Admissions Data Model

Admissions operates inside the MedCES institutional hierarchy. Before a seat or candidate can be processed, the system must know:

which governance entity and institution are responsible;
which programme is offered by that institution;
which academic admission cycle is active;
which counselling authorities participate in that cycle;
which seats each authority controls;
which rounds and source results belong to each authority.

Two connected structures

Admissions uses an institutional structure and an operational admission structure. They are connected, but they are not the same hierarchy.

Institutional structure

Tenant
└── Governance entity (optional)
    └── Institution
        └── Department

The institutional LTREE answers where administrative access applies. The institute programme belongs to one institute but is not a hierarchy node. Its courses and curriculum versions are also institute-owned records. Programme and department relationships are stored separately.

Admission structure

Admission cycle
├── Cycle programmes
│   └── Planned cohort
├── Counselling processes
│   ├── Seat pools
│   └── Counselling rounds
│       ├── Round seat-matrix versions
│       └── Allotment batches
│           └── Candidate allotments
└── Admission cases

The admission structure answers which intake, authority, seat, round, source result, and candidate case are being processed.

Structure at a glance

Entity	Meaning	Created or selected by	Parent or context
Institute programme	A programme or speciality owned and operated by a particular institute	Institute academic administration, normally from a MedCES programme pack	Institute; optionally associated with departments
Admission cycle	Time-bound intake umbrella such as PG Medical Admissions 2026–27	Admission Nodal Officer	Owning governance entity or institution
Cycle programme	An institute programme and planned cohort participating in a specific cycle	Admission Nodal Officer	Admission cycle; references institute programme, curriculum version, and pre-existing planned cohort
Counselling authority	Reusable external body such as MCC or a state authority	Authorised master-data administrator	Independent external authority
Counselling process	One authority’s counselling route within one cycle	Counselling Coordinator	Admission cycle; references authority
Seat pool	Seats in a cycle programme controlled through a counselling process and quota	Counselling Coordinator	Counselling process; references cycle programme
Counselling round	One independently scheduled stage of a counselling process	Counselling Coordinator	Counselling process
Round seat matrix	Versioned seats published as available in a particular round	Counselling Coordinator/import	Counselling round and seat pools
Allotment batch	One provisional, final, revised, or cancelled result published by an authority	Counselling Coordinator/import	Counselling round
Candidate allotment	One candidate’s allocated seat in a published batch	Imported or authorised manual entry	Allotment batch, seat pool, and cycle programme
Admission case	The institution’s complete admission dossier for the candidate	Created when an allotment is accepted	Candidate and admission cycle

Institute programme and admission cycle

These three records answer different questions:

Record	Question answered	Example
Institute programme	What programme is this institute authorised to run?	MD General Medicine at Government Medical College Nagpur
Admission cycle	Which intake period is being operated?	PG Medical Admissions 2026–27
Cycle programme	Is this institute programme and planned cohort participating in this cycle, and which curriculum will the intake follow?	MD General Medicine, its planned 2026 cohort, and its published curriculum version included in PG Medical Admissions 2026–27

An institute programme is not recreated every year. It remains available across academic sessions, while the planned cohort and cycle are created for a particular intake. One cycle can contain several cycle programmes. Each cycle-programme record selects an existing planned cohort and the curriculum version applicable to that intake.

Admission cycle

The admission cycle is the operational container for a programme family and academic session.

Examples:

MBBS Admissions 2026–27;
PG Medical Admissions 2026–27;
Super-Speciality Admissions 2026–27.

UG, PG, and super-speciality normally use separate cycles because their authorities, calendars, documents, rules, and cutoffs differ.

The cycle is owned at an organisational entity. A college may operate its own cycle, while a DME, trust, or university may coordinate a cycle across permitted descendant institutions.

Counselling authority and counselling process

A counselling authority is reusable master data. MCC remains the same authority across academic sessions.

A counselling process means:

This counselling authority is conducting this counselling route within this admission cycle.

For example:

PG Medical Admissions 2026–27
├── MCC PG Counselling 2026
└── Maharashtra State PG Counselling 2026

Both processes belong to the same cycle. They can have different seat pools, schedules, round names, result formats, and reporting windows.

