Staff credentials serve as a method for a registered training organisation to record and reference the deliverable training offered by their trainers.
They can do this by recording details in VETtrak to reference the industry experience or the VET recognised accreditation that are held by the specific Staff member.
It works by providing a level of validation when managing units and recording unit activity to check whether the staff member responsible for it is qualified to do so by whichever metric the RTO wishes to utilise. This is achieved by attaching a staff member to a unit as part of a person’s enrolment, which will then prompt the checking of credential information entered against the staff member.
- Activating Staff Credentials
- Creating and Managing Staff Credentials
- Assigning Credentials to a Staff Members
- Staff Credentials in Action
- Editing an existing Staff Credential
- Deleting a Staff Credential
- Archiving a Staff Credential
- Viewing the Staff Credentials report
Activating Staff Credentials
To correctly start utilising Staff Credentials within VETtrak, there are some options that first need to be set accordingly.
The first is the Staff and Units option within the Results, Unit and Award Preferences in VETtrak’s Global Preferences.
Within here, you can dictate whether you wish for a check to be made against whether a staff member is approved to deliver a unit (resulting in either a warning, or an error at the users choice) or whether the staff member is approved to deliver the unit, with an appropriate credential recorded (again, resulting in a warning or an error).
The next step is to dictate what type of Staff member within your VETtrak system you require these checks to be processed for.
To do this, navigate to the Configuration area in VETtrak, and expand the Staff Types heading. In here, select the staff type you wish to edit, and right click to select Edit Staff Type
Within the wizard that opens, tick the box titled Staff type must satisfy credential rules
With this selected, any staff member with this staff type assigned to them will now be subject to credential checks at the time of Unit information being recorded. For details on setting up or managing Staff Types, see our Staff Types article.
Your next step is to now configure your credentials within the VETtrak Configuration Manager, under the Credentials heading.
Creating and Managing Staff Credentials
Navigate to the Configuration Manager in VETtrak, and expand the Credentials heading:
There are 3 default Credential Types, each representing a different method for approving a persons responsibility to teach others.
- Training and Assessment (Educational) Qualifications refers to a situation where a person has completed recognised training to be qualified as a trainer/teacher, which serves as reasoning behind their credentials. Example: they have achieved a Certification in Training and Assessment, etc.
- Vocational Experiences best refers to a person who has firsthand experience with a particular skillset, such as working in an industry of a particular type. Example: A Plumbing industry member with years of experience serving to pass on their skills.
- Vocational Qualifications and Licenses refers to a person who has completed recognised learning in a particular skillset and is therefore recognised as a suitable candidate to teach others. Example: a holder of a current License in Forklift operation working to teach others.
You add additional Credential Types by right-clicking on the Credentials heading and selecting Add credential type:
To create a new Credential, right click on the appropriate Credential Type heading and select Add Credential
In the wizard that appears, give your credential a suitable Name and Code. These are used to identify the credential when selecting, so the name should reflect what the credential is to be used for. The code will be used as a short identifying option for the Credential, and will need to be unique.
The Status field will refer to the credentials status in regards to whether it is still current, or requiring re-accreditation. This can be toggled independently at the credential level if needed.
Finally, the Expiry Months field allows a user to record an expiry period should it be required. This will be referenced at the time of the credential being selected for a staff member, based off a particular starting date.
When your credential is completed, it will appear in the list under the appropriate credential type and is then ready for use.
Assigning Credentials to Staff Members
To start assigning credentials to your Staff Members, Select the Manage menu, and open the Staff Manager:
Within this manager, look up an appropriate staff member.
To ideally utilise Staff credentials, a Staff member will need both a Deliverable Unit and a Staff Credential that can be associated with it. These items can be added and associated in whichever order you wish.
Attaching a Credential when adding Deliverable Unit(s)
When assigning which of a staff member's credentials support a deliverable unit in the Staff Manager, it is possible to specify that a credential is required for that unit. If VETtrak is configured to show a warning or error when assigning the staff member to that unit in a training plan, then:
- If multiple credentials are required for that unit, then all the required credentials must be current to avoid triggering the warning or error.
- If none of the staff's credentials are flagged as required for that deliverable unit, then any one of them being current will avoid triggering the warning or error.
Attaching a Credential to an Existing Deliverable Unit
If your Staff Member already has Deliverable unit(s), you can immediately start configuring credentials for them.
Start by right-clicking on the Credentials heading and selecting Add staff credential
Within the wizard that opens, you will first be required to select a Credential type – this will dictate what credentials you have to choose from.
Press next to then select a credential from the Credential drop down menu:
If you instead need to create a new Staff Credential on the fly, you can do so using the ‘handy button’ to the left of this selection box:
Once you have selected your Staff Credential you can enter additional details in the bottom of the wizard, such as toggling a unique, staff-specific Credential Status if required. These Status options can prompt particular messages when a warning appears to communicate the selected status:
You can also dictate a particular Start Date for the credential to communicate when it was first recognised – the preset Expiry period will also be applied here, or can be set manually.
Pressing next will progress the wizard to allow you select which Deliverable Unit(s) attached to the staff member can be applied to this particular credential:
Press Next and Finish to complete the process. Your credential will now appear under the appropriate tabs for both the Credentials heading, and the particular Deliverable Unit(s) it is being utilised by.
Staff Credentials in Action
With your Staff Credential now in place, a level of validation will now be available within your VETtrak system when entering data relevant to both the Unit and the Staff Member associated with it.
The first step is to ensure that the Staff Member in question is associated with the Unit within the Students Enrolment.
To do this, locate the enrolment in question, and right click to choose Edit Training Plan.
Within here, select the appropriate Staff Member under the Staff Member row heading against any particular units that require credential validation.
Press Next and Finish to save this information.
With this information saved, VETtrak is now in a position to apply Credential Validation when recording Unit information. For example, if I was to record a result for a unit where a Staff Members credential may have lapsed in a particular year:
A warning such as the following would appear:
Similarly when editing a credentials status you can prompt a unique message to display at the time of data entry:
Editing an existing Staff Credential
- Expand Credentials.
- Right-click the credential and choose Edit Credential.
This will open the Credential Wizard, where you can make changes.
Deleting a Staff Credential
- Expand Credentials.
- Right-click the credential and choose Delete Credential.
- Click Yes when asked to confirm the delete.
If an error occurs, the Credential has likely been used previously and is included in historical data. In this case, you will need to archive the code to remove it from active use.
Archiving a Staff Credential
- Expand Credentials.
- Right-click the credential and choose Edit Credential.
- Select the Do not make this credential available for use tickbox
This Credential will then be removed from selection boxes in future, and will appear under the Archived Credentials heading.
Viewing the Staff Credentials report
This report details all the entered Staff Credentials, including those that have been archived.
- Right-click Credentials and choose Show Credential report.
The report will be displayed in a new tab/window.