Contacts
Contacts in Learndot represent people.
Overview
Contacts in Learndot represent people. Currently, there are five broad classes of contacts that are recognized by Learndot, including:
- Customers: Typically clients, they can see and use the front-end of the site. Control over permissions is not needed for this group as they can only access the publicly available parts of the site and their user profile.
- Instructors: Delivery courses to Customers. There is an interface for Instructors to see and manage their events, including locations, attendees, feedback scores, etc.
- Administrators / Staff Users: Admins / Staff are able to access the 'Admin' section. More granular control over permissions is often desirable for this type of contact, as different staff members will require access to certain sections of the administrative panel.
- Affiliates: Promote your products and courses for a commission on visits or conversions.
- Providers: Schedule and run training on your website, i.e. partner companies that run courses for you which you sell on Learndot.
Access Levels | Customer | Instructor | Administrator | Affiliate | Provider |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dedicated Interface | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
View Reports | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | |
Manage Courses | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Manage eLearning | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Manage Learning Pathways | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Manage Events | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Manage Enrolments | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Manage Surveys | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Manage CMS (Website) | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Manage eCommerce (Store) | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() Conversions) | ![]() |
Manage Training Opportunities | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Manage Talent Opportunities | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Manage Permissions | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
- Access in the Administrator Interface can be configured, see Staff Roles.
Working with Users
Creating a User
The relevant section of the Learndot administrative panel can be found under Customers > Contacts. Press the New button and then fill in the fields.
Creating a Staff User (Admin Console Access)
If the user account you wish to give staff privileges to does not already exist, first follow the steps for Contacts#Creating a User. If the user has been created, to give a user staff access permissions, under Customers > Contacts, click on the Edit button on the row of the user:
- Under the Login tab and ensure that 'Enabled' and 'Staff' are both set to Yes
- Select any appropriate email notifications that they should receive
- Hit Save
To add permissions to the user, refer to Staff Roles & Permissions (System > Access&Security > Staff Roles).
Creating an Instructor User (Instructor Dashboard Access)
Instructor profiles allow clients to put the face behind each course. The procedure for creating an instructor user is similar to a staff member:
- Create the user and then configure them as an instructor through the 'Instructor' section on the user profile
- Set the status field to 'Approved'
See the Instructor section of Contact Fields for these fields.
Performing a Password Reset
Users are able to reset their own passwords through the 'Forgotten Password' tool accessible via the login screen, or under the Contact page in admin, click on 'Reset Password'.
Merging Contacts
Two Contacts within Learndot can be merged together. All entities such as enrolments on Learning Components will be transferred to the contact to be merged with. The merge will also reset the learning progress of the first contact. When the old Contact logs in to Learndot it will sign in to the merged Contact.
You can find the merge action Tasks. To merge two contacts:
- Navigate to Customers > Contacts
- Click on the View icon of the contact you would like to merge with another contact
- By default the From field will be prefilled with the chosen contact account. However, you can select the contact you like from the dropdown menu. Choose the contact to merge with from the dropdown menu of the To field. Then, click Merge
Emailing a Contact
As a Contact with "Staff Roles" that has permission to access Contacts, you are able to send personalized emails to the Contacts from the Admin Interface. This functionality can be used, to reach out to Learners individually for Notification Purpose for example. How this can be achieved is as below:
- Proceed to the desired "Contact" on your Admin Interface.
- Next, hit on the "Email" functionality as shown per the screenshot below.
3.Then you will be welcomed with the "Email Interface" as shown below.
4.Always have to remember, the email which will be sent out will be from the "Contact" which you are logged in and this can be confirmed from the "sender" field as per the screenshot above.
Section | Description |
---|---|
Sender | Field which indicates the email address which will be used to send the email out from Learndot where it's the same email address as the Contact logged in. Note: The Sender email address cannot be changed |
Recipients | Will be the receiver whom the email would be required to sent to |
Add Recipients | This works as a "cc" option where you are able to select an existing Contact to be looped in. Please ensure to hit on the "+" button after confirming on each contact that would be required to "cc-ed" on the conversation. |
Bcc | Works as the same functionality as in an email of "Bcc" |
Subject | Would be the title/subject of the email |
Message | The segment which is used to place in the verbiage required which will be then sent out to the learners |
Working with Permissions
Permissions
Permissions control the amount of access granted to a user. Currently, Learndot supports permissions to control access to almost any function provided by the program, including:
System Setting Read Permission System Setting Write Permission Staff Role Read Permission Staff Role Write Permission Course Read Permission Course Write Permission etc...
