Introduction
The Central repository is a centralized area that allows Superadmins and Power Users to store, organize and manage the training materials used in the platform and to assign them to courses.
The centralization of training materials in a repository allows for easy access, retrieval and sharing of materials across different courses. It also ensures that all learners have access to the same up-to-date and consistent content, which helps to maintain high standards of training. In addition, the tracking of training materials is shared among all of the courses where they are placed.
Keeping the training materials in the Central repository can also help save time and resources, as it eliminates the need for duplication of effort in creating and storing training materials across multiple locations.
Requirements and limitations
- Power Users can access and manage the Central repository and its content depending on the permissions assigned to their profile and on the folders assigned to them as resources. If no folder is assigned to a Power User having permission to manage the Central repository, that Power User won’t see the Central repository menu entry despite the permissions. Learn more about the permissions of Power Users on the Central repository in the Permissions for Central repository folders chapter of the knowledge base article on Power User permissions.
- Instructors cannot access the Central repository.
- You cannot manage assignments and checklists in the Central repository, they are managed at the course level only.
Learn More on DoceboU
Want to learn more about the Central repository? Have a look at the dedicated course, Using the Central repository (opens in a new tab) on Docebo U!
Accessing the Central repository
To access the Central repository, log in as a Superadmin or a Power User with granted permissions, and reach the Admin menu from the gear icon in the top right corner of your platform. In the E-learning section, click on Central repository.
The main page of the Central repository lists all of the training materials in the table, as well as the folders you have created to organize your content in the Folders panel.
Click on the Filters on the left side of the table and use the available options to filter the training material using the available filters. Click on Columns to select the columns you want to include in the table or search for specific content by typing a keyword in the text search area.
Creating and managing folders
It is important to organize training materials in folders to quickly locate and access the content as well as to manage the training material visibility for Power Users by assigning them folders as resources they can manage.
To create a new folder, click on the plus button in the top right corner of the page and select the New Folder option. In the right panel that opens, set a name and a code for the folder, then select a destination folder. You can translate the folder name into multiple languages by clicking on the globe icon at the top of the panel. Learn more about using the multi-language tool to create multi-language content. Click on Create to finalize the creation of the folder.
You cannot create folders at the same level as the root. The root folder represents the platform and must be unique. You can organize folders in up to 15 levels, with a maximum of 200 subfolders per folder, per level.
To see the newly created folder, click on the folder name on the left side of the main table.
From this panel, click on the ellipsis menu next to the folder name to perform the following actions:
- Folder overview: opens a right panel providing detailed information on the selected folder, including name, code, parent folder, number of subfolders, number of training materials, and for Superadmins only, who created and edited the folder and when. Move to the History tab to see the history of actions performed on the folder.
- Edit: modify the folder details.
- New subfolder: create a new folder in the selected folder.
- New training material: create a new training material in the folder, as described in the Adding Training Material chapter of this article.
- Delete: remove the folder from the hierarchy. You cannot delete a folder if it contains training materials or subfolders. This option is not available for the root folder.
To view the training material within a specific folder, click on it in the Folders section on the left side of the page and select the folder.
The Show subfolders content toggle is enabled by default at the bottom of the Folders panel. Disable it if you don’t want to see the content included in the subfolders of the selected folder.
Adding training material
To add new training material in the Central repository, first select a folder from the left panel, then click on the plus button in the top right corner of the page and select the New training material option.
Select the type of training material you wish to add and click on Select to proceed with the creation according to the instructions provided in the articles on the specific types of training material:
To learn how to create a Creator lesson, refer to the dedicated article of the knowledge base.
Once you have completed the creation process of the training material, you will be redirected to the Central repository main page, and the newly created training material is displayed on the first row of the table.
Adding training material from the Content marketplace
When working with content providers of the Content marketplace, you can import their content as training material into the Central repository as described in the dedicated articles:
The training materials imported from content providers are considered as any other training material in the Central repository.
Include the Content provider column in the Central repository table to identify the courses coming from content providers.
Note on the Content from Docebo Content and Docebo Content Classic
If you are using Docebo Content Classic in your platform, when content from the Docebo Content library is close to the decommissioning date, it is identified by the Expiring status while the decommissioned content is identified by the Expired status. In both cases, the Expiration Date column shows the decommission date. You can filter decommissioning or decommissioned training materials, or both, using the Status filter and selecting the Expiring and Expired options. Learn more on managing decommissioning courses in Docebo Content Classic.
If you are using Docebo Content, you will find information on decommissioning and decommissioned content directly in the My courses area inside Docebo Content. Learn more on managing decommissioning content in Docebo Content.
