Department Templates: Public and Private Dashboards

Updated September 16, 2024 20:44

This article is about configuring a Department Template Tab. For more information about Department Templates please click here.

There are two types of Dashboards, Public and Private. Both have the same Container options within Content and the same Advanced settings. The difference is Public is available to individuals that have not yet logged into the LMS, but have your URL. The Public Dashboard will replace the Login page. The Private Dashboard will only be visible to Learners once they log in to the LMS.

Here are a few things that may be helpful to know regarding Public and Private Dashboards.

The Learner's Department will not be identified until they log in, which means the Public Dashboard will need to be generic and enabled on the default Template. If there is more than one Template within the LMS and you would like a Public Dashboard associated to a specific Template, the URL (Route) will need to be used by the Learner. Since both the URL and Templates are associated to a specific Department within your LMS, when a Learner uses a specific URL they will be routed to the appropriate Public Dashboard.
- If you need a new URL (Route) assigned to a specific Department, you will want to contact the Absorb Client Advocacy Team.
In order for a Department's Template to be enabled as a Public Dashboard, that Department's Parent Department/Departments must also have the Enable Public Dashboard toggle enabled. If a Department is nested within a hierarchy where one or more of its Parent Departments don't have a configured Template, a Template must be created for those Departments, with the Enable Public Dashboard toggle enabled in order to have this feature available for the Child Department.
Some of the Tile options are not available for the Public Dashboard, due to the need to be logged into the LMS.
The toggle for Inherited Settings of Parent Department will only appear if there is a Parent Template. If a Parent Template exists, your new Template will automatically inherit the settings from the Parent on each specific section.
- Toggle Enabled: Inherits all settings of the Parent and prevents System Admins from making any changes.
- Toggle Disabled: Allows System Admins to make changes to the default settings of the Template.
On the Public Dashboard tab there is an option to Enable Public Dashboard. Enabling this option will allow System Admins to create a Dashboard for Users who have not yet been authenticated by the LMS. This is a great tool for clients who sell training but can be utilized by all types of clients. With this toggle disabled, Users will only be presented with a Login page.

Content

Content is an accordion object that must be clicked to expand all the available settings. Content is the section where you will add Containers. Containers can be considered the building blocks, or structure of your Dashboard.

In this section, you have the ability to choose which Containers or types of data you want to display on your Learner Dashboard.

All containers will have the option to add a Label, Show Label, and Customize Maximum Container Width. These options allow the System Admin to provide a Title and customize the size of the specific dashboard Container. If the Show Label option is selected, the Learner will see the Title above the Container.

Container Actions

The Container features multiple toggles, and buttons. This section discusses each Action and the outcome.

This is a drop-down menu which will open when clicked. It allows for one of the Container Types to be selected. The types are as follows:
- Tile
- Welcome
- Ribbon
- Billboard
This is where a Label will appear if the Container has been given one.
These directional arrows allow you to move a Container up or down; dependent on the number and position of other Containers. Moving a Container up or down changes its position on the associated Dashboard.
This button will Close or Open the details of the Container when clicked. Useful for hiding information you have completed editing while still working on the page.
This button will Delete the Container. Clicking this button will instantly remove the Container and its contents.

Tile

Tile is one the possible Container options.

Once Tile has been selected, the Add Tile(s) button will appear at the bottom of the Container. Click the Add Tile(s) button to open the Add Tile(s) modal frame.

Once a Tile is selected, click Save available at the bottom right corner. The selected Tile will be added to your Container.

If you hover your mouse over a Tile the Edit action will appear. Click the Tile to reveal the Customize Tile Theme toggle. Click the toggle to turn it on and use advanced editing options. Some Tiles allow for additional customization when you Edit them such as the My Courses or Facebook Tiles.

With the Customize Tile Theme toggled turned on, a variety of options become available to change how the Tile appears to Learners on their Dashboard.

For more information about customizing a Tile, please advise the following documentation:

Customization Guidelines - Dashboard Tiles

Standard Tiles

The Tiles detailed here are available to all System Administrators.

Tile Name	Public or Private Dashboard	Description
Admin	Private	This Tile allows navigation from the Learner Experience to the Admin Experience if the User is an Administrator. The Tile will only appear for a User with the Is Admin toggle enabled.
My Courses	Private	This Tile will navigate Learners to the Courses the Learner is enrolled into within the LMS. Title: This field can be used to create a customized name, in place of My Courses, that will display on the Tile to the Learner. Description: This field can be used to display a brief summary or tagline of the Tile, which will display below the Title. Category: This drop-down menu allows System Admins to select the Category of Courses they want the User to be routed to. Instead of sending the User to all courses, it would send them to a specific Category of courses.
Hyperