Introduction

Glossary

Navigating the platform

1. The primary navigation menu.
   
2. The center panel, which, depending on the set up of your dashboard, includes the Welcome widget and Courses widget.
   
3. The top menu.
   
4. The right panel.

Please note, if you are using a CYPHER for academia platform, you will see Classes on the navigation menu instead of Courses.

The primary navigation menu allows you to access these areas no matter where you are in the site. If you hover over most buttons, a fly-out menu will appear with the most important options for that area. 

In the example below, the Courses fly-out menu displays. This menu displays a tab for courses you are Teaching, and a tab for courses in which you are Enrolled.

Top menu

The menu displays multiple functions including:

1. Search: Enter keywords to search for courses, keywords, or resources.
   
2. Messages: Quickly access messages sent to you from other users.
   
1. A notification badge with a number will display if you have unread messages.
   
3. Notifications: Click the icon to view course, group, and account notifications.
   
1. A notification badge with a number will display if you have unread notifications
   
4. Calendar: Click the calendar icon to view your site calendar.
   
5. Profile: Click your profile picture to view your profile. Additional options are available in the drop-down menu next to your profile picture. Click the arrow to access:
   
1. Toggle dark mode: This setting allows you to enable dark mode on your platform.
   
2. Help: Access the Help center to view the Knowledge base and other helpful resources.
   
3. Print this page: Print the current page or save it to PDF.
   
4. Language setting: Your current language displays. Click the language to change the language setting for your view.
   
5. Log-out: Log out of the platform.
   

Right panel

The right panel contains widgets that display your Calendar, a To-do list, the Site-wide game leaderboard, Announcements, and more. The widgets that display vary based on the setup of your platform. To see more details, click on the links within a widget.

News feed

To access the News feed:

1. Click News at the top of the home page.
   

The home page news feed aggregates news items from your courses, groups and company. By default, a news feed only shows the latest items. If you scroll down the page, it automatically shows additional news items.

1. Click the Help icon in the lower left corner of the primary navigation menu.
   

1. Knowledge base: The Knowledge base includes help articles, product demos, webinars and more! 
   
2. Learner help desk: If available, the Learner help desk allows users to post questions to the help desk for your site.
   
3. Customer support center: The Customer support center is available to admins and allows you to access the Knowledge base, Community features such as the Roadmap and Suggestions, and to open a support ticket.
4. Product news: Product news is a great way to learn about the latest platform features and updates.
   
5. Product demos: Product demos provide step by step walk throughs of common features on the platform.
   
6. Getting started guides: Getting started guides present the basics of the platform for learners, instructors, and administrators.
   

If you click Knowledge base, the Knowledge base opens in a new window.

1. Browse topics by role and category.
   
2. You can also use the search bar to quickly locate specific topics.
   
3. Check out the Resources and updates section to see product demos and webinars on the latest platform features! 
   

1. Click your profile picture in the top right menu.
   
2. Click Edit.
   
1. The Edit pop-up will display, allowing you to edit your profile picture, description, password, account info, and social media links.
   

Additionally, you can adjust options for your profile in the Settings tab. To access your profile Settings:

1. Click your profile picture.
   
2. Click Settings on the profile navigation menu.
   

You can also scroll down to the Miscellaneous section of the Settings page to adjust additional settings. For example, you can change the Language of your platform in the Miscellaneous section.

Configuring features

As an administrator, you are able to configure the site. 

The majority of administrator settings can be accessed through the Admin button on the primary navigation menu. To access Admin pages:

1. Click or hover over the Admin button on the primary navigation menu.
   

The Admin fly-out menu displays a variety of administrator pages which allow you to adjust the platform. A page you will access frequently to enable new features is the App center. To access the App center:

1. Click App center from the Admin fly-out menu.

The App center includes a wide variety of apps that can be enabled on your platform such as Adaptive learning, Google Drive, Teams, and many more. Apps are organized by category, and you can quickly locate apps using the Search widget in the right panel.