Managing training materials
The main table of the Central repository is composed of a list of training materials, one for every row.
Customize the table by adding or removing columns by clicking on Columns and selecting those you want to include in the table.
The Courses column is always visible and shows the number of courses the training material is assigned to. Click on the number to see the list of courses. In the Training material usage pop-up, each row shows the course name and the version of the training material in use. Click on the title of the course to go to that course page in the Course management area, where you can manage the training material within the course. Use the search bar in the pop-up box to search for a specific course from the list.
Click on the ellipsis menu at the end of the row of the training material to perform the following actions:
- Training material preview: shows a preview of what your training material looks like for learners. If the training material has more than one version, select the version you wish to preview using the Select version dropdown menu in the pop-up. The training material preview is not available for LTI training materials.
- Edit: modify the details of the training material. In order to grant content integrity, you cannot edit the content of the training material coming from the Content marketplace, except for its title and description.
- Move to folder: allows you to move the training material from the folder it is currently placed to a different folder by selecting it in the right panel
- Assign to courses: if the training material has more than one version, first select the version you wish to assign using the dropdown in the Manage versions area, then select the courses for the assignment. If the training material has a single version, the Manage versions area is not displayed. If you assign the same training material to multiple courses, its tracking will be shared.
- Delete: To delete the training material. When training material is deleted from the Central repository, it is also deleted from the courses it is assigned to. Note that you cannot delete a training material that is in Processing or Publishing status.
You can perform the Delete, Move to folder and Assign to courses actions on several training materials at a time by selecting them using the checkboxes at the beginning of their rows and clicking on the Choose action button in the bottom right corner of the page.
Please note! The Assign to courses action is disabled when you select more than 10 training materials.
Creating multiple versions of the same training material
The Central repository can handle multiple versions of SCORM, AICC, xAPI (TinCan), files and video training material. The first version of the training material uploaded to the platform is set as V1 (Version 1) of the training material.
When the Versions column is visible in the main table of the Central repository, it shows the number of versions in which the training material is available. Click on the number to see the history of versions. The column is not populated for the training materials that do not support the versioning, such as any training material published by an authoring tool using the PENS standard.
To upload a new version of a training material, find the training material in the list and click on the ellipsis menu at the end of its row, then select the Edit option. Once in edit mode, click on the Upload file button to upload the new version of the training material from your device, and set the title and description.
Once the file is uploaded, set whether the new version overwrites the existing version, or if you want to create a new version of the training material. If you select the first option, the training material will be updated in every course where it is used. If you select the second option, fill in the text boxes that will appear with the name and the description of the new version.
If you need to do a minor fix to the training material (a word, phrase, or title) use the overwrite option. If a major change in the structure is necessary, versioning is the best option. 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.
Be aware of the tracking update by using these options:
| Option | User status in the training material (before the update) | User status in the training material (after the update) |
| Overwriting | In progress | In progress |
| Completed | Completed | |
| Versioning | In progress (version 1) | Not started (version 2) |
| Completed (version 1) | Completed (version 1) |
Click Save changes to complete the creation of the new version.
Please note! When you create a new version of training material, the training material configuration will remain the same. Only the content of the training material can be versioned.
If a training material has multiple versions, the Course report shows which version learners completed.
You can edit and delete a version of training material by clicking the version number in the Versions column of the Central repository table, and then clicking on the pen and paper and on the delete buttons in the version’s row on the Version history page.
Before deleting a version of a training material, make sure that its new version is assigned to each course where that training material is used, or the course will no longer have that training material.
Shared tracking
If the same training material (or the same version of the training material) is assigned to multiple courses, when a user completes the training material in one course, it will automatically be marked as complete in the other courses where it is placed. If you reset the tracking of the training material in a course, it will be also reset in the other courses.
If the same training material is assigned to several courses, if a user is enrolled in many of those courses, they may experience some delays when playing the training material since the platform requires some time to synchronize the training material tracking among the courses.
The only exceptions to share tracking are surveys.
Best practices
- Keep the Central repository tidy. The longer you use the Central repository, the more training material it will house. Use meaningful names, descriptions, and thumbnails. Use folders to better organize your material.
- Duplicate content for various languages. If you have the same content in different languages, you will have to duplicate the training material and change the language. You can always use a subfolder per language (e.g. the main folder is Music & Arts, and the subfolders are English, Italian, French, Spanish, etc).
- Check before assigning 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. If you apply specific settings and prerequisites to training material in a course (e.g. End Object Marker), users 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 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 assigned from the Central repository, otherwise, the training material status will be preserved in the new course as well.