The Certificate Expiration Settings are a very important part of a Learning Path set up, as they define the period after which a user's certificate will expire, and based on this, the time the user will be obliged to retake this specific Learning Path and as such, the Learning Path courses.
A Learning Path's Certificate Expiration Settings can be defined when the Learning Path is first created and edited after the Learning Path creation. Admins and Training Managers (if allowed to) can create and edit all academy learning paths, while users with the Create Learning Path permission can create a Learning Path and edit only the learning paths they have created. Last but not least, the instructors of a Learning Path can edit its settings even if they do not have the permission to create a new Learning Path at the moment.
Now let's check how to define these settings, what each of them means, and what happens if you edit them!
To begin with, you need to make sure that you have the Award Certificate setting set to Yes if you want your Learning Path to award a certificate. If this setting is set to No, then the Learning Path will not award a certificate and the Certificate Expiration Settings will be hidden.
Certificate Expiration Period
There are two different options when defining the Certificate Expiration Period based on which the users' certificates will expire:
1. In X Months, set upon Enrollment/Completion Date
If you select this option, then the users' certificates will expire in X months after they complete the Learning Path. If you select the Certificate to expire in 0 months, then the Certificates awarded will have no expiration date.
Enrollment Date vs Completion Date
The Certificate expiration period counts always from the day of completion. However, the expiration period of a user's certificate is calculated differently based on the Set Upon setting that your Learning Path has the moment a user completes it.
When a user completes a Learning Path, we check if at that time, the setting of the Learning Path is set upon Enrollment or Completion Date.
- If when a user completes the Learning Path, the setting is set upon Enrollment date, then we check which value this setting had when the user enrolled in this Learning Path. If when the user enrolled in this Learning Path the selected Certificate Expiration Period was in 12 months, then this user's certificates will expire in 12 months after they completed the Learning Path.
- If when a user completes the Learning Path, the setting is set upon Completion date, then we check which value this setting has at the moment. If when the user completed the Learning Path the selected Certificate Expiration Period was in 10 months, then this user's certificates will expire in 10 months after they completed the Learning Path.
Let's check this in three examples:
Case #1: Upon Enrollment date
I create a Learning Path on 03/15/2021 having selected the certificate to expire in 12 months, set upon Enrollment date.
- User A completes this Learning Path on 03/16/2021 and the Learning Path certificate will be valid until 03/16/2022.
- User B enrolls himself in the Learning Path on 03/16/2021 but doesn't complete the Learning Path.
- On 03/20/2021 I change the settings to "In 1 month, set upon Enrollment date"
- User B completes the Learning Path on 03/25/2021. The Learning Path certificate will be valid until 03/25/2022 (based on the settings that the Learning Path had when the user enrolled himself in the Learning Path)
Case #2: Upon Completion date
I create a Learning Path on 03/15/2021 having selected the certificate to expire in 12 months, set upon Completion date.
- User A completes this Learning Path on 03/16/2021 and the Learning Path certificate will be valid until 03/16/2022.
- User B enrolls himself in the Learning Path on 03/16/2021 but doesn't complete the Learning Path.
- I change the settings to "In 1 month, set upon Completion date" on 03/20/2021
- User B completes the Learning Path on 03/25/2021. The Learning Path certificate will be valid until 04/25/2021 (based on the settings that the Learning Path when the user completed the Learning Path )
Case #3: Upon Enrollment date changed to Completion date
I create a Learning Path on 03/15/2021 having selected the certificate to expire in 12 months, set upon Enrollment date.
- User A completes this Learning Path on 03/16/2021 and the Learning Path certificate will be valid until 03/16/2022.
- User B enrolls himself in the Learning Path on 03/16/2021 but doesn't complete the Learning Path.
- On 03/20/2021 I change the settings to "In 1 month, set upon Completion date"
- User B completes the Learning Path on 03/25/2021. The Learning Path certificate will be valid until 04/25/2021 (based on the settings that the Learning Path had when the user completed the Learning Path)
2. Every x Year(s) on Month / Day
If you select this option, then the users' certificates will expire every x Year(s) on a specific date, no matter when they completed the Learning Path.
