Groups in your site with your Customer Experience Manager (this is an internal setting that must be enabled by SchoolMint staff).

Custom Lottery Groups allow you to set a cutoff number for a group within a grade (for example, if you need to create an offered list and waiting list by gender for each grade). Essentially, lottery groups allow you to break down your lottery cutoff numbers into groups smaller than per grade at each program.

Creating Lottery Groups

To create a Lottery Group, use the rules engine to find students that meet the criteria needed for the group. Before creating a lottery group, it is important to keep in mind that lottery groups should be mutually exclusive. Rules should be created so that students will not fall into multiple groups.
 

Lottery Groups can be accessed in the Manage Lotteries section of the settings area. 

Lottery Groups must be created before Lottery Group Designs are created since Lottery Group Designs are used to organize Lottery Groups in the order they are expected to be applied to each applicable program.

In the Lottery Groups, select the “Add New Lottery Group” button to create the required group. Remember, each required group should be created separately. 

Note: There will always be a “General Lottery” group that cannot be edited or removed. This group is the default group that student applications will fall into if they do not meet the criteria for any other groups. This group will also ensure that if no Lottery Groups/Group Designs exist, then student applications will have somewhere to go on the lottery list. 

In the Lottery Group creation screen, the rules engine will be used to specify the exact criteria a student should meet to be placed within that group on the lottery list. If the rules engine can support it, a Lottery Group can be made for it! 
 

Examples:

1. Students who have responded that their gender is female will be placed in this group.

 

2. Students that have an address that is inside of the district boundary will be placed within the In District lottery group.

Creating Lottery Group Designs

After the Lottery Groups have been created, the Lottery Group Design must be created and attached to the appropriate programs. The Lottery Group Design specifies the order of the Lottery Groups on the lottery list. 

To add a new Lottery Group Design, access Lottery Group Designs in the Manage Lotteries section of the settings area. Select the “Add New Group Design” button to add a new group or edit an existing Lottery Group Design.
 

Groups should be added to the group design in the order that they will need to fall on the lottery list. Subgroups can be used as well. The “General Lottery Group” will always be a part of every group design. It is not editable and will always be at the bottom of the added groups. In addition, there is a “General Lottery” group design with this General Lottery Group in it that cannot be edited. This is to safeguard the lottery list and provide at least one single group for each grade level at every program. 

Example Lottery Group Design:

Attaching Lottery Group Designs

When all Lottery Group Designs have been created, they must be attached to the appropriate programs. When a Lottery Group Design is selected for a program, this tells the platform how many groups per grade to make available to update cutoff numbers.

To attach a Lottery Group design, access Settings > Schools/Programs > Manage Programs.

Select the edit button!

In the program Lottery Settings, the Lottery Group Design dropdown can be used to select the required group design for that program.

IMPORTANT NOTES: If you run multiple lotteries, do NOT make lottery group changes to the areas below or your lottery results will be impacted: 

• Do not delete Lottery Groups from the Lottery Group Designs page in between lottery pools.
• Do not change the Lottery Group Design of a program in between lottery pools.