Available for the following HR plans: Standard, Premium, Platinum
Available for the following user access level: Admin
Certification Settings allow you to manage your organisation's certifications and request supporting documents, like driving licences. This article explains how to set the certification renewal period (for mandatory certifications) and edit who a certificate is assigned to.
Using the certification feature helps ensure your organisation complies with industry regulations. It also ensures employees have the necessary certifications to work safely and legally. We recommend regularly checking the Certifications Reporting feature to track outstanding certifications.
For managing certifications already assigned to employees, see this article.
Important
Please go to the Further information section of this article to learn about:
- The 12-month restriction placed on when you can edit a certification's configuration.
- Certifications created before February 2023 not falling under this rule.
Interactive learning
Create and configure certification settings
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under General Settings, click the Certification Settings submenu.
- Click the Add certification button.
The Add Certification page you are on will now show you its Certification details form.
- In the Certification details form, enter the following:
- Certification name
- Certification type:
- Check
- Licence
- Qualification
- Training
- Description (Optional)
- State/Territory
- Click the tile in the Additional information (Optional) section you would like to insert file(s) showing additional information.
Helpful Hint
The maximum uploaded file size allowed is 10MB, but you can upload multiple files.
-
- Assign to (Optional)
Note: Using this Assign to (Optional) field is how you assign a certification to one or more assignees. This field is a dropdown that allows you to choose groups and/or individuals from the following categories:
- All (which covers every individual in both the All employees and All contractors demographics)
- Teams
- Work locations (one or more available locations should be available for you to choose)
- Employees (you can click one or more of the available employee names from this category)
- Contractors (you can click one or more of the available employee names from this category)
Each entity you enter in this Assign to (Optional) field will be shown as a tag. Each one of those tags will have a close button on it in case you wish to delete it. Check that all the tags are correct, as each one represents a group and/or individual who will be assigned the certification upon completion.
- Assign to (Optional)
Important
To learn more about certifications for disabled teams, please refer to the Certifications and disabled teams tab in the Further information section of this article.
5. Click the Next button.
6. On the Configuration page, complete the following fields:
- Is this certification mandatory or optional?
- How often does the certification need to be renewed?
- One-off
- Expiry date
- Renewing
- Require personnel to provide supporting documentation?
- Is approval required?
- Managers
- Location
- Teams
- Employees
- Restrict security groups from accessing this certification on assignee files?
- Add question regarding previous driving offences?
- Add certification number?
7. Click the Save button.
Warning
After creating the certification, you will not be able to edit the certification type, mandatory or optional selection, and security groups restriction. We recommend reviewing these details before proceeding.
8. Click the Create button.
Manage data
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under General Settings, click the Certification Settings submenu.
- Click the Search/Filter bar.
- Filter your certifications based on the following:
- Show archived certifications
- Type
- Mandatory
- Assignees
- Click the Search button.
Helpful Hint
Alternatively, you can type the name of the certification you are looking for in the Search/Filter bar.
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under General Settings, click the Certification Settings submenu.
- Click the name of the author whose version you want to view.
A window entitled Version history will now appear.
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under General Settings, click the Certification Settings submenu.
- Click the certification you need to un-archive.
- Click the Un-archive button.
A confirmation window will now appear that asks you if you are sure you wish to un-archive the certificate.
- On the confirmation window, click the Un-archive button.
Edit data
Important
You will not be able to save an edited certification if there are no assignees for the certification.
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under General Settings, click the Certification Settings submenu.
- Click the certification that needs to have assignees updated.
- In the Certification details section, click the Edit button.
The Certification details section will now turn in to a form for you to edit the certification details.
- Use the Certification details form to edit the certification details.
Important
You cannot edit the certification type, mandatory or optional selection, and security groups restriction. These entries will all be greyed out accordingly. If you need to change these inaccessible details, you can archive this certification and create a new one.
- Click the Save button.
- Click the Confirm button.
