Training Course

A training course is one thing you teach: forklift safety, first aid, ISO internal audit. You define it once here with its duration, whether it is tested, and whether passing it earns a certificate. Everything else in the module points back at a course defined on this screen.

Where

Training Management › Setup › Training Course

Who uses it

The training manager, once per course

When

Before any need, plan or session names the course

Needs first

Training Category

What it is for

This is the catalogue. Nothing else in training management can be done until the course exists here, because a need, a plan, a session, an assessment, a feedback form and a bond all name a course from this list.

The settings on this screen are what make Training Attendance able to decide, by itself, whether a man passed. When attendance is completed for a session, the system looks at this course to see whether a test was required, what the minimum attendance is, and whether a certificate should be issued. Get the course right and the attendance screen does the thinking. Get it wrong and every session of that course gives the wrong verdict.

Why there is also a Course screen in People Directory

There are two course lists in PeopleNest and they are not the same thing. People Directory has a Course list, which is the list of qualifications a person may hold: a diploma, a trade certificate, a degree-level short course. It is used when you type what somebody already came with, on Employee Courses, Employee Basic Information and on a recruitment applicant and his screening.

Training Course is the list of courses your company runs. It feeds Training Schedule, Training Attendance, Training Assessment, Training Feedback, Training Bond, and the course column on the Training Need and Training Plan lines.

They meet in one place. When somebody passes a session, the course history row written on Employee Courses carries the training course code. A row an HR officer types on that screen by hand picks from the People Directory list instead. So Employee Courses can hold both kinds of row, and the ones with a training course code behind them are the ones your own training produced.

Every field, in plain words

Header

Field	What it means	What to put in it	Notes
Course	The short code you will see everywhere else.	FLS01	Required. Must be unique.
Course Name	The course as a participant would name it.	Forklift Operation and Safety	Required.
Training Category	Which group the course belongs to.	Safety and Occupational Health	Pick it from the list.
Training Mode	Whether the course is run in-house or bought from outside.	ITR for a course your own safety officer runs	See the list below.
Duration Unit	The unit the duration below is counted in.	DAY Days	See the list below.
Duration	How long the course lasts, in the unit above.	2	Required when Duration Unit is set. The two make sense only together.
Assessment Required	Whether a man has to sit a test to pass this course.	Tick it for forklift safety	Live. When ticked, a session cannot produce a pass until a score is entered for the participant.
Passing Criteria	How passing is judged.	BOM Based On Marks	Only visible when Assessment Required is ticked. See the note below, it matters.
Certificate Applicable	Whether passing this course earns a certificate.	Tick it	Live. When ticked, a pass writes a certificate against the employee.
Certificate Rule	Whether the certificate is earned by turning up or by passing the test.	BOA Based On Assessment	Only visible when Certificate Applicable is ticked. Recorded for reference. The actual certificate is written on a pass, which already accounts for the test.
Certification	Which certification the certificate issued for this course should be recorded as.	Forklift Operator	Live. This is the certification name that appears on the employee's certification record.
Mandatory	Marks the course as compulsory at company level.	Tick it for fire safety	Recorded only. Nothing enforces it. Use the Mandatory tick on the Applicable lines, or on a session nominee, to tell the HR officer it is compulsory.
Repeat Every (Months)	How long the certificate stays valid before the course has to be done again.	24	Live. A pass sets the certificate to expire this many months later. Leave it at zero for a course that never expires.
Induction	Marks the course as part of new joiner induction.	Tick it for the company orientation	Recorded only. No induction session is created from this tick.
Induction Within (Days)	How soon after joining the induction course should be done.	30	Recorded only. Nothing counts the days.
Min Attendance %	The least attendance a participant must have to pass.	80	Live. A session can override it with its own figure. If both are empty, attendance is not a barrier.
Bond Threshold	The cost above which this course should carry a service bond.	150000	Recorded only. No bond is created automatically. See Training Bond.
Bond (Months)	The bond length this course normally carries.	24	Recorded only. Use it as the figure to type when you raise the bond by hand.
Questionnaire	The feedback questionnaire this course normally uses.	Leave it empty	Recorded only. The questionnaire that is actually used is the one named on the Training Feedback document.
Trigger Metric	A performance measure that, when low, suggests this course.	Leave it empty	Recorded only. No need is raised automatically from a performance score.
Trigger Score Below	The score under which the metric above should suggest this course.	Leave it empty	Recorded only.
Remarks	Any note about the course.	Includes a practical yard test on day 2.

Training Mode values:

• ITR Internal. The course is delivered by your own people. The screen shows this value as Inter.
• EXT External. The course is bought from an outside institute, consultant or trainer.

Duration Unit values:

• HRS Hours. For a short briefing, two hours of fire drill.
• DAY Days. The usual choice. Forklift safety over two days.
• WEK Weeks. For a long technical course.
• MTH Months. For a part-time qualification run over several months.

