Introduction
The External training app allows users to report training activities performed outside their learning platform.
Superadmins will be able to report and review external activities submitted by users. In addition, they can import external training activities via CSV, configure dedicated additional fields and manage external courses and institutes.
Activating the app
Activate the External training app as described in the Managing apps and features article of the Knowledge Base. The app is listed in the Docebo additional features tab.
Configuring the app
To begin configuring the app, access your Navigation menu. Find the Configuration (spanner icon), then select the Training admin item and click on the External training settings subitem. You will be redirected to the Settings page for the app. Here, you can flag the corresponding checkboxes to enable the following settings:
- Allow users to add their external training activities.
- Place external training activities reported by users in a waiting list for the administrator approval.
- Require users to select training institutes and courses from a defined list. When this option is enabled, users will be able to upload only e-learning and ILT classroom courses.
Once finished, press Save changes.
Adding training activity manually as a Superadmin
As the Superadmin, you can manually add external activities and check those reported by users. To do so, access your Navigation menu. Find the Configuration (spanner icon), then select the Training admin item and click on the External training management subitem.
On this page, you will see action buttons at the top of the page as well as a list of all external training activities reported by both you and your users. To add new external training activity, press the Report new training activity button.
In the pop-up box, fill in all of the information, including who completed the activity in the Assign to field, the training institute, course name and type, date of the activity, score, and CEU credits. You can also upload a certificate related to the activity, or select a certification associated with the activity from the Certifications and retraining dropdown menu. If you choose to associate a certification to the external training activity, the Completion date specified in the external training report will be used for the Issue date on the certification.
Please note: When you manually add a certificate, you can upload files with the following extensions: DOC, XLS, PPT, GIF, PNG, TXT, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, PDF, FLV, ODS, ODP, CSV, MP4, JPG.
Press Confirm when finished. The external activity has now been added to the list on the main External training management page. You can view, edit or delete it at any time using the corresponding buttons in the activity's row.
The handling of dates and times for external training activities depends on the way the activities are reported:
- Activities imported via CSV and via the External training app: The platform saves dates and time in UTC format and displays it according to the user’s timezone.
- Activities created or updated by a Superadmin: The platform saves dates and time in the platform timezone and displays them in UTC format.
Uploading training activities via CSV
If you have a considerable number of external activities to report, consider importing them via CSV. Select the Import via CSV button in the action bar at the top of the External training management page. The columns in your CSV file must include the following fields:
E-learning courses
- Mandatory fields: username, course name, course type and end date
- Optional fields: training institute, start date, score, and credits
ILT classroom courses
- Mandatory fields: username, course name, course type, start date and end date
- Optional fields: training institute, score, and credits
On the next page, press the Upload file button, select the separator, specify if the first row is the header, and insert the file charset (UTF-8). You can also download a sample file to see how to format your file, if necessary. Press Next to continue. Now, map the information included in the CSV file to the existing fields in the platform. Select the field you would like to associate to a column from the dropdown menu above each column. When finished, press Next to save the import. The activities have now been imported, and you can edit or delete them as needed.
Notes on uploading external training activities via CSV
- You cannot import training activities for ILT webinar courses (VILT).
- You cannot import training activities for deactivated users.
- The date format used in the CSV file must match the date format selected by the user performing the import in the My profile area, Preferences tab unless you activated the Use selected language option in the platform advanced settings, Date and time tab, in which case the date format must be the browser date format.
Approving or rejecting reported training activities
If you selected the Place external training activities reported by users in a waiting list for the administrator approval option in the Settings page of the app, you will see the Waiting for approval button in the action bar at the top of the External training management page. A red box with a number appears in the top-right corner of the button, indicating how many activities are pending approval.
When you press this button, you will be directed to the page displaying all the pending training activities, where you will see a list of activities reported by learners and waiting for your approval. You can approve or reject the activity by selecting the checkmark (approve) or the cross (reject) symbol in each activity's row.
When you reject an activity, a pop-up window will appear so that you can select whether to reject or permanently delete it. Users can monitor the approval or rejection status in the My activities page > External training tab of their platforms.
If you reject an activity, it remains listed among the activities waiting for approval, allowing you to later approve it by clicking the checkmark icon or delete it permanently by clicking the cross icon. In the user’s My activities page, the rejected activity appears greyed out, and learners can either edit and resubmit it or delete it.
If you permanently delete the activity, it will be deleted from the list of reported activities, both from the Activities waiting for approval page and from the learner’s My activities page.
If you have not selected the Place external training activities reported by users in a waiting list for the administrator approval option in the Settings page of the app, all the training activities you and learners reported are listed in the main page of the External training app. If you reject them by clicking on the cross icon, they will be removed from the page, but still shown in the My activities page > External training tab of the learners’ platforms. If you permanently delete an activity, it will be deleted from the list of activities both from the External training page and from the learner’s My activities page.
Additional fields for external training activity
As the Superadmin, you can create and manage additional fields related to external training activities. To do so, press the Additional fields button in the action bar at the top of the External training management page. You'll be directed to the Additional fields page.
On this page, use the Add dropdown menu to select which type of additional field you would like to create: date, dropdown, free text (for long text), or text (for short text).
Then, press the Create button. In the pop-up box, add the title of the additional field. Press Save changes when finished.
Remember that:
- if an external training activity requires the administrator's approval, as a Superadmin, you cannot see the content of the external training additional fields before approving the activity. After the approval, you will be able to see and edit the additional fields by selecting the activity from the main page of the External Training activity app in edit mode.
- you need to insert the translation of the content of the additional field in the platform default language.
- you cannot import external training additional fields via CSV.
- external training additional fields are not visible to learners.
Adding specific training institutes and courses
You can also require users to select external training institutes and courses from a defined list. On the Settings page for the app, flag the third option: Require users to select training institute and courses from defined list. Press the Save changes button on the bottom of the page to confirm the action. The page will automatically refresh. Then, return to the third option and press the Configure courses and training institutes here link.
You will then be redirected to the Courses and institutes page. To add institutes, press the Manage institutes button in the action bar at the top of the page. You will then be directed to the Manage institutes page. Press the New institute button, then add the institute name in the corresponding field in the pop-up box and press Confirm to add the institute.
It will then be listed in the Institute list on the Manage institutes page. You can edit the title of the institute or delete it using the corresponding icons in the institute's row. Next, add courses by returning to the Courses and institutes page.
Press the Create new course button in the action bar at the top of the page. Flag whether the course is an E-learning or ILT Classroom course (VILT - webinar courses - are not supported at this time), and type in the title of the course in the text box, then press Confirm when finished. The course will then be listed in the Courses list below. In the course’s row, click on Assign a training institute then select an institute from the dropdown menu to create an association.
Once selected, the page will automatically refresh with the selected institute appearing in the course’s row. Again, you can edit or delete the course using the corresponding icons. Now, when a user reports new external training activity, he or she must select an institute or course from the corresponding dropdown menus.
Power Users and external training
The Power Users with Edit permission on external training can report external training activities and import them via CSV.
If the option Place external training activities reported by users in a waiting list for the administrator approval is activated in the Settings page of the External training app, then Power Users are also allowed to approve or reject the external training activities reported by the users assigned to them.
External training activities as a learner
Learn more about reporting and managing your external training activity as a learner in the platform.