Manager System Training

Course Script

Tier 1 Lessons

Lesson 1

  1. Welcome to the FlexTraining Home Page Menu.
  2. The first menu item is the User Profile. Select this link to change or update your contact information.
  1. Enter your user name, email address and password, and click the "update user" button.
  1. The Quick Tour offers a high level view of select menus and provides access to the most common activities available through your ManagementCenter toolbar.
  1. The Online Tutorials demonstrate how to tailor your settings, manage learning content and build your online courses.
  1. The Management Guide includes PDF versions of the system Management Guide, providing step-by-step instruction on how to use FlexTraining.
  1. Course Building Strategies offer tactical advice on creating content, planning courses, utilizing best practices and using FlexTraining to put it all together.
  1. Login to the Customer Support Portal to contact support, ask a question, check on the status of your support contract or report a problem.

Lesson 2

  1. Welcome to the FlexTraining "Options " Menu. This section lets you shape how you want the system to work.
  1. The Software Modulesmenu is used to identify which optional modules are activated based upon your purchase preferences, including FlexAuthoring, Message Board, Chat and SCORM.
  1. For this and for all menus, click on the "information" icon for more details about the features.
  1. TheBehaviorssettings are used to specify how the system should react to certain training events and learner actions.
  1. Turn on the External Collaboration Tool if you wish to use a third party chat or conferencing software.
  1. Activate skills tracking if you would like to show individual skills tracking information on each student's home page.
  1. The course catalog provides students with access to a catalog of all courses available to them. Turn this on to allow students to view a catalog of all courses that they are allowed to take.
  1. The course finder searches for courses via keyword, as entered by the student. Enable this feature if you want to allow students to search for available courses using the course finder.
  1. If you would like to allow students to create and/or view their own task list, activate this feature.
  1. You have the option to give students access to a calendar, which displays courses by the course start date. Select this option to allow access.
  1. Students can view and/or change their personal profile when you enable this feature, allowing them access to their information, such as name, email address, and other personal data.
  1. Administrators can view and/or change their personal profile when you enable this feature, allowing them access to their information, such as name, email address, and other personal data.
  1. Turn this on to force a popup display of three built-in tutorials for any new student that registers.
  1. Set this value to the amount of time, in minutes, that you would like the system to use for its session timeout. When a session is inactive for the amount of time specified, the session will timeout and the student or user will be logged out of the system.
  1. Choose whether you would like to have the video controls (Play, Rewind, FF, Stop, Pause) available on the Windows Media Player for the student to use with videos.
  1. Choose whether you would like to have the audio controls (Play, Rewind, FF, Stop, Pause) available on the Windows Media Player for the student to use with audio files.
  1. Skill groups define individual training paths and are used to group select courses. This allows you to monitor a learner's progress toward completion of a training plan or skill group. The skill groups menu, which we'll explore in an upcoming lesson, lets you classify and manage these groups, if desired.
  1. You have the option to have your students automatically enrolled in any course contained in a skill group. Activate this to automatically enroll students in courses contained in a skill group when the student is added to that group. Or, if a class is added to a group in which the student is already enrolled.
  1. Click the Save Changes button to update your system.
  1. TheTracking Optionsarea contains special options for initiating tracking of additional data, including external classroom training, test item analysis and time logging.
  1. Turn classroom training on if you want to track test scores for a course that is taking place offline, such as a classroom setting. Any course that is marked as a classroom course will be trackedvia the virtual gradebook, but is not accessible via the internet.
  1. Turn on item analysis to track test results by question. This allows you to get specific data on the effectiveness of your test questions.
  1. Activate time logging to track student logins, logouts and content access.
  1. Activate this feature to disable the student's ability to right-click the mouse button. This helps to prevent the student from capturing your proprietary course content.
  1. Turn this feature on to track events that occur by users in the ManagementCenter, including logins, logouts and changes to the training environment. Leave it off to exclude management access tracking.
  1. Activate this to allow users to archive a course. Archived courses remain in the system but no longer show in any lists, including reporting, course editor, bulk tools and others, and are no longer accessible to students.
  1. Click the Save Changes button to update your system.

