For trainings that need to be retaken by Users after a certain time, you can assign Modules with a pre-defined renewal period. A common use case is Compliance training which needs to be renewed so employees stay compliant and updated on regulations and policies.
This article will outline different assignment scenarios to guide you on how to assign a Module with renewal settings.
To learn more about the basics on how to assign learning to Users, we recommend to read this article first: Adding, editing, and removing Module or Program assignments
Navigate to Admin > Learning > Modules and click on the assign icon from Actions.
Click on Assign users and choose all relevant to Users, Departments or Teams you wish to assign. Simply enable the 'Should the module have a renewal time frame?' toggle and you will see the different input fields:
The input field and dropdown titled Every, will set the frequency of the renewal. So for example "Every 1 month" means that the users completion status will be reset every month.
The "Starting from" dropdown lets you set from when the frequency starts. The renewal frequency does count down from either a Specific Date, On Completion or Assignment Date.
The input field and dropdown titled 'How far in advance can you renew the module?' lets you choose a timespan, in either Day(s), Week(s) or Month(s). This period will be referred to as the renewal period. It is the time range wherein a User can re-complete a Module before it expires.
For example, say a Module expires on the 14th of May with a renewal period of two weeks prior, a User can already re-complete the learning earliest two weeks ahead of the expiry date and it will count as a renewal.
In the last input field you can setup Reminders for renewals. Reminders can be used to notify the correct people about an upcoming or passed expiration.
Reminders are added by pressing the Add Reminder button. When creating a reminder you can choose if it should be sent out before or after the expiration, how long before/after it should be sent and to whom (user and/or manager).
The reminder will be triggered on the given date(s) if the module completion is about to or has expired and the module hasn't been completed since.
The last two settings in the assignment pop-up let you decide if you want to make the learning Required and if Users should be notified of the assignment by mail.
To finalize the Module assignment, click Assign users.
Once a User completes the Module, the Module completion will start to reset, this is called "expire" in the platform. So the Module will lose its completion status, once your defined frequency expired.
USE CASES
A. ASSIGNING RENEWALS TO USERS
Scenario 1: Setting up basic renewals from 'Assignment date' for a User
Navigate to Admin > Learning, open the Assign sidebar of a Module that you wish to assign with renewals and click Assign users.
Select the Users, Departments or Teams you wish to assign and toggle the renewals option.
In the input field "Every", set the frequency of resetting the completion status. So for example "Every 1 month".
In the "Starting from" dropdown, choose Assignment Date. For example, if today is the 14th of March, then the Users' completion will reset on the 14th of April and then the 14th of May, and so on.
Now assign the Module with the settings mentioned above.
Once the User completes the Module, they will be marked as Completed until the 13th of April. When the Renewal kicks in on the 14th of April, the Module will show that the completion expired and the Module doesn't count as completed anymore.
The user will now have the opportunity to re-complete the Module, but it will expire every 14th of the month if it is completed.
Scenario 2: Setting up basic renewal from 'Specific' and 'Completion date' for a user
This works very similarly to the flow described in Scenario 1 so we will focus on the differences.
When selecting the "Starting from" option:
Specific date works almost exactly like Assignment date, you choose a specific date when the Module needs to be renewed. For example, say you pick the 1st of April, then the Module will expire every 1st of April.
On Completion sets every expiration based on the last completion, so if the user completes it on the 1st of April, when a monthly renewal, then it will expire the 1st of May, if they then complete it on the 5th of May again, it will be on the 5th of June, and so on.
Scenario 3: Setting up renewals with a renewal period for a user
This works in combination with both Scenario 1 and 2
Follow the steps in Scenarios 1 or 2.
In the input field How far in advance can you renew the module?, choose a timespan, for example 2 weeks. That means the user can re-complete the Module 2 weeks before it expires, and it already counts as a completion for the next expiration period.
An example: If a Module has a monthly renewal and expires on the 14th of every month, and you set it up with a renewal period of 2 weeks: If the user completes the Module on the 16th of April, it would usually expire on the 14th of May. But now two weeks prior, on the 1st of May, the Module can be re-completed, even though it is still considered completed at this point. So if the User does complete it in those two weeks, then it won't expire on the 14th, instead the completion remains until the 14th of June.
Scenario 4: Editing existing renewals for an assignment
Renewal settings can be edited after the Module has been assigned to Users.
Once Users are assigned with renewal settings to a module, simply open the assign sidebar of the module, find the User(s) and click the Edit button.
Make changes to all renewal settings as needed.
To complete, click Assign.
B. ASSIGNING RENEWALS TO DEPARTMENTS OR TEAMS
All the above scenarios also work for Departments and Teams with some important differences.
When assigning a Module with a renewal to Departments and Teams, this will assign the Module to all the Users in the Department/Team with the given renewal settings. Furthermore, new Users added to the team or department will get the module with the same renewal settings.
Important Note: Editing existing Department/Team renewals almost works the same way as described in Scenario 4. However, editing the renewal settings will only take effect for Users that get assigned to these Department/Team in the future. In order to change renewal settings for already existing Users in these units, you need to make the changes through the User assignments.
For example: A User is in a Department. The Department is assigned with renewal settings set to reoccur every 1 month, then the User will be assigned with it reoccurring every 1 month. If the Department's assignment is then edited to every 2 months, then the user will keep the 1 month setting. However, a new User assigned to this Department (eg. a New Hire) in the future will get the 2 month renewal setting.
How to see the status of a renewal assignment
A. From a User's perspective
The user will be able to determine the status of the module assignment in 2 ways.
1. If the module has renewals enabled, the frequency of the renewals will be displayed in the Module sidebar and on the Module landing page always no matter if the user has completed the module or not.
2. If the module assignment is current inside the renewal period (described in Scenario 3) tags will show up on the module cards in My Learning and on the Dashboard, informing the user that the module will expire "in X days".
If the module assignment has expired, meaning the user had a completion for the module, but it has been reset, the tag "Module expired" will appear on the module cards.
B. From a Manager/Admin perspective
The Manager/Admin will be able to determine the status of a renewal assignment in a handful of ways.
Navigate to Discover > Standard Reports > Module Insights. Here you can see three columns in relation to renewals.
Completed At shows you the most recent completion date. As soon as a user renews a Module, this date will be replaced with the new completion date.
Expire Date shows you when/if a Module will/has expired. This data point will remain until the user re-completes the module.
Renewed shows you how many periods the user completed the module out of the total periods. So if the user completed the module in April and in June, but forgot May, it will say 2/3. If the user completed the module in April and May, and the next Expire Date is June, it will say 1/1.
You can also expand the sidebar by clicking on an individual user, that always shows the data point of the first ever completion. This date serves as a static reference and will not be replaced.
Best practice advice:
DO NOT USE DEADLINES when leveraging the Renewal functionality, as this is already included in the 'Expires on ..' tag on the cover.
Use the 'Interval' renewals when assigning to a Department or Team so users who move into that department or team in the future don't receive a deadline with a past date.
Please note that if a User re-Completes a Course outside the Renewal period, this actually does not count towards Renewal of the Course. It is recommended to give maximum amount of time for Renewing the course to users