Introduction

The Central Repository is a core feature enabled by default in your platform. In the Central Repository, you can store training materials in one place. That being said, training materials are not only local to courses, but they can also be global on the platform. Use the Central Repository if you want to:

• Manage all training material in a centralized library
• Avoid duplicated content
• Update training material easily at once for all courses
• Track training material in the same report, regardless of the courses where it is placed.

Please note that only Superadmins can manage the Central Repository. Power Users and Instructors do not have access to the Central Repository. They cannot push or pull training materials to the Central Repository from courses. To access it, reach the Admin Menu from the gear icon in the top right corner of your platform. In the E-Learning section, press the Central Repository subitem. In the Central Repository, you can find all training material uploaded directly in it, as well as categories dividing these training materials. You’ll notice that the categories are shared from the categories you created in the Course Management area of the platform. Any training materials that you've pushed from courses into the Central Repository will also appear here.

You can add new categories in the Central Repository, which will automatically be replicated in the Courses area of your platform (and vice-versa: if you create a new category in the Courses area it will automatically be replicated in the Central Repository). It’s important to note that while you can upload and manage training material in the Central Repository, you must still manage the order of your training materials within a specific course in that course’s area on the platform. You cannot do so from the Central Repository.

Please Note: Assignment training materials cannot be managed in the Central Repository. They are managed only at the course level. You cannot create this kind of training material in the Central Repository, but only in a course.

Adding New Training Material in the Central Repository

The process of uploading new training material is identical in the Central Repository as it is within a specific course. First, make sure you’ve selected the correct category in which you want to place your new training material from the category list on the left side of the page.  Then, press the Add Training Material button on the right side of the main Central Repository page. 

From the dropdown menu that will appear, select whether you want to upload, import, or create a new training material by selecting the type of training material. Complete the process of uploading, importing, or creating the training material by filling out as much information as possible in each pop-up box and tab. When you’re finished uploading or creating a training material, press Save Changes. The training material will now appear in your central repository.

Read more about the process of creating and managing various training materials.

Adding Training Material from the Content Marketplace

When working with any content provider of the Content Marketplace, it is possible to import their content as training material into the Central Repository.  Refer to the related articles of our Knowledge Base on the available Content Providers for further information on how to import content from the marketplace in the Central Repository.

The training materials imported from the Content Marketplace are identified by a shopping cart icon in the training material row. Hover your mouse over the shopping cart icon for further information on the content provider. Training materials imported from content providers are considered as any other training material available in the Central Repository. When a content form the Docebo Content library is close to the decommissioning date, it is identified by a warning icon before the content name, and in the content row. Hover your mouse over the icon to learn more about when the content will be decommissioned. Decommissioned content is identified by an error icon, when hovering your mouse over the icon, the tooltip will show you when the content was decommissioned. You can filter decommissioning or decommissioned training materials, or both, with the dedicated filter. Refer to the Docebo Content article for more information on how to manage decommissioning or decommissioned content.

Editing or Deleting Training Material in the Central Repository

After you create your training material, it will appear in the list of training materials on the main Central Repository page. Each training material will have its own row in the list. You’ll always see the name of the training material and the icon to the left of the name representing the type of file. Likewise, you will see the red X at the end of the row that allows you to delete a training material (you will be asked to confirm this action before actually deleting the training material), the cross icon that allows you to drag a training material and assign it to a category, and the edit icon to edit the training material. 

Please note that editing the training material using the corresponding icon (the pen and paper icon) will allow you to edit the information that you input when you first uploaded the file. For video training materials, a green checkmark indicates that the video has been converted correctly and is ready for publishing. If the checkmark is red, it indicates that the video did not upload correctly and may need to be uploaded again.

Unlinking Training Materials in the Central Repository

The training materials coming from the Central Repository and linked to a course can be unlinked from the course and still retain the user’s completions in reporting. In order to unlink a training material from a course, access the Course Management area from the Admin Menu, select the course and move to the Training Material tab. Click on the menu icon at the end of the training material row, and select Unlink.