The steps below explain how to assign or remove employees from a certification.
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under General Settings, click the Certification Settings submenu.
- Click the certification that needs to have its assignees updated.
- In the Assignees section, click the Edit button.
An editable field called Assign to (Optional) will now appear.
- Edit the assignees by making the necessary changes to the tag(s) in the Assign to (Optional) field.
- Click the Save button.
A confirmation window will now appear. It asks you whether you are sure you want to update the assignee list.
- On the confirmation window, click the Confirm button.
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under General Settings, click the Certification Settings submenu.
- Click the certification that needs to have approvers updated.
- In the Approvers section, click the Edit button.
Two fields will now open in the Approvers section: one that asks Is approval required? and another one that is a dropdown called Send approval request to dropdown. - In the Is approval required? field, click the Approval Required button.
- In the Send approval request to field, click the dropdown button and select the necessary approvers.
- Click the Save button.
Remove data
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under General Settings, click the Certification Settings submenu.
- Click the certification you need to archive.
- Click the Archive button.
A confirmation window will now appear. It asks whether you are sure you want to archive the certification.
- On the confirmation window, click the Archive button.
- Click the Settings menu.
- Under General Settings, click the Certification Settings submenu.
- Click the certification you need to delete.
- Click the Delete button.
A Delete Certification window will now appear.
- In the Delete Certification window, type the exact certification name in the Certification name.
Note: You need to type the exact name of the certification you wish to delete to fully confirm your interest in deleting it.
- Click the Delete button.
Further information
After a certification's creation, admins have 12 months to edit its configuration, which includes the following:
- Frequency of renewal
- Supporting documentation
- Driving offence question
The 12-month restriction starts from the date the certification was created. After this period, admins won't be able to edit the configuration anymore, but they can still edit the certification's details, assignees, and approvers. The 12-month restriction doesn't restart with every configuration edit. This means if an admin creates a certification on 1st January 2024, the 12-month mark is 31st December 2024, regardless of how many edits were made to the configuration within that period.
If an admin needs to edit the configuration after 12 months, we recommend archiving the certification and creating a new one. The rule is only applicable to certifications made on 1st February 2023 up to the present. Admins cannot edit the configuration of certifications made before that date. The time restriction will retroactively be applied, but the rule is the same. This means the 12-month countdown will still start on the day the certification was created.
The configuration for certifications made before 1st February 2023 cannot be edited. If an admin has to update a certification's configuration, we recommend archiving it and making a new one.
The HR platform will send out an email for the following certification actions:
- Assigning a certification to an employee.
- Assigning a certification which requires a manager's approval.
- Approving or declining a certification assigned to an employee.
- A certification assigned to an employee is no longer required.
- A certification assigned to an employee expires in a week.
- A certification has expired.
To learn more about what emails the HR platform sends out to users, please refer to this article: What emails do we send out to our users via the HR Platform?
You can not select disabled teams when assigning certifications. We will grey them out in the drop-down selection.
Now, let's say you assign a certification to a team and then you disable that team. The team will still appear on the assignee list and you can remove it, but you cannot re-select the record.
The members of that team will still have the certifications on their personnel file. We will not archive them until they are no longer assignees.
Community questions
- One-off: Upon the successful completion of the certification, the employee will be granted the certification and it will be valid for an indefinite period. For example, an employee can earn a First Aid Certification, which does not have an expiry date.
- Expiry date: The certification is given a date for which it will expire, and will need to be renewed, or reapplied after a specified date. For example, a White Card expires if the employee has not held a position requiring a White Card for two consecutive years.
- Renewed: The certification will need to be renewed after a specified time. For example, a First Aid Certificate does not have an expiry date, however, a renewal is recommended every three years. You can set a renewal date if you would like the employee to take a refresher course.
Explore related content
- HR Certification Reporting in the HR platform This feature allows you to create a report on how your employees are progressing with their assigned certifications.
