About Training Items

About Training Items

This section will cover the various Training Item sections with the LMS Curriculum tab and how they are best utilized. The ability to manage the training Curriculum tabs is granted with some level of LMS Company, Division or Account module permission. 

Below are the fields in the Training Item screen:

• Title: This is the title that is displayed to learners on the Frontline Desktop and in e-mail notifications. Follow your Company's naming conventions when entering a new title.
• Item Code: This is displayed in the Training Item List View and useful for filtering and reporting. Follow your Company's naming conventions when entering a new item code.
• Item Type: This field determines how the training is delivered. Different Training Item types have different content.
• Revision No: Shows current Revision Number of the Training Item. A new revision is created using the Revisions tab, which allows you to automatically assign a new revision of the training to learners who have been trained on a previous revision.
• Edit No: Shows current Edit Number of the Training Item. If you make changes to training but do not need to retrain learners immediately, you can keep track of the change by creating an Edit Number. The Change link allows you to create a new Edit Number.
• Objectives: Enter objectives of the training. Objectives are displayed to learners on the training launcher.
• Style: Allows you to apply format (color, size, font style, highlight, etc.) to Objectives and Special Instructions fields. These content of these fields is displayed to learners on the training launcher, allowing you to draw their attention to entries in these fields.
• URL, Browse URL, Choose File: This is the path to the training content file that is linked to this Training Item. If the file is on your local network, you can use the Choose File button to select the file.
  • If the file is in a document management system, the URL can be manually entered using the computer's copy/paste function. The file represented by this URL is launched for the following Training Item types: DOC, PRC, CBT, HTML-WBT, SCORM.:
  • Any local network file must reside on a commonly mapped drive or a network share. You must also make sure that all your learners have read access to this file. If this is not possible, you can upload the file to Frontline Server (see below for more information).
• Upload to Frontline Server: This check box allows you to upload the file selected in the Browse URL field to the Frontline server.
  • When uploaded to Frontline server, the file is universally available to users across all Divisions. 

• Subject Area Code, Industry Code, Craft Code: Entries in these fields allow you to categorize Training Items in the libraries.
  • A Company administrator can create new subject area codes, industry codes and craft codes from Settings > System Codes in the LMS Module Menu.
• Division Library: This check box controls whether this Training Item is listed in the Division Library. If the Training Item is associated to a Division and this box is checked, any approved and active Training Item can be viewed by anyone in the Division. This box is checked by default for Division administrators.
• Company Library: This check box controls whether this Training Item is listed in the Company Library. If checked, any approved and active Training Item can be viewed by anyone in your Company. This box is checked by default for Company administrators.
• Public Library: This check box controls whether this Training Item is listed in the Public Library. If checked, any approved and active Training Item can be viewed by anyone in your organization.

• Test Required: When checked, the learner is not given credit unless the test attached to this Training Item is successfully completed. This field is checked by default.
• Allow Quiz/Pretest: When checked for a WBT Training Item, a Pretest button is shown on the Training Launcher. When checked for any other Training Item type, a Quiz button is shown on the Training Launcher.  
  • The pretest asks all questions from the WBT lesson and provides remediation. If learner misses a question, a lesson map on the course navigation bar highlights the missed topic. Learner can review only topics where they missed questions prior to taking the test. If a learner incorrectly answers a Quiz question, correct answers will be displayed for review.
  • A pretest is a practice test, so no Pass/Fail record is kept. This option is provided so a learner can assess their knowledge prior to playing a course or taking a test.
• Allow Test-Out: When checked, the learner can take the test without viewing the content in WBT, DOC, and PRC Training Items. It is unchecked by default. For a DOC or PRC Training Item, you can create a test link near the bottom of your document (for more information, see Create and Maintain Tests) and force learners to take test from within the document only.
• Restrict Test Access: When this box is checked, learner will require an administrator or a supervisor to log-in before being allowed to start the attached test.
• Retest Period: This field is useful for a Training Item that is not part of a skillset, and you want to treat this as recurring training.
• Hours Credit: This is a mandatory field that allows you to track training hours completed by any learner, account, Division and Company. You can enter any non-negative numeric value here.
• Course Length: An optional field where you can enter estimated time to complete WBT course (e.g. 1 hr 30 m). It is displayed to learners on the training launcher.
• Cost: This field is used for tracking costs. The value entered here is tracked as training gets completed. You can create and run a report on the total cost of training.
• Approved: If this box is checked, it makes Training Item immediately available for learning. If not checked, learners are not allowed to access this Training Item and it will not be visible in any of the libraries. 

• Special Instructions: Allows you to enter any instructions that you want learners to follow to launch and complete the training. The instructions are displayed on the training launcher page, and can be especially useful for Training Item types EVT, MED, CERT or A/V (where the training content is not on-line) to instruct learners on how to complete the assigned training.
• Contact Information: Enter name and contact information for the person, learners should contact, to ask questions about the Training Item. This is displayed to learners prior to launching content. If left blank, system displays a default message asking learners to contact local Frontline administrator.
• Generate a quick access link to this training: Allows creating quick access link to this training content for placement on internal web portals, e-mails or other documents. Clicking on this link will display a text box containing a URL that can be copied and placed on internal web portals or documents.

