Re-certification

Recertification trainings are designed to ensure that professionals maintain up-to-date knowledge, skills, and compliance with industry standards over time. Unlike one-time certifications, recertifications require individuals to periodically refresh their competencies, adapt to evolving regulations, and demonstrate continuous professional development. This process is particularly important in industries where outdated knowledge could lead to compliance issues, safety risks, or decreased effectiveness.

The imc Learning Suite supports this process through automated course assignments, notifications and escalation mechanisms, and reporting features. This ensures that organisations remain legally compliant, meet regulatory or internal requirements, and employees stay continuously trained.

Branches and Industries Requiring Recertification

• Healthcare & Medicine: Doctors, nurses, and paramedics must regularly renew certifications such as Basic Life Support (BLS) or Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) to align with the latest medical guidelines.

• Safety & Compliance: Professions in construction, manufacturing, and logistics require regular training in workplace safety, hazardous material handling, or fire protection.

• Information Technology: Certifications like AWS, Cisco, or Microsoft require renewal every few years due to rapid technological developments.

• Legal & Finance: Lawyers, tax advisors, and financial auditors must undergo continuing education to comply with changing laws and regulations.

• Aviation & Transportation: Pilots and drivers need periodic checks and training to guarantee operational safety.

• Corporate Compliance: Employees across sectors often recertify in areas like GDPR, anti-money laundering (AML), or information security.

Typical Intervals

The renewal interval varies depending on the certification body and industry:

• Annually: Safety training, workplace compliance modules.

• Every 2 years: Medical emergency certifications such as CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) or ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support).

• Every 3 years: IT certifications (e.g., AWS, Cisco, CompTIA).

• Every 3–5 years: Professional licenses in teaching, finance, or law.

Goals Benefits of Recertification Trainings

Up-to-date knowledge and compliance

Goals

• Ensure professionals are aligned with the most recent standards, laws, and industry practices.

• Close knowledge gaps caused by changing technologies, regulations, or methodologies.

• Maintain organizational compliance with accrediting bodies or regulators.

Benefits

• Reduced risk of outdated practices leading to errors.

• Stronger compliance posture, avoiding fines or penalties.

• Increased confidence from clients, patients, or stakeholders that services meet current quality expectations.

Professional credibility and career opportunities

Goals

• Strengthen individual reputation by proving ongoing competence.

• Support career progression by keeping certifications active and relevant.

• Provide employers with evidence of employee expertise for partnerships, tenders, or client trust.

Benefits

• Enhanced employability and competitive edge in the job market.

• Recognition as a subject matter expert within one’s field.

• Access to new career paths or promotions that require current certifications.

Safety and mitigates legal and operational risks

Goals

• Minimize accidents, errors, or failures caused by lack of updated skills.

• Ensure compliance with legal safety requirements.

• Foster a culture of responsibility and prevention within organizations.

Benefits

• Lower incidence of workplace accidents and liability claims.

• Reduced insurance premiums or compliance costs.

• Protection of employees, customers, and the broader public from harm.

Support of lifelong learning and adaptability in dynamic industries

Goals

• Encourage continuous professional development beyond initial certification.

• Build resilience against industry disruption and rapid change.

• Strengthen employees’ ability to adopt new tools, methods, and innovations.

Benefits

• Increased employee engagement and motivation through structured learning.

• Greater organizational agility when adapting to new technologies or regulations.

• Long-term retention of skilled employees who feel invested in their growth.

Use Cases

Use Case 1: A nurse renewing her CPR certification to ensure patient safety.

• Context: A registered nurse in a hospital must renew their Basic Life Support (BLS) certification every two years.

• Reason: The American Heart Association and similar bodies frequently update resuscitation protocols, such as compression-to-breath ratios or AED (Automated External Defibrillator) usage.

• Impact: Without an active certification, the nurse may not be allowed to work in critical care or emergency settings.

• Benefit: Ensures patients receive care that reflects the latest evidence-based practices, reducing the risk of errors during life-threatening situations.

User Case 2: An IT professional revalidating their AWS certification to stay competitive in the cloud market.

• Context: A cloud engineer certified in AWS Solutions Architect – Associate must renew every three years.

• Reason: AWS continuously updates its services, adds new tools, and retires outdated features.

• Impact: Employers often require current certification to bid for projects or maintain partnership status with AWS.

• Benefit: The professional remains competitive in the job market and is equipped with the latest technical knowledge to design secure, scalable cloud solutions.

Use Case 3: A construction worker completing annual safety training to comply with regulatory requirements.

• Context: A machine operator in a factory must undergo Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recertification yearly.

• Reason: Regulations evolve, and workers need reminders about protective equipment, machine operation, and emergency evacuation.

• Impact: Non-compliance could result in fines for the employer or accidents leading to liability.

• Benefit: Reduces workplace incidents, ensures insurance compliance, and fosters a culture of safety.

Use Case 4: A financial advisor completing mandatory anti-money laundering recertification to maintain their license.

• Context: A financial advisor must complete Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) recertification every two years.

• Reason: Regulations from bodies such as the EU, BaFin (The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority), or FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) change regularly to combat new fraud schemes.

• Impact: Without up-to-date training, the advisor risks personal penalties, and the company may face heavy fines.

• Benefit: Protects both the firm and its clients, while maintaining credibility and trust with regulators.

Steps to configure a Target Group to use for Re-certification

1. Create a target group, which you can use to identify user which needs frequent re-certification.

2. Define the rules, how the target group should be filled.

3. Optional check of target group building by running the job TargetGroupPersonAssignment manually.

4. Set the target group to final.

Alternatively users can be assigned to the required Job profile or Business units.

Steps to set up a Course template/ Course for Re-certification

1. Create a course template.

2. Configure the automatic course creation. It is recommended to use automatic course creation so that the courses are automatically created before the enrolment is due when there is only one course instance for the course template at a time. Please note it is best to use this setting in combination with “Deadline type” as “Always valid on DD/MM” and “Automatic course enrolment” as active so that we have a fixed date by which course would need to be created for all users of a target group, also as soon as the enrolment is due, the user is enrolled.

3. Check that the following metatags are active:

   1. Enrolment type (ID: 10008)
      We recommend selecting “Third party registration” as the enrolment type. Third party registration triggers a smooth process in which learners who are due for recertification are automatically enrolled in the follow-up course. It is recommended not to choose self-enrolment.

   2. Clearance for automatic course enrolment (ID: 10780)
      Since recertification is designed to be a smooth, automated process that requires as little manual intervention by the administrator as possible.
      This meta tag must be set so that the members of a group which are added in “Automatic enrolment” tab of the participant administration component of the course template are automatically enrolled in a course in the course template. The active meta tag will primarily be used in the event of recertification.

4. Create your first course based on the course template

Steps to set up the Re-certification Rules

1. Open the participant administration of the course template you want to set up a recertification
   for.

2. Open the tab “Automatic enrolment”

3. Assign a target group/group, business unit or job profile.

4. Create the rules for how your re-certification should work

   1. General Settings

   2. Enrolment Settings

   3. Re-certification Setting

5. Make sure that the scheduled job “ParticipantAutomaticRegistration“ was running. Based on the job the users were assigned to the course template and enrolled on the first course, if a course is available; otherwise, the users were enrolled after the course is created and the scheduled job was running once again.

Hints & Tips

To make the re-certification workflow for courses templates efficient, clear, and user-friendly, you find best practices here.