Learning time categories in Learn365: create and manage

Introduction

Learning time categories help your organization track and report on the time learners spend on different types of training.

In many organizations, especially those in regulated industries, it’s important to monitor learning hours across defined areas such as compliance, auditing, or technical skills. Learning time categories make this possible by grouping learning time into meaningful classifications.

With learning time categories, you can:

• Organize learning hours by category
• Track time spent on different types of training
• Support reporting and audit requirements
• Meet compliance or certification standards

Learning time can be recorded automatically when learners complete courses in Learn365 or manually when they log external or informal training. This ensures that all relevant learning, both internal and external, is captured in one place. Once learning time categories are configured, they can be:

• Assigned to Learn365 courses, so completion records time against selected categories.
• Used for self-reported, external training, including attaching certificates.
• Included in transcripts and reports for tracking and compliance purposes.

Learning time category records are primarily used for tracking and reporting, rather than enforcing learning completion.

Before you start using learning time categories, an LMS admin must enable this global feature. For more information, see this article.

In this article, you will learn how to configure, manage, and use learning time categories in your organization.

Create and manage learning time categories

Required role: LMS admin.

Go to the Learn365 Admin Center > All catalogs > Learning configuration > Learning time categories. The Learning time categories page opens.

Here, you can create, edit, and delete learning time categories.

You can sort and filter the information on the Learning time categories page, and search for the relevant learning time category. Use a combination of filters and search text to quickly find the relevant learning time category.

Create a learning time category

The settings you apply to a learning time category are applied to each course where you assign it.

1. On the Learning time categories page, select Create category. The Create learning time category panel opens.

2. Enter a Learning time category name and Description.

3. Enter the minimum number of hours that learners must spend on training that has this learning time category in the Required hours field, in HH:mm format. You can enter up to 99 hours and 59 minutes.

4. To make a learning time category active so admins can add assign it to training, set the Status toggle to Active.

• Only active categories can be assigned to courses.
• When a category is inactive, it's no longer available for learner time registration, and learners can’t log time against it.
• You can set a category to inactive if it can’t be deleted. A category can only be deleted when no time records are linked to it.

To make the learning time category inactive, set the Status toggle to Inactive.

5. To make a learning time category mandatory, set the Mandatory toggle to On. 

6. If you require line manager approval of the number of hours learners enter manually for external training, set the Needs approval toggle to On. If you want learners to be able to record their learning time without approval, keep this toggle Off. Proxy managers and delegates can also review, approve, and reject hours.

7. To show the number of hours registered for this learning time category in learner transcripts, set the In transcript toggle to On. If the Needs approval toggle is On, hours will be displayed in transcripts only after the hours are approved.

8. Select Save to create the learning time category and return to the Learning time categories page.

Edit a learning time category

Any updates you make apply only going forward. To preserve historical data, all previously recorded learning time remains unchanged.

1. On the Learning time categories page, select Edit (the icon) next to the learning time category you want to edit. The Edit learning time category panel opens.

2. Edit the learning time category. For more information, see the steps 2 to 7 in Create a learning time category.

3. Select Save to return to the Learning time categories page.

Delete a learning time category

You can delete a learning time category only if no time records are associated with it. This action can't be undone.

Additionally, you can delete a learning time category that is already assigned to a course, but only if no time records are associated with it. In this case, when you delete the learning time category, it will be removed from the Basic details panel of the course configuration panel.

If a learning time category has at least one registered time record, deletion isn’t allowed and an error message is shown. In this case, you can set the category to inactive instead. For more information, see step 4 in Create a learning time category.

1. On the Learning time categories page, select Delete (the icon) next to the learning time category you want to delete.

2. The next step depends on whether the learning time category you selected:

• If the category has no time records associated with it, the Delete learning time category? dialog opens. Select Delete to confirm, or Cancel.
• If the category has time records associated with it, the Unable to delete learning time category dialog opens. Select OK.

Next steps

Once an LMS admin creates learning time categories:

• Admins can assign learning time categories to e-learning courses and instructor-led training courses.
• Once learning time categories are assigned to courses, Learn365 automatically records time for courses taken in Learn365.
• Learners can manually record learning time against learning time categories for external or informal training. For more information, see this article.
• Line managers, proxy managers, and delegates can review and approve external learning time entries for categories that require approval, see this article.
• Admins and learners can run the training duration report to show time spent on training for which learning time categories are assigned..