In Totara Learn you may have open access to various courses, programs and certifications - or you may need to be assigned to them. As a tenant member you will also be able to access any tenant dashboards, the tenant login pages, and see the specific tenant theme.
However, when using multitenancy on your site there are restrictions on how users from different tenants can interact, and the Totara Learn content available to users.
Multitenancy rules
As a general rule, users in different tenants will not have any access to Totara Learn content from other tenants, while Site Administrators can access content from all tenants. Guest users, however, cannot access any Totara Learn content that has been created within a tenant or see tenant users.
Users who exist at the site level can see tenant-level content, even if tenant isolation is enabled.
If isolation mode is enabled then users in a tenant can only see and interact with things within the tenant (courses, programs, other users, etc.). If isolation mode isn't switched on, then they can also see site-level content (courses within a site category) and other users (for example in a shared course forum).
Tenant participants (site level users who are assigned to multiple tenants, such as Trainers) can access libraries in the tenants they're assigned to. System-level users (i.e. users who are not assigned to any tenants) can access any system-level content and interact with other system-level users. If tenant isolation is disabled then system-level users will also be able to access tenants' libraries.
Tenant participants and Site Administrators can also add users from other tenants to a workspace if tenant isolation is disabled. These users will be able to see discussion posts from the tenant they're added to, but won't be able to view tenant users' profiles.
Learning content visibility for users
User | Tenant isolation on | Tenant isolation off |
|---|---|---|
Site-level user |
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Site-level user participating in a tenant |
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Tenant-level user (i.e. member) |
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Be aware that if tenant isolation is disabled and users from different tenants have access to the same site-level courses, they could interact with one another (for example in forums).
Programs and certifications
Programs within the tenant category can only include courses also within that tenant category (unlike site-level programs which can draw courses from other categories). Tenant category courses aren't available to programs in a site-level category.
Like courses, if isolation mode is off, users can also see site-level programs made available to them. If isolation mode is on, they can only see programs and certifications within the tenant category.
When a user is enrolled in a program or certification, enrolment into the associated courses is managed automatically. These enrolments are subject to the same tenant visibility and isolation rules. If a program or certification is not visible to a user due to tenant isolation, enrolment cannot occur.
Use case | Tenant isolation on | Tenant isolation off |
|---|---|---|
Tenant programs | Only visible to users in that tenant regardless of isolation status, and site-level users. | Only visible to users in that tenant regardless of isolation status, and site-level users. |
Site-level programs | Not visible to tenant users. | Could be visible to tenant users if isolation is off. |
Tenant certifications | Only visible to users in that tenant regardless of isolation status, and site-level users. | Only visible to users in that tenant regardless of isolation status, and site-level users. |
Site-level certifications | Not visible to tenant users. | Could be visible to tenant users if isolation is off. |
Seminars
As this is an activity within a course, access for tenant members will work the same as for the overall course.
Within a site-level course, by creating a site-level audience based on tenant membership, it is possible to separate out your seminars for tenant members if you didn't want users from different tenants in the same session. You would do this by using audience-based visibility.
Tenant Administrators can create dynamic audiences within their tenants. This means you can have a course within your tenant that not all tenant members will be able to see.
Course enrolment approval workflows
Course enrolment approval workflows can be configured at the site level or the tenant level. Tenant isolation mode affects which workflows users can access.
Role | Tenant isolation on | Tenant isolation off |
|---|---|---|
Site Manager | Access to workflows from their own tenant, but not from other tenants or the system level. | Access to system-level workflows and workflows from their own tenant, but not other tenants. |
Tenant Domain Manager | Access to workflows from their own tenant, but not from other tenants or the system level. | Access to system-level workflows and workflows from their own tenant, but not other tenants. |
System-level users | Access to system-level workflows, but only tenant-specific workflows in the Tenant category block. | Access to workflows from the system level and all tenants in the Tenant category block. |
Learning plans
There is currently no multitenancy support for learning plans.
User profile visibility
There are a number of reasons to view other users' profiles, such as viewing their library and contributions.
When using multitenancy there are restrictions that can be placed on which profiles users can view and access. Below is an overview of these restrictions.
Use case | Tenant isolation on | Tenant isolation off |
|---|---|---|
Member from one tenant can see the profile of users from other tenants | No | No (or read-only profile summary card only) |
Tenant participant can see profiles of members in tenants to which they are assigned | Yes | Yes |
Site/System Administrator (or similar role with elevated permissions) can see profiles of tenant members, tenant participants and system-level users | Yes | Yes |
System-level users can see profiles of tenant members | Yes | Yes |
System-level users can see profiles of tenant participants | Yes | Yes |
System-level users can see profiles of Site Administrators or other system-level users with elevated permissions | Yes | Yes |
Tenant member can see profiles of Site Administrators or other system-level users with elevated permissions | No | Yes |
Tenant member can see profiles of system-level users | No | Yes |
Workspace collaboration
When using multitenancy, restrictions can be placed upon which workspaces users can join. Below is an overview of the rules for adding users to tenants based on tenant membership.
Use case | Tenant isolation on | Tenant isolation off |
|---|---|---|
Tenant members can add members from other tenants to their own workspace | No | No |
Tenant members can add tenant participants (assigned to their tenant) to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
Tenant members can add Site Administrators to their own workspace | No | No |
Tenant members can add system-level users to their own workspace | No | No |
Tenant participants can add tenant members (in the tenants they participate in) to their own workspace | No | Yes |
Tenant participants can add participants in their tenant(s) to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
Tenant participants can add Site Administrators (or other system-level users with elevation permissions) to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
Tenant participants can add system-level users to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
Site Administrators can add tenant members to their own workspace | No | Yes |
Site Administrators can add tenant participants to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
Site Administrator can add other Site Administrators (or other system-level users with elevated permissions) to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
Site Administrator can add system-level users to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
System-level users can add tenant members to their own workspace | No | Yes |
System-level users can add tenant participants to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
System-level users can add Site Administrators to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
System-level users can add other system-level users to their own workspace | Yes | Yes |
Tenancy change rules
In some cases users may be moved between tenants. In these cases, the following rules will apply to existing content:
Access would be removed for the user to all the courses, programs and/or certifications within the tenant they left
They would retain access to their completion records
Workspaces created by the user remain in the original tenant
Resources, playlists and surveys are moved with the user and subject to the cross-tenancy rules
The user's resources and surveys will disappear from playlists of other tenant users after the transfer if tenant isolation is enabled
The user's comments (e.g. on resources) will remain in the original tenant
The user will lose access to workspaces in the original tenant
The user's profile will no longer be available in the original tenant
When multitenancy isolation is on, users cannot see any libraries or workspaces from other tenants
Data about shared content is not removed, but is not taken into account when getting data from the database since it is in different tenants
The Totara Academy has a whole course dedicated to using Multitenancy in Totara. Here you can learn more on how to set up and use tenants, see best practice, and give it a go yourself.
Join the Totara Community for more resources to help you get the most out of Totara.
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