Program Creation

Program Creation

Program Overview

A program is a series of courses that have been configured to create a curriculum (e.g. Dunder Mifflin Die Setter Onboarding). 
  1. METALFORM EDU comes with approximately 30 built-in programs created by PMA (called Skill Sets). Managers can enroll learners in PMA Skill Sets by adding them to a user's learning plan.
  2. Optionally, an organization manager can create their own programs (e.g. onboarding program, supervisory skills training). Also, when an organization manager creates their own program, they can enroll learners in bulk to that program directly or as part of a learning plan.
Some advantages of creating your own programs are as follows:
  1. You can bulk enroll learners into a set of courses you define. 
  2. You can build a schedule for multiple learners on when those courses become available to them, and that schedule can be relative based on the date they were assigned the program and/or finish a specific course or group of courses.
For example, if you have a specified list of courses you wish to enroll all new employees in, or all employees training for a new role, programs would be a great choice for you.

Creating a Program

Creating the Program

To create a program specific to your organization:
  1. Go to Find Content > Programs.


    The Programs page displays.


  2. Click the Program management button in the top right. The Program Management page displays.

  3. Click the Add program button. The Add program dialog displays.


  4. Enter a name for your program in the Program name field.

  5. Give your program a unique ID number in the ID number field. This ID is up to you, but we suggest making them something familiar or that makes sense to the program name or something you can easily keep track of.
  6. For Context, your organization should load, if not type it into the search box.
  7. If you'd like, upload a program image and add a program description.
  8. Then click Add program. The program is created, now enabling you to configure it. 

Adding Content to the Program

Program content comprises courses that are organized into what is known as course sets. You can have a single course set in your program, multiple and even nested course sets. Each course set has completion requirements, which can be: All in order, All in any order, At least X, and Minimum X points. The program will be automatically marked as completed by the system when the overall completion type criteria are met. 

Important:
  1. Program content should not be changed after users are allocated to a program.
  2. If user is unassigned from a program their course data may be lost due to unenrolment.
To add courses to a program:
  1. Click the Content tab on the program page. The tab displays.
  2. Click the   icon to add courses(s) and/or a course set. The Add item dialog displays.


  3. In the courses field, type in a few letters for the course(s) you wish to add to your program. A list of courses matching those letters will display.


  4. Click on courses to add them to your program. They will display above the Courses field, as you add them.

  5. All of your courses can be added in one long list, or you can arrange them in "sets."
    1. If you choose to arrange them in sets (e.g. Required/Elective, by topic, etc.), select Yes in the Add new set field. 
    2. If not, leave it set as No.
  6. You can optionally set up a total number of points for the set or a delay between this set and another set with the remaining fields.
  7. Then click Add item. The courses are added to your program.
  8. By default, each set will be set to "All in any order" for completion. If you wish to change this (e.g. you want the courses completed in order, or you want them to complete X number of courses out of the total number you added):
    1. Click the Gear  icon next to the set name (which will default to the program name, if you don't add any new sets to your program) to configure its completion settings.


      The Update set dialog displays.


    2. Set the completion type as per your requirements.


    3. Click Update set.
  9. Click the  icon to change the order of courses in the list/set.
  10. Click the  icon to delete a course from the program.
  11. Repeat the above to add any additional sets/courses to your program.

Program Visibility

If you want learners to be able to see your program on the Programs page or other managers to be able to enroll learners in your program, you need to make it visible. 
  1. Click the Visibility tab from the program page.


    The Edit dialog displays.


  2. Change the Public drop-down to Yes.


  3. Then click Update program.

Program Assignment Configuration

Now you need to determine how your program can be assigned to users. By assigning (or unassigning) a program to a learner, the program handles automatic enrollment (or unenrollment) in the courses that comprise that program. When a learner is assigned to a program, a custom program schedule is calculated for the learner from the program assignment settings. The schedule consists of program start date, optional program due date and optional program end date.

To set up the assignment settings for your program:
  1. Click the Assignment method settings tab on the program page. The Assignment configuration page displays.
  2. Click the Gear  icon next to the Assignments and/or Scheduling headings to set up:
    1. Assignment start date: Date the program will be assigned to learners whom you add to it
    2. Assignment end date: Date the program will no longer be available to assign to learners
    3. Program start date setting: Required; set to the assignment date, by default; alternatively, can be changed to a fixed date
    4. Program due date setting: Optional; can be relative to the start date or a fixed date
    5. Program end date setting: Optional; can be relative to the start date or a fixed date
  3. Next, and perhaps most importantly, you need to set up the ways in which the program can be assigned to learners. Options include:
    1. Manual assignment: A manager at your organization (who has manager privileges in the system) can manually assign a user(s) to the program. 
    2. Self-enrollment: A learner can click on a button in the Program page to self-enroll. 
    3. Request with approval: A learner can request to enroll in the program from the Program page and a manager later confirms it
    4. Learning plans: The program will be available to assign via enabled learning plans.
  4. At minimum, you probably want to set Manual assignment to Active.


  5. If you want to enable self-enrollment or self-enrollment with approval, click the Gear icon next to those items and make them active. 
  6. If you want to enable managers (or yourself) to enroll people in the program via learning plans (i.e. together with PMA Skill Sets), click the Gear icon next to Learning plans, make it Active, and set the PMA Full Library to Allowed.


  7. After setting up the above, the Assignment method settings will update accordingly.

You are now ready to enroll learners in your program!

Notifications (optional)

Programs come with a number of built-in notifications to both users and managers that you can configure. To add notifications to your program:
  1. Click the Notifications tab on the program page. The Notifications tab displays.


  2. Click the Plus   icon to add a notification to your program. The Add notification dialog displays.


  3. Select the checkboxes next to the notifications you wish to enable.
  4. Then click Add notification. The notifications are added to the program.


  5. If you then wish to edit any of the automated notifications built by the system, click the Edit icon next a notification. The Update notification dialog displays.


  6. Click the Customized checkbox. New fields display below, enabling you to update the Subject or Message. Note that notifications include variables to automatically add in the learner name, program name, etc. Be careful not to change these variables.


  7. When done, click Update notification.

Certificate (optional)

If you would like a certificate to be given to your learners once they complete the program requirements:
  1. Click the Certificate tab on the program page. The Certificate tab displays.


  2. Click the Edit button. The Certificate configuration dialog displays.


  3. Select an existing Certificate template or click Manage certificate templates to add your own. 
  4. If you set up your own certificate template, you will configure on the page where you want items to appear, such as:
    1. The program name
    2. Learner's name
    3. Date completed
  5. Optionally add a certificate expiration date.
  6. Then click Update program.

Enrolling Learners in an Organization-Created Program

If you've enabled Learning Plans as an assignment method for your program, you can add the program to learners via a learning plan, as described here. Alternatively, you can manually enroll users in your program. 
This is a great way for assigning multiple users the same set of content in a single action.

To manually add learners to a program created by your organization:
  1. Click the Users tab on the program page. The Users tab displays.


    From here, you can add users manually (multiple users can be added in a single step) or upload the users you want to assign to the program.
  2. To assign users manually:
    1. Click Assign to users. The Assign to users dialog displays.


    2. In the Users field, enter the name of a user you wish to add, or click the carat  icon to see a list of all users in your organization.


    3. Click on user names to add them to the program. They will appear above the Users field, as you add them.


    4. Then click Assign to users. The Users tab of the program is updated, showing the users and the custom program schedule built for them based off of the assignment and program start, due and end dates you configured.


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