A full listing of permissions can be viewed here on the wiki, or within the Learndot administrative panel when you choose to edit a Staff Role.
Roles
Permissions in Learndot are assigned to users exclusively through Roles. Roles consist of a set of permissions, which can then be applied to staff users to more finely control their areas of access. Once a role has been applied to a user, any changes to the roles permissions will be updated with the users. It is possible for users to have multiple roles assigned to them.
Learndot ships with a number of preconfigured roles, which can be viewed in the administration panel under System > Access & Security > Staff Roles. In addition to this initial set, it is possible to define new roles or customize existing ones.
Creating a new Role
The 'Staff Roles' section of the administrative panel:
- Navigate to System > Access & Security > Staff Roles grouping
- Click on the New button to prompt the user to enter data in several fields in order to create the role. See Staff Roles & Permissions for more details on the fields
Modifying the permissions of an existing Role
To modify the permissions of an existing role, simply click the edit icon on the role that needs to be modified, and change the permissions through the checkboxes. Any users assigned to that role will have their access permissions modified accordingly.
To see which users belong to a specific role (and will therefore be impacted by the change), click the magnifying glass (View icon) and check the Contacts section of the page.
Adding/Revoking Permissions from Users
Permissions can be indirectly added and revoked from users by modifying the Roles they belong to. Custom roles may need to be created using the process outlined above in order to achieve the highest level of flexibility and control with regard to user permissions.
Assigning or unassigning a staff role to or from a contact can be done in either the staff role or the contact in question.
For the staff role way
- Navigate to System > Access & Security > Staff Roles
- Click the View icon of one of the staff roles
- Scroll down to the Contacts section
- To assign a staff role, click on Select and then add a contact onto the input box
To unassign an existing staff role from this role, click on the 'x' button on the row of the staff you wish to unassign.
For the contact way
- Navigate to the specific contact under Customers > Contacts
- Click on the Edit icon and scroll down to the Roles field under Login section
- And then key in the staff role to assign to the contact onto the input box
To unassign an existing staff role from this contact, click on the 'x' button on the row of the staff role one wishes to unassign.
Other Actions
Action | Description |
---|---|
Standard Operations | The Contact entity supports all of the Entity Actions. |
Contact Photo
Learndot supports Gravatar, a service that provides globally unique photos. If the contact whose email is also registered with Gravatar with uploaded photo, the contact's photo is automatically grabbed from Gravatar. The contact can also manually upload his own photo to his or her Learndot account, to do so:
- Log into learndot
- Navigating to My Account > Settings (Edit Profile) > Photo. If no manual photo is added, the contact's Gravatar photo is retrieved if available
Sections
Sections | Description |
Main | The main section contains the essential identifying information for a user. The only essential fields that must be filled in manually to create a bare-minimum user exist in this section. |
Login | This section defines whether a user can login to the site with their credentials and whether they can access the admin console as a staff user. Contacts who have simply been registered to a course by their organization will most likely not require this, unless forum access is needed. Other login information and notification subscriptions by the user are also found here. |
Partner | Allows a user to be registered as a member of an educational provider. |
Instructor | The instructor section contains options for registering a user as an instructor. More information on this in Creating an Instructor User. |
Other | This section contains other miscellaneous information pertaining to a user, including phones numbers, secondary addresses, referrer information etc. |
Opportunities | Shows all the training opportunities and /wiki/spaces/DOCS/pages/74416328 that the user is a customer of. |
Orders | Shows all orders that the user has made. |
Registrations | Shows all course registrations that the user has made. |
/wiki/spaces/DOCS/pages/74416324 | Shows all /wiki/spaces/DOCS/pages/74416324 that the user is assigned to. |
Download Access Rights | Shows all Digital Resources that the user has access to in his or her digital library. |
Engagements | Shows all Engagements that the user is point of contact of. |
Instructor | Shows all Course Events that the user is an instructor of. |
Roles | Shows all Staff Roles & Permissions that the user is part of. Staff Roles & Permissions could also be assigned to the user from this section. |
/wiki/spaces/DOCS/pages/74416393 | Shows all contact file attachments the user owns. |
Comments | Shows all comments (e-mails) the user received. |
History | Shows user system information such as creation date, modification date, etc. |
Contact Fields
Main
Fields | Description |
---|---|
Salutation | The words used to address the person. |
First Name | Personal name before family name of the person. |
Last Name | Surname of the person. |
Organizations | An entity that organizes a group of contacts, that the person is part of. |
Title | Words used to describe a person's social rank, qualification, position in an organization, sex, etc. |
