Employee Certification
A certificate is a qualification with an expiry date, and the expiry date is the whole point. A forklift licence, a first aid certificate, an internal auditor certificate: each one is recorded here with the period it is valid for, so that a lapsed certificate is found on a report and not during an audit.
What it is for
A certificate expires and a degree does not. That one difference is why certificates are kept separately from education. In a manufacturing company several jobs cannot legally or safely be done by somebody whose certificate has lapsed: operating a forklift, working at height, running a boiler, signing off an internal audit.
Each record is one certificate held by one person, valid between two dates. A certificate with no expiry is recorded with the Date To left empty. On renewal, the dates on the existing record are changed, because the certificate is the same certificate.
The same records appear on the certifications tab of Employee Basic Information.
Every field, in plain words
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee | Who holds the certificate | EMP-0427 Imran Qureshi | Required. Pick him from the list |
| Certification | Which certificate | CERT-FORKLIFT Forklift Operator Licence | Required. Pick it from Certification |
| Details | The certificate number and who issued it | Licence FL-2024-0318 issued by the plant safety office |
Period
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date From | Valid from | 12-Mar-2024 | Required |
| Date To | Valid to | 11-Mar-2027 | Leave it empty for a certificate that does not expire. Otherwise fill it, it is what the expiry report reads |
How to configure it
- Set up the certificates the client cares about on Certification, grouped if there are many. Include everything a job legally requires.
- Open this screen, create a record and pick the employee.
- Pick the certificate and write its number and issuer in Details.
- Enter Date From and Date To from the certificate itself.
- Save. On renewal, open the same record and change the dates rather than adding a second one.
Scenarios
Three forklift drivers and we must prove their licences are current
One record each, with the licence number in Details and the valid dates filled in. A report over this screen on the expiry date is what the audit is answered with, and it is also what tells the safety officer in February that a licence expires in March.
A certificate has no expiry date
Leave Date To empty. Only fill it when the certificate really does expire, otherwise the expiry report fills up with things that cannot lapse.
A man was certified again after his licence lapsed
Change the dates on the existing record. The certificate is the same certificate, and a second record for the same person and the same certificate is refused as a duplicate.
We want to stop assigning uncertified men to the forklift
PeopleNest records the certificate, it does not police the assignment. Hold the requirement on the Position and make the check part of the roster routine, reading the report from this screen.
What it is connected to
- Certification and Certification Group define the certificates themselves.
- Employee Basic Information shows the same records on its certifications tab.
- Employee Education holds qualifications that do not expire, and Employee Courses holds training taken.
- Training Schedule is often where the certificate was earned, and a renewal usually starts as a training need.
If something looks wrong
- "It says it cannot be duplicate" - this employee already holds a record for that certificate. Change the dates on it rather than adding another.
- "The expiry report shows nothing" - the certificates were entered with no Date To.
- "A lapsed certificate was not noticed" - nothing in the system blocks on it. The report has to be somebody's monthly job.