Certification due dates

Assignment due date

The due date for users enrolled in the certification (via any of the assignment types) must be set using a fixed completion date, or using a time relative to one of the following events:

• First login: Relative to the user's first time logging in to the system

• Position assigned date: Relative to the time a position was assigned to any of the user's job assignments with the specified position

• Job assignment start date: Relative to the start date field of any of the user's job assignments with the specified position

• Program completion: Relative to the time another specified program was completed by the user

• Course completion: Relative to the time a specified course was completed by the user

• Profile field date: Relative to the value of a date/time custom field in the user's profile

• Program enrolment date: Relative to the time a user was enrolled in this certification

An appropriate Assignment due date will be assigned to those users who are added to the certification later i.e. based on audience membership. The actual due date cannot be changed if the user has already completed the certification.

Users' actual due dates may differ from the assignment due date for various reasons, including:

• If another assignment type includes the same user, the other assignment due date may override this one

• If this assignment has a relative due date, which is not yet applicable to the user

• A user may have been granted an extension by a manager

• If an exception occurred and the Set realistic time allowance action was used to resolve it

• This assignment due date may have changed, but the user still has the due date that was originally given to them

Note that assignment due dates are recorded when the Save changes button is selected, but are not applied until the user assignments are updated. If a message indicating that user assignments have been deferred is displayed, then any user due date changes will not yet be applied.

Once saved, a confirmation message appears at the top of the screen.

Actual due date

After using the Assignment due date option to assign a due date to the group of users and saving all changes:

1. Click View members under the details column for the relevant group of users

2. From the pop-up the Actual due date column will display the specific due date for all users enrolled in the program using the corresponding assignment type.

Certification due date notifications

Certification due date notifications are handled by the centralised notifications system. You can configure notifications for Certification due date triggers at the site level (Quick-access menu > Notifications) or for an individual certification. 

Notifications are sent when the Send non-immediate scheduled notifications (process_scheduled_event_task) scheduled task (Quick-access menu > Server > Scheduled tasks) runs. In a default Totara installation process_scheduled_event_task is scheduled to run once every 24 hours.

Example

Program due: Thursday 1800 (6pm)

Program due date notification: Set for 2 days before

Send non-immediate scheduled notifications (process_scheduled_event_task): 2100 (9pm) daily

Totara calculates when to send the notification as illustrated in the diagram above: 

• process_scheduled_event_task runs at 9pm on Tuesday

• The notification offset (2 days) is added to the last process_scheduled_event_task run time (2100 Monday) and the current process_scheduled_event_task run time (2100 Tuesday)

• The period bound by these two times is shown in green

• If the due date/time falls within the green boundary then the notification is dispatched

It is also important to note the following points:

• The next time process_scheduled_event_task runs, the time period immediately following the current one (9pm Thursday to 9pm Friday) is processed.

• If the frequency of process_scheduled_event_task is changed then the time period will also change. 

• If process_scheduled_event_task is run more frequently (e.g. twice a day) the notification will be received at a time closer to the actual offset (2 days in this case). In this example the notification is sent with less than 2 days to go until the due date.

• Due date notifications will not be sent if they are configured after the offset has passed. For example, if a due date notification for 3 days before is set up at 12pm on Tuesday, this would not be triggered as it is less than 3 days before the due date. This is important to note when testing notifications. The system does not catch up on unsent notifications.

• Due date notifications can also be triggered for programs and certifications due in the past, i.e. overdue program/certification notifications. The same logic applies to determine when the notification will be sent.

Next steps

• Certification self-enrolment

• Certification exception reports

• Certification completion editor