The Coders Guild - Metrics Tree

What success looks like

Business Goals

The outcomes the business is driving towards. Every metric below should connect back to one of these.

Growth

60 apprentices enrolled by end of June 2026

Then 100 ("self-fulfilling machine"), then 200 by Christmas

Current: ~8 live apprentices, ~20 pipeline slots filled (March 2026)

Quality at Scale

Maintain achievement rates as cohort sizes grow

85%+ achievement rate at 60+ apprentices. 100% pass rate sustained.

Current: 85.71% achievement at 25 learners. Quality improved as cohorts got smaller.

Operational Efficiency

Scale without proportional headcount increase

60-80 apprentices before needing new FTE hire. Automate the "paper element".

Current: Almost everything manual. Google workbook (matrix) is the bottleneck.

Target: 60 apprentices enrolled by end of June 2026. Cohort economics: 16 per cohort is optimal, 12 is workable, below that unit economics suffer but delivery effort is roughly the same.

Outcomes

Lagging Indicators

Results metrics. These tell you how the business performed, but by the time they move it's too late to change course. Every lagging indicator should have leading indicators feeding into it.

85.7%

Achievement Rate (25-26)

100%

Pass Rate (25-26)

85.7%

Retention Rate (25-26)

Withdrawal Rate

NPS (not shared)

Quality & Compliance Outcomes

Metric

Current

Target

How Tracked

Status

Achievement Rate (QAR)

% of leavers who achieve qualification

85.71% (25-26)

85%+

PICS/LMI Achievement Rates dashboard. Reviewed monthly at quality meeting. Shelley only.

Tracked

Retention Rate

% of starters who complete (don't withdraw)

85.71% (25-26)

90%+

PICS/LMI QAR dashboard. Year-on-year trend: 89.47% in 24-25.

Tracked

Pass Rate

% of achievers who pass end-point assessment

100% (25-26)

95%+

PICS/LMI QAR dashboard. Shelley monitors and feeds back to quality meeting.

Tracked

Withdrawal Rate

% and count of apprentices who withdraw

4% (1 of 25)

<5%

PICS/LMI AAF Dashboard. Shown as % and absolute number.

Tracked

Past Planned End Date

Apprentices who haven't completed by planned end

8% past 180+ days (2 of 25)

PICS/LMI AAF Dashboard. Split by 90-180 days and 180+ days.

Tracked

NPS (Net Promoter Score)

Aggregate satisfaction, splittable by learner and employer

Tracked but value not shared

Monday.com feedback surveys. Reported at quality meeting. Aggregate and by segment.

Tracked

OTJ Hours Compliance

Planned vs actual off-the-job hours

0 issues (0 of 25)

100% compliant

PICS/LMI AAF Dashboard + Laravel App (apprentice self-logging). ~420 hours standard. Shelley also monitors government sites monthly beyond just PICS data.

Tracked

Growth & Revenue Outcomes

Metric

Current

Target

How Tracked

Status

Total Apprentices Enrolled

Active apprentices on programme

~8 (March 2026)

60 by June 2026

PICS enrolment records + Monday.com CRM deals board. No single view.

Partial

Pipeline Slots Filled

Committed but not yet enrolled

~20 of 60

Monday.com CRM deals board. Not visible to delivery team.

Partial

Revenue per Apprentice

Funding amount per enrolment

Varies by SGA/duration

Funding calculator (spreadsheet). Per-apprentice, not aggregated anywhere.

Partial

Employer Retention / Cross-sell

Repeat business from existing employers

Not tracked

Not tracked anywhere. Recognised as important but no system or process for it. Shelley also proactively reaches out with information updates (awards, NMW changes). Balance of not bombarding but ensuring support.

Gap

Government Payment Submissions

Monthly funding claims to government

Monthly

PICS data submission. Shelley runs additional reports. Noted as potentially out of scope.

Tracked

Predictive

Leading Indicators

Metrics that predict future outcomes. If these move in the wrong direction, lagging indicators will follow. Most of these are either not tracked or partially tracked.

Sales & Pipeline Drives: Total Apprentices Enrolled, Pipeline Slots Filled

Metric

Current

Target

How Tracked

Status

Email Open Rate

Outbound campaign performance

60-70% (10KSB list)

Apollo (cold) + Monday.com (CRM sequences). Different systems per channel.

Partial

Conversion Rate by Stage

Prospect > Lead > Qualified > Deal > Enrolled

Not tracked

Not tracked. Stage transitions happen in Monday.com but no reporting on conversion between stages.

Gap

Conversion Rate by Channel

Which channels produce enrolled apprentices

Not tracked

Lead source captured in Monday.com but not connected to enrolment outcomes in PICS.

Gap

Speed Through Pipeline

Time from first contact to enrolled

~12 weeks (estimated)

2 weeks (aspiration)

Not measured. Dates exist in Monday.com but nobody calculates the deltas.

Gap

Pipeline Value

Number of apprentices in pipeline by stage

~20 slots filled

Monday.com deals board. Visible to Francesca/Crispin only. Rob has no sight of this.

