Certification - Create - Scheduling - Relative with Rolling Period

A Relative with Rolling Period certification is a certification that should be renewed on a specific schedule relative to the most recent certification date. Each certification renewal period begins immediately upon the previous certification. For example, if the renewal is required 90 days from the previous certification, then each time a user renews their certification, they are immediately pushed into their next renewal period and the new due date is based around the completion date of the previous period.

Pros: Allows employees to enjoy the full duration of their certification before being required to renew. Users are given the ability to start working on their next certification period immediately after completing the previous period.
Cons: Certification renewal cycles will not be consistent, because future renewal assignments will become due relative to the date the employee decided to complete the previous renewal or initial certification.

To create a certification, go to Admin > Tools > Learning > Catalog Management > Certifications. Then, click the Create a New Certification link or copy an existing certification by clicking the Copy icon in the Options column.

Overall Process

When creating a Relative with Rolling Period certification, complete the following steps:

Select Relative with Rolling Period as the certification period type.
Configure the basic settings for the initial training period.
Add the necessary renewal periods.
Set the due date and expiration date for the initial certification period.
Configure the renewal behavior for all renewal periods.

Select Certification Type

When configuring the certification schedule, the first step is to select the type of certification you are creating. The certification type that is selected determines which option are available when configuring the certification schedule.

To create a Relative with Rolling certification, select the Select Period Type field. Then, select the Relative with Rolling option and click SELECT. This opens Certification Period Selection pop-up.

Note: The certification type can be modified after creating the initial period if necessary, but changing the period type erases all previously set up periods. If the certification is assigned to a user, the period type cannot be changed.

Configure Initial Certification Training Period

Enter the following information about the period:

Certification Period Title - Enter a title for the initial certification period. The character limit for this field is 100. If multiple languages are enabled for your portal, select the Translate icon to translate the field into other available languages.
Period Required Credits - Enter the number of credits that are required to be completed for the period. This minimum requirement must be reached without carry over credits from a previous period. This may vary from period to period.
Total Maximum Credits for Selected Sections - The maximum credits that can be obtained from all selected sections. It gets automatically populated based on the sections that are selected under Select Applicable Sections and cannot be less than the Period Required Credits.
Verification required upon completion of expired period - This option is enabled by default. When it is disabled, the expired certifications do not require completion approvals if the user completes all certification renewal requirements, thus bypassing the need for an approval. The administrators or certification owners can disable this option on one or all certification periods depending on certification renewal requirements. All completion approval requests that have already been generated still need to be approved. The Verification required upon completion of expired period setting can be changed at any time for any existing certifications, and it applies to any expired training completion approvals that are generated after the setting is changed.
Verification required upon completion of period - Select this option to force certification users to submit evidence of completion to the administrator when they have completed the certification period. The user's status remains In Progress until the administrator verifies completion.
Select Applicable Sections - Each section in the certification is displayed. Select the sections that should be included in the initial certification period. You may click the plus icon to the left of the section to view the items within, but only sections can be added to a period. Individual training items cannot be added to a period.

Note: If both Verification required upon completion of expired period and Verification required upon completion of period are checked, then it will generate two completion approvals if the user completes requirements for an expired certification. The first completion approval will be for the expired certification and the second completion approval is for validating the completion of expired certification. To know more, See Use Cases - Certification Completion Approval Settings.

Click Select to add the initial period to the schedule. The period appears on the page.

If the number of credits required to complete the certification period is greater than the sum of maximum credits set for all selected sections, a warning appears at the top of the page. The maximum credits for each selected section displays next to each selected section title. The administrator can then correct either the Period Required Credits field or the selected sections and create a certification period which can be successfully completed by users.

The administrator cannot proceed with creating the certification until they have corrected either the Period Required Credits field or the selected sections.

Create Certification Renewal Periods

After creating the initial certification period, you can add a renewal period to the schedule by clicking the plus icon to the right of the Create Certification Schedule section heading. Note: The plus icon is only available after the initial certification period is created.

When you click the plus icon to the right of the Create Certification Schedule heading, the Configure Training Period pop-up opens.

Certification Period Title - Enter a title for the certification renewal period. The character limit for this field is 100.
Period Required Credits - Enter the number of credits that are required to be completed for the renewal period. This minimum requirement must be reached without carry over credits from a previous period. This may vary from period to period.
Total Maximum Credits for Selected Sections - The maximum credits that can be obtained from all selected sections. It gets automatically populated based on the sections that are selected under Select Applicable Sections and cannot be less than the Period Required Credits.