Lesson 3

  1. Welcome to the FlexTraining "Policies" Menu. You can establish and implement your operational and training policies in this section.
  1. The Registration and Login Policies menu provides options that let you control how student registrations and enrollments are handled.
  1. This option lets you set a default enrollment status upon a student self-enrollment into a course. Select whether you want students to be automatically enrolled, require administrator approval or be enrolled upon processing payment.
  1. This option allows you to control whether a student can register as a new student in the training system. Select no if the student must be registered by an administrator.
  1. This function enables you to set up a list of courses that are automatically assigned to a new student when they register in the training system. Click on the choose classes to auto-enroll button and select from the available classes window. STOP - NEXT SLIDE Once the classes are selected, click on the save auto-enroll class choices to update your changes to the system.
  1. The system allows you to collect demographic information on learners. Select yes to enable this option. Use the required fields manager section of this menu to specify which fields are required versus optional.
  1. The class enrollment method offers three enrollment options: normal, subscriptions and due dates.
  1. If you choose the normal option, courses will not expire and will not have a specific due date.
  1. If you select the subscription option, students will have a specific period of time to view the course from the time they enroll. Once the subscription has ended, it can be extended via the subscription manager in the utilities menu.
  1. By choosing due dates, students will have a set due date for a course, based either on their enrollment date, or a strict due date for the entire course roster. This option is configurable when the course is scheduled in the courses menu. STOP - NEXT SLIDE
  1. If the course is set to use a due date based upon the student's enrollment date, the default due date period can be selected from the drop down box. You can override this option when the course is scheduled in the courses menu. This setting is ignored if you choose a strict due date for the entire class roster.
  1. Finally, you have two ways for learners to access the student environment. The first option is by email address, and the section option requires a unique ID. The email address and unique ID are entered with the student enrollment information.
  1. Click the Save Changes button to update your system.
  1. The Password Policies menu lets you establish and control password requirements for students and administrators.
  1. To begin, set the student password policies. From the drop down box, select the minimum password length by number of characters.
  1. Enter the minimum number of lower case characters, if applicable. Set to zero if this is not required.
  1. Enter the minimum number of upper case characters, if applicable. Set to zero if this is not required.
  1. Enter the minimum number of numeric characters, if applicable. Set to zero if this is not required.
  1. Enter the minimum number of symbolic characters, if applicable. Set to zero if this is not required.
  1. You have the option to set student password expiration periods. Select yes if you want student passwords to expire after a set period of time.
  1. From the drop down box, choose the period of time for student passwords to expire, if applicable.
  1. You can set a password threshold for student login attempts. Choose yes if you want to lock students out after a set number of failed login attempts.
  1. Set the threshold for failed logins from the drop down box.
  1. If you want to require that all student passwords are reset at the next login, click the Reset Student Passwords Now button. This action will override the expiration policies outlined in this menu.
  1. The next set of password policies will be created for administrators.
  1. From the drop down box, select the minimum password length by number of characters.
  1. Enter the minimum number of lower case characters, if applicable. Set to zero if this is not required.
  1. Enter the minimum number of upper case characters, if applicable. Set to zero if this is not required.
  1. Enter the minimum number of numeric characters, if applicable. Set to zero if this is not required.
  1. Enter the minimum number of symbolic characters, if applicable. Set to zero if this is not required.
  1. You have the option to set administrator password expiration periods. Select yes if you want administrator passwords to expire after a set period of time.
  1. From the drop down box, choose the period of time for administrator passwords to expire, if applicable.