- Manage assigned certifications This feature allows your employees complete and/or manage their assigned certifications.
Comments
Can you please explain the differences and implications between
One-off.
Expiry date.
Renewing.
Hi James Harrison Thanks for your question. We have updated the article to provide the answers you are looking for. Please let us know if there is more we can help you with.
Many thanks James Nixon
Would you mind giving a few examples so I can conceptualise?
Hi James Harrison thank your follow up question. We have updated the article and added examples that we hope help you conceptualise each use case. Please let us know if there is more we can help you with.
Thank you!! it sure does
Hi EH team. I understand that we cannot edit a certification once we have created it. But it would be very helpful if at least the description part can be edited? Is there a way that you can help edit this from your back end? Thanks.
Hi Sheryl Ciega Lagunilla I can definitely see how having the ability to edit a certifications description would make for an impactful feature set and add value to your organisation's way of working. Although this is not current functionality, please be assured, I have noted this as feedback and shared it with our product development team for future consideration.
Hello, are you able to approve your Own certificate as admin?
Hi Natasha Gerold you can be assigned a certification that you are also the approver of but you can not then approve your own certification.
What is the difference between qualification and training? Is qualification Degrees/Diplomas? And training would cover CPR, First Aid etc?
Also, am I able to add a Certification Type? I need to track site inductions.
Hi Christine Hillsley yes you are correct, a qualification would be a degree, like a diploma in business management, and training would be something like First Aid training. As for inductions, you could use our How do I manage and/or acknowledge induction content? | HR Platform feature for this business need.
Hi,
We have just finished implementation and the certifications were assigned to all rather then specific teams. I wish to rectify this however, if I delete all and add separate teams will this then delete all records from profiles, despite them being in the new team added?
Hi Melanie Hamlett, I’m Gab from the EH content team. In order for you to get a personalised answer for your query, I’ve raised a ticket for you with our support team. Your reference number is #1050965. Thank you!
Hi,
How do I create allow our HSEQ manager/ team access to run and view a report under compliance- certifications...
They can review the certifications under personal profile but don't have the option to review the report.
Thanks
Hi Frances Dooley,
Thanks for reaching out.
I've created a support ticket for you, the ticket number is Request # 1061807. The support team will be able to advise why the manager is unable to review the report. You will receive a confirmation email that the support team have your request ASAP. Thanks!
What actions are required by Admin's once a certification is updated? For example, if we change a Mandatory First Aid cert from expiry to renewal, do dates need to be updated and do Admin's need to reapprove the certification?
Thanks
There should be the ability in the certification to be able to note down the changes made against the version history for quality. We should also have the ability to assign a certification to a team or individual as mandatory or optional - not all certifications will be blanket optional / mandatory across roles.
PLUS allow us the ability to edit a certification mandatory / optional requirements
There should be the ability to archive a certification but still be able to open it up and see the attached documentation (certificate) - at present there isn't.
Hi Tara Wearne, thank you for your question and apologies for the delayed response. Any changes made to a certification's configuration will push the certificate's status to "Oustanding" for all assigned employees. Changing a cert from expiry to renewal counts as a configuration change, meaning all assigned employees will need to confirm their cert details again on the platform. As for admin actions, admins would have to reapprove these certs from employees only if you have set the updated certification to require approval.
Thank you!
Hi Johanna North, thank you for your comment and apologies for the delayed response. I can see how having a note of document changes for cert versions would be beneficial, so I have shared this feedback to our team for consideration. I have also shared your comment about archiving a cert and still seeing attached documentation.
As for having different mandatory/optional settings for one cert for different groups, this is not possible now, so we would suggest is to have a copy of the cert set to mandatory and have another copy set to optional. Then, you can assign them depending on which groups need to obtain it and which are not.
As for changing the mandatory/optional settings, we are currently keeping this non-editable for compliance purposes. If you need to change any configuration settings, we suggest creating a new certification.
Thank you for reaching out!
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