FAQ
HR Manager FAQ
License Management
To purchase content licenses:
- Go to the METALFORM EDU Purchase page on the PMA website (URL: http://www.pma.org/metalformedu/purchase.asp).
- Add licensed products to your cart, and indicate the quantity required of each.
- Check out.
After purchasing a license(s) on the PMA website, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to access the system. Below, we outline the steps to access the system and what a Manager should do after logging in to the METALFORM EDU LMS.
- STEP 1 - Login to METALFORM EDU:
- You can access METALFORM EDU LMS from two locations, both of which require you to be logged into the PMS website:
- The My Account page on the pma.org, accessed by clicking My Account at the top of the page.
- The METALFORM EDU page.
- Both pages, if you have purchased any METALFORM EDU licenses, will have a LOGIN TO METALFORM EDU link on the left-side of the page.
- Click this link. METALFORM EDU will open in a new tab or window, depending on how your browser is configured.
- STEP 2 - Create your users (employees): To create users in the system. You have two options to do so:
- a. Create users one at a time. Instructions for doing so can be found here.
- b. Batch upload users to the system. Instructions for doing so can be found here.
- STEP 3 - Assign users licenses: After users are created the next important step is to assign them to a license pool. This step enables you to enroll the user in any course that is part of that pool (see the Course Catalog to review the course listing for each license type). Click here to learn how to assign a user a license pool.
- STEP 4 - Assign users to courses: Now that your users are licensed to access content, you can assign them to courses.
- Click here to learn how to assign a user to a course or multiple courses.
- Click here to learn how to assign a user to a learning path.
A license pool is a library of content purchased by an HR Manager. After an HR manager has purchased a license(s) to a content library on the PMA website, that license is configured in METALFORM EDU with the number of licenses purchased and the length of time the license(s) is valid. Click here to see the Course Catalog PMA Catalog, which shows the list of courses included in each license (pool).
A license pool must then be assigned to a user (employee) before the employee can be enrolled in any courses.
To assign a license to a user:
- Click Manage License Pools in the left nav or in the Resources section of the Hamburger menu. The License Pools page displays.
- Click the Assign Users button in the license you wish to assign. The Users page displays.
- Click Add and select a specific user or users to which you wish to assign the license. Then click Submit.
- If you wish to assign the license to all users in your company or in that particular group, click Add All from Group.
Note that licenses are not considered consumed until a user enrolls in and accesses a course that is part of that license pool. As such, you could potentially assign more users to license than licenses you have. You should track license consumption from the License Pool dashboard.
To see your current license usage:
- Click Manage License Pools from the left nav or from the Resources section of the Hamburger menu. The Manage License Pools page displays.
This page displays each of the licenses purchased, with the following information per license pool:
- Total licenses available
- Total used
- Total not started (assigned to a user but the user has not yet logged into any course that is part of that license).
- License duration dates
The Manage License Pools page is also where you can:
- View licenses that already expired
- View the courses that were purchased as part of that license pool
- Assign licenses to users or remove licenses from a user (if not yet consumed).
- Assign courses to licensed users.
To extend licenses for your employees (e.g. purchase an additional 90-day full library license), you can purchase a new license and then assign it to the user with an expired license. Licenses are assigned to such users exactly like you would assign a new license to a new user. Follow the instructions in How do I assign a license to a user?. If the user already had a license to the content, his/her data will be retained and the user can continue with the content already assigned, or new content can be assigned.
Licenses are named licenses and not transferable once used, which is defined as once a user assigned the license has logged in to a course in which s/he is enrolled. Licenses are “named licenses” in order to preserve the data for each licensed user.
Yes. When a user’s license ends, the user is not deleted from METALFORM EDU. S/he is simply blocked from accessing content for which s/he does not have a current license. Should you purchase a subsequent license for that user, s/he will be able to see his past training record and access any courses that are part of his/her new licensed content.
Assigning Content
The PMA course catalog can be accessed in multiple ways:
- Option 1: Click the Search Catalog link in the left nav.
- Option 2: Click Home.
- Then click the Browse Catalog box, OR
- Click Browse icon in the Search Catalog search bar.
Once you have accessed the catalog, you can search for a course by keyword or browse by category to find it. Clicking the search button with no keywords will return all courses in the Catalog. When doing so, additional filters will display on the left-side of the page, enabling you to filter courses by type (online course vs. learning path), user ratings or category.
Note that you can also sort the listings in the catalog by Title, Type, Date Added and Highest Rated by clicking on the Sort button.
Employees should only be enrolled in courses after a license including that course has been assigned to the employee. More information regarding this can be found here.
