Hello,
We are doing something similar, using tracker programs to follow clients through multiple community based encounters. Others with more experience could probably give more details on the data element question. Sounds like you are doing it exactly right. You want to know everything that one participant has experienced. So if it’s the same person, should be one tracked entity with either multiple stages or multiple program enrollments. I’m not sure I’m following the different groups, but I think you could either:
- do a repeatable stage for participation in any type of session, and then have data elements in that one stage for the facilitator to check off which type of group it is (age group, sex group, and/or session number if necessary). You could have an event (stage) per session, or you could simply capture the data at the end of all the sessions and have a zero or positive integer for how many sessions the person attended. That decision depends on whether the facilitators are collecting data electronically after each session, or tracking on paper and then entering the data at the end. Also if you need to know WHICH sessions they completed on which date.
- Have a 10-11 tracker program and a 12-15 program for the different forms. You could enroll the TEIs first in the girls or boys 10-11 tracker program, and if they progress to the 12-15 program, add that enrollment.
Ideally, you would take an approach as simple as possible that would allow you do to the analysis you need. So for example, if you know for sure that all you need to know is how many participants attended ALL sessions, you could simply have a check box (did the participant attend all sessions), which makes your indicators very easy. But you may, later, want to know exactly how many sessions were attended by those who didn’t attend all. In that case, you could have one stage for the entire program asking how many sessions they attended, or a stage for each session. Probably other approaches as well.
Note this discussion on event programs for sessions vs tracker programs for attendance and the desire to link those somehow: Training register design question