To locate apps in the App center:

1. Type into the Phrase field in the Search widget to locate an app by name.
   
2. Select a Category checkbox to locate apps by category. 
   

To enable an app on the platform:

1. Click Install on the app tile.

Once the app is installed, you can begin configuring the app for your platform. To configure the app settings:

1. Click the cog  icon on the app tile.

Customizing the portal

CYPHER Learning has one of the most customizable interfaces in the learning platform industry. As an administrator, you have the ability to customize not only colors, logos, and images, but also very specific items like terminology throughout the portal. 

Portal name, description, and details

To set up basic details about your organization:

1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click About from the fly-out menu.
   

The About page allows you to edit your portal’s name, description, default language and timezone, and contact information. To edit this information:

1. Click the Edit button. 
   
2. Update the appropriate fields.
   
3. Click Save.

Portal customization

To start customizing your portal, access the Admin Portal page:

1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
2. Click Portal from the fly-out menu. 
   

1. General: Set up your URL, color theme, logo, and language.
   
2. Visitor view: Configure the set up and design of the portal for visitors. Visitor view pages are public and available to users who are not logged in to your portal.
   
3. User view: Configure the set up and design of the portal for logged-in users.
   
4. Terminology: Customize the terminology of your site by adding one or more terminology substitutions.
5. SEO: The SEO tab provides you with options that enable search engine indexing, naming catalog URLs, and setting up a meta-description and keywords.
6. Social media: The Social media tab enables you to add social media icons and links to your visitor and user portals.
7. Custom CSS: The Custom CSS tab allows you to upload custom CSS to add or override stylesheet values.
8. Custom HTML: The Custom HTML tab allows you to upload custom HTML to the platform.
9. Accessibility: The Accessibility tab provides several settings that helps users successfully navigate the platform, such as enabling the high contrast mode, which follows WCAG 2.2 contrast requirements.
10. More: The More tab allows you to configure additional portal settings, such as setting up a login session timeout, enabling a Captcha, setting up a log in widget, using Google fonts, and more. 

This guide will cover some of the primary portal settings from each tab. For more in-depth information, you can visit the Portal knowledge base article.

URL

The first section of the General tab is the URL section. This section displays the current URL of your portal.

1. Click Edit your MATRIX URL to change the URL for the portal. This option allows you to quickly edit the subdomain of your URL. The subdomain is the first section of the URL and can be a mix of letters and numbers. 
   
1. Academia users will click Edit your NEO URL to change the URL for the portal. 
   
2. Click Use your own URL to set up your own, custom URL.
   
1. Note that you must register your URL with a registrar and maintain ownership to use your own, custom URL.
   

Color theme

The next section of the General tab is the Color theme section. To modify your portal's color theme:

1. Select a primary accent color. The primary accent color is used across the site to indicate active tabs and buttons, default icons, and more. 
   
1. A variety of pre-selected colors are available. Click Custom color if you would like to select your own color.
   
2. Select a primary navigation color. The primary navigation color is used for navigation elements such as the primary navigation menu.
   
3. Allow dark mode: Click allow dark mode to give users the ability to change their personal portal view to dark mode.
   
4. Enable color bars for tiles: Select the Enable color bars for tiles checkbox to allow course, class, module, or lesson tiles to display color bars on the left side of the tile.

If you select the Custom color button, the Select custom color pop-up displays.

1. Enter a HEX color code, or select a color using the color picker.
   
2. Click Save.
   

Logo

The next section of the General tab is the Logo section. 

1. Full Logo: Click Upload logo in the Full Logo section to upload a logo that will appear at the top of the primary navigation menu.
   
1. The file can be a PNG, JPG, or GIF and the recommended size is 80px x 80px. A transparent background is recommended.
   
2. Condensed Logo: Click Upload logo in the Condensed Logo section to upload a logo that will appear at the top of the primary navigation menu when the menu is condensed.
   
1. The file can be a PNG, JPG, or GIF and the recommended size is 50px x 50px. A transparent background is recommended.
   

Visitor view

The Visitor view tab allows you to configure the visitor page(s) for your portal. Visitor view pages are public and available to users who are not logged in to your portal. 