Seat pools connect cycle programmes to counselling processes

A seat pool sits at the intersection of a cycle programme and counselling process.

Cycle programme: MD General Medicine at GMC Nagpur
  + Counselling process: MCC PG 2026
  + Quota: All India Quota
  = Seat pool: MD General Medicine — AIQ

One process may control several pools. Quota and reservation remain separate:

quota identifies the route or controlling pool;
reservation category determines how eligible candidates compete within the applicable pool.

Rounds always belong to a process inside a cycle

Every counselling round belongs to exactly one counselling process, and every counselling process belongs to exactly one cycle.

PG Medical Admissions 2026–27
├── MCC PG Counselling 2026
│   ├── Round 1
│   ├── Round 2
│   ├── Round 3
│   └── Stray Vacancy Round
└── Maharashtra State PG Counselling 2026
    ├── Round 1
    ├── Round 2
    ├── Mop-up Round
    └── Stray Vacancy Round

MCC Round 2 and State Round 2 are unrelated operational records. The round number is meaningful only within its counselling process.

Each round carries its own schedule, seat-matrix versions, allotment batches, reporting window, resignation deadline, source notifications, and closure state.

Real-world worked example

Institutional context

MedCES tenant
└── Directorate of Medical Education and Research, Maharashtra
    └── Government Medical College Nagpur
        └── Department of General Medicine

The MD General Medicine institute programme is a separate academic record owned by Government Medical College Nagpur. It has an academic association with the Department of General Medicine. Its selected curriculum version and courses are owned by the same institute.

External relationships are recorded separately:

NMC regulates and recognises the programme and intake;
Maharashtra University of Health Sciences affiliates the college and governs university examination requirements;
MCC conducts the All India counselling process;
the Maharashtra state authority conducts the state counselling process.

Admission setup

PG Medical Admissions 2026–27
├── Cycle programme: MD General Medicine, planned 2026 cohort, and its curriculum version
├── MCC PG Counselling 2026
│   ├── Seat pool: All India Quota — MD General Medicine
│   └── Rounds: Round 1 → Round 2 → Round 3 → Stray Vacancy
└── Maharashtra State PG Counselling 2026
    ├── Seat pool: State Quota — MD General Medicine
    └── Rounds: Round 1 → Round 2 → Mop-up → Stray Vacancy

An allotment imported for MCC Round 1 must point to the MCC process and its AIQ seat pool. It cannot be accepted against the state process merely because the programme and candidate are the same.

Round seat matrix

The seat pool records the approved distribution. The round seat matrix records what the authority made available in a particular round.

It preserves opening seats, additions, withdrawals, vacancies returned from earlier rounds, conversions, allotments, joining, closing vacancy, source file, publication date, and version.

A revised matrix creates a new version. It never overwrites the earlier source.

Allotment batch and candidate allotment

An allotment batch represents one published result and may be provisional, final, revised, cancelled, an upgrade list, or a joined-candidate list.

A candidate can accumulate several allotment records over time. Later records do not erase earlier ones. MedCES determines which allotment is currently actionable and preserves the complete source history.

Admission case

The admission case is the institution’s dossier for one candidate in one cycle. It brings together:

allotment history across authorities and rounds;
reporting events;
documents and deficiencies;
eligibility findings;
finance, medical, programme, and bond clearances;
admission decisions;
joining, upgrade, withdrawal, cancellation, and relieving;
enrolment handoff and audit history.

The case exists across rounds. An upgraded or revised allotment updates the existing case rather than creating an unrelated candidate dossier.

Relationship and integrity rules

A cycle programme must reference an active institute programme, a published curriculum version applicable to the intake, and an existing planned cohort for the same institute programme.
A counselling process cannot exist outside an admission cycle.
A round cannot exist without a counselling process.
A seat pool must reference both a cycle programme and counselling process.
An accepted allotment must match the process, round, seat pool, institute programme, and available matrix version.
Source revisions create new versions and preserve the earlier source.
A candidate may have several allotments but only one final active enrolment at the same programme level and session unless an authorised exception applies.
Cross-authority conflicts are resolved through the admission case, not by matching round numbers.
Every operational record carries the organisational scope required for hierarchical access.

