Summary

The LMS system tracks all achieved certificates for each individual user and presents this data in a Certificates Report for site administrators. Certificates achieved outside of the LMS are known as external documents and are a Refined Training plugin that allows authenticated users to upload third-party (external certificates) to their profile in addition to the certificates achieved within the LMS. End users can view their LMS and external certificates in the My Certificates report as well as view any historical certificates achieved from previous platforms.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Administrative setup

Site administrators can enable external documents by navigating to site administration >>>> plugins >>>> local plugins >>>> documents. Locate enable documents and check the checkbox to display the my documents link in the navigation block on the front page.

Return to the navigation block on the front page and locate the my documents menu.

Click the triangle icon to open the my documents menu and select add documents to add third-party PDF certificates.

The add document form will display where the certificate course information, the date the certificate was received, and the organization the certificate is associated with must be filled in. Select add or drag and drop the certificate PDF to add the external certificate to the system.

Return to the navigation block on the front page and select view documents from the my documents menu. All added documents will display with the course name, certificate name, date the certificate was received, and an expiration date. The icons to the right provide the ability to edited (gear icon), delete (x icon), or download (arrow icon) the external document.

My certificates

End users can access both LMS certificates and external documents within the LMS. To do this, navigate to the certificates block >>>> my certificates.

The my certificates list will display, revealing all LMS-issued and external certificates for that user.

External certificates do not have system codes and show N/A in the code field. This is because the code is only created and associated for certificates generated inside the LMS.

Historical certificates

Site administrators and end users have the ability to view historical certificates that were achieved by the user in a previous system and imported to the LMS.

Navigate to the certificates block >>>> historical certificates to view a list of historical certificates. Generally, the listing will show the date the certificate was received, the name of the certificate, the amount of credits associated with the certificate, and the ability to access (download) the certificate. However, because this information is imported from other systems, the report may vary.

Administrative reports

A certificates report, listing all certificates earned on the site, is available to site administrators in the certificates block >>>> certificates report. Any external documents (i.e. external certificates), will be listed without a certificate code.

Flexible certificates report

The flexible certificates report, which provides information about the status of a user’s progress through a course, displays the names of external documents (i.e. certificates) under the externalcolumn. Unlike certificates earned in the LMS, external documents cannot be deleted by an administrator or emailed to the user.

Manager report

External documents also appear on the team certificates report for managers. These external documents are distinguished by the word “external” before the name course.

Changing the terminology

The term “documents”, can be changed in the language strings. To do this navigate to site administration >>>> language >>>> language customization >>>> select a language >>>> click open the language pack for editing >>>> click continue when the language pack has loaded >>>> scroll to the local heading >>>> and select local_documents.php and click show strings.

In the local_documents customization boxes enter the new terminology and click save changes to the language pack. To confirm the update, spot check the system. If the update does not appear, clear the cache and re-attempt the update in the language string.