Details

Verification required upon completion of expired period - This option is enabled by default. When it is disabled, the expired certifications do not require completion approvals if the user completes all certification renewal requirements, thus bypassing the need for an approval. The administrators or certification owners can disable this option on one or all certification periods depending on certification renewal requirements. All completion approval requests that have already been generated still need to be approved. The Verification required upon completion of expired period setting can be changed at any time for any existing certifications, and it applies to any expired training completion approvals that are generated after the setting is changed.
Verification required upon completion for all future periods - Select this option to force certification users to submit evidence of completion to the administrator when they have completed the certification period. The user's status remains In Progress until the administrator verifies completion.
If previous period is not completed prior to expiration date, adjust start day to actual completion date - By default, the expiration date is the official end date of the period. Users must complete all training items within the certification by that date, and the subsequent period cannot begin until the previous period is complete. If this option is selected, when a period expires and a user has not completed the certification, the start date for the following renewal period is set to the date on which the previous period is completed. This may be used to more accurately reflect the actual start date of the certification.
Allow carry over - Select this option to allow users to carry over excess credits from a previous period. This option is only available to users if they completed the certification and completed more than the maximum number of allowed credits.
- Partial course - This option allows users to carry over all credits that exceed the maximum number of credits allowed for the previous period. For example, if an item is worth 6 credits, but the maximum number of allowed credits is 4, the user may carry over the remaining 2 credits to the subsequent period.
- Entire course credits from previous items - This option allows users to carry over entire courses worth of excess credits from a previous period. For example, if a user has reached the maximum number of allowed credits and then the user completes an additional course, the user may carry over the course's worth of credits to the subsequent period.

Select Applicable Sections

Each section in the certification is displayed. Select the sections that should be included in the certification renewal period. You may click the plus icon to the left of the section to view the items within, but only sections can be added to a period. Individual training items cannot be added to a period.

Click Select to add the renewal period to the schedule. The period appears on the page.

Configure Certification Periods - Due Date and Expiration Date

To configure the due date and expiration date for a certification period, click the Period Date icon below the certification period title. The Configure Certification Period window appears.

If a user has not completed the certification by the due date, the status becomes Past Due. The user may still continue to complete the certification and become certified up to the Expiration date if the expiration date is different from the due date. The Past Due status can be used as a grace period and allows administrators to report and track these users.

If a user has not completed the certification by the expiration date, the status becomes Expired. Depending on the expiration settings set when creating the certification, users may be able to access and complete the certification training, but they are not moved to a Certified status unless they request and receive completion approval. Completion approvals can be approved or denied from the Certification Management page. See Certification Requests - Pending Requests.

When setting the start and end dates for periods, be sure that the periods to not overlap. Multiple renewal periods may be added to a certification, but the start and end dates may not overlap.

For renewal periods, you must also set additional criteria, including expiration date, period duration, and recurrence.

Initial Period

Define Due Date

Note: When setting a due date, the due date must be prior to the expiration date.

Due XX days/months/years from start date - Select this option to set the due date to a date that is relative to the start date. Then enter the number of days, months, or years after the start date the period is due.
- Round period Due Date up to next end of month - Select this option to round the certification due date to the last calendar day of the month in which the certification is due. This option does not appear if None is selected as the due date.
None - Select this option to not set a due date for the period.

Define Expiration Date

Expire XX days/months/years from start date - Select this option to set the expiration date to a date that is relative to the start date. Then enter the number of days, months, or years after the start date the period expires.
- Round period Expiration Date up to next end of month - Select this option to round the certification expiration date to the last calendar day of the month in which the certification expires. This option does not appear if None is selected as the expiration date.
None - Select this option to not set an expiration date for the period.

If a due date is set for the initial period and the If previous period is not completed prior to expiration date, adjust start day to actual completion date option is selected, if the initial certification period is overdue, the due date for the initial period is adjusted to the actual completion date.

Renewal Periods

When will user status become PAST DUE if requirements are not completed? - Select the amount of time users have to complete the certification period prior to becoming Past Due.
- Round period Due Date up to next end of month - Select this option to round the date on which the renewal becomes past due to the last calendar day of the month in which the renewal is due.
What is the duration of each period before user status becomes EXPIRED? - Select the duration for the renewal periods before the certification period becomes expired. If a value of 0 is entered, the renewal period expires on the same date that the renewal period begins.
- Round period Due Date up to next end of month - Select this option to round the date on which the renewal becomes expired to the last calendar day of the month in which the renewal expires.
When will the recurrence rule terminate? - Select when the period stops recurring. This can be set to never stop, stop after a certain number of instances, or stop on a specific date.

Edit a Period

To edit a period after it is created, click the Edit icon for the appropriate period. This opens Configure Training Period window where you can edit the details of the period.

View the Training Item Contents of a Period

To view the framework of a period and view which training items are included in a period, hover the cursor over the View icon for the appropriate period. This displays a pop-up that shows the training framework and contents for the period.

Delete a Period

To delete a period, click the Delete icon for the appropriate period. This deletes the entire period, including the selected settings.

After completing all required items in the Scheduling step, click Next to proceed to the Emails step. Note: You must complete all required items before proceeding to the next step. See Certification - Create - Step 4 - Emails.

Modification History

Click the arrow next to the Modification History heading to expand the section and view the modification history for the certification.