Overview of this article
The certificate generation feature is available on the middle weight service plan and above, after payment of the set-up free. This document covers:
- The set-up process
- Your certificate template(s) - added during set-up
- Assigning certificates to courses and/or tickets - added during set-up
- The instructor's role in awarding certificates
- The administrator's role in approving certificates
- Sending certificates to the booker and/or attendees
- Signed-up user certificate download
- Retrieving and resending certificates
- Editing an individual Certificate
- Certificate Reports
Setup process
Booking Rooster sets up your certificates, in consultation with your team. This happens in two phases:
- First, the certificate feature is enabled for your organisation.
- If it is enabled you will see 'certificates' sub-menu in your organisation tab (see image below).
- The Booking Rooster team then set up and test each of the qualifications you intend issuing certificates for.
- You are encouraged to preview the certificate for each qualification before using the generator.
The materials needed from you before set-up are:
- samples of any existing certificates or templates you use.
- a high quality copy of your logo (if we don't have it already).
- any specific requirements you have about certificate content (or we can give you a sample to improve on)
Note that all certificates are printed A4 landscape (not portrait). There are restrictions on the area you can add branding to. If you would like to provide artwork for your own certificate border, rather than have the Booking Rooster's graphic designer provide it, please ask us for firm specifications. The size of any background image needs to be 1123 pixels wide by 794 pixels high and in JPEG or PNG format. The printable area may vary depending on your configuration settings.
Your certificate template(s)
Your standard certificate set-up includes up to 5 templates customized to your needs (but always A4 landscape).
Why so few? It is rare for training businesses to need more. Remember that information like the qualification name, trainer and course dates is automatically merged into the template from the course and ticket set-up - you don't need a separate template for each course.
Key reasons to have extra templates are to cater for the varying content needs of different qualifications authorities or to acknowledge any co-branded training provider relationships on affected certificates.
Certificate layout
Your certificate consists of:
- A background (border & colour only tailored to your organisation).
- Information in 5 areas: Type, Description, Terms, Presenter, Organisation
- If you intend including a physical signature on the certificate this can be added in the middle section at the bottom (ask for instructions on providing scanned copies of signatures - not any old scan will do).
Certificate content
You choose what wording to use on your certificate, what freeform text is added, and what information from the course is merged into your certificates.
The information that is easily pulled from the course into the certificate is displayed in the top right of your certificate template, and therefore available to be included in the standard set-up of the service are below. These placeholders will be added into your templates as part of the set-up service. Note that 'qualifications' are set up by Booking Rooster to reflect your needs.
- {{attendee name}}
- {{certificate_number}}
- {{qualification_name}}
- {{issue_date}}
- {{expiry_date}}
- {{venue_city}}
- {{course_name}}*
- {{course_start_date}}
- {{course_end_date}}
- {{course_session}}
- {{ticket_name}}*
- {{trainer_name}}
- {{trainer_id}}
- {{trainer_expiry}}
If you need other information from the course or kiosk merged into the certificates, please ask for a quote on that field being added at custom programming rates.
*These fields are not always suitable for use on the certificates. The qualification name is a much more reliable way to describe what the certificate awarded will be. Talk to the Booking Rooster team before using these fields in certificates. Note also that qualifications are part of your template set-up - we could write an essay on that. You're best to book a guided tour of this feature if you need to understand the detail.
Editing your certificate templates
For changes to certificate templates, most clients seek help from support@bookingrooster.co.nz . This service is included in your monthly service plan. Wait times are normally 2-4 business days.
You can edit your certificate template yourself, but be sure to take extreme care and practise your changes in your staging site before attempting edits in your live site. The DIY approach is only for expert users experienced with this feature.
Certificate application (Assigning Certificates to Courses)
The set-up service includes applying 'qualifications' to your existing courses and templates. This can be done to:
- Specific course types
- Specific ticket types
- Specific courses
If you run varying qualifications within one course (e.g. beginner and advanced or full and refresher) it's likely the qualifications will be applied by ticket type. If not, it's likely they will be applied by course type. Most organisations have a mix of both. Once 'qualifications', as they relate specifically to certificate set up, are applied you are ready to start using the service. It is recommended you preview the certificate for each qualification the first time you run it. Once you are confident with the set-up there is no need to preview again - unless you make changes.
