Explained: Certifications – Civica Learning

You can use certifications where you want to award a certificate to a learner when they achieve a specified requirement. The requirement is configured by an administrator, and can be different for different types of items:

eLearning courses and curricula. Awarded when the learner passes or completes the course or curriculum.
Content items. Awarded when the learner completes the item (for example, files, videos, tasks, web links).
Events. Awarded when the learner has attended a session.
CPD. Awarded when the learner completes CPD activities or completes their required CPD over a journal period.

In addition to awarding a certification on meeting a specified requirement, an administrator can award a certificate to a user manually using the administration portal.

When configuring a certification, you need to:

Specify a name for the certification, as will appear on the certificate that is awarded.
Optionally, add a description for the certificate, so that you can easily identify what the certification relates to.
Choose the certificate template to use as as the basis of the generated certificate. Each certificate template can be different, for different award programs, or companies, and it will typically display one or more of the following:

Award text (for example, Completed, Attended).
Learners first name and surname.
Certification name.
Award date.
Pass score.
- Profile data (for example, Job title).

An example certificate is shown below:

Optionally, specify an External reference for the certification.
Optionally, specify which learners are eligible to attain the certification.
Optionally specify which learners are required to attain the certification.
Specify how the certification is awarded. The certification may be obtained by the learner completing:
- some training external to the lms
- an item of content defined on the lms. Where this is the case, you must specify which item(s) should be used, and what the award criteria is. For example, they must 'complete' a curriculum, 'pass' a course, or 'attend' a session.
Specify the certification expiry behavior. You can choose whether the certification:
- never expires.
- expires a fixed period after it was awarded.
- expires on a fixed date.
- expires on a fixed day of the year.
- is managed externally to the lms, and does not have an lms controlled expiry date.
Specify the certification renewal behaviour. You can choose whether the certification:
- cannot be renewed
- is renewed by completing or passing an item external to the lms
- is renewed by completing or passing content defined on the lms. Where the certification is renewed based on content items on the system, administrators can:
  - define when, relative the the current expiry date, a certification can be renewed:
    - only prior to the expiry of the current certification, or
    - both prior to, and after the expiry of the current certification, and/or
    - during a defined renewal window, i.e. a period prior to certification expiry, in which the learner can re-certify.
  - control how the new expiry date is derived (where a renewal window is used). The expiry date can be calculated from either:
    - the date the certification is renewed, or
    - the date the existing certificate was due to expire
Specify what reminders will be sent when the certification is expiring.
Either a single reminder can be sent at the start of the renewal period (the default behaviour), or you can chose to send 'Advanced reminders'. Advance reminders allow Gentle, Firm and Severe reminders to be sent, each using a configured period prior to expiry, repeat interval and notification template. Where Advanced reminders are configured, each level of reminder supersedes the previous reminder level and period.

For example, you might configure Gentle reminders to be sent 3 months prior to expiry, with the reminder repeated monthly. Firm reminders could then be configured to be sent to be sent 1 month prior to expiry, and repeated weekly. Then finally, Severe reminders might start to be sent 1 week prior to expiry, and repeated daily.

When the certification is awarded, the user is emailed a PDF copy of their certificate (using the Certificate - awarded email template and the chosen certificate template), and the certificate is associated with the user's profile. The learners can then view and download certificates for any certifications they have attained on their Achievements page in the Web learner portal, or via the Civica Apps.

Global administrators can manage (create, edit, delete or award) certifications in the Certifications section of the Civica Administration portal. In addition, where certifications have been attained externally, or were previously logged on another system, administrators can batch import the certifications, so that the lms holds a complete learning history for the users.

The Certifications section displays a list of all certifications that have been created, with a Search option to filter the displayed list of certifications. The page enables you to add a new certification, or import information relating to externally awarded certifications.

Clicking Add certification enables you to define a certification's name, description, and required certificate template.

Once a certification has been created, you can:

Update the awarding details for the certification, including how it is awarded, the expiry behaviour, and how (if applicable) the certification can be renewed.
Change the properties of the certification.
View and update learners and the certificates they have achieved.
View a list of the certificates that have been awarded the certification, along with their score, award date, renewal window start date, and expiry. If a user has been awarded the certification multiple times (for example if the certification is renewed), you can see the details of each time the user has been awarded the certification.

Note that multiple content items can award the same certification, for example, to enable different cohorts to attain the same certification by completing role specific versions of a course or learning pathway. You can also specify multiple content items for renewing a certification, which may be the same or different to those that initially award the item as you may want the learner to complete one course to attain the certification, but then to complete a different course to be re-certified at a later date. Where multiple content items are specified for awarding or renewing a certification, the learner will be awarded (or renew) the certification when they complete any one of the items; there is no requirement for them to complete all of the items specified. Where you need a learner to complete multiple content items before awarding a certification, you should add all of the items to a curriculum, and instead use a curriculum as the awarding item.

Related