After the license pool has been assigned to the user, the easiest way to assign courses to the user is as follows:
Option 1: Assigning Users to Courses from the Manage License Pools > Assign Users Page
- After assigning a license to a user, you should be in the Manage License Pools > Assign Users page (shown below) and a new Courses button should appear next to the licensed users. Click the Courses button next to the licensed user you wish to enroll in courses.
- Search for the courses you wish to assign, using the Search bar or
- by clicking through the pages.
- Click the checkbox next to the courses in which you wish to enroll the user. Alternatively, assign the user all courses included in the license by clicking the Select All checkbox.
- Then click Submit. The user will be enrolled in those courses.
The list of Courses available through that license display.
Option 2: Assigning Users to Courses from the User > Courses Page
- Click the User link in the left nav. Alternatively, click Users from the Resources section in the Hamburger menu. The Users page displays.
- Click on the user you wish to enroll in courses. The user’s page displays.
- Click the Courses tab on the left side.
- Click the Add button. The list displays all courses the user is licensed to be assigned.
- Click the checkbox next to the courses you wish to assign the user.
- Then click Submit. The Courses page reloads with the courses assigned to the user listed.
The Courses list for that user displays.
The system is configured such that employee self-registration required manager approval. Every time an employee self-registers in a course, you should receive an email notifying you as such. You will also receive a message to in your METALFORM EDU inbox (accessed by clicking Messages in the left-nav).
- The easiest way to approve all requests is from the Approve Requests screen, accessed by the Pending Approval link in the left nav or Requests link in the Hamburger menu. Please note that these links only appear if you have requests to approve.
- Clicking either of these links will take you to the Requests page with all self-enrollment requests listed.
- Click the checkbox next to the enrollment you wish to approve, or the Select All checkbox to select all of them.
- Then click Approve.
- Alternatively, from this page, you can also:
- Reject enrollment requests using the same process but clicking the Reject button.
- Email a user regarding their request.
User Management
To create users in the system:
- Click Users in the left-hand nav or from the Resources section of the hamburger menu. The Users page displays. At the top left, you can see how many active and inactive users you have in the system.
- Click Add Single User from the top right of the page.
- Complete the fields on this page. Note the following:
- All fields noted with an asterisks are required.
- Email is NOT a required field. However, if a user (employee) does have an email, it is highly recommended that you add it. This will enable him/her to receive messages both via email and internally within METALFORM EDU.
- The “User must change password on login” checkbox is checked by default. It is recommended that you leave this setting as is.
- If your users do not have emails, leave the “Notify new user” checkbox unchecked.
- Click the Add New User button. The Users page reloads with the new user added. A message also appears at the top of this page, enabling you to jump directly to assigning a license to this user.
- You can click Assign [User’s name] a content license to jump straight to that page, or alternatively, click OK, Got It! to add additional users.
The Add New User modal displays.
If you have a large number of users you wish to create, you may want to batch upload them from a CSV file. To create users in the system:
- Click Users in the left-hand nav. The Users page displays.
Note: At the top left, you can see how many active and inactive users you have in the system.
- Click Batch Register Users from the top right of the page.
The Batch User Registrations page displays. Follow the instructions below to simply add new users to the system without any course assignments. You will then need to assign those users licenses to content and enroll them in courses.
- In the “I want to quickly register new users” section, click the Register New Users button. The page expands to show the Register New Users section.
- Enter a title for this batch job (e.g. User Upload 6-9-18).
- Create and save a CSV file containing the users you wish to create. The file should be organized as follows:
- Column 1: First Name
- Column 2: Last Name
- Column 3: Password
- Column 4: Email (if the user has it – if not leave blank or use your own email to receive notifications for this user)
- Column 5: Username (you can select whatever username you like, but this field must be unique in METALFORM EDU and will result in an error if the username already exists).
- Then click the Upload CSV button.
- Select the file you wish to upload from your computer. The filename should then appear below the button.
- Click the Register button. The following message will display, and you will receive a notification from the system when the batch operation is complete.
- After uploading the file, a new tab will appear on this page: History. You can click this tab at any time to view the log for your batch upload, or to download the file you uploaded to make any changes or use as a template for a future upload.
Security reasons prevent you from seeing student passwords; you may only reset them. To reset a password:
- Select Resource Management > Users from the Hamburger menu or Users in the left nav.
- Click on the name of the user whose password you wish to change. If you have a lot of users, you can use the Search Catalog bar to search for the specific user.
- In the page that displays, enter a new password in the password field.
- It is recommended that you leave “User must change password on login” set to checked so that the user can select his/her own password.
