Getting started guide for administrators: Next steps

Getting started guide for administrators: Next steps

Introduction

This guide builds on the first Getting started guide for administrators, Getting started guide for administrators: Initial setup. If you've completed the initial guide, you're ready to continue your learning journey here.

This guide covers topics such as configuring e-commerce, using SEO marketing tools, compliance, site-wide notifications, and reports.  Use the table of contents on the right to navigate to specific topics. For additional support or to explore more features, visit the Knowledge base.

Configuring e-commerce

The e-commerce feature allows you to sell courses, subscriptions, bundles, and digital media through your platform. Visitors and users can browse the course catalog, view a detailed description of the items that are offered, and purchase items for sale.

To enable E-commerce, you must first install the app:
  1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click App center from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Request access on the E-commerce app.
  4. Add a message to inquire about the pricing and availability of the app for your platform.
  5. Click Send.
You will receive a notification if the request is approved. You can also reach out to your Customer Success Manager for more information about the pricing and availability of the app.

Admin, App center with the Request access button highlighted on the E-commerce tile

Payment gateway configuration

In order for users and visitors to purchase items from your portal, you must configure a payment gateway.  The platform offers support for PayPal, PayPal Payment Pro, Authorize.net, Stripe, PayU LatAm, PayUbiz, PagSeguro, Flywire, Conekta, Teir, YooMoney, and Purchase orders as payment gateways.

To add a payment gateway:
  1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Configure button.
  4. Click Add on the Payment gateways tab.
  5. Select the payment gateway your company utilizes and link your existing account.
To learn more, visit the How to set up payment gateways knowledge base article.


Payment gateways pop-up

Setting prices for courses

When e-commerce is installed on your platform, you can set the price for courses at the course level. To set a price for a course:
  1. Access the course or class.
  2. Hover over Admin on the course secondary menu.
  3. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  4. Click Edit price to set a price for the course.
Course, Admin, E-commerce with the Edit price button highlighted

Adding coupons

After you have set the price for a course, you can add coupons. To add a coupon to a course:
  1. Access the course or class.
  2. Hover over Admin on the course secondary navigation menu.
  3. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  4. Ensure a price is set for the course.
  5. Click Add in the Coupons section.
Course, Admin, E-commerce with the Add button highlighted in the Coupons section

The Add coupon pop-up displays.
  1. Add a Name and Code for the coupon.
  2. Max uses: Determine the maximum number of uses for the coupon.
    1. By default, Unlimited is selected.
  3. Once per user: Select this checkbox if you want to restrict the coupon usage to one time per user.
  4. Discount: Set a discount percentage, or a fixed discount amount.
  5. Currency: Select a Currency for the coupon.
  6. Enable time restriction: Select this checkbox if you would like to set a Begin and End time for the coupon.
Add coupon pop-up with an example of a coupon that is valid for one year

Bulk purchases

Users can also buy items in bulk.  For example, a user could buy seats to a course in bulk and then enroll users into the seats, or transfer the seats to another account.  

To enable bulk purchases:
  1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Configure button.
  4. Click the Bulk purchases tab.
  5. Click Enable. 
Admin, E-commerce, Bulk purchases tab with the Enable button highlighted

When bulk purchases are enabled, the shopping cart allows you to select a quantity and specify whether the item(s) are for someone else.
  1. Note that if the items are for someone else, the purchaser is not auto-enrolled into the course after the purchase.

Add bulk discounts

The Add bulk discounts option allows you to add one or more bulk discount rules that can apply to the entire shopping cart. To enable bulk discounts:
  1. Hover over Admin on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Configure button.
  4. Click the Bulk discounts tab.
  5. Click Add.
You can then create a bulk discount based on either the number of items ordered or on the cost of the items.
  1. For example, you can create a discount based on quantity that provides a 10% discount to a visitor with at least three items in the shopping cart.
  2. As another example, you can create a discount based on amount that provides a 5% discount to a visitor with a total value of at least $40 in the shopping cart.
Add bulk discount pop-up

Add bundles

Another example of an item you can sell is a bundle. A bundle is a combination of courses, paths, and/or digital media. 