If the learner has completed a training material in the course and the training material is later unlinked from that course, the course completion is retained. However, it will not provide training material statistics for the unlinked training material in reports. If the learner has not completed the unlinked training material, the best practice is to select Set the course as completed for all users who have finished all other training materials option in the Unlink confirmation pop-up box. This will ensure the course reports for user statistics retain a completed status for the course.

Managing the Usage Column

The Usage column shows you in how many courses a training material is placed. When you click on the usage link in each row, a pop-up box will appear providing you with a list of courses in which the training material is placed. Each course’s row will have the course’s name and which version of the training material is in that specific course (we’ll explain the concept of training material versions in a minute).

You can click on the name of the course to go to that course’s main page, where you can manage the training material within the course. Additionally, you can use the search bar in the pop-up box to search for a specific course from the list.

Managing the Training Material Preview

The training material preview icon is the play button icon in a training material’s row. When you click on this icon, a pop-up box will appear to show you the graphic preview of what your training material looks like on your platform. If you have multiple versions of the same training material, you can select which version you want to preview using the Select Version dropdown menu on the top left side of the pop-up box. In the Version Details section, you’ll see how many courses in which this version of the training material is placed as well as who uploaded this version.

Pushing Training Material to Courses from the Central Repository

To push training material to multiple courses in one action, you can use the arrow icon in the training material’s row in the list. When you click on this icon, a pop-up box will appear. Start by selecting which version of the training material you want to push using the Select Version dropdown menu on the top left part of the pop-up box. Again, when you select the version, you will see the version details to the right of the dropdown menu. Then, choose from the list the courses in which you want to place the training material by flagging the checkboxes in the course rows. You can search for courses using the search bar on the right side of the course list. When you’ve selected all of the courses, press the Confirm button. You should receive a message confirming that your training material has been successfully pushed to the courses.

Adding Training Material from the Central Repository into a Course

When you're managing training material in a course and you want to add a training material from the Central Repository to a course, select the Add Training Material button, then select the Central Repository option from the dropdown menu. This will open a pop-up box with all the training materials in the Central Repository.

When an item is selected, a dropdown appears to the right of that training material that displays all versions of that training material (if any). Select the training material you want to add. Only one version of the same training material can be added to a course. You can select as many training materials as are present in the Central Repository. When you've selected all the training materials for that course, press Confirm.

Pushing Multiple Training Materials to Courses in One Action

If you want to push multiple training materials to either one or multiple courses using one action, do so by clicking on the Push Training Materials to Courses button in the action bar on the top of the main Central Repository page. In the pop-up box, select the training materials that you want to push from the list of training materials (they are divided by categories, which you can select on the left side of the page) by flagging the checkbox in the training material's row. Use the dropdown menu at the top to filter by type of training material, or you can search for specific training materials using the search bar.

Please Note: You can only select and push up to 10 training materials at a time.

Once you’ve selected all of the training materials you want to push, press the Next button to continue. Then, select the courses in which you want to place the training materials using the course list. Please refer to the previous section if you need help completing this action. When you've selected the courses, press Confirm. You should receive a message confirming that your training materials have been successfully pushed to the courses.

Creating Multiple Versions of the Same Training Material

Some types of training material can have multiple versions in the platform. File types that allow multiple versions are the following: SCORM, AICC, XAPI (TIN CAN), File, Video. For these items, the first version of the training material that you upload in the platform is automatically Version One of the training material. You will see the circular arrow icon in the training material’s row in the Central Repository list. When you press this icon, you can see the versions of this training material as well as the details for each version.

Please Note: This icon is disabled (greyed out) for training material types that do not support versions. This is the case for any training material that was published to the platform by an authoring tool using the PENS Standard, as PENS does not support training material versioning.

To upload a new version of the training material, find the training material in the main Central Repository list and click on the edit icon in the training material's row. Then, select the Upload File button to upload the new content, and add title and description. You will have the option to flag whether this new version can overwrite the existing training material (version one), or if you want to create a new version of the training material. If you select the former option, the content will update in each course where it is used. If you flag the latter option, fill out the text boxes that will appear regarding the name and the description of the new version.