- If you dislike typing blindly, click the eye icon to show the password as you type.
- Click Save.
To quickly see an employee’s username, select Resource Management > Users from the Hamburger menu or Users in the left nav. Search for or scroll down to the user you wish to see. The employee’s username appears below the first name and last name in bold. In the example shown, the user’s username is “lisatuchman”.
You can also change a student’s username by clicking on their user record, and then changing it in the Username field.
To assign Manager privileges to an additional employee, please contact PMA at support@metalforming.edu. We can configure this for you.
To see your employees’ scores.
- Select Team from the Hamburger menu or left nav.
- Click the Current Learning drop-down and select either Current Learning or Completed Learning next to a user whose scores you wish to see.
Note: Typically, scores will appear in the Completed Learning section for PMA modules.
The Current or Completed Learning page displays for that user, showing the user’s scores.
Courses
Many of PMA’s courses open in a new window. If pop-ups (new windows) are blocked on your computer, the pop-up blocker may need to be disabled. This can be done safely by limiting popups just to the METALFORM EDU website. Please follow the instructions below depending on the browser you are using:
PMA has set the passing score for all assessments in the system to 70%.
Yes. To look at courses without a student account:
- Go to your Team page.
- Click on a the Current Learning button for a user assigned the content you wish to see.
- Click on the name of the course you wish to view.
- Then click the Launch Course button, as a manager, you cannot preview courses without assigning yourself a license to the content.
The user’s list of courses will display.
On average, METALFORM EDU courses takes approximately one hour to do the course and do the associated assessment. This estimate may vary depending on the course, your employee’s prior knowledge of the material, and computer skills.
To see the estimated time per course, click on the course name in the catalog. At the bottom of the page that displays, you will see the Training Hours listed (see below).
Group Management
Groups are organization or other types of affiliations. Your root group is the company to which you belong. Al new users you create wil automatically be part of that group. Your company may also have sub-groups. If your company has subsidiaries that are in PMA’s database, these will be created automatically by the system when your account is created.
You also have the option of creating additional sub-groups below you. For example, if you wish to group employees into departments, skill levels, years of experience, you can create a new group and add users to this group. Users can belong to multiple groups at the same time.
All of the users you create will automatically be added to the same group you are in. If you need to create additional groups for your users, you have several options:
- First, you will need to create a group:
- Select Resource Management > Groups from the Hamburger menu or Groups in the left nav. The Groups page displays.
- Click Add Groups to [Your Company Name].
- Enter a Code and Title for your group. For example:
- Code = FIN
Note: This field cannot contain spaces or special characters - Title = Finance
- Code = FIN
- Click Add 1 New Sub-Group to add the group.
- Alternatively, click Another Sub-group to [Your Company Name] to add additional groups.
The Groups page should refresh, with your new group(s) added. - Next, you need to add employees to that group. The easiest way to do this is from the same section of the same - Groups. In the group listing on the page, click on the Users link. The Users page for that group displays. If it’s a new group, no users will be listed.
- Click the Add button. The list of users in that group and sub-groups displays.
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- Select the checkbox next to the users you wish to add to the group and click Submit. The Group -> Users page reloads with the users you added listed as part of the group.
Notifications
The system will email you (and the student) notifications for a variety of situations. Examples of notifications include: a user has requested enrollment approval in a course, a user has completed a learning path, a batch upload operation is complete, and more.
Given that many of PMA member company employees may not have their own email addresses, PMA has configured the system so that HR Managers are cc’ed on all notifications that their employees receive so that they can provide them this information. You can control your notifications by clicking on your initials or picture in the top-right corner of the page to access your Profile and Settings.
From the Profile and Settings page, scroll down to the Notifications section.
Here, you can choose whether you wish to receive notifications just to your email, just within the system in Messaging, or both.
Messaging
- Click the Messages link in the left-hand nav.
The Messages Inbox displays. - Click the Compose button. The Compose Message page displays.
- Click the Add button to select recipients for your message. The Add User page displays, showing all users in your organization and any subsidiary organizations you may have.
- Select the checkbox next to the users to whom you wish to send the message. Alternatively, you can click the All checkbox to select all users in your group.
- If you have a lot of employees created in your organization, Advanced filters are helpful in selecting specific users to whom you wish to send a message. Click Advanced to show the Advanced filters.
The page that displays enables you to filter users by: - Name
- Date added
- Role
- Group (subsidiary organizations)
Messages can be seen within the system on the Messages page. This page can be accessed from the Messages link in either the Hamburger menu or the left nav. PMA has also configured the system so that critical messages that your users need are also cc’ed to their manager (you).