  1. You can set a password threshold for administrator login attempts. Choose yes if you want to lock administrators out after a set number of failed login attempts.
  1. Set the threshold for failed logins from the drop down box.
  1. If you want to require that all administrator passwords are reset at the next login, click the Reset Administrator Passwords Now button. This action will override the expiration policies outlined in this menu.
  1. Click the Save Changes button to update your system.
  1. The E-Commerce menu enables you to create an internal merchant account and process credit cards or receive PayPal payments. You must have an account with an online payment gateway, which offers a service that electronically approves or declines the credit card. FlexTraining has an electronic form already created. When a student registers for a class, this page posts to the payment gateway, and the gateway responds with an approval or decline.
  1. In the E-Commerce payment type, choose whether you want to accept credit cards, PayPal or both to process payments.
  1. In the E-Commerce account field, enter your Authorize.net ID.
  1. Enter your Authorize.net login in the login field.
  1. Enter your Authorize.net password in the password field.
  1. In the transaction key field, enter your Authorize.net transaction key.
  1. Enter your PayPal account information here. This should be in the form of an email address.
  1. You have the option to keep E-Commerce in a test mode. If testing mode is ON, transactions will be simulated and will not be transmitted to the bank. If testing mode is OFF, transactions are live and will be submitted for processing.
  1. Click the Save Changes button to update your system.
  1. The Promo Codes menu gives you the ability to create and manage promotional discounts and pricing. Promo codes offer percentage-based discounts and reduced pricing to students who enter the code when enrolling in a course.
  1. To add a new promo code, click on the Add New Address Promo Code link.
  1. To begin, choose a scheduled course from the drop down box.
  1. Enter a code name in the code name field.
  1. Enter a promo code in the promo code field.
  1. From the drop down box, select whether the promo type if a fixed price or percentage discount.
  1. If the discount is a fixed price, enter a number that reflects the amount. Do not include a numeric symbol. Also, enter 100 if the discount reduces the price to free.
  1. If the discount is a percentage, enter a number that reflects the percentage discount.
  1. Enter the promotion start date, as well as the promotion expiration date.
  1. If the discount is applicable to a particular organization, location, or other filtered item, choose the filtering from the various drop down boxes.
  1. Once the filters are selected, click on the Save New Promotional Code button to save your changes.
  1. To edit a promo code, click on the pencil icon and make the desired changes. Once the changes are in place, click on the Update Promotional Code button.
  1. The Required Fields Manager menu enables you to track student demographics. Each demographic field can be turned on and off on this page. The field options for the student profile is selected from this screen. The fields First Name, Last Name, User Name (Unique ID), Email and Password are always required and are always shown in the student profile.
  1. To edit the field name, click on the profile field name. Click the field or tab to save the change.
  1. In the left column, check the open box to identify which fields will be required for student registration.
  1. In the right column, check the open box to identify which fields will show in the student registration. These fields may be optional and not required.
  1. Click the Save Required Fields Settings button to update your system.
  1. The Demographicsmenu allows you to manage student data fields to track and report demographic information, if desired. The standard fields are Race, Gender and Educational Level and may be modified as needed. Three additional generic fields are available for customization.
  1. To work with a demographic field, select the category from the Work With drop down box.
  1. Set or change the name of the demographic group in the open field.
  1. Click the Save Changes button to update your system.
  1. To change to a new demographic field, select the category from the Work With drop down box.
  1. To add a new option to the category, click on the Add New Race link.
  1. You can edit the item by clicking on the pencil item, or you can delete the item by selecting the trash can.
  1. You can add, edit or delete the demographic fields as necessitated by your training needs. These fields may be turned off or off in the Required Fields Manager section.

