Recurring Schedules

Recurring schedules are a workflow automation tool to allow you to schedule training events in the future. The two most common uses are: New Hire Training Automation and Yearly Required Trainings

Introduction

In Affinity's Learning Management System (LMS), recurring schedules are a powerful feature designed to automate the process of assigning and managing training sessions or campaigns for your organization. This functionality ensures that all employees are consistently updated with the necessary training, reducing the need for manual intervention and helping maintain compliance.

Overview into Recurring Schedules

What Are Recurring Schedules?

A recurring schedule is a pre-configured set of rules that dictates how and when specific training modules or campaigns should be automatically assigned to users within your organization. These schedules can be tailored to run on a variety of cadences—daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or even quarterly—depending on the needs of your organization.

Why Use Recurring Schedules?

There are several key reasons why recurring schedules are essential for managing your organization's training programs:

1. Consistency in Training: By setting up recurring schedules, you ensure that all employees receive training regularly. This is particularly useful for annual compliance training or other mandatory learning modules.

2. Automation: Recurring schedules automate the assignment of training, significantly reducing the administrative overhead. Once set up, these schedules will automatically assign the necessary training to the appropriate users based on the criteria you define.

3. Flexibility: You can configure recurring schedules to meet the specific needs of different departments, roles, or groups within your organization. For example, you can set a schedule that assigns a particular set of training modules to new hires or a specialized set of trainings to a specific department.

4. Customized Timing: The system allows for scheduling based on various periods, such as yearly or quarterly, and offers the flexibility to set the due date for the training after a certain number of days from the start date. This ensures that the training is completed within the required timeframe without overwhelming the employees.

5. Enhanced Compliance: For organizations in regulated industries, recurring schedules are vital in ensuring that all employees complete mandatory training on time, thereby maintaining compliance and avoiding potential penalties.

How Recurring Schedules Work

When creating a recurring schedule in Affinity's LMS, the administrator can select the training modules or campaigns that need to be included. Here’s how it works:

1. Name and Period: You start by giving the schedule a name and selecting the period on which it should recur (e.g., yearly, monthly).

2. Training and Campaign Selection: You can choose specific trainings or campaigns that this schedule will apply to, allowing for precise control over what content is delivered.

3. Start and End Dates: Set the start and end dates for the schedule, determining the timeframe in which the training should be completed.

4. User Assignment: Choose how the schedule should apply to your organization—whether it’s for all users, specific departments, or based on join dates for new employees.

5. Due Date Offset: This option allows you to set a specific number of days from the schedule’s start date to when the training is due, providing further customization for your training timelines.

6. Handling Existing Trainings: You have the option to add the new trainings into existing sessions or start new ones, depending on what best fits your organization’s workflow.

Example list of different recurring schedules

Creating a recurring schedule

Use for New Hire Trainings

When setting up new hire trainings, it is recommended to set the schedule period to "DAILY". This ensures that the system identifies new hires based on two key conditions:

1. Start Date-Based Inclusion:

   • The system checks for employees whose start date falls within the past 24 hours, meaning between the last time the schedule ran and the current execution time.

2. Creation Date-Based Inclusion:

   • Additionally, the system looks for employees who were added to the system within the past 24 hours and have a start date between the minimum join date and the current execution time.

Setting the Minimum Join Date

• The minimum join date acts as a cutoff to determine which employees should be considered for new hire training.

• If you are onboarding an entire organization for the first time, setting an appropriate minimum join date prevents all existing employees from being treated as new hires.

This approach ensures that new hire training schedules accurately include recent hires while preventing unnecessary enrollments from legacy employees.

A schedule where the minimum join date was July 1, 2024

Setting the minimum join date when creating or editing the schedule

Visualizing Recurring Schedules

In the Affinity LMS, the recurring schedules are visualized in a dashboard that shows all active schedules, their status, and detailed information about the next and last run dates. This interface provides a clear overview, helping administrators to manage and monitor training schedules effectively.

Conclusion

Recurring schedules in Affinity's LMS are an essential tool for any organization looking to streamline their training processes, ensure compliance, and reduce administrative overhead. By automating the assignment of regular training, your organization can focus on growth and development, knowing that your employees are receiving the necessary training at the right time.