Table of content

1. Functionality Overview
2. Sequences
3. Setting Achievements on a Course Template
4. Setting Achievements on an Event
5. Manually Setting Pass/Fail on an Achievement
6. How a Learner Accesses their Achievement
7. How an Admin can Manage a Learner's Achievements

Functionality Overview

Achievements help you track milestones for Learners.  Often, they are used to track the dates when a Learner's training needs refreshed, and Achievements can be optionally associated with a certificate to document the fact that an Achievement has been earned.

You can configure Achievements in the Control Panel.

For example, you might want to track a Basic Life Support achievement with a 5-year expiration or a Management 101 seminar participation achievement.

Achievements Can Have

• Name: Text which identifies the Achievement that the Learner can receive.
• Certificate: A mapping to a Certificate Template, which allows Administrate to automatically generate and store a Certificate for the Achievement when it is issued.
• Validity Period & Unit: The time frame during which the Achievement should be considered valid before it needs to be renewed or reissued.
• Description: Text which describes the Achievement's benefits, requirements, etc.
• Sequence: An incrementing, unique identifier and associated formatter (formulaic generator), which will be used to assign the Achievement its unique identifier.

IMPORTANT: Achievements vs Certificates

It's important to understand that an Achievement is the actual record of something a Learner has achieved.  A Certificate is simply a representation of the Achievement and is optional.  

An example might be your Driver's License. If you are pulled over for speeding, an officer will ask for your license, which is a plastic card. This card is analogous to a certificate from Administrate. The officer will then take your license and validate it via computer. The computer record maintained by your state or government is analogous to an Achievement. You can forget your physical license (Certificate) while driving and usually be OK as long as the computer records (Achievement) are up-to-date, but if you don't have the right record on the computer (Achievement), it won't matter what your physical license says (Certificate) and you may wind up in jail!

Sequences

A sequence is an incrementing number that can be assigned to an Achievement. A formatter can be used to apply values from the Course Template, Event, Learning Path, or custom text to generate a completely unique identifier.

On the Sequence tab of the Achievements Control Panel page, you can create new Sequences and alter existing ones. 

A Sequence Includes:

• Name: A user-assigned descriptive identifier that is shown when linking a Sequence to an Achievement.
• Starting Value: By default, sequences start at 1 and count up (1, 2, 3, 4…), but this value can be overridden. This is useful when cutting over from an existing system that previously issued achievement numbers or when you want to just start at a higher value in the beginning (e.g., 10000).
• Padding Length: The Sequence can be prefixed with zeros if desired, for example, the sequence value 5 with a padding length of 5 would be 00005. 
• Formatter for Event: The formatter uses merge fields and free text as a formula to create a unique identifier for an Achievement following a set pattern. For example, you could combine the CPR Course Code (CPR), with the edition custom field (2020), and the sequence number to generate the Achievement Identifier: CPR-2020-00005. 
• Formatter for Learning Path: Similar to Events, you can specify a formatter for Learning Paths.

Sequence Best Practices

• Do not use whitespace in identifiers — this makes them harder to read. Instead, use dashes or other visible separators.
• Ensure your formatter includes the sequence number (the numeric value) as a merge field to ensure uniqueness. You'll find it as the {{sequence_number}} merge field in the autocompleter.
• Ensure any trailing whitespace is removed before saving.

Setting Achievements on a Course Template

Once you have created your achievement — you can link it to a Course Template.  Course Templates can have any number of Achievements that can be earned.  Any event you create using that Course Template will auto-apply these achievements.

Based on the modality of the event, you can choose how learners are marked as passed and therefore receive the achievement.

• Self Paced (LMS) Events: If Enabled: When all content has been completed and passed, the learner will automatically receive the Achievement 
• Classroom Events: If Enabled: When an admin or instructor marks a learner as having attended all sessions, they will automatically receive their Achievement.   If you have optional sessions, you can choose how many sessions can be marked absent and still auto-apply the Achievement to the learner.
• Blended Events: If Enabled: When the learner has completed and passed all LMS content and has been marked as having attended all sessions on the classroom part, they will auto receive their Achievement. The same rules around optional sessions or session absences can be applied here.

Why Multiple Achievements? Two Examples!

Often customers will have training sessions that include both a theoretical component (e.g., how to rescue someone who is drowning) and a practical component (e.g., OK, now jump into the pool and rescue someone who is acting as if they're drowning) within the same course. In this case, the coursework and sessions are the same, but the achievements being earned could be different.  

Some universities will let students “Audit” a course, which would involve them taking the course but not receiving a grade.  In this example, we could model this as a “completion” achievement vs. an achievement issued for earning a specific grade.

Setting Achievements on an Event

If you do not want to set an achievement at the course level, you can set it on individual events.  You can also override any Course Template setting on a specific Event. You can also choose to auto-pass learners when complete.

The same rules around auto-passing learners as mentioned in the Course Template section apply.

For each achievement that you add, a column will appear that will let you see the status of that Achievement for each student.  You can also filter your students to quickly find students.

Manually Setting Pass/Fail on an Achievement

To set the achievement manually on a student, click the edit button in the Results section. Here, you can click Pass/Fail on each student. Click Save when you are done. You are able to set each student individually or set them in bulk in the Select All Learners row.

How a Learner Accesses their Achievement

Note: You must be using our latest LMS for learners to use this feature

How an Admin can Manage a Learner's Achievements

On the contact record of the student, you will see an Achievements tab.

An Admin has 5 options:

• View the event the Achievement was issued from: This can be done by clicking on the link under the Issued By column
• View the Achievement: Click on the link under Documentation, and it will show you the certificate issued to the learner
• Edit Achievement: Clicking on the 3 dots on the right-hand side allows you to edit the achievement. Here you can edit the expiry date of the achievement.
• Refresh Documents: If a Learner has been awarded Certificates for their Achievement, you can regenerate their Certificates by clicking the Refresh Documents option.
• Revoke Achievement: You can, at any time, revoke an achievement for a learner which will hide it from their view in the LMS and denote it as no longer valid.

On Award Achievement Triggers

You may want to send an email if a student is to be awarded an achievement. You can automate this in the Communication Triggers section. 

Please note that if you have an On Award Achievement Trigger, it will automatically attach the certificate to the email for you.