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Courses and Learning Paths support many enrolment workflows, including workflows for staff self-enrolment that require approval. These approval workflows help ensure that Supervisors are aware of and responsible for determining which training their staff can attend. Such approval is important when training involves costs related to money and lost wages or is not relevant to a staff member
The following self-enrolment workflows can be applied to training requiring
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Self-enrolment with approval by manager:
This is a two-step approval process in which staff request training via a catalogue, the Supervisor provides the first approval, and the training administrator has the final say. -
Enrolment request with direct enrolment by the supervisor:
This is a one-step approval process in which staff request training via a catalogue and the Supervisor confirms registration or declines the request. -
Multi-approval:
This is a configurable multi-approval process in which the learner's booking request for training must pass through several approval steps.
This page shows where and how Approvers can view and process staff training requests via a dashboard panel and email.
Approval
In most systems, Supervisors have a “Booking Requests” menu when accessing the “Manager” role navigation. This is essentially a dashboard page with a panel called "Booking requests" that allows the Supervisor to view all pending enrolments for their staff requiring approval. This panel is sometimes also located on a "Manager → Home" dashboard page, depending on the system configuration. Conducting approvals via the panel is efficient because all pending requests can be viewed together and processed quickly with a single click or press.
The “Booking requests” panel can be filtered by course or by user; the results are shown separately below.
Booking Requests filtered based on clearances
The panel manager provides four radio-button options for filtering requests:
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Fully manageable requests: Supervisors or registration managers can access all enquiries.
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Requests from supervised users: Supervisors can see only requests submitted by their staff.
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Requests from editable users: Administrators can view all requests submitted by users for whom they have Edit clearance.
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Requests from administered courses: Course administrators see only requests from their courses.
Panel Filter by Course
By default, the Supervisor's pending approval requests are displayed by course. Each course tile can be expanded using the drop-down arrow on the right-hand side to display staff with pending requests. Three symbols appear on the right-hand side: a tick to approve, a cross to decline, and a hat to open the course description. In the case of multiple approvals, a fourth icon, an i, is displayed to show the approval history.
When a request is approved using the tick symbol, another screen may appear if the course contains a Supervisor enrolment-form completion requirement. These forms may require the Supervisor to complete enrolment information, such as a reason for approval or a priority rating for a multi-step approval process. If the course has no Supervisor Enrolment Form, this step is bypassed and only a single click of the tick symbol is needed. The same behaviour occurs when an enrolment request is declined.
Panel Filter by User
The panel can be configured to display the Supervisor's pending approval requests by user, with staff who have pending approvals listed alphabetically by surname. Each staff tile can be expanded using the drop-down arrow on the right-hand side to display courses with pending requests.
Two symbols appear on the right-hand side: a tick to approve and a cross to decline.
When a request is approved using the tick symbol, another screen may appear if the course contains a Supervisor Enrolment Form completion requirement. These forms may require the Supervisor to complete enrolment information, such as a reason for approval or a priority rating for a multi-step approval process. If the course has no Supervisor Enrolment Form, this step is bypassed and only a single click of the tick symbol is needed. The same behaviour occurs when a Supervisor declines the enrolment request.
Edit/correction of skills and certifications of ECC courses
During course requests by learners enrolled in courses created with Easy Course Creation, superiors can edit or correct the course skills and certifications. A new button is displayed in both filter views, the filter by course (see screenshot below) and the filter by user (the same button at the end of the course row), if the following conditions are met:
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Skills and certifications must be configured in the ECC workflow and template.
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The supervisor or proxy must be defined in the BU or in the learner's user profile.
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Meta tags 12075 and 11851 must be added and activated to allow changes to completed learners regarding skills and certifications.
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The Edit button is visible only if the system uses the new architecture.
After selection of the edit button, a page opens that allows skills and certifications to be added, changed, and deleted, as in Easy Course Creation.
Email Approval
Staff training requests can also be approved directly within emails received by the Supervisor. Enrolment emails can be sent whenever a staff member's enrolment status changes for a Course or Learning Path; this includes a "No relation" to a "Requested" status for training requiring approval. Receipt of such an approval-request email depends on whether the enrolment message trigger is activated and/or whether the training meta tag "Send enrolment messages" is selected. When both settings are active, the LMS sends emails similar to the example below, with two links offering Approve or Register and Decline options.
The links are token-based and specific to the staff member and training mentioned in the email. Selecting the "Approve" or "Register" link processes the request. Selecting "Decline" cancels the request.
Reasons for declining or approving a request cannot be selected by email. This function is available only via the booking panel.
Hints & Tips
No automated reminder emails are sent for pending approval requests that remain unprocessed for a long period; manual monitoring of the individual request emails is therefore recommended.
Approval emails contain token-based approval or declination links, but direct linking to the exact request by participant or course in the "Booking Requests" panel is not possible.
Related Functions