1. Simple: Selecting a simple visitor page is a great choice for schools and businesses who only have internal users. When users access a simple visitor page, they are immediately prompted to login or sign up. 
   
2. Full on all devices: If you select Full on all devices, you can design a more robust home page and enable multiple pages, including a catalog, calendar, news, blog, and more. 
   
3. Full on all devices except phones: If you select Full on all devices except phones, you can design a robust visitor home page and enable multiple pages, but users that access your site on mobile phones will only be prompted to login or sign up. 
   

1. Click + Add.
   
1. Choose between creating a new HTML page, or Reference to a specified URL, which allows you to create a page that links to another, specified URL.
   

Portal visual editor

The portal visual editor provides a point-and-click interface to design your visitor portal. The portal visual editor allows you to add, move, delete, and hide panels and adjust their settings. To access the portal visual editor:

1. Click Edit in the Portal visual editor section of the Visitor view tab.
   

Portal panels

When designing the visitor view of the portal, you can add customizable portal panels. The Portal visual editor supports multiple types of portal panels, including:

1. Carousel
   
2. Clickable text blocks
   
3. Counters
   
4. Custom
   
5. Image blocks
   
6. Simple text and button
   
7. Split text and image
   
8. Text and buttons

Portal panels: Carousel

The Carousel panel allows you to add slides which can include custom pictures, text, HTML, and action buttons. The screenshot below shows multiple slides within a Carousel panel. To add a carousel panel:

1. Click Add panel in the editor.
   
2. Click Carousel from the Add portal panel. 
   
3. Click a slide in the Carousel to edit it.
4. Clicking Add slide allows you to add additional slides to the carousel.
   

1. Click Add panel in the editor.
   
2. Click Counters from the Add portal panel. 
   

1. Click a counter tab to edit the text and number.
   
2. Click Change picture to update the background image.
   
3. Determine if you want the image to stay fixed as the user scrolls the page.

1. Click Add panel in the editor.
   
2. Click Simple text and button from the Add portal panel pop-up. 
   

1. Enter the text for the panel in the Text field.
   
2. Select a background color.
   
3. You can configure the call to action button by selecting the Show CTA checkbox, adding text, selecting the CTA URL, and choosing the shape, style, and color of the button.
   

Portal panels: Image blocks

The Image blocks panel allows you to create a panel with a set of up to four images with descriptions. To add an Image blocks panel:

1. Click Add panel in the editor.
   
2. Click Image blocks from the Add portal panel pop-up. 
   

1. Click the name of the block to edit the block.
   
2. Select the Show CTAs checkbox to display the call to action buttons. 
   
3. Select a shape and style for the call to action buttons.
   
4. Choose a color for the call to action buttons.

1. Click the Edit  icon to edit an existing footer button: 
   
2. Click + Add to add a new footer item.

Terminology

You can customize the terminology of your site by adding one or more substitutions under the Terminology tab. These substitutions apply to all built-in text which appears on tabs, buttons, headings, instructions, and tips. For example, you can replace the term Teacher with the term Instructor. To add a terminology substitution:

1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Portal from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click the Terminology tab.
   
4. Click + Add.
   

The Add substitution pop-up displays.

1. Enter the current, Original term.
   
2. Enter a Replacement term.
   
3. Click Save.
   

1. General Log in
   
2. Two factor authentication
   
3. Authentication remote check
   
4. News feed settings
   
5. Profile settings
   
6. Miscellaneous settings

1. Prevent simultaneous logins: This setting is available in the Learners tab, and if enabled, a learner can only be logged on via a single session. When they start a new session, any of their previous sessions are automatically terminated.
   
2. Monitoring: Monitoring is a setting that allows instructors and teachers to monitor learner conversations within courses. To enable monitoring:
1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click App center from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Install the Monitoring app.
   
4. Click Policies from the Admin secondary menu.
   
5. Select the Monitoring checkbox on the General tab.
   
6. By default, the Let members know that communications are monitored checkbox is also selected. With this enabled, learners will see the following message when sending messages or using chat: Your company monitors communications for offensive language.
   
3. Set time zone of all accounts to site time zone: If enabled, you can set all user time zones to the time zone of your company.
   
