Enrollment flow types in LMS365

Introduction

LMS365 has an option for course and catalog admins to control the enrollment flow of courses and training plans. This option helps course and catalog admins to regulate the number of users in a course or training plan and to control the list of participants. There will be differences in the enrollment procedure depending on the selected enrollment flow.

In this guide, we'll describe the different types of enrollment flows and how to manage them.

 

Enrollment flow types

LMS365 includes the following enrollment flow types:

• Administrator Approval. Requires a course or catalog admin to approve the user's enrollment request for the user to be enrolled in a course or training plan.
• Automatic Approval. Enables users to be immediately enrolled in a course or training plan after selecting the enroll button on the relevant training home page.
• Line Manager Approval. Requires the user's line manager to approve the enrollment request for the user to be enrolled in a course or training plan. The line manager for a user is specified in Azure Active Directory.

At a catalog level, catalog admins can configure which enrollment flow types will be available for courses and training plans.

 

Manage enrollment requests

If there are courses or training plans where users' enrollment requests are pending approval, Pending Approval is displayed on the top menu bar of the Training Management page. The total number of enrollment requests that are waiting for approval is shown next to the Pending Approval view link.

On the Training Management page, courses and training plans with pending approvals have a red exclamation mark next to their title. 

 

 

 

To manage users' enrollment requests:

1. Go to the LMS365 Admin Center > Training Management > select Pending Approval at the top bar menu to open the view where only courses and training plans with enrollment requests are displayed.

2. Select the relevant course or training plan from the list to open the Course Management or Training Plan Management panel, respectively, and select Approve Enrollments.

This opens the Approve Enrollments panel, where you can approve or reject users' enrollment requests and also view the history of all users' enrollment requests ever received for the training.

The Approve Enrollments panel slightly differs depending on the training type and its settings. 

3. On the Approve Enrollments panel, select the relevant users and approve or reject their enrollment requests. 

Find more about how to approve or reject users' enrollment requests for different training types and in two different ways in the next section of this article.

 

Approve/reject enrollment requests

A learner's enrollment request can be approved or rejected in the following ways:

• Directly from the approval request notification that the approver receives via email and Microsoft Teams (if this option is enabled).
• In the LMS365 Admin Center.

The difference between these options is that from the notification, the catalog, course admin, or line manager intuitively handles one enrollment request, whereas from the LMS365 Admin Center, the catalog, course admin, or line manager can work with all enrollment request of a course or training plan at once. 

 

Via email notification and Teams

After a learner selects the Enroll to course/training plan option on the training home page in training that requires either Line Manager Approval or Administrator Approval, an approval request email notification and a Teams notification (if the option is enabled) are sent to the approver. This approval request notification contains information about who has requested enrollment, the title, other details of the training, and links to either approve or reject the enrollment request.

 

An example of the approval request notification that the approver receives via email.

 

An example of the approval request notification that the approver receives via Teams.

 

When the approver selects to approve the enrollment request, the corresponding link directs them to the Enrollment Approval Confirmation page that provides the following information:

• The course type, its title (a clickable link redirecting to the training home page), the name of the learner who requested enrollment approval. Depending on the training settings, the categories, ID, due date, and contacts of the training may also be displayed.

 

• For instructor-led training with the multiple-enrollment type, information on the requested course sessions and/or session groups is also displayed. For standalone sessions you can track the date, start and end time of the session. For a group session, you can track the start date and time of the first session in a group and the end date and time of the last session in a group. The names of the session or session group aren't displayed.

 

• For instructor-led training with the single- enrollment type, information on the requested course sessions or session groups is also displayed. For a standalone session, you can track the date, start and end time of the session. For a group session, you can track the start date and time of the first session in a group, and the end date and time of the last session in a group. The names of the sessions or session groups aren't displayed.

 

If the number of enrollments requested exceeds the SharePoint limit of 5000, the first 5000 enrollments will be approved and the remaining ones will be rejected. A notification will inform you of this. For more information about a workaround to this issue, see this article.

 

When the approver selects to reject the enrollment request, the corresponding link directs them to the Enrollment Rejection Confirmation page. This page provides information about the course type, its title (a clickable link redirecting to the training home page), and name of the learner who requested enrollment approval. Depending on the training settings, the categories, ID, due date, and contacts of the training may also be displayed.