To create a bundle:
  1. Hover over Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Bundles from the Items table.
  4. If you have already created bundles, they will display.
  5. Click Add.
Admin, E-commerce, Bundles tab with the Add button highlighted

The Add bundle pop-up displays.
  1. Enter a Name for the bundle.
  2. Click Save.
The bundle is created. To add courses or digital media to the bundle:
  1. Click Add item.
Admin, E-commerce, Bundle Items page with the Add item button highlighted

After selecting items for your bundle, you can configure it. To configure your bundle:
  1. Click Admin from the bundle secondary navigation menu.
  2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
  3. Select Publish? to publish the bundle to the catalog.
  4. Use the Categories section to select the catalog categories for the bundle.
  5. Use the E-commerce tab to set a price for the bundle.
Admin, E-commerce, Bundle, Admin, Configure, Catalog tab

Add subscription plans

The platform also allows you to combine multiple courses, paths, and/or digital media and sell them as a subscription plan. Visitors can purchase access to the subscription plan for a monthly or yearly fee.

To create a subscription plan:
  1. Hover over Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Subscriptions from the Items table.
  4. If you have already created subscription plans, they will display.
  5. Click Add.
To learn more, visit the How to create and sell subscription plans article.

Add subscription pop-up

Digital media

You can also sell digital media items such as videos, audio files and pdf documents, just as you would sell courses. To add digital media files to your e-commerce offerings:
  1. Hover over Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Digital media from the Items table.
  4. Click Add.
  5. Name the digital media.
  6. Upload the content.
  7. Configure the price, catalog categories, and settings for the digital media.
Digital media pop-up

Shopping and checkout experience

Site visitors can browse your courses and other learning items by accessing the course catalog on your main portal. To customize the shopping experience:
  1. Hover over Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Customizations in the Configuration table.
  4. Explore customizing the Cart introduction, Purchases introduction, and Invoice template.
Visitor view, Catalog, courses within a category

Purchasing items

The checkout process for visitors is the same for all learning items. Visitors browse courses, digital media, bundles and more in the catalog. When they are ready to purchase an item, they can add it to their shopping cart by clicking the Purchase button.

Visitor view, Catalog, Course page with the Purchase button highlighted


Visitors are then directed to the Checkout page. If bulk discounts are available, the will display on the Checkout page.

Additionally, if coupons are available, visitors can click the Apply coupon button to add a coupon.  

Visitor view, Checkout page with a course added and the Apply coupon button highlighted


If visitors already have an account, they can click the Log in button to log into their account and proceed with the payment.

If the visitor does not have an account, they must create a learner account before purchasing the items.
Visitor view, Checkout page, Account fields

After the purchase, users can access their purchased items in the Purchases area of their profile.

Profile, Purchases page with two purchased courses displaying

Using marketing tools

The platform provides various tools to help you market your courses, such as SEO, affiliate marketing, integration with Mailchimp, and more. 

Configuring SEO for the site

To configure SEO for your platform:
  1. Hover over Admin from the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Portal from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the SEO tab. 
The SEO tab allows you to configure search engine optimization settings, including search engine indexing, named catalog URLs, metadata descriptions and keywords, and custom robots and sitemaps.
Admin, Portal, SEO tab

Configuring SEO for courses

The platform also allows you to edit the meta description and keywords for each individual course. To edit the meta description and keywords for a course:
  1. Access the course or class.
  2. Hover over Admin on the course secondary navigation menu.
  3. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
  4. Click Add in the SEO section. 
Course, Admin, Catalog tab with the Add button highlighted in the SEO section


The Meta description and meta keywords pop-up displays.
  1. Add a Description.
  2. Add Keywords, separated by commas.
  3. Click Save.
Meta description and meta keywords pop-up

Affiliate programs

The platform includes an affiliate feature which allows administrators to create affiliate accounts that earn commissions through referrals. Each affiliate receives a unique referral link they can share to direct visitors to the portal. When a visitor makes a purchase through the referral link, the affiliate earns a commission based on a percentage of the purchase value set by an administrator.

