Category

Categories are used for grouping courses and competencies with similar assignments areas or expiration periods. These categories can then be assigned to a Curriculum.

Categories can also be used when employees can choose a certain number of courses/competencies from a Pool of eligible requirements.

To create a category record, complete the following steps:

1. From the Configuration section>Education Tracking card, select the Category icon.
2. Click on the Add button to open a screen to configure a new record.
3. On the General screen, enter a Code and Description to identify the record.

   The label describing the education tracking category code.

   The alphanumeric short name or abbreviation for the education tracking category.

4. Click on the Assignment Defaults tab. When assigning this category to a curriculum, the default settings are automatically entered. These default settings can be changed on an individual record.
5. In the Default Mandatory field, enter whether employees must meet the requirements of this category in order to be scheduled (Yes/No).

   The default setting indicating if it is mandatory that the category needs to be completed for the employee to be eligible to be scheduled to work (Yes/No).

   Note: When an education requirement's mandatory flag is set to No, that category is still required for the education record, but it is not required for the employee to be scheduled (even when the Education Requirements Qualification rule is applied in the Selection Style for scheduling).

6. Enter the Default Effective Date and Default Expiration Date to indicate the date range that this category is a requirement.

   The defaulted expiration date of when the category requirement ends, if applicable. If there is no set date to expire this category requirement, leave this field blank.

   The defaulted date the course/competency is effective as assigned to a category or curriculum.

7. Enter the Default Frequency and Default Frequency Value to indicate how often this requirement must be renewed.

   Determines the default frequency value for expiration of employee education requirements. The Default Frequency Value number, when combined with the Frequency, determines the amount of time before a requirement must be renewed.

   The defaulted time span by which the category expiration dates for employees should be monitored (Day(s), Week(s), Month(s), Year(s), or Once).

8. The Default Expiration Type field determines the default employee expiration cycle for the requirement, whether it is based on a certain date or based on the last time the class was taken.

   Determines the default employee expiration cycle for the requirement, whether it is based on a certain date or based on the last time the class was taken.

   More About Expiration Type Options

   The following are valid Expiration Type options:

   Fixed	The requirement expiration runs on a fixed cycle - Every year, every 6 month etc. The date of the employee class transactions does not affect the expiration date of the requirement. If the Fixed Date is filled in, the course/competency expires for everyone on the same date. If the Fixed Date is not filled in, the cycle expiration date depends on employee-specific dates, such as hire date or position effective date, depending on the setting of the Use Hire Date field on the related curriculum. Indicates whether the requirement Fixed expiration date of the assigned courses will default to the month/day of the employees' hire date rather than to their position effective date (yes/no). When this value is set to Yes, the course expiration month/day defaults to the employees' hire date. This ensures the requirement will expire on the employees' anniversary date. When this value is set to No, the course expiration month/day defaults to the latest date among the employee hire date, labor distribution begin date, and curriculum content effective date.
   Rolling First	The expiration date is based on the date the employee last completed the class. If there are multiple requirements assigned to a category, the expiration date for the entire category is based on the expiration date of the requirement that expires first.
   Rolling Last	The expiration date is based on the date the employee last completed the class. If there are multiple requirements assigned to a category, the expiration date for the entire category is based on the expiration date of the requirement that expires last.

   Note: If any course, competency or category assigned to a curriculum requirement expires for an employee, the entire curriculum becomes invalid, and the employee does not meet his or her education requirements.

9. When this value is set to Fixed, the Default Fixed Expiration Date field is enabled, to determine if this requirement expires on the same date for everyone or if it is specific to an employee.

   The defaulted expiration date of when the category requirement ends, if applicable. If there is no set date to expire this category requirement, leave this field blank.

10. If the category expiration date should be extended to the last day of the expiration month, set the End Of The Month Expiration field to Yes.

    Indicates whether this course requirement expiration is extended to the last day of the expiration month (Yes/No). This functionality is only available when the Rolling First or Rolling Last option is selected in the Expiration Category field.

11. When this value is set to Fixed, the Default Carry Over Days field is enabled to determine the maximum number of days prior to expiration that the requirement can be renewed.

    The defaulted number of days in advance of a requirement expiration period that the employee can start taking courses to complete the requirement.

12. In the Default Grace Period field, enter the number of days that an employee can continue to be scheduled after expiration of one or more category requirements.

    The defaulted number of days after expiration of this requirement that the employee is still able to be scheduled. If the requirement has a frequency of Once, this grace period is added to the beginning of the requirement cycle, so employees have X number of days to complete this requirement.

    Note: If the frequency of the requirement is anything other than “Once”, this grace period days are never automatically added to the expiration date as it is displayed in the portal. The expiration dates listed are always the true expiration. The Grace Period is taken into consideration when trying to schedule the employee to work after the employee’s eligibility has expired.

    If the requirement is a “Once” frequency, there is no end to the person’s eligibility once it has been fulfilled. Therefore, the grace period is applied to the beginning of the cycle. The Eligibility Expiration date displayed for an unfulfilled Once frequency requirement will be the effective date of the requirement plus the number of grace days.

13. Click on the Indicators tab.
14. Category Indicator ED Solution Standard 1 determines whether or not this is a pool category (where employees only need to take a certain number of courses, not all courses in the category)
15. Category Indicator ED Solution Standard 2 determines whether the Pool courses requirements are totaled by credits, hours or number of courses. Note: If this is a Standard category, this field does not need to be configured.
16. If this is a Pool category, click on the Parameters tab.
17. In the Category Parameter ED Solution Standard Rate 1 field, enter the total number of credits, hours, or courses needed to fulfill the requirements of this category. Note: When setting up the Course/Competency records, be sure to enter the credits and/or hours that are awarded for completing the class.
18. Save the record.

Steps for Adding Course Requirements to a Category

1. To add one or more course requirements for this category, select the Courses button in the left pane.
2. Click on the Add button. The Course Search screen is displayed.
3. After entering values in the selected fields, click on the Search button. The results are listed below the search screen.
4. To select one or more record, click the selection box to the left of the record to alternately add or remove the check mark. To select/de-select all records in a specific search result set, click on the box above the search results to add or remove all check marks.
5. After selecting records, click the action button for either Assign: Common Data to enter the same Effective Date and Expiration Date values to all selected records, or Assign: Individual Data to add different values to each selected record.