Set up a post-course process

A post-course process holds a course after the learner finishes the content, until an attestation is signed or a qualified person has observed them and signed off their competency. Learnient sets one up for every account, so for most courses you only need to switch on a setting. How it behaves for learners is explained in How the post-course process works.

Requiring a sign-off or an attestation on a course

1. Open the course’s settings.
2. On the Advanced tab, switch on Requires observed sign-off, Requires learner attestation, or both.
3. Save.

The next learner to finish the content is held until the step is done. Learners who completed the course before you switched the setting on are not affected. Learning paths do not have these settings: a path completes when its courses do.

Why a warning appears under a post-course setting

A setting only works through your post-course process: it switches on a step of that process. If the process wouldn’t ask anyone for it, a warning appears under the setting the moment you switch it on, before you save. That happens when the process has been unpublished, when its attestation or sign-off step has been removed or changed, or when it doesn’t apply to this course.

The warning says whether nobody or only some learners would be asked. “Only some” means a different post-course process applies to some of the people taking the course, for example one set up for a single department, and that process has no such step. If you can edit workflows, Set up the post-course workflow takes you to your post-course processes. If you can’t, ask someone who manages workflows to add the step.

Screenshot missingpost-course-coverage-warning

The Advanced tab of the course settings with Requires learner attestation switched on and the warning beneath it: "No published post-course workflow asks for learner attestation on this course, so switching this on has no effect yet." followed by the link Set up the post-course workflow.

Expected at src/assets/screenshots/guides/set-up-a-post-course-process/post-course-coverage-warning.png

For an observed sign-off, make sure somebody is on the qualified signatory register for the places your learners work. See Keep the qualified signatory register. Where nobody is registered, the sign-off goes to the learner’s manager.

Note: The old Require completion attestation setting is now Requires learner attestation, and it switches on the attestation step of the post-course process. Courses that had it switched on were moved onto the post-course process automatically, and a course that had its own attestation statement kept it.

Turning a course’s post-course requirement off

Switch the setting off and save. If anybody is waiting on the step you switched off, Learnient tells you how many are waiting for that step — for example, the observed sign-off — and asks what to do with them:

• Keep them waiting — they still need to finish that step, and nothing changes for them
• Withdraw requirement — their course completes now, recorded as Requirement withdrawn, never as signed off

Only learners waiting on the step you switched off are affected. If you switch off only Requires observed sign-off, learners still waiting to sign their attestation stay held until they sign — attestation is still required of them.

Screenshot missingwithdraw-requirement-prompt

The "Learners are still waiting on this course" dialog shown on saving a course with Requires observed sign-off switched off, giving the number waiting, with Keep them waiting and Withdraw requirement.

Expected at src/assets/screenshots/guides/set-up-a-post-course-process/withdraw-requirement-prompt.png

Changing the default post-course process in Learnient

The default process is the workflow called Post-course process under Administration → Process → Workflows. It has two steps, each of which only runs for courses with the matching field ticked:

1. Learner attestation — the learner signs the Learner attestation form
2. Competency sign-off — a qualified signatory completes the Competency sign-off form and approves or declines

The sign-off step has two answers. Signed off carries on to anything you add after the step, such as starting a course survey. Not signed off ends the process and records the attempt as not signed off: the learner takes the course again, and is observed again when they finish it.

Screenshot missingpost-course-workflow-builder

The Post-course process workflow in the builder: Learner attestation, then Competency sign-off decided by Qualified signatory, splitting into Signed off, which continues, and Not signed off, which ends with "Sign-off rejected".

Expected at src/assets/screenshots/guides/set-up-a-post-course-process/post-course-workflow-builder.png

You can change the wording of the attestation statement, add fields to the sign-off form, change the notifications each step sends, or add steps of your own. Edit the forms under Administration → Process → Forms and the workflow in the workflow builder, then publish.

Which form a sign-off uses. An approval step can open a form for the person approving. Choose it in Form (optional) on the step: any published form of the workflow’s type, such as a sign-off form you have built. Leave it empty and the approver only approves or declines.

Who acts when nobody is found. In the workflow’s Settings, If a step finds nobody chooses who takes a step whose own assignee cannot be found — for example a learner with no manager, or a site with nobody on the qualified signatory register. Choose Employee, Reports to, Reports to (2 levels up), Qualified signatory, or a role. The default post-course process uses Reports to, so a sign-off with nobody on the register goes to the learner’s manager. With No fallback, the step waits until somebody reassigns it.

Screenshot missingworkflow-fallback-setting

The workflow Settings drawer for the Post-course process, showing the "If a step finds nobody" section with Fallback set to Reports to.

Expected at src/assets/screenshots/guides/set-up-a-post-course-process/workflow-fallback-setting.png

How many must sign? On a sign-off step whose Who’s responsible is Qualified signatory, choose A number and enter how many different people must sign — 1 means any one of them, 2 means any two of the ten on the register — or choose All. A single decline ends the step whatever the number.

Screenshot missingworkflow-how-many-must-sign

The workflow builder's step panel for the Competency sign-off step, with "Who's responsible" set to Qualified signatory and "How many must sign?" showing "A number" selected and 2 entered.

Expected at src/assets/screenshots/guides/set-up-a-post-course-process/workflow-how-many-must-sign.png

Using a different process for particular courses

Create another workflow of the type Post-course process, open its Settings, and add a rule under Rules for when this applies — for example Course is Forklift Truck Operation, or a course category. Several courses on the same rule count as a match for any of them. A workflow with a rule is chosen before the default one, so the default carries on covering every other course.

Which process applies is decided when the learner finishes the content, using the course as it is at that moment.

What learners see while a course is held

Learners see a message on the course and in their learning explaining what they are waiting for. Learnient uses, in this order:

1. the Message to learners in the post-course workflow’s Settings
2. your account’s Message while a course is held, under Admin → Learning in the Post-course process section
3. a standard message saying a qualified person must observe them and sign off their competency

Adding a course survey after a course

A course survey is a separate workflow of the type Course survey. To send one automatically, add a Start another workflow step to your post-course process that starts your course survey workflow.

Blocks this workflow? on that step decides whether the course waits. With No - runs independently, the default, the course completes without waiting for the answers, and a process that does nothing else never holds the course at all. With Yes, the course is held until the learner answers. A Pause before the step delays the survey without holding the course.

See Run course surveys.