To learn more, visit the Affiliates knowledge base article.

Home, Affiliate tab with the Referral share link highlighted

Mailchimp integration

The Mailchimp integration provides administrators an end-to-end email integration for email marketing and customized learner email messages. Administrators can import Mailchimp contacts into the portal, and export user lists from their portal to Mailchimp.

To learn more, visit the Mailchimp knowledge base article.

Admin, Mailchimp, Import tab

Ratings and reviews

To help promote courses, you can allow learners to rate and review courses they are enrolled in. The reviews display on the Reviews tab in the course catalog.

Visitor view, Catalog, Course page with the Reviews tab selected and highlighted and an example 5 star review


If you want to enable reviews for a course:
  1. Access the course or class.
  2. Hover over Admin in the course secondary navigation menu.
  3. Click Features from the fly-out menu.
  4. Select the Reviews checkbox.
When reviews are enabled for a course, the platform allows you select which reviews you want to make public.  When a learner submits a rating and/or review, you will receive a notification of the submission. To moderate the ratings for a course:
  1. Click the link in the notification.
    1. You can also access the course and click Reviews from the course secondary menu.
  2. Select the review's Publish? checkbox to make the review public in the course catalog. 
    1. Deselect the review's Publish? checkbox to unpublish the review.


Configuring compliance

Compliance training can help educate employees about laws, regulations, policies and ethical standards that apply to their roles and organizations.

The platform supports compliance training in a variety of ways: 
  1. Designating courses as compliance courses.
  2. Compliance course expiration and renewal.
  3. Monitoring compliance status.
  4. Compliance reports.
To enable compliance features on your portal, an administrator must first install the Compliance app.

Then, you can designate courses as compliance courses. To designate a compliance course:
  1. Access the course or class.
  2. Hover over Admin from the course/class secondary navigation menu.
  3. Select Compliance from the fly-out menu.
  4. Click + Required for compliance.
Course, Admin, Compliance tab with the Require for compliance button highlighted


Once a course has been designated as a compliance course, you can set a compliance Duration. By default, when a learner completes a compliance course, they are deemed compliant forever. To change the compliance period:
  1. Access the compliance course or class.
  2. Hover over Admin from the course/class secondary navigation menu.
  3. Click Compliance from the fly-out menu.
  4. Ensure the course is required for compliance.
  5. Click Edit under the Duration heading.
The Edit pop-up displays. Select an option from the drop-down menu:
  1. Forever: The course compliance status will never expire. This is the default option.
  2. Specific duration: Allows you to enter a compliance expiration duration in years, months, weeks and days.
  3. Until a specific date: Allows you to define a specific date compliance will end.
  4. For date period: Allows you to define a single specific date when the learner will be compliant.
Edit pop-up for a compliance duration

If your compliance course or class has a duration or expiration date, you can add an Expiration countdown rule. An Expiration countdown rule can trigger a variety of actions. For example, you might choose to start the countdown 30 days before expiration and choose to send a notification to all learners of the upcoming deadline.



To view a list of courses required for compliance:
  1. Hover over Courses on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click List from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click the Compliance tab. 
The Compliance tab lists compliance courses for your site, along with the compliance status of learners enrolled in the course. Clicking on a number within the table redirects you to the Learners tab for the compliance course, where you can see additional learner compliance details.   

Courses, List, Compliance tab

Setting up canned messages

Many actions users take in the platform, such as enrollment, unenrollment, and deactivation, automatically trigger notifications (called canned messages) that are sent to users.

To customize the content of a message:
  1. Hover over Admin in the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Messages from the fly-out menu.
  3. The platform's built-in canned messages display.
  4. Click a canned message.
Admin, Messages, Summary page

The canned message displays. To change the canned message associated with an action:
  1. Click Edit.
Admin, Messages, Course completion message

The Subject and Message become editable.
  1. Update the Subject and Message to fit your business or school.
    1. Each canned message has associated variables associated that can be inserted into the canned message using the "@" syntax. The variables available for the canned message are listed below the canned message name.
  2. Click Save.
Admin, Messages, Course completion message in edit mode

Creating reports

The platform allows you to create and run reports about many aspects of the platform such as system statistics, course completions, and course enrollments.

