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Course Categories

Updated

Purpose: This article explains how to use course categories to organize your catalog and improve how learners browse and discover training. Categories typically support portal navigation, filtering, reporting, and API-driven presentation.

Related: Managing courses in Administrate | Create a course | Courses, Course Templates, and Events: Structure and Inheritance

Note

Each course must belong to a category. Ensure categories are configured before creating or publishing courses.

Mental model: categories support discovery and reporting

Course categories are metadata applied at the course template level. They help learners browse your catalog and help administrators segment reporting.

  • Use categories when you need a stable navigation structure (for example: “Safety,” “Compliance,” “Leadership”).
  • Use tags or search keywords when you need flexible labeling (synonyms, alternate names, or cross-cutting filters).

Categories are also used to filter Events and support reporting, such as comparing performance or revenue across different training areas.

Example category structures

Categories should group related courses under a shared theme:

  • Food Hygiene
    • Level 1 Food Hygiene Course
    • Level 2 Food Hygiene Course
    • Level 3 Food Hygiene Course
  • Project Management
    • Prince2 Training
      • Foundation Course
      • Foundation & Practitioner Course
    • MSP Training
      • Foundation Course
      • Practitioner Course

Create or manage course categories

Categories are typically managed centrally (so that templates can reuse consistent values).

  1. Go to Control Panel.
  2. Navigate to the area where catalog metadata is managed (for example: Courses or Catalog configuration).
  3. Create a new category (and subcategory, if your configuration supports it).
  4. Select Save.

Reordering categories

The order of categories is reflected wherever they are displayed (such as in portals and selection lists). Place the most commonly used or important categories first.

You can reorder categories and subcategories using drag-and-drop.

Edit or delete categories

You can update or remove categories as needed:

  • Edit a category to update its name or structure
  • Delete a category if it is no longer needed (confirmation required)

Apply a category to a course template

  1. Open the course template you want to update.
  2. Locate the category field (or the relevant catalog classification fields).
  3. Select the appropriate category (and subcategory, if applicable).
  4. Select Save.

Best practices

  • Keep category names short and learner-friendly (they appear in portals and catalogs).
  • Avoid creating near-duplicate categories (use tags for synonyms and alternate naming).
  • If reporting relies on categories, treat changes as governance decisions and update templates consistently.
  • If you restructure categories, check any external systems (APIs, portals, integrations) that depend on them.

Next steps

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