If things change you can change the certificate applied to a particular course type, course, ticket type or ticket yourself, but since this is something you will rarely do you are likely to seek help from support@bookingrooster.co.nz. This is normally covered by your service plan - you'll be offered a quote if not.
Instructor Role
The recommended role for instructors in creating certificates is that they award them in the Kiosk/Assessment area:
- Your kiosk will be set to your own requirements. Normally when certificates are in place each unit standard (or other type of qualification) is assessed separately, as in the example below.
- You may have both an overall results button and an award certificate button, as in the example below - or just one of these. That depends on your own level of desire for automated double checking processes.
- Note that it is not possible to award a multi-unit certificate unless all units are marked as achieved.
- Don't worry! Awarding a certificate does not result in any communication to the booker or student. .
Occasionally organisations prefer an administrator to record learning outcomes. They can do that in the kiosk, or using the 'Quick Assess' button for that course which can be added to your Bookings menu (ask about this if it appeals to you)
Administrator Role
Administrators are responsible for checking, approving and sending certificates. Usually this is done the day after each course. While this role could be automated most businesses prefer a human check before certificates are sent. In particular:
- Double-checking that names appear correctly entered and correctly capitalised.
- Checking that all internal business rules (eg. payment received before certs issued) have been met.
Most administrators approve and send in the the Course Bookings/Show area, as below.
Approval process
The most commonly used approval process is to review, check, approve and send all certificates from the 'SHOW' button on the course booking page. While the alternative approach (see below) is faster, this method has proven to reduce the number of certificates issued with undetected errors in the student name.
Alternative approval process
Some administrators prefer to use the 'Quick Assess' process. This allows the instructor to push one button to approve all certificates awarded by the instructor. This saves time but has been shown to result in a higher number of errors in student names getting right through onto the certificate. Please ask about this option if it appeals. There is no extra set-up cost - it's just not ideal for everyone's business processes.
Sending Certificates
There are two options for sending certificates:
- The individual booker (or attendee) send option.
- The mass send to all bookers who have students with certificates awarded.
Individual send process
Perhaps surprisingly, this is the most commonly used method of sending certificates. This is because many administrators like to check/approve/send all people on a booking then move on to the next.
This is done in the Bookings/Show for each booker:
- You can either send individual certs to each attendee or to the booker (yellow highlights), or
- You can send all certificates related to one booking to the booker (blue highlights).
Mass send
Administrators can send certificates to all bookers on a course in one action using the Marketing/Create Message/Certificates option. Of course, each booker only receives the certificates for the students they booked into the course. Both the mass-send and individual send options are always available to all administrators.
Signed-up User Certificate Download
If the booker is a signed-up user they will also be able to download certificates that have been issued and approved at any time. They simply:
- Login
- Go to their 'My Courses" Tab
- Choose the "Past Courses Menu
- Scroll or search to find the student of interest
- Click on the 'Download Certificate' link.
Retrieving & Resending Certificates
You can search the Bookings/Certificates areas to find all certificates related to a specific candidate, booker or email address. You can even search to see all certificate issued for a specific course or course type.
From this list you can click the BRN to be taken straight to the original booking, from where you can re-print or re-send the certificate -using the same sending method used to send the original certificate.
Editing Certificates
If there is an error in the spelling of a student name, or they provide evidence of a name change and you need to update their certificate you can use the the REMAKE button:
- Log in
- Search to find the affected booking
- Click EDIT and click through to the ticketholder details
- Click EDIT PERSON
- Correct or update their record
- Click to advance through the bottom buttons until you can SAVE BOOKING
- Now, scroll down to the Assessment Panel in that person's booking
- Click on the REMAKE button
- Click to confirm the action on both 'are you sure' messages
- Click on the SHOW button, to check the certificate is now correct.
- Now you can resend the certificate to the booker, the student or yourself
- If the booker has access to download certificates the change will automatically shown any time the download it.
Certificate Reports
A standard certificates report is available with your set-up. Custom certificate reports can be added at custom programming rates.
Need to know more?
Email us your questions, call us, request a zoom demonstration or request a quote.
- Email: support@bookingrooster.co.nz
- Call : +64 7 575 6903
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