When you’re finished, press Save Changes. It’s important to note that the training material in your platform will remain the same. Only the physical content of the training material can be versioned. You can edit and delete versions of content by clicking the circular arrow icon in the training material’s row in the Central Repository list, then clicking on the corresponding icons in a version’s row on the Version History page.

Please note that if you delete a specific version of the training material, it will delete the entire training material from any course in which it was previously placed. You will want to make sure the new version of the training material is pushed to each instance where that training material is used before deleting an old version. You can also add specific versions of training materials to one or multiple courses using the process previously described (see section: Pushing Training Material to Courses from the Central Repository).

Creating a Category Folder in the Central Repository

To create a New Category folder in the Central Repository page, click on the New Category button on the top left of the page. After that, a window will ask you to define the language you want to edit, the name of the folder and the Category Code (not mandatory), then press Confirm.

Please note: The Central Repository and courses share the same categories folders. If you create a category folder in the Central Repository, the same one will be created in the Course Management page and vice versa.

Filtering Training Material in the Central Repository List

Training material in the list on the main Central Repository page is automatically categorized using the categories created by you. To view the training material within a specific category, click on the folder in the category section on the left side of the page.

To filter the training material you can see in the list, you can filter by file type using the drop-down menu at the top of the list. You can also choose whether or not you want to view the Descendants by switching the toggle from Yes to No. Lastly, you can search for a specific training material (by training material code or name) using the search bar at the top of the list.

Share Tracking for Training Material

All training materials on the platform are now share tracked. What does that mean? If you have the same training material (or the same version of training material) in multiple courses, and a user completes the training material in one course, it will automatically be marked as complete in the rest of the courses where that training material is placed.

This is the default setting for all training materials, and it’s set at the version level. Because of this, it is vital to be very careful when resetting user data regarding content completion.

The only exceptions to share tracking are surveys. When creating a survey, you need to flag the option to have local tracking rather than shared tracking. To learn about creating surveys within a course, refer to this manual. To create a survey in the Central Repository, click on the Add Training Material button on the right side of the main Central Repository page, then select Survey from the dropdown menu.

On the New Survey page, add a title and description for your survey, then flag whether you want the survey to be tracked locally or share tracked (we suggest locally so you can have more accurate survey results for each course). Complete the information in the Additional Info tab, then press Save Changes when finished.

Please Note: Once you decide to create a survey that is tracked locally or share tracked, you cannot edit the tracking later. You must delete the survey and recreate it in order to change the tracking preferences.

How Share Tracking Affects Reports

In Course Reports, you can now see which content version a user completed if a training material has multiple versions that are used in different courses. Likewise, if a user completes a training material (such as a test) in one course, it will still show up as completed in reports for other courses.

Best Practices and Tips & Tricks

Keep your Central Repository tidy. The longer you use the Central Repository, the more training material it will house. Be careful with your training material naming, description and thumbnails. Use categories to better organize your material.

Duplicate content for various languages. If you have the same content in different languages, you can easily duplicate the training material and change the language. You can always use a sub-category per language (e.g. Category is Music & Arts, your sub-categories are English, Italian, French, Spanish…).

Check before pushing content from the Central Repository to courses. If you already have the same training material in multiple courses, remember that it will be marked as completed in every course, even if the learner only completed the training material in one course. This means that if you apply specific settings to that training material locally (e.g. End Object Marker, Prerequisites), the user may complete a course that they never actually started.

Course Duplicates and Management of Training Materials in the Central Repository. On the Course Management page, you can duplicate courses. If the training material included in the course you are duplicating is stored in the Central Repository, then the tracking of this training material will carry over into the new course. However, if you have the need to duplicate a course, but the learner should not retake the same course to renew a certification, then the training material should be uploaded directly to the course. It cannot be pushed from the Central Repository, otherwise the training material status will be preserved in the new course as well.

Overwriting vs versioning. If you need to correct a word, phrase, or title in the training material we suggest using the overwrite option. Instead, if a major change in the structure is necessary, the versioning is what you need. Be aware of the tracking update by using these options:

Please note that with the versioning, if a user who has already completed the old version of a training material plays it again, they will see the new version and need to complete it again from the beginning.