For instructor-led training that has the single- and multiple- enrollment type, information about the requested standalone sessions or session groups is also displayed. For a standalone session, you can track the date, start and end time of the session. For a group session, you can track the start date and time of the first session in a group, and the end date and time of the last session in a group. The names of the sessions or session groups aren't displayed.

In the Reason of Rejection field, the person who is rejecting the request should enter a reason for the rejection. This will activate the Reject button.

 

 

After selecting Reject, the Reject button will be replaced with the message: You have successfully rejected the enrollment request. The learner will receive the Reject Confirmation notification, which will show the rejection reason.

 

 

Via the LMS365 Admin Center

Enrollment requests with a Pending Approval status can be approved or rejected in the LMS365 Admin Center.

To manage enrollment requests from the Approve Enrollments panel:

1. Go to the LMS365 Admin Center > Training Management > select Pending Approval on the navigation panel to show all training with pending approval requests.

2. From the Course/Training Plan Management, select Approve Enrollments. The Approve Enrollments panel opens where you can see the list of users requesting for enrollment in the training.

3. Select the relevant users to activate the Approve and Reject options.

By default, the panel shows users with pending approvals.

 

 

 

 

Depending on the enrollment type of the course, the view of the Approve Enrollment panel will differ and may include the following information:

• Enrollment Flow. Shows the enrollment flow type set for the course or training plan.
• Enrollment Type. Displays the enrollment type of the instructor-led training; single-, multiple-, or all- enrollment type.
• The All course sessions drop-down list. Displayed only for instructor-led training with the single- enrollment type. By default, the panel displays all the requests in the course. From the list, you can select the exact session or a session group that has pending approvals.
• The Pending Approval filter. By default, the filter has the Pending Approval parameter preselected and the panel displays the users with an enrollment request. Other options in the drop-down list of the filter include the following: All enrollment statuses, Pending Approval, Enrolled, Rejected, Cancelled. Selecting an option will bring out the list of the relevant users in the course.
  
• Export to Excel. Enables you to download the filtered result from the panel.
• Name. Displays the user's name who requested enrollment approval.
• Email. Displays the user’s email address (as specified in the Azure Active Directory).
• Department. Displays the user's department (information is taken from the Azure Active Directory).
• Line Manager. Displays the user who is specified as the user's line manager in Azure Active Directory.
• Enrollment Status. Displays the status of the enrollment request:

Enrolled. The user has been enrolled in the training.

Pending Approval. The user has requested enrollment in the training with either the Line Manager Approval or Administrator Approval enrollment flow, and the enrollment request is awaiting approval.

Cancelled. The user has cancelled the enrollment request before it was approved or rejected, or the user has unenrolled from the training. Possible reasons for cancellation are described in the Cancellation messages section.

Rejected. The catalog admin, course admin, or a line manager rejected the user’s enrollment request. A tooltip on the Rejected status shows the reason for the rejection provided by the admin in the rejection message sent to the users.

• Last Modified. The date and time when the enrollment request was last modified (according to the regional settings of the current site).
• Modified by. Displays the user who last modified the enrollment request. 
• List of Sessions. Displayed only for instructor-led training with the multiple- enrollment type. The number of standalone sessions and/or session groups that the user has requested to be enrolled in is displayed in brackets. Select the link to view the details of the sessions and session groups.
• Session. Displayed only for instructor-led training with the single- enrollment type when All Sessions is selected in the drop-down list. The column displays the session or the session group title the users requested enrollment in.

 

The approval/rejection process depends on the course type and the enrollment flow.

 

In the e-learning courses and training plans

On the Approve Enrollment panel, in the e-learning courses and training plans:

To approve the enrollment request, select the checkbox next to the relevant users and select Approve. As a result, the users will be enrolled in the course or training plan. Their enrollment status will change to Enrolled.

To reject the enrollment request, select the checkbox of the relevant users and select Reject. Complete the Reject Message text box with the reason for rejecting the enrollment request. Select OK to complete the action. Select Cancel to cancel rejection.

 

 

To view all enrollment statuses of the current course or training plan, select All Enrollment Statuses from the drop-down list in the toolbar.