If you select this option, an extra setting will be available where you can define that “If the user completes the Learning Path X months before the certificate expiration, the certificate expiration period will be shifted to next year".
Based on the example shown in the screenshot below, if a user completes the Learning Path on 11/15/2020, his certificate will not be expired on 01/01/2021 but on 01/01/2022.
Reassign Learning Path when certificate expires
This option will allow you to set certificate expiration dates without triggering a reassignment of the associated Learning Path.
Reassign Learning Path before certification expires (in days)
If your Learning Path is set to have a Certificate Expiration Period, then by default all users whose certificates expire, will be obliged to retake this Learning Path.
With this setting, you can define how many days prior to their Certificate Expiration these users will be reassigned with this Learning Path, to ensure that your employees will always have an active certificate.
Important note: This setting works retroactively for users that currently have an active certificate. So, if a user has an active certificate that expires in 40 days, and you adjust this setting to 60 days, then this user will be reassigned within the day. This will only apply when you type a bigger number of days than the previous. In case you type a smaller number then the Oblige to Retake will not be reverted.
Tips!
- This setting is only available if your Learning Path has a Certificate Expiration Period.
- If you have selected the Certificate Expiration Period for your Learning Path to be "Every x years on" then:
- If the "If the user completes the Learning Path X months before the certificate expiration, the certificate expiration period will be shifted to next year" setting is set to 0, the Learning Path will be reassigned to the users the exact same day their certificate expires.
- The days of this setting should be less than the days of the "If the user completes the Learning Path X months before the certificate expiration, the certificate expiration period will be shifted to next year" setting because the Reassignment Period cannot be bigger than the Certificate's expiration shift period for next year.
Learning Paths Courses Reassignment
If your Learning Path is set to have a Certificate Expiration Period, then by default all users whose certificates expire, will be obliged to retake this Learning Path. When a user is obliged to retake a Learning Path, by default, they are obliged to retake all of the learning paths courses, except the ones that you have selected not to be affected.
Tip #1!
If you need a specific course's progress to remain unaffected when users are obliged to retake the Learning Path, then you just have to check the "If Course is part of Learning Path" setting on this course's Edit Course page.
Tip #2!
The Learning Path courses will also be reassigned based on their own Certificate Expiration Settings. In order to avoid having the users complete the Learning Path courses multiple times (once when the Learning Path is reassigned and once when the actual course is reassigned) it is suggested that either:
- the Courses do not have a Certificate Expiration Period
- the Courses do not award a Certificate
Editing the Certificate Expiration Settings
The Certificate Expiration Settings of a Learning Path by default do not work retroactively. If the Learning Path Certificate Settings are set and a user completes the Learning Path with these settings, editing the Certificate Settings for this Learning Path after the user's completion will have no effect on this user's certificate.
1) If a Learning Path is set to expire in x months upon enrollment, changing the number of this setting will affect users who will enroll in this Learning Path after the setting update.
2) If a Learning Path is set to expire in x months upon completion, changing the number of this setting will affect all users who will complete this Learning Path after the setting update.
3) If a Learning Path is set to expire in x months upon enrollment and you change it to expire in x months upon completion, the changing of this setting will affect all users who will complete this Learning Path after the setting update.
4) If a Learning Path is set to expire every x Year(s) on a specific date, changing the number of years or date of this setting will affect all users who will complete this Learning Path after the setting update.
Users who have already completed the Learning Path will not be affected.
Let's look at an example:
- I create a Learning Path on 03/15/2021 having selected the certificate to expire in 12 months upon Completion.
- A user completes this Learning Path on 03/16/2021. Their certificate will be valid until 03/16/2022.
- On 03/17/2021 I edit the Learning Path settings and select it to expire in 15 months upon Completion.
In this case, the user's certificate will not be affected and it will still expire on 03/16/2022. The new settings will only be applied to the certificates of the users who complete the Learning Path after the new settings have been selected.
Read more: Creating a Learning Path