External documents is a Refined Training plugin that allows authenticated users to upload third-party (external) certificates to their profile.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Administrative Set Up

Administrators can enable this feature by going to Site Administration>>> Plugins>>> Local Plugins>>> Documents then by ensuring there is a checked box next to the Enable Documentsoption:

Once this feature is enabled, users have the ability to add third-party certificates (as PDFs) by clicking on My Documents in the Navigation block:

Under the My Documents option, the user sees an option to Add documents or View documents:

The Add Document screen has four required fields and several optional fields. In the Attach Filefield, the user clicks on Add to upload a document (certificate) stored on the user’s computer:

When the View Documents option is selected, the course name, certificate name, date the certificate was received and the date it expires are visible. The icons on the right provide the options to edit, delete or download the document list:

My Certificates

When the users log into the site, they can access both LMS certificates and documents (external certificates) from their Certificates block. They click on My Certificates in the block:

This takes them to their My Certificates list, which will include the external certificates as well as certificates earned inside the LMS:

The external certificate is distinguished by not having a code, because the code is generated only for certificates earned inside the LMS.

Administrative Reports

When site administrators view the Certificates block, they see an option to access the Certificate Report, which is a list of all certificates earned on the site:

External documents appear in the list, again with no certificate code:

In the Flexible Certificates report, the name of the external document (certificate) will appear under the EXTERNAL column:

Unlike certificates earned in the LMS, the external document cannot be deleted by an administrator or emailed to the user.

Manager Report

Under the Managers Team Certificates Report, the word EXTERNAL precedes the name of the outside course in which a user earned a certificate that they uploaded via the Documents option:

Changing the Terminology

The term “Documents” can be replaced in the language strings under Site Administration>>> Language>>>Language customization. Once you have chosen the language and clicked on Open the language pack for editing and Continue, scroll down to local>>> local_documents.php:

In the Local customization boxes, enter the desired new terminology and wording. You must click on Save changes to the language pack to effect the change in terminology, then always confirm the expected change on the system. If the change does not appear try clearing your cache before re-attempting to find the language string.