The platform includes standard reports and allows you to create custom reports.  To see a list of standard reports:
  1. Hover over Reports on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Catalog.
A variety of reports display. Some of the most common reports are covered below.

Reports, Catalog


Site statistics

The Site statistics report provides statistics about the number of users, courses, enrollments, assessments, and storage on your platform. To generate the report:
  1. Hover over Reports on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Miscellaneous.
  4. Click Run on the Site statistics report.
  5. Enter a Name for the report.
  6. Determine when you want to run the report and if you want to send the results via email.
  7. Click Run.
When the report is generated you will get a notification, which will include a link to the details of the report.

Course enrollment

The Course enrollment report allows you to run reports on course enrollments and filter results by date, course, and organization. To generate a course enrollment report:
  1. Hover over Reports on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Courses.
  4. Click Run on the Course enrollment report.
  5. Enter a Name for the report.
  6. Select the date range, courses, and organization you would like to include in the report.
  7. Select an Output option.
  8. Determine when you want to run the report and if you want to send the results via email.
  9. Click Run.
Run report pop-up for the Course enrollment report

Course status

The Course status report shows each learner's status in a course, along with any assigned assessments and their completion status. The report allows you to filter results by course and organization.

Course completion

The Course completion report shows the number of learners who completed a course during the selected time period. The report allows you to filter results by date range, completion type, course, and organization. The report also allows you to display unenrolled learners and determine how the results are sorted.

Revenue

The Revenue report shows revenue generated through e-commerce for your site. To generate the report:
  1. Hover over Reports on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Catalog.
  3. Click E-commerce from the fly-out menu.
  4. Click Run on the Revenue report.
  5. Enter a Name for the report.
  6. Select a date range.
  7. Select an Output option.
  8. Determine when you want to run the report and if you want to send the results via email.
  9. Click Run.
Run report pop-up for the Revenue report

Compliance summary

The Compliance summary report lists selected compliance courses and the compliance status of learners. To generate the report:
  1. Hover over Reports on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
  3. Click Compliance.
  4. Click Run on the Course compliance report.
  5. Enter a Name for the report.
  6. Select the courses and organizations you want to include in the report.
  7. Select an Output option.
  8. Determine when you want to run the report and if you want to send the results via email.
  9. Click Run.
Run report pop-up for the Course compliance report

Saved and scheduled reports

When you add a new report, you have the option to run it immediately or schedule it to run at a specified date and time. You can set up reports to run on a cadence, so that the report is automatically run on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. You can also enter an email address to have the scheduled report automatically emailed to a user.

Scheduled reports also display on the Scheduled tab. To located scheduled reports:
  1. Hover over Reports on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Scheduled from the fly-out menu.
Run report pop-up for the Assessment usage report with the Catalog, Run, Start at, Repeats, and Email to sections highlighted

Custom reports

The platform also allows you to create custom reports on users, courses, paths, organizations, and more. To create a custom report:
  1. Hover over Reports on the primary navigation menu.
  2. Click Add from the fly-out menu.
  3. Enter a Name and Description for the report.
  4. Select a Library for the report.
  5. Select the type of report you would like to create, such as Assessments, Courses, Users, etc.
Add custom report pop-up with the Report on drop-down menu active

The Setup tabs display. Each tab allows you to customize the report by selecting the columns to include, adding filters to refine the data, choosing sorting options, determining how the data is grouped, and selecting a chart type.

Custom report, Setup, Set up tab

The Columns tab allows you to select exactly which columns you want to report on, including your own custom account fields.

To learn more about reporting, visit the Reports knowledge base article.

Custom report, Setup tab, Columns tab

Summary

By completing this Getting started guide, you've learned the basics of configuring e-commerce, using SEO and marketing tools, managing compliance, creating site-wide notifications, and running reports.

As you continue your learning journey, explore the resources and articles in the Knowledge base to help you get the most out of your CYPHER Learning platform.

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