Lesson 4

  1. Welcome to the FlexTraining "Environment" Menu.These menu options allow you to set values, images and verbiage for your training and system environments. This includes specifying mail settings and determining who will receive system notifications via the E-mail Target Matrix.
  1. Enter your company name as you would like it to appear on the Management Center Home Page in the first open field.
  1. Enter a name for your training environment as you would like it displayed on your Home Page.
  1. FlexTraining is delivered with a standard system banner. Click on the Choose Image button if you would like to add or change the banner image.
  1. Browse and upload a new banner image from the "Logos" file in the Library menu.
  1. The Preview button allows you to browse images before selecting them.
  1. Click on the Use This Image button to upload the image file for the Home Page.
  1. You have the option to use an image, text or both for the login page. Select an option from the drop down box.
  1. If you are including a login image, click the Choose Image button to add or change the standard image that is delivered with the software.
  1. Browse and upload a new image from the "Logos" file in the Library menu.
  1. The Preview button allows you to browse images before selecting them.
  1. Click on the Use this Image button to upload the image file for the Home Page.
  1. Enter text to display on the login page in the Student Module. This text typically welcomes the student to the training environment.
  1. Enter text to display on the login page in the ManagementCenter. This text will be viewed by administrators and other system users.
  1. Enter the email address of the Training Administrator or main system contact.This will also be the "From" email address on system emails to students and managers.
  1. FlexTraining gives you the option to categorize courses in "groups" so they might be organized in the Student Module Course Catalog. The "group" column is a heading for display purposes and helps sort courses by subject matter. This optional field is recommended for extensive course libraries and is used when scheduling the course. You may change the "Group" term in the open field.
  1. The "Level" is a sub-section of the "Group" option defined above and is also visible in the Student Module Course Catalog. Within each group, you have the option to create levels, and the level is selected when scheduling the course. You may change the "Level" term in the open field.
  1. Click the "Save Changes" button to update your system.
  1. The "System Environment" menu enables you to configure your server settings, URL addresses and system functionality. The FlexTraining Help Desk Team can assist with configuring your System Environment.
  1. Enter the web address of your Student Module website. This is the URL students will use to login.
  1. Enter the web address of your Management Center Module website. This is the URL administrators will use to login.
  1. Enter the web address of your Student Module's Content Directory. This will typically be the URL to your Student Module (above) plus "Content/".
  1. Enter the Physical Disk Path (i.e., D:\...) to your Student Module Training Content directory from above.
  1. Enter the web address to your Message Board Module Virtual Directory (if this optional module is activated).
  1. Enter the web address to your Chat Module Virtual Directory (if this optional module is activated).
  1. Enter the IP Address of your web server. Do not enter or change this until you have requested and received the FlexTraining Run Code.
  1. Enter your assigned Run Code.
  1. Enter the Run Code expiration date for your system. Generally, leave this at the default value unless directed otherwise.
  1. Choose the date format from the drop down box for dates displayed in the system. Students have the ability to override this setting if they have a different date format preference.
  1. FlexTraining works with both Access and SQL Server. From the drop down box, choose your database manager.
  1. Choose your Time Zone from the drop down box. If you have multiple locations, choose the one where most of your activity occurs or where your server is located.
  1. You have the option to adjust the local server time to match your training region. The drop down box displays the variance options. This is used if your company is located in a different time zone than where the server is hosted.
  1. Enter your assigned SCORM Run Code if you have purchased the optional SCORM Module. Leave this setting as is if you have not purchased SCORM.
  1. Enter the SCORM Run Code expiration date, if applicable. Leave this setting as is if you have not purchased SCORM.
  1. Click the "Save Changes" button to update your system.
  1. The "Mail Settings" menu facilitates the configuration of your Mail Server. The FlexTraining Help Desk Team can assist with configuring your Mail Settings.
  1. Choose a Mail Service from the drop down box. CDO is used for Windows 2000 Server or newer. Remote SMTP can be used with your external mail server and requires that your remote SMTP server is configured to accept the connection. Remote SMTP is recommended and is the most reliable.
  1. If you choose Remote SMTP for your mail service type, enter the address of your Remote SMTP Server here. Set to 127.0.0.1 if you are using CDO.
  1. Set this to your SMTP Server Mail Port. Default is 25, while some newer servers use 587.
  1. Choose your Mail Server Authentication Method from the drop down box.
  1. Enter your SMTP Server's login name in the open field.
  1. Enter your SMTP password in the open field.
  1. From the drop down box, specify whether your mail server requires SSL.
  1. Click the "Save Changes" button to update your system.

Lesson 6