4. Allow disabling of announcement notifications: If enabled, users will be able to turn off notifications from announcements.
   

Configuring the course catalog

The course catalog lists all the courses that you wish to offer learners. If you have e-commerce enabled, training items may be purchased directly from the catalog. To browse the catalog:

1. Click Catalog from the primary navigation menu. 
   

By default, your site will include your company or school's catalog. If you add additional third party catalog providers, such as LinkedIn or Coursera, they will display as tabs across the top of the page.

The Catalog displays categories as tiles. 

1. Click a catalog category tile to view associated items (such as courses, bundles, or subscriptions).

Please note courses, bundles, and subscriptions must be Published to display in the catalog. Please visit the Catalog section of the Configuring courses and class knowledge base article to learn how to publish a course.

As an administrator, you can configure the course catalog. To access catalog settings:

1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
   
3. If you have one catalog, the Settings tab displays by default.
   
4. If you have multiple catalogs, click the Shared settings tab. 
   

Common catalog settings include:

1. Options: Enable or disable catalog search, the catalog calendar, and location filtering.
2. Layout: 
   
1. Format: Choose between Flat, Hierarchical, or Graphic.
   
2. Category ordering: Choose between Alphabetical or Custom. If you choose Custom, you can reorder the categories using drag and drop.
   
3. Course ordering: Choose between Alphabetical or Custom. If you choose Custom, you can reorder the courses using drag and drop.
   
3. Items:
   
1. Display short descriptions on item tiles: Choose to display the short description of items on their tiles.
   
2. Display short descriptions on category tiles: Choose to display the short description of categories on their tiles.
   
3. Show sections in each module: if enabled, the list of sections will be displayed on the catalog page of the course.
   
4. Show time zone: Include the course time zone on item tiles (if applicable).
   
4. Visibility
   
1. Display items for default organization in all catalogs: if you have enabled multiple organizations for your platform, the default organization’s courses will appear in all catalogs.
2. Only show open enrollment courses in visitor catalog: If enabled, only the courses and paths with open enrollment will be displayed in the course catalog for visitors.
3. Hide old courses: If enabled, courses that started over a week ago are hidden.
   
4. Only show pricing on catalog page, not on tiles or listings: If enabled, pricing is only shown on the item catalog page, not on tiles or listings.
5. Right column: Enable the right column in the catalog to show a list of featured items and/or boxes.

Categories

1. Click Add to add a new category.
   
2. Click the Edit, Picture, or SEO metadata icons for existing categories to update the current category information.
   

Enabling the catalog on the visitor portal

1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Portal from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click the Visitor view tab.
   
4. Ensure the Catalog page is enabled in the Portal pages section.

Creating accounts

All users who log in to the site must have an account. The most common account roles include:  

1. Learner/Student: Learners (or students) take courses and participate in groups.
   
2. Manager: Managers can track their direct reports’ learning progress, enroll them in courses, and send them messages. If enabled, managers can also add and remove goals for their direct reports.
   
3. Instructor/Teacher: Instructors (or teachers) create and teach courses.
   
4. Administrator: Administrators have the ability to administer the entire site.
   
5. Organization Administrator: An administrator who is assigned to a specific organization.
   
6. Teaching Assistant: TAs assist instructors to run courses, grade assessments, and use collaboration tools.
   
7. Parents: Parents can enroll their children in courses and classes and view user information.
   
8. Mentors: Mentors offer assistance to other users, called Mentees. They can enroll mentees in courses and create groups.
   
9. Monitors: Monitors are read-only administrators that can access most pages of a site, but cannot make changes.
   

Adding accounts

The platform offers a variety of ways to add accounts. To begin:

1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
   

A variety of ways to add accounts display. Each will be covered below.