Schema

Cycle and counselling setup

Record	Important fields
`admission.admission_cycle`	tenant, owning entity, code, name, programme family, academic session, application dates, cutoff, status, approval
`admission.cycle_programme`	cycle, institute programme, planned cohort, curriculum version, intended intake, status
`admission.counselling_process`	cycle, counselling authority relationship, route, code/name, source, status
`admission.seat_pool`	process, cycle programme, quota, sanctioned seats, effective version, source, status
`admission.counselling_round`	process, code/name, sequence, reporting window, resignation deadline, cutoff, status

The planned cohort is owned by Student and Cohort Management. Admissions selects it; Admissions does not create it.

Seat and allotment records

Record	Important fields
`admission.seat_matrix_version`	round, source file, publication date, version, provisional/final state, superseded version
`admission.seat_matrix_line`	matrix version, seat pool, opening seats, additions, withdrawals, conversions, available seats
`admission.allotment_batch`	round, authority batch reference, result type, source file, publication time, version, status
`admission.candidate_allotment`	batch, candidate, cycle programme, seat pool, rank, category, quota, allotment status, source row

Source versions are immutable. A corrected matrix or allotment result creates a successor version and preserves the earlier source.

Candidate case records

Record	Important fields
`admission.candidate_profile`	external candidate reference, identity, contacts, protected identifiers, source
`admission.admission_case`	cycle, candidate, current actionable allotment, case owner, state dimensions, status
`admission.reporting_event`	case, reported at, location, operator, acknowledgement, exception
`admission.case_document`	case, document type, identifier, issuer, dates, file reference, custody state
`admission.verification_finding`	case/document, rule, finding, deficiency, reviewer, decision state
`admission.clearance`	case, clearance type, responsible office, outcome, conditions, source, validity
`admission.admission_decision`	case, decision, reason, approver, decided at, cutoff check, source
`admission.joining_event`	case, joined/not joined state, effective time, operator, evidence
`admission.movement_event`	case, upgrade, resignation, cancellation, withdrawal, relieving, source, effective time
`admission.enrolment_handoff`	case, planned cohort, student reference, programme-enrolment reference, handoff state, errors

The case stores independent state dimensions for allotment, reporting, verification, eligibility, finance, medical fitness, decision, joining, and handoff. It does not hide them behind one vague status.

Reconciliation and audit

Record	Important fields
`admission.seat_ledger_entry`	seat pool, round, candidate/case, movement type, quantity, source event, recorded at
`admission.round_reconciliation`	round, opening, additions, allotments, joining, exits, closing vacancy, differences, approval
`admission.case_assignment`	case or queue, functional role, assigned user, validity, status
`admission.case_event`	case, event type, actor, before/after state, reason, source, timestamp

Record lifecycle

Cycle: Draft -> Under Review -> Active -> Closing -> Closed
Round: Draft -> Published -> Reporting -> Reconciliation -> Closed
Case: Created -> Reported -> Under Verification -> Decision -> Joined or Closed
Handoff: Not Ready -> Ready -> Submitted -> Completed or Failed

Reopening a closed cycle or round is a controlled action with reason, approval, impact review, and complete audit history.

Process-layer responsibilities

The Admissions process layer must:

verify that cycle programmes, curriculum versions, and planned cohorts belong together;
keep each counselling authority’s process and rounds independent;
validate seat pools and matrices against recognised and approved intake;
import files through upload, preview, row-level validation, and confirmation;
make imports safe to retry without duplicating source rows;
determine the currently actionable allotment without deleting earlier allotments;
prevent admission against the wrong process, round, programme, pool, or unavailable seat;
evaluate mandatory documents, eligibility, clearances, cutoff, and joining before final admission;
keep specialist detail restricted while exposing the clearance outcome required by the admission office;
maintain the seat ledger and explain every vacancy movement;
hand a joined candidate to the selected planned cohort exactly once;
record every decision, override, source version, and state change.