Below are the Tabs in the Training Item screen:

• Pre-Requisites: This tab displays the pre-requisite Training Items, if any, for the selected Training Item. Select New to add a pre-requisite. If learners are assigned a Training Item which has prerequisites, the prerequisites are automatically assigned and must be completed before being allowed to play the Training Item.
• People: The People tab lists the learners who have been directly assigned the selected Training Item. If learners are assigned this Training Item via a skillset or a job, they will not be listed here. Typically, you will not add a Training Item directly to a learner's curriculum. However, if you have not created jobs and skillsets, you can add a Training Item to one or more learners.
• Assignments: The Assignments tab lists all learners who are assigned the selected Training Item, either directly or via a job or skillset.
  • The assignment details for the selected learner are displayed on the right side of the form.
  • If the Attempts Taken for a learner has exceeded the Attempts Allowed, the learner is not allowed to test on this training again. You can increase the attempts allowed.

• Tests: The Test tab displays the name of the test, if any, for the selected Training Item. This is the test that is offered to learners when test required is checked on the Training Item form. A Training Item can have only one test. A test must be created before it can be attached to the Training Item.
• Lessons: The Lesson tab is applicable to WBT type Training Items only. It displays the name of the lesson, if any, for the selected WBT Training Item. This is the course content that is displayed to learners when they launch the Training Item. A Training Item can have only one lesson. A lesson must be created before it can be attached to the Training Item. A lesson is often attached to a Training Item from Author > Lessons.
• Alternates: The Alternates tab displays Training Items set up as alternates for the selected Training Item.
  • When a Training Item has alternates, the training launcher displays all alternate Training Items and allows the learner to choose either the assigned (or primary) Training Item or any of the alternates.
  • The learner is given credit for the primary Training Item upon meeting the requirements of any of the alternates.
  • If an alternate is designated as two way (by checking box next to it), the learner gets credit for the alternate Training Item (if assigned) when the primary Training Item is completed.
• Records: The Records tab displays all training records for the selected Training Item. It is identical to People > People Information > Records tab, which displays all training records for a selected person. These two records tabs represent two different ways of finding a record.
  • All features discussed for People > People Information > Records apply here also. Both have identical fields and buttons on top right, except for the Add Records button that is provided in the list and Form Views of Curriculum > Training Items > Records. The Add Records button allows administrators to conveniently add records for a selected Training Item for one or more people.
• Revisions: The Revisions tab displays the previous revisions for the Training Item on the left and the details for the selected revision on the right. Select View Log to see the learners and skillsets affected by the selected revision.
  • If you make a significant change to a Training Item content, and need to retrain learners immediately, create a revision. That way, any learner with the original version of the Training Item in their curriculum will automatically be assigned the new version. Revisions can be created for any Training Item type, although they are best used in cases where the learning content is on-line (i.e. Training Item types WBT, DOC, PRC, SCORM or CBT).
  • If you change Training Item content, but do not need to retrain learners immediately, you can keep track of your changes by using an Edit Number. An edit number can be created for any type of Training Item. It is a means to keep track of any change in the Training Item form, content or methodology that impacts only the new learners or the next refresher training for learners.
  • When learners complete training on a revision or an edit, the training record will display the revision title and edit number. The Training Item code stays the same, so you can use this field as a filter or report criteria to extract all of the records of a Training Item, regardless of the revision or edit number. The training records report template includes revision number and edit number as field choices. 
  • Best Practice: Use revisions if you need to immediately retrain learners who have already completed the training. Use edit number if the changes are minor and you only want to train future learners using the new content.
• Skillsets: The Skillsets tab lists all skillsets that the selected Training Item is a component of. The skillsets are listed on the left and the details for the selected skillset is listed on the right.
  • The Components link on the right displays components (Training Items) of a selected skillset. The Change button lists the skillsets with key fields in editable mode. It is similar to the Change button discussed above under Curriculum > Skillsets > Components, that lists Training Item components in editable mode.
  • Selecting New allows you to add the Training Item to one or more skillsets. When you create a new Training Item, it can be conveniently assigned to learners from here by adding it to one or more of your existing pre-designed skillsets. The Delete button removes the Training Item from the selected skillset.
• Competencies: The Competencies tab lists competencies that are attached to the selected Training Item. There can be up to 10 competencies attached, each one displaying competency type and proficiency level attained when a learner completes the Training Item. The right hand side allows you to update the proficiency level for a competency selected on the left.
  • To attach a competency to a Training Item, select New. When you search, competencies created in your Company by a Company administrator are displayed. You can search using competency type as a search criteria. You must select proficiency level on the left.
  • Competencies are created by a Company administrator using system menu Settings > Competencies. Competency types and proficiency levels are also created by a Company administrator, using Settings > System Codes.