This article describes the different ways that Enrollment Approval is handled within Absorb.

Enable Enrollment Approval for Courses

Courses can be configured to require Approval when a Learner performs Self-Enrollment. This can be configured under the Availability tab when editing a Course. With Approval settings in place, the User in charge of Approval will receive a notification requesting Approval following a Learner's Enrollment in a Course. Once an Admin approves an Enrollment, the Learner can access the Course.

As displayed in the above image, there are five different settings for Approval:

You will then want to determine whether an Approval Request message is sent to the individual responsible for performing the Approval. You can toggle this message under the Messages tab. This option only appears if the Course requires Approval.

Bypassing Approval

Enrollment Approval is only enforced when Learners Self-Enroll in Courses via the Course Catalog. Applying Enrollment Approval to other methods of Enrollment would contradict the intended functionality.

The following enrollment types bypass a Course's Enrollment Approval process:

• Admin enrollment
• Automatic enrollment
• Enrollment Key enrollment
• E-Commerce purchases
• Enrollment through a Curriculum or Course Bundle

Messaging

When a Learner enrolls in a Course that has Approval settings in place, several Message Templates are available. The following Templates are pre-built in the LMS:

These pre-built Message Templates are particularly helpful for Learners who may not be familiar with the Approval process. For Users in charge of Approval, they are an effective way to stay up to date with Enrollments for your Courses.

Approval for Instructor Led Courses and Sessions

The process of Approval is slightly different for Instructor Led Courses (ILCs), because Approval settings can exist at both the Course level and the Session level. While Course Approval is configured under the Enrollment tab when editing a Course, Session Approval is configured under the same tab when editing a Session.

If an ILC and its Sessions have Approval settings in place, a Learner must:

• Self-Enroll into the Course.
• Have their Course Enrollment approved.
• Self-Enroll in a Session that belongs to the Course.
• Have their Session Enrollment approved.

This process is particularly useful for ILCs and Sessions because it allows each Session to have its Enrollments approved by different Users. For example, when different Instructors are responsible for different Sessions within the same ILC, they can approve Enrollments in their own Sessions.

For more information about instructor roles, see the Admin Roles & Permissions Guide.

When building your Instructor Led Courses, consider whether you would like Approval at the Course level, the Session level, or both. There are unique Enrollment and Approval Messages available for each option.

How To Approve Enrollments

There are two ways a User can approve an Enrollment:

• Via the Approval Request email.
• Via the Admin Experience.

Approve via Approval Request Email

To Approve or Deny an Enrollment via an Approval Request email, select the relevant hyperlink in the email. The following image shows how these links appear:

Approval Email Request Access Window

Please advise that once an Approval Email is generated by the system, the link that is included in the email will only be valid for seven days. This means that you may want to include an indication about responding within an appropriate timeline, or make this information available to anyone in your organization that may be approving Enrollments.

Approve via the Admin Experience

Users responsible for Approval can also approve Enrollments from the Admin Experience. This option is useful if you expect to Approve or Deny a large number of Enrollments and want to avoid receiving many emails.

Approvals in the Admin Experience are performed from the Course Approvals or Session Approvals reports:

These Reports display Enrollments that are awaiting Approval:

To Approve or Deny an Enrollment, select a User from the list and use the appropriate Action on the right-hand side of the Report:

The Learner Experience

A Learner can discover and Enroll in a Course that requires Approval in the same way as any other Course. After the User Enrolls, they see a Pending Approval advisory. This advisory indicates that the User requires Approval before accessing the Course Content.

Once Approval is granted, and if the relevant Message Template is enabled, the Learner will receive an email confirming that their Enrollment has been approved.

If Session Approval is also required, the Learner will see a notification message indicating that their session registration is Pending Approval. Once this is approved, and if the Message Template is enabled, they will receive an additional email confirming that they have been Enrolled in the Session.