Partial

Prospect List Size

ICP-matched companies in Apollo

1,500 (10KSB, exhaustible)

Apollo ICP filtering. Francesca manages. One-time list, not replenishing.

Partial

Onboarding Speed Drives: Total Enrolled, Employer Satisfaction (NPS), Compliance

Metric

Current

Target

How Tracked

Status

Time in Compliance Documentation

Days from conversion email to all docs received

Not measured

Not tracked. Documents chased manually via email. No dates recorded for request vs receipt.

Gap

DAS Connection Time

Days from request to confirmed connection

Not measured (weeks for levy transfer)

Not tracked. Levy transfers are the known bottleneck. Payment type only recently surfaced earlier.

Gap

Assessment Turnaround

Days from SGA/E&M sent to reviewed

Not measured (weeks)

3-5 days

Google Forms (SGA) + BKSB/PICS (E&M). Sent manually, reviewed manually. No timestamps compared.

Gap

Document Completion Rate

% of required docs received vs outstanding

Not measured

100% before start

Shelley manually tracks in Google Drive folders. No dashboard or aggregate view.

Gap

Delivery Quality Drives: Achievement Rate, Retention, NPS, Pass Rate

Metric

Current

Target

How Tracked

Status

Session Feedback Scores

Learner and trainer feedback after each session

Tracked (threshold: 3 and below flagged)

No negative flags

Monday.com feedback forms. Automations flag negatives. Reviewed at monthly quality meeting.

Tracked

Session Feedback Response Rate

% of surveys completed vs sent

Not measured

Monday.com surveys sent after sessions. "Not everybody completes it" (Mar 17). Nobody measures the completion rate - only the scores of those who respond.

Gap

Trainer Feedback Completion Rate

% of trainers submitting post-session feedback

Tied to invoices

100%

Trainers must submit feedback on every session before invoices are paid (Mar 17). Financial incentive mechanism. Tracked informally - no dashboard showing compliance rate.

Partial

Dip Testing Completion

Recorded sessions reviewed for quality

Done but no coverage metric

Coaching/training meetings recorded. Dip tested by Shelley/Crispin. No tracking of % reviewed or frequency.

Partial

Coaching Session Completion Rate

% of planned coaching sessions that actually happened

Not measured

100%

Sessions scheduled on Monday.com and Google Calendar. Nobody checks whether they all happened.

Gap

Learner Progress (on track / behind)

Whether apprentice is hitting milestones

Checked manually per learner

Real-time visibility

Google workbook (matrix) reviewed by coach in meetings. No aggregate view. Shelley checks individually.

Partial

Content Readiness

Is material ready before each session?

Not measured

100% ready 1 week before

Rob manages via Monday.com delivery board. "Edits needed" status exists but no reporting on it.

Gap

Capacity & Resource Drives: Quality at Scale, Operational Efficiency, Delivery Risk

Metric

Current

Target

How Tracked

Status

Coach Caseload

Learners per coach (max 22 before burnout)

Known informally

Max 22 per FT coach

Managed through conversations. Not stored in any system. Shelley has it in her head. Explicitly flagged as needing a visual dashboard for scaling (Mar 17).

Gap

Trainer Availability

Hours/month each trainer can deliver

15-30 hrs/month (varies)

Rob asks trainers ad hoc. Not stored. No system. 4-5 months advance notice needed.

Gap

Capacity Utilisation

% of available trainer/coach capacity in use

Not calculated

70-85%

Cannot be calculated because neither capacity nor utilisation is recorded.

Gap

Cohort Size vs Optimal

Actual cohort enrolment vs 16 target

Varies

16 per cohort

Monday.com delivery board. Visible to Rob. Not connected to pipeline data.

Partial

Operational cadence

Operational Metrics

The rhythm of the business. These aren't KPIs in the traditional sense - they're the operational constants that define how TCG runs day-to-day.

Delivery Cadence

1-2 group training sessions/month per cohort

1 group coaching session/month per cohort

12-13 months programme duration

~420 off-the-job hours standard

Management Rhythm

Monthly - Shelley meets each coach (all learners reviewed)

Monthly - Quality meeting (all feedback aggregated)

Monthly - Government payment submission via PICS

Quarterly - Standardisation meetings

Stakeholder Touchpoints

~8 weeks - Employer progress reviews

~8 weeks - Shelley pastoral meeting with each apprentice

Immediate - Coach escalation via email/Slack

Ad hoc - Employer updates (awards, NMW changes)

Capacity Constraints

22 max learners per full-time coach

60-80 apprentices with current pool

40-50 triggers FTE recruitment

6 weeks minimum trainer booking lead time

Sales Activity

~1 hr/day LinkedIn engagement (Francesca)

Monthly webinars via Eventbrite

2.5 people doing sales (capacity constraint)

1,500 prospect list (one-time, exhaustible)

Transformation Targets

Assessment turnaround: weeks → 3-5 days

Onboarding speed: weeks → 1 day

Sales cycle: ~12 weeks → 2 weeks

Content creation: 3-6 months lead time

Recommended

Proposed Metrics

Metrics that aren't tracked today but would connect leading indicators to business outcomes. Ordered by impact - the first few would make the biggest difference at the current stage.