 

In the instructor-led training with the single- enrollment type

For instructor-led training with the single- enrollment type, the Approve Enrollment panel opens with All course sessions selected in the drop-down list. From this view, you can track all users in the course who requested enrollment in a standalone sessions or a session group. The Sessions column is available only when All Course Sessions is selected. The column displays the session or the session group title the users requested enrollment in.

 

 

To view the detailed information about standalone sessions or session groups, select the drop-down list. In the list, you can find the information:

• All Course Sessions displays the total number of pending approval requests for all the standalone sessions and session groups in the course.
• Each session or session group with pending approval requests displays the number of pending approval requests.
• The standalone session name (if set).
• The standalone session start and end date and time.
• The standalone session time zone.
• The standalone session instructor’s name (if set).
• The standalone session room (if set).
• The session group name.
• The session group start date and time of the first session and the end date and time of the last session.

 

To approve the enrollment requests:

1. Select the checkbox of the relevant users. To choose all users, select the Name checkbox.

2. Select Approve. As a result, the users will be enrolled in the requested standalone session or all the sessions in the session group of the course. Their enrollment status will change to Enrolled.

 

To reject the enrollment request:

1. Select the checkbox of the relevant users. To choose all users, select the Name checkbox.

2. Select Reject and complete the Reject Message text box with the reason for rejecting the enrollment request.

3. Select OK to complete the action. Select Cancel to cancel the process.

 

In the instructor-led training with the multiple- enrollment type

For instructor-led training with the multiple- enrollment type, the Approve Enrollment panel opens with the list of Pending Approvals for all the users who are awaiting enrollment approval in the requested standalone sessions and/or session groups of the course.

 

 

To view the sessions and/or session groups for which the user has pending approvals, select the List of Sessions link near the relevant user. On the opened Sessions panel, you can track all the requested standalone sessions and session groups. Expand the session group to see the details of the sessions within it.

On the panel, you can track the name of a standalone or session group, start and end dates of the sessions, the time zone of each session, locations, the session URL link.

 

 

Approval and rejection apply to all the standalone sessions and all the session groups for which the user has enrollments pending approvals.

To approve the enrollment request, select the relevant user and select Approve. As a result, the user will be enrolled in the requested standalone sessions and/or all the sessions within requested session groups of the course. The user's enrollment status will change to Enrolled.

To reject the enrollment request for all the sessions and session groups the user has requested, select the relevant user and select Reject. Complete the Reject Message text box with the reason for rejecting the enrollment request. Select OK to complete the action. Select Cancel to cancel the process.

 

In the instructor-led training with the all- enrollment type

For instructor-led training with the all- enrollment type, the Approve Enrollment panel opens with the list of Pending Approvals for all the users who are awaiting enrollment approval in the requested course. On approval, they'll be enrolled in the course and all the available standalone sessions and session groups in the course.

To approve the enrollment request, select the relevant users and select Approve. As a result, the users will be enrolled in the requested course and all of its sessions and session groups, the enrollment status will change to Enrolled.

To reject the enrollment request for the user, select the relevant user and select Reject. Complete the Reject Message text box with the reason for rejecting the enrollment request. Select OK to complete rejection. Select Cancel to cancel rejection. As a result, the user will be rejected to be enrolled in the course.

 

 

Cancellation and rejection messages

On the Approve Enrollment panel, you can filter learners according to the request status with help of the Pending Approval filter. Other options of the drop-down list of the filter include the following: All enrollment statuses, Pending Approval, Enrolled, Rejected, Cancelled. Selecting an option will bring out the list of the relevant users in the course.

If a reason was given when rejecting or cancelling the request, you'll be able to track the reason by hovering over the Canceled and Rejected status.

• If the user unenrolls from training, the tooltip will show the text from the cancellation message received from the user.

• If the training is retaken by the user, this will be shown in the tooltip.

• If the user unenrolls from a training plan and as a result unenrolls from the courses in this training plan, the tooltip for these courses will be "Cancelled via Training Plan".

 

• If the user's registration in the standalone session is pending approval but this session was deleted, the tooltip will be "Cancelled by course session deletion".

 

• When a session was removed from the group and the user's request is cancelled as a result, the tooltip will read "Cancelled because the session was removed from the session group" when hover over Cancelled.

 

• If a rejection reason was provided when rejecting the request, you can track the reason by hovering over Rejected.

 

Exporting enrollment request information

To export the information from the Approve Enrollments panel to your device, select the Export to Excel button.