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Totara Program management allows you to create learning paths for learners where you can define dependencies and control program management supports the creation of adaptive learning paths, where completion dependencies can be defined and the order and flow of the competencies and courses your learners complete can be controlled.

A program includes completion dates and time limits frames for your enrolled learners to complete each stage of the program. There is also the ability to set up Personalised and customised messages and reminders that are can also be configured to be automatically sent to enrolled learners and their managers as part of the program.Program management allows you to enrol learners .

Learners can be enrolled in a programs based on their organisation, position, management hierarchy, individually or via an audience, and set with different completion criteria set for each group if required. Learners can also be enrolled individually.

Program management also handles the requirement for courses to reoccur on a set cycle, such as yearly. This is great for handling compliance training that staff may be required to complete every year.

Set default image for all programs

1. Select Courses from the Site administration menu.
2. Select Manage programs.
3. Click on the Set default image for all programs link to set a default image to display if no image is uploaded by the program creator.
4. Upload an image in the Default image field.

Create a program 

1. Select Courses from the Site administration menu.
   
2. Select Manage programs.
   
3. Select Add a new program to set up a new program.
4. Complete the Details section (see below). 
5.  Select Save changes and the Program Overview tab displays. You have now created your program; the next step is to add the program content and program assignment.

When creating a new program there are a number of details you will be required to add, these are:

Creating a program

1. Select Programs from the Site administration menu.
   
2. Select Add a new program.
3. Complete the Details section.
4. Add program Content.
5. Add program Assignments.
6. Create program Messages as required.
7. Select Save changes.

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Alternatively, site administrators, site managers and course creators can create programs via the Course Catalogue:

1. Go to the Course Catalogue via Find Learning within the top navigation
   

2. Select Create and choose Program from the dropdown list.

3. Complete the Details, Content, Assignments and Messages sections as required.

4. Click Save Changes.

Adding program details 

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The details section includes basic information about the program and core settings for display and availability.

Editing a program

Once a program has been setup created it is still possible to make changes by editing the program.

, although be aware that if a program is live, any changes made will impact on the assigned learners.

1. Go to Programs within the Site administration menu.

2. Select the name of the category (or sub category) in which the program sits

3. Select the corresponding Settings icon (Image Added) for the required program, or select the program name to open it, then select Edit program details.

Whilst editng a program you can amend the details, add content, assign learners, and manage messages. More about how to do each of these can be found below. 

Add program content

Program content can include any course or competency on your Totara site.

Content is added in sets. The sets represent the order in which learners complete the learning. A set can contain:

• A competency and assigned course(s)
• Course(s)
• Recurring course(s)

Time frames and conditions can be established for each set.

To add content to your program, follow these steps:

Select what you would like to add from the Add a new dropdown menu and select Add. Follow the instructions below for the content type you choose to add.

If

Then

1. Select Competency from the Add a new dropdown menu and click Add.
2. Select the competency framework from the dropdown list.
3. Select the competency you wish to add.
4. Click Ok to complete the course selection.

When you select a competency that has a linked course(s). The linked course(s) is/are automatically pulled through into the set.

See also, competency settings below.

A program can only have one recurring course with no other courses or competencies. See Recurring Courses to learn more.

See also, recurring course settings below.

If a learner has already completed a course in the program content, it will be treated as such. The program enrols the leaner into the course and then checks for completion; the program itself has no effect on the completion record.

These are the available settings when adding a course set.

Setting

Description

Notes

Learner must complete

Choose either:

If you select Some courses you will then be able to edit additional fields to set the completion criteria, these fields are the Minimum courses completed, Course score field, and the Minimum score.

These fields are all locked when selecting All courses or One course as the completion of the selected courses is then the completion criteria. 

A minimum score that must be reached for the course set to be marked as complete. The score is calculated by summing the values from the Course score field for all the courses a user has completed.

This determines the minimum amount of time that users should be given if they are to have enough time to complete the course set.