High Impact

Pipeline Velocity

Days from first contact to enrolled, broken by stage. The single most important metric for hitting 60 by June. If onboarding takes 12 weeks and it's March, you can count backwards to see if the maths works.

Drives:

Total apprentices enrolled, cohort fill rates

Source data:

Monday.com stage dates (already captured, not measured)

Owner:

Francesca / Crispin

High Impact

Coach Caseload Dashboard

Learners per coach, visualised. Shelley said "having a visual plan of people's capacity is key as they scale." Without this, the 22-learner burnout limit is invisible until someone breaks.

Drives:

Retention rate, achievement rate, quality at scale

Source data:

Needs creating - coach assignments not stored centrally

Owner:

Shelley

High Impact

Conversion Rate by Stage

What % of prospects become leads, leads become deals, deals become enrolled? Without this, you can't diagnose whether the problem is top-of-funnel volume or mid-funnel drop-off.

Drives:

Total enrolled, pipeline planning, channel investment decisions

Source data:

Monday.com stage transitions (captured, not reported)

Owner:

Francesca / Crispin

High Impact

Compliance Document Completion Rate

% of required documents received per employer vs outstanding. The gap between "deal committed" and "enrolled" is largely compliance paperwork. If you can see the bottleneck you can chase it.

Drives:

Pipeline velocity, enrolment speed, employer NPS

Source data:

Google Drive folders (documents exist, no tracking of completeness)

Owner:

Francesca / Shelley

Medium Impact

Learner On-Track Rate

% of active apprentices who are on track vs behind. Currently checked per-learner in the matrix. An aggregate number in a dashboard would give Shelley, Crispin, and employers instant visibility.

Drives:

Achievement rate, past-end-date %, employer satisfaction

Source data:

Google workbook (matrix) - would need automation or Laravel app integration

Owner:

Shelley / Coaches

Medium Impact

Coaching Session Completion Rate

Did every planned coaching and training session actually happen? If sessions get missed or rescheduled, learners fall behind. This is a leading indicator of the achievement rate.

Drives:

Achievement rate, learner progress, OTJ hours

Source data:

Monday.com delivery board + Google Calendar (scheduled vs happened)

Owner:

Rob

Medium Impact

Channel Attribution to Enrolment

Which lead sources actually produce enrolled apprentices? The 10KSB list has 60-70% open rates but that means nothing if they don't convert. With the list exhaustible, knowing which channels work long-term is critical.

Drives:

Marketing spend decisions, long-term pipeline health

Source data:

Monday.com (lead source) + PICS (enrolment) - currently disconnected

Owner:

Francesca / Crispin

Medium Impact

Trainer Capacity Dashboard

Available hours per trainer, booked hours, and remaining capacity. Rob currently manages this through conversations. At 3+ concurrent cohorts, this becomes unmanageable without a visual.

Drives:

Cohort scheduling confidence, delivery risk, quality

Source data:

Needs creating - trainer availability not stored anywhere

Owner:

Rob

Future

Employer Lifetime Value

Revenue per employer over time including repeat cohorts, cross-selling to different standards, and CPD. Currently 0% commercial retention post-apprenticeship. Even tracking "has this employer come back?" would be a start.

Drives:

Revenue growth, sales efficiency, relationship strategy

Source data:

Monday.com CRM (deals by org) - exists but nobody looks at it this way

Owner:

Crispin / Francesca

Future

Dip Testing Coverage Rate

% of coaches/trainers dip tested in last quarter. Currently "done" but with no coverage tracking. As the team grows, this becomes an audit risk if some coaches are never reviewed.

Drives:

Delivery quality, audit readiness, coach development

Source data:

Needs creating - no record of which sessions reviewed

Owner:

Shelley

How it fits together

Metric Connections

How leading indicators drive lagging outcomes. This is the logic for the metrics tree - if you can move the leading indicators, the lagging indicators follow.

Goal: 60 by June

Growth Chain

Prospect list size → determines outreach volume

Email open/response rate → prospects become leads

Conversion rate by stage → leads become deals

Pipeline velocity → deals become enrolled in time

Compliance completion rate → enrolled means paperwork done

= Total apprentices enrolled

Goal: Quality at Scale

Quality Chain

Coach caseload → overloaded coaches miss things

Session completion rate → missed sessions = learners behind

Learner on-track rate → early warning of problems

Feedback scores → session quality drives engagement

Dip testing coverage → quality assurance at scale

= Achievement rate + retention + NPS

Goal: Operational Efficiency

Efficiency Chain

Capacity utilisation → are trainers optimally loaded?

Cohort size vs optimal → unit economics per cohort

Pipeline velocity → faster = less admin per apprentice

Content readiness → no scrambling = no wasted time

Trainer availability (stored) → scheduling without phone tag

= Scale without proportional headcount

The core insight: TCG tracks lagging indicators well through PICS. What's almost entirely missing is the leading indicators that predict those outcomes. By the time achievement rate drops, it's 12 months too late. The proposed metrics above close that gap - they give Crispin, Shelley, and Rob early warning signals connected to the outcomes they care about.