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 & 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 Admin menu from the gear icon, then press the Settings item in the External training section. 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 Admin 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, from the External Training section in the Admin menu, press the Manage item. 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 & 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

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 reported training activities

If you flagged the option in the Settings page of the app to Place external training activities reported by users in a waiting list for the Admin approval, 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 will appear in the top right corner of the button if any activities are waiting for approval. The number will indicate how many activities are pending.

When you press this button, you will be directed to the page displaying all of the pending training activities. Here, you will see a list of activities waiting for your approval. You can approve or reject the activity by selecting the green (approve) or the red (reject) symbol in each activity's row.

If you select the red icon, you will be able to reject or delete the activity permanently. You can also send a message directly to the learner associated with the activity. Users can monitor the approval or rejection status in the My activities area of their platforms.

Additional fields for external training activity

As the Superadmin, you can also 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 your main External training management page. You'll be directed to the Additional fields page.

On this page, use the Add drop-down 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 and 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

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 Admin 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.