Department | The division within the organization that the person is part of. |
Phone (Office) | Office telephone number of the person. |
Mobile Phone | Mobile phone number of the person. |
Fax | Fax number of the person. |
E-mail address of the person. | |
URL | The website URL of the person. |
Address | The particulars of the place where the person lives. |
Login
Fields | Description |
---|---|
Enabled | Determines whether the contact is allowed or restricted from logging onto the site. |
Staff | Determines whether the person is a staff user. A staff user is allowed to access the administration console of the Learndot instance. |
Notification Subscriptions | A checklist of e-mail subscriptions by the user, e.g. user will be notified of any product purchase if 'product purchase' is checked. See Configuring Email Notifications for more details. |
Partner
Fields | Description |
---|---|
Providers | An organization that provides courses, in which the user is associated with. |
Restricted Provider | If set to 'Yes', the contact is restricted from creating new events via the provider interface. |
Affiliate - Enabled | If set to 'Yes', the contact is enabled as an affiliate partner. |
Affiliate | The associated Affiliate entity of this contact to track the affiliate partnership. |
Send Conversion Notifications | If set to 'Yes', contact is notified by e-mail whenever a conversion occurs (product order, registration, training opportunity, etc.) that resulted from the affiliate's referral. |
Instructor
Fields | Description |
---|---|
Status | The current 'status' of the instructor. This has several states which may vary in definition according to the business processes of individual organizations, including:
|
Reg. Reference Code | |
Public Profile | Determines if user's public instructor profile in shown on the front end. See Configuring Instructor Profiles for further details. |
Experience | Relevant experience and background of the person, with respect to teaching and/or mentoring. |
Education | Related to any prior schooling the person has successfully completed. High school diplomas, college degrees, credit from online courses, and vocational programs are all educational background. How user's education is relevant, and how it qualifies user for the teaching role. |
References | References from person/s who can vouch for user's qualification for the role. A professional reference is typically a former employer, a colleague, a client, a vendor, a supervisor or someone else who can recommend user for this role. |
Biography | A written account of the series of events that make up the person's life. |
Additional Notes | Any additional information of the person that s/he may wish to add. |
Public Profile Information | A biography of the person shown in public profile. The contents of this field can be read as HTML. |
Public Profile Additional Information | Any additional information that is shown in public profile that the person may wish to add. The contents of this field can be read as HTML. |
Teaching Engagements | Availability of the person for teaching engagements. |
Contract Engagements | Availability of the person for contract engagements. |
Employment / Placement | Availability of the person for employment/placements. |
Travel Preferences | Willingness to travel over differing distances to work: local, driving distance, national, same continent, overseas. |
Own Laptop | Whether the person owns a laptop. |
Own Additional Courseware | Any other coursewares the person owns. |
Own Courseware | Any preexisting knowledge categories' coursewares that the person may have. |
Installed Software | Any software that the person owns. |
Skills | Relevant expertise of the person. |
Additional Skills | Any other expertise that the person may wish to add. |
Other
Fields | Description |
---|---|
Birthdate | Date on which the person was born. |
Other Address | Particulars of the place where the person lives. |
Phone (home) | Home phone number of the person. |
Phone (other) | Alternate phone number of the person. |
Email (other) | Alternate e-mail of the person. |
Tax ID | Tax ID of the person. Applicable to the United States, an Employer Identification Number or EIN. |
How did you hear about us? | How the person came about knowing the company. |
Site Entry - Referrer URL | Address of webpage that the person was first linked this Learndot site. |
Site Entry - Landing URL | Address of the Learndot webpage that was first visited by the person. |
Locale | A specific geographical, political, or cultural region. Learndot uses Locale to tailor information for the user. For example, displaying a number is a locale-sensitive operation - the number should be formatted according to the customs/conventions of the user's native country, region, or culture. See List of Locales. |
Agree To Privacy Policy | Whether the person agrees to privacy policy. |
Notes | Any additional notes about the person that may wished to be added. |
Administrator Users
Note that current administrators are able to make new administrative accounts by assigning the 'Administrator' Role to a user. This can be done using the process described in the Contacts#Creating a Staff User section to the left.
Disabling a User Account
A user account can be effectively disabled by going to the Staff and Login tabs and setting the Enabled property to 'No'. If the user in an Instructor, it may also be desirable to navigate to the Instructor tab and set the status to 'Disabled'.
Disabling users is generally preferable to remove them, as they may be involved in historical transactions and activities and removing the user would compromise those records.