How to build a solid admissions report in 30 minutes, or less (using live data)

👋 Hi, I’m Jas, I’m a part of the team here at Enroly working with data every day. One of the biggest challenges I see across the sector? Teams are expected to make fast, high-stakes decisions, but the data they need is either out of date, buried in spreadsheets, or locked in someone else’s inbox.

This guide is for anyone in a university recruitment or admissions role who wants to change that.

Below, I’ll show you how to build a full leadership-ready report using live data from Enroly Data Insights in under 30 minutes. No delays. No guesswork. Just clear, strategic insight your senior team can act on immediately.

Slide 1: The financial snapshot

Start with the big number.

How much revenue have you secured so far this cycle? And how does that compare to where you were this time last year?

You can quickly calculate it by multiplying the number of students at key conversion stages (e.g. CAS issued) by your average tuition fee. That gives you a live revenue figure that’ll often be ahead of the Finance team’s internal model.

Want bonus points? Break it down by nationality or by intake.

‍Slide 2: The conversion pipeline

Here’s where you show momentum.

Lay out how many students are at each conversion stage: 

• Offer Accepted, 
• Deposit Paid, 
• CAS Issued, 
• Visa Issued
• and then layer on sector benchmarks

This gives leadership two things:

• A sense of how your pipeline is shaping up
• A reality check on how your performance compares to peers

You can also quickly highlight risks. Got a high deposit count but low CAS conversion? That’s something to act on now, not at the post-mortem.

Slide 3: Scholarship visibility

This one’s a favourite with Finance teams.

Pull total scholarship spend, average award per student, and breakdown by country. You’ll be able to spot any over-allocation or markets where awards aren’t converting into enrolments.

Use it to fine-tune your incentive strategy mid-cycle, not after the budget’s already blown.

Slide 4: Compliance at a glance

What’s your visa refusal rate? Where are the risks? Are your filters doing their job?

Filter by “Visa refused” and calculate the percentage at that stage. Then scan for patterns, are certain nationalities or agents appearing more than expected?

You can use this slide to make the case for tightening filters, revisiting an agent relationship, or reviewing turnaround times for certain markets.

Slide 5: Diversity and agent mix

This one is all about strategic resilience.

Use Simpson’s Diversity Index to track how reliant you are on particular markets or agents. Then add in a view of your top 5 agents by volume, how much of your pipeline is tied up in just a handful of relationships?

This is especially useful for planning future recruitment travel and flagging any exposure to volatile markets.

Slide 6: Intelligence to action

Use your final slide to offer clear takeaways.

Here’s what I usually include:

• “We’re £X ahead of last year at this point”
• “CAS conversion has dipped: worth reviewing compliance thresholds”
• “Scholarship spend is up in India, but conversion is flat”
• “Visa wait times for Nigeria are now 24 days, recommend extending deadlines”

Short, sharp, and built to spark decisions.

What types of data should you include?

When I build reports like this, I make sure I’m covering all three tiers of strategic data:

• Performance metrics: e.g. conversion rates, visa outcomes, CAS volumes
• Market intelligence: trends by country, agent performance, competitor movement
• Experience data: student or agent feedback, onboarding gaps, response times
  
  

When you cover all three, you’re not just showing what’s happening—you’re showing why and what to do next.

Jas’s top 5 reporting tips:

1. Use custom date ranges
   Want to isolate the impact of a roadshow or event? Set your own start and end dates to measure results in real time.
   
   
2. Filter everything by stage
   Whether you're looking at agents, courses or countries, filtering by CAS or Visa stage gives you clean insight fast.
   
   
3. Export once, pivot endlessly
   The Spreadsheet View export is your best friend. One file, endless ways to slice it.
   
   
4. Add the industry average
   Almost every dashboard gives you a sector benchmark toggle, use it! Great for context and board confidence.
   
   
5. Flip from map to table
   Need a country breakdown? On the Summary map, just switch to data mode and paste straight into Excel.

One last thing

All this only works if your data is clean. So make sure your stages are up to date, especially Visa refused, Enrolled, and Lost. Not just for your reports, but because your data also feeds into the sector average. Keeping it tidy helps everyone.

And if your September intake hasn’t opened yet, make sure it’s live at least 35 days before you want to issue your first CAS. That gives students time to onboard and get CAS-ready, and you a chance to manage the funnel properly from day one.

All the insight, none of the waiting

You can build a powerful, board-ready admissions report using Enroly Data Insights in 30 minutes or less. No delays. No spreadsheets. Just real-time, decision-shaping insight.

Have a go, your SLT will thank you.

– Jas
BI Analyst, Enroly

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