Add accounts using a form

This option allows you to quickly add accounts using a form. It is ideal when adding an individual account or a small number of accounts. To add an account using a form:

1. Click the Form tab.
   
2. Select a Built-in or Custom role for the account.
   
3. Select the Organization for the account.
   
4. Select if you will require the user(s) to change their passwords when they first log in.
   
1. Please note this option does not apply to users who login with SSO.
   
5. Select if you will send log-in instructions to the user(s).
   
6. Determine how many accounts you want to create.
   
7. Click Continue.
   

1. Click the Email tab.
   
2. Select an Account role for the account(s).
   
3. Select the Organization for the account(s).
   
4. Determine how many invitations you would like to send.
   
5. Click Continue.
   

The email invitation is sent, but the account is not created until the user accepts the invitation and completes the sign-up process.

To view a list of invited users:

1. Hover over Users on the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Invited from the fly-out menu.

Invited users display. You can select a user and resend the invitation if needed.

Allow visits to sign up from your portal

Another way to create accounts is by allowing visitors to sign up from your visitor portal. It is a useful method if you want to avoid creating accounts manually and want to allow people to create their own accounts. To allow visitors to create their own accounts:

1. Click the Sign up tab.
   
2. Determine if an access code is required:
   
1. No access code required: If you select this option, learners and instructors can sign up for an account just by clicking the Sign-up button on your visitor portal and then entering their account details.
   
2. Select Access code required: This option allows you to create access codes which can be used by new users to create accounts on your site. 

If you select Access code required, the Access codes section displays. You can adjust the access code settings for each account role. To edit the access codes:

1. Click Edit in the Access code section.
   
2. Determine if the account role requires an access code.
   
3. Set the access code for the account role.
   
4. Click Save.

When you enable the Sign up button, it displays on your visitor portal. The screenshot below provides an exampled of a Sign up pop-up that requires an access code. 

Import accounts from a file

This option allows you to quickly create or update accounts by importing the information from a comma-separated value (CSV) file. To import account from a file:

1. Click Import them via a bulk upload on the Overview tab.
   
2. Or, click the Import button.

'

1. Click Add file to select the CSV file from your computer.
   
1. Note that the CSV file should NOT include the value names as the first row. For example, if the first row of your CSV file is labeled with "Roles,First Name,Last Name", the file upload will fail.
   
2. In the Values section, indicate the column of each value in the CSV file.
   
1. For example, if user first names are in the second column, select 2 as the Column for the First name value.
   
2. Every field except for First Name and Last Name are optional.
   
3. If you omit a user id and/or password, they are given unique values automatically. 
   

After defining the columns for each value in your CSV file, complete the Options settings:

1. Select a default role for the imported accounts. The default role you select will apply to all accounts that do not have a specified role in the CSV file.
   
1. Note that the default role is set to Learner/Student. 
   
2. Select an Organization that will apply to the accounts in the import.
   
3. Dry run: Select Yes if you would like to check the import before making changes.
   
1. Performing a dry run is recommended.
   
4. Require user to change password when they first login: Determine if you want users to be prompted to change passwords the first time they login.
   
5. Update passwords for accounts that already exist: If you are updating existing accounts, determine if you would like to update their passwords.
   
1. This default is No for this setting.
   
6. Select a Date format.
   
7. Send log in instructions: Determine if you want to send log in instructions to users for the new accounts.
   
8. Click Continue.
   

Managing users

As an administrator, you can see an overview of all users in your company. To view users:

1. Hover over Users on the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
3. Click on a category to see more details about users within an account role.

1. Sending messages
   
2. Viewing scores
   
3. Awarding badges and certificates
   
4. Archiving users
   
5. Removing users
   

Using automation

To add rules that occur when users are inactive:

1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Accounts from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click the Inactivity tab.
   
4. Set the number of days of user inactivity that trigger the inactivity rule.
5. Click Add to add an inactivity action, which occurs when users are inactive for the specified number of days.
   

Adding rules for e-commerce

If you have e-commerce enabled, you can also set up e-commerce rules for courses, subscriptions, and bundles. For example, you can add an action that occurs when a user purchases a course. To add a purchase action to a course:

1. Ensure E-commerce is enabled on your platform.
   
2. Access a course or class.
   
3. Click Admin from the course secondary navigation menu.
   
4. Click the E-commerce tab.
   
5. Click Add in the Purchase actions section.

Summary