Please carefully read the warning alongside this description.

For example, if set to one week, then it is expected that the user should be granted at least one week to be able to complete the course set, and that it would not be possible to complete it in any time less than that.

These are the available settings when adding a competency.

Setting

Description

Notes

Set name

You will need to give the competency set a name.

These are the available settings when adding a competency.

Setting

Description

Notes

Set name

You will need to give the competency set a name.

Course creation defines when the course should be copied and recreated. It relies on the start and end date specified in the course settings.

Assign learners

Program assignment allows you to select the learners who need to complete the program. You can select users by organisation, position, audience, management hierarchy, or individually. Once you have assigned learners to the program, the system automatically takes care of course enrolment.

To assign learners to your program, go to the Assignments tab, select what you would like to add from the Add a new dropdown menu and select Add. Follow the instructions below for the assignment type you choose to add.
 

1. Select Organisation from the Add a new dropdown menu and click Add.
2. The organisation options appear. Click Add organisations to program.
3. Select the organisation framework you want to use from the dropdown box.
4. Select the organisation items you wish to assign to the program. The selected items appear in the current selection column. Select the delete icon to remove.
5. Click Ok to complete the organisation selection.

1. Select Positions from the Add a new dropdown menu and click Add.
2. The position options appear. Click Add position to program.
3. Select the position framework from the dropdown box.
4. Select the position items you wish to assign to the program. The selected items appear in the current selection column. Select the delete icon to remove.
5. Click Ok to complete the position selection.

1. Select Audiences from the Add a new dropdown menu and click Add.
2. The audience options appear. Click Add audiences to program.
3. Select the audience groups you wish to assign to the program. The selected audiences appear in the current selection column. Select the delete icon to remove.
4. Click Ok to complete the audience selection.

1. Select Management hierarchy from the Add a new dropdown menu and select Add.
2. The management hierarchy options appear. Select Add managers to program.
3. Select the manager name(s) and then choose the appropriate job (there may be more than one) applicable to the assignment. The selected manager(s) and their job assignment will appear in the current selection column. Select the delete icon to remove.
4. Select Ok to complete the manager selection.
5. Select direct team to add just the manager’s direct reports or all below to add their direct reports and their staff’s direct reports.

Set the due date for each group / individual you have assigned to the program. When setting the completion criteria you have two options:

Select Set fixed completion date or Set time relative to event to save your completion criteria, then select Save changes and confirm your changes. Once saved, a confirmation message appears at the top of the screen. Your program assignments are now set.

Add program messages

You can create and customise automated messages which are emailed to users assigned to a program. You can also add an optional message for managers depending on the message type selected.

(This video is taken from the Program and certifications course in the Totara Academy, where you can access more resources and learning materials - including other videos). 

Message types

A message is sent to site administrators when there are new exceptions on the program. An exception occurs when the system is not able to process an action related to the program, e.g. the completion date is set for 30 days from the position start date, but this field is empty for a user assigned to the program.

Sent a certain length of time before the current course set is due. The due date is calculated by adding the course set Minimum time required to the date the user started the course set.

Sent a certain length of time after the current course set is due. The due date is calculated by adding the course set Minimum time required to the date the user started the course set.

Variable substitution

You can insert variables into the subject and / or body of a message so that they will be replaced with real values when the message is sent. Variables should be inserted exactly as shown.

Capabilities that can edit

1. Edit the program Details, Content, Assignments and Messages as required, as described below.
2. Select Save changes on each page to save any edits or Cancel to disregard.

A program can also be deleted, moved up or down the program listing page, hidden, or moved to another category within the category program listing using the corresponding Edit icons.

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Program overview report

Within the report builder it is possible to use the Program overview report source to create reports combining the status of individual completions in programs as well as the courses within those programs. This allows a report manager to configure reports of based on the user, program and course information in the report source.

To find out more about how to set up and edit a report using the program overview report source see the Managing user reports section of the Managing reports help documentation. 

Tracking and editing program completion

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