Passing Criteria values:

• BOT Based On Attendance. The man passes if he attended enough of the days.
• BOM Based On Marks. The man passes if his score reaches the pass mark.
• BOG Based On Grade. The man passes if he reaches the required grade.

A caution worth knowing before you promise a client a pass mark. The pass verdict compares a participant's score against this field as a number. When you have picked one of the three codes above, there is no number here to compare against, so the verdict comes out as a pass for anybody who has a score entered and who met the minimum attendance. If the client wants a real pass mark to bite, the pass mark must be typed into this field as a figure, for example 60. Set the client's expectation accordingly, and use Training Assessment if you want the marks themselves controlled.

Certificate Rule values:

• BOC Based On Completion. The certificate is earned by completing the course.
• BOA Based On Assessment. The certificate is earned by passing the test.

Applicable lines

Who the course is meant for. Fill in as few of the columns as you need: a line with only a department named means the whole department, a line with a position named means that position.

Field	What it means	What to put in it	Notes
Line	The line number.	Fills itself. Leave it.
Functional Area	The functional area the course applies to.	Production	Pick it from the list.
Department	The department the course applies to.	Assembly	Pick it from the list.
Position Category	The category of position the course applies to.	Workers	Pick it from the list.
Position	A single position the course applies to.	Forklift Operator	Pick it from the list.
Position Grade	The grade the course applies to.	G3	Pick it from the list.
Mandatory	Whether the course is compulsory for the people on this line.	Tick it	Records that it is compulsory. Nobody is nominated automatically from here.
Line Text	A note on the line.	All yard and warehouse staff.

These lines record who should do the course. They do not nominate anybody. Use them as the list you work from when you raise a Training Need or fill a session's nominee list.

How to configure it

1. Create the Training Category the course belongs to first.
2. Open Training Course. Code FLS01, Name Forklift Operation and Safety, Category Safety and Occupational Health.
3. Set Training Mode to internal, Duration Unit to Days and Duration to 2.
4. Decide the pass rule. For forklift safety, tick Assessment Required and type 60 into Passing Criteria so a real pass mark applies. Set Min Attendance % to 80.
5. Tick Certificate Applicable, set Certification to Forklift Operator and Repeat Every (Months) to 24, so every operator is recertified every two years.
6. On Applicable lines, add one line: Department Assembly, Position Forklift Operator, Mandatory ticked, Line Text all yard and warehouse staff.
7. Save. Now go to Training Schedule to run a session of it.

Scenarios

Forklift safety has to be redone every two years

Tick Certificate Applicable, name the certification and set Repeat Every (Months) to 24. Every man who passes a session gets a certificate dated from the session with an expiry two years out. When the certificate expires you raise a fresh need and run the course again. Do not set Repeat Every (Months) on a course whose certificate is for life, such as a one-off induction, because you will create an expiry the client then has to explain.

First aid is a one-day course with no test, people just have to turn up

Leave Assessment Required unticked. Set Min Attendance % to 100, since a one-day course has nothing to miss. Tick Certificate Applicable with Certificate Rule Based On Completion and name the certification. Anybody marked present passes and gets the certificate.

Two clients configure the same ISO course differently

Setting	A client who wants proof of competence	A client who only wants a record of attendance
Assessment Required	Ticked	Not ticked
Passing Criteria	70 typed as a figure	Left empty
Min Attendance %	80	80
Certificate Applicable	Ticked, Based On Assessment	Ticked, Based On Completion
Repeat Every (Months)	36	0

We will not send anybody abroad without a bond

Record the intention here, with Bond Threshold 150000 and Bond (Months) 24, so the policy lives with the course. Then raise the bond itself on Training Bond for each man you send, because no bond document is created from these two fields.

What it is connected to

• Training Category must exist first.
• Training Need and Training Plan name a course on each line.
• Training Schedule runs a session of one course and copies the course minimum attendance as the session default.
• Training Attendance reads this course to decide pass or fail, and on a pass writes the course onto Employee Courses and the certification onto Employee Certification.
• Training Assessment belongs to one course.
• Training Bond names the course the bond was taken for.

If something looks wrong

• "Everybody passes even though they scored 40" - Passing Criteria holds one of the three codes rather than a number. Type the pass mark as a figure, for example 60.
• "The pass mark field is not on the screen" - Assessment Required is not ticked. The field only appears when it is.
• "Nobody got a certificate" - Certificate Applicable is not ticked on the course, or no certification is named.
• "The certificate has no expiry date" - Repeat Every (Months) is zero on the course. That is correct for a certificate that never expires.
• "I ticked Mandatory but nobody was nominated" - the tick records that the course is compulsory. Nominating people is done on the session.