---
title: "Badge criteria"
slug: "badge-criteria"
tags: ["Totara Platform", "Reference", "Site Administrator"]
updated: 2025-07-22T10:52:18Z
published: 2025-07-22T11:18:26Z
canonical: "totara.help/badge-criteria"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://totara.help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Badge criteria

## Site badge criteria

Site-level badges can be issued based on one, or a combination of, criteria.

In order to be able to award a site badge based on completing one or more courses, completion tracking needs to be enabled on the site and in relevant courses. In each course, [activity completion](/19/docs/activity-completion) must be set for the chosen activities, which must be then checked in the course completion settings.

| **Criteria** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Manual issue by role | Select which system-level roles can manually award the badge to specific users. Choose from **Any** or **All** of the selected roles. | Badges are awarded via the **Recipients** tab within the **Manage Badges** area. This criterion is typically used where badges recognise behaviours outside of the system or soft skills demonstrated across different areas of the site. |
| Completing a set of courses | Select one or several courses which must be completed in order to earn the badge. | Use Ctrl+select to select multiple courses. |
| Profile completion | Select which profile field(s) must be populated for the badge to be awarded. | Standard and custom profile fields may be used. |
| Audience membership | Select which audience(s) a user must belong to, in order to be awarded the badge. | Please see [What is an audience?](/19/docs/what-is-an-audience) for more information. |
| Program completion | Select which program(s) and/or certification(s) a user must complete in order to be awarded the badge. | Please see [programs](/19/docs/what-are-programs) and [certifications](/19/docs/what-are-certifications) for more information. |

## **Course badge criteria**

Course-level badges can be issued based on one or a combination of criteria.

For badges to be awarded based on completion of courses, **Completion tracking** must be enabled in the site and the courses.

| **Criteria** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Manual issue by role | Select which course-level roles can manually award the badge to specific users. Choose from **Any** or **All** of the selected roles. | Badges are awarded via the **Recipients** tab within the **Manage Badges** area. This criteria is typically used where badges are recognising behaviours outside of the course or soft skills demonstrated within the course environment. |
| Course completion | Enter a minimum grade or complete by date which must be met by a user in order to earn the badge. | Add a **Description** of the criterion/criteria to provide more information on how the badge was earned. |
| Activity completion | Select which activity(s) must be completed for the badge to be awarded. | Choose from **Any** or **All** of the selected activities. Add a **Description** of the criterion/criteria to provide more information on how the badge was earned. |

![Course badge](https://cdn.document360.io/a007399b-031e-436b-999a-528240e16f58/Images/Documentation/course-badge_open-badges.svg?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-01T15%3A56%3A15Z&se=2026-11-01T16%3A56%3A15Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=c6HCngOwW2ptmg1KEYG2qxTjVWWsZCEAE7L8ygsah4U%3D)The Totara Academy has a whole course dedicated to using [Open badges](https://totara.community/course/view.php?id=550) in Totara. Here you can learn more on how to use open badges, see best practice, and give it a go yourself.

Join the [Totara Community](https://totara.community/) for more resources to help you get the most out of Totara.

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