Create Paths to organize training initiatives

Note: This article is no longer maintained. For updated information, please refer to the corresponding Admin App article. We recommend updating your links if you’ve linked to this article.

Learning happens online, offline, during day-to-day activities, and beyond. With Paths, you can incorporate live tasks and Courses to improve certifications, onboarding, and ongoing learning goals. These assist users in ensuring they are completing all the required items related to their onboarding and training.

Paths allow flexibility in how Courses and tasks are assigned. For example, certain Courses should be taken after others. By using Paths, you can control the order in which you would like users to complete items on their list. Reporting is available for Paths, similar to Courses, to help provide insights into team performance.

See how it works

Key features

• Guide users to complete Courses and various tasks in an organized way
• Manage the order of completion for tasks and courses
• Structure different initiatives all in one place: onboarding, processes, and beyond
• Time to completion shows how long it will take to follow a Path

You need this to succeed

• Admin access to the Showpad platform
• Courses and/or tasks to assign to users

The quick way to awesomeness

1. Create a Path
2. Add Path Items
3. Assign groups & users
4. Publish the Path
5. View stats and a summary of user activity

Do this step by step

1. Create a Path
2. Assign Paths
3. Add a summary

Create a Path

1. From the Online Platform, select the Library tab and go to Coach Library.
2. Click New and select Path.
3. Give your Path a title and short description. This description is visible in the tiles that users see on the Home Screen. You will be the default owner of the Path but you can assign any admin as the owner.
4. You can copy the content from previously created Paths and Curriculums using the drop-down menu on the top-right.
5. Choose a default cover image or add a custom one. It helps distinguish Paths and shows up in the tiles your users see. The image must be at least 800px by 400px and in PNG or JPG format.
6. If you want to assign an existing Course to the Path, search through existing Courses and curriculums on the left-hand side and click to add the applicable items. To browse Courses, click the Curriculum title to expand the Courses to choose from.
7. To add a new item to the Path, click Create Path Item.
8. Select Task as the Item Type. Give it a Title and Description. If applicable, enter a URL related to that item. You can also add a Time to Completion. This will be used to calculate how long it will take for users to finish the Path.
9. Select Course as the Item Type. Give it a Title and Description. By clicking Add to Path, you create a new Course placeholder that you can edit later on.
10. Select Live Training as the Item Type. Give it a Title and Description. Navigate to the following article to learn all about creating Live Training sessions.
11. Once your Items are created, you can edit them by clicking the pencil icon. Editing a Course will take you to the Course builder. Editing a Live Training will take you to the sessions editing window.

    Note: Before you proceed to edit your Items, click Save in the bottom left to make sure your Path is saved.

    
12. You can also rearrange the Path Items by dragging and dropping them in the desired order. 
13. Click Save and Continue to go to the next section.

Assign Paths

After adding items to your Path, you can assign users and groups.

1. Search for a group or a user in the menu on the left by typing in the search bar. You can also scroll through the available users or groups to find the individuals or groups to whom you'd like to assign the Path. Click the name of either a group or user to add it to the list of assignees

   Note: When a Course is added to a Path, any users assigned to the Course will be overridden by the Path's assignments. This means that only the groups and users assigned at the Path level will be considered.

   
2. The users and/or groups will now be listed on the right side. You can assign a required or elective status, a fixed or rolling due date. Due dates can be scheduled for a specific date or to occur a fixed number of days after the item is assigned. The automatic reminders are sent when you add a due date. You can stagger Courses or tasks by giving individual items separate due dates. Add an individual user to give them their own dates, reminders, and assignments.
   

   Note: When due dates are assigned at the overall path level and not for each individual path item, reporting will not show individual path items as overdue.

   
   
3. In addition to a due date, you can schedule reminders for your groups and users to complete the items on the Path. Like due dates, you can schedule reminders for individuals and specific Path items.
4. You can copy due dates and reminders across multiple groups and users assigned to a Path by choosing the Bulk Copy Due Dates and Reminder Days option from the menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Here, you can also send a reminder to all the groups to finish the Path in time. 
   

   Note: Rolling due dates are only applicable to groups. When rolling due dates are copied over in bulk, they only apply to selected groups, not individuals. This is because individuals can be assigned their own date and have it edited to their specific timeline by their admin or manager.

   
5. Click the Users tab to view details on individual user’s assignments and to keep track of who has been assigned within a group or as an individual user. This setting determines if the group or individual Path status, due dates, and reminders will be displayed. By default, when a user is added as an individual, they will show on the priority tab with Individual listed as the dominant selection, regardless of whether they’re also in a group. You can change this back to group status by selecting the dropdown menu labeled Individual. Not Applicable appears when an individual was initially assigned within a group.
   

   Note: If an individual’s priority changes, they will no longer appear as an individual assignee on the Users & Groups tab. Use this tab to keep track of all assignees and make changes as needed at any time in your Path process

   
   
6. Back on the Users & Groups tab, you can unassign a Path by clicking the ellipsis icon in that person or group’s row.
7. When you unassign a group from a Path, you will be asked whether you want to remove them from all associated tasks and Courses from the Path or to remove them only from the tasks.

Add a summary

The last section of the Path creation summarizes the current setup.

1. By default, assigned users will be sent an invitation email for Required and Elective Paths. If you want to disable this, slide the applicable toggle to the left. You can only send invitation emails before publishing a Path.
2. The table below shows an overview of the details of your Path.
3. Once you've reviewed all the Path details, click Save and Dashboard if you want to still work on the Path later on. Otherwise, click Save and Publish. All Courses in the path must be published before the path can be published. You cannot add Courses that are in development to a published Path.
   If your Path is already published, you will just save your changes. You see a summary of the invitation emails that went out.
4. Back at your dashboard, you will see the Path and the number of users who have started and/or completed the Path.
5. For your users, this is how the created Path is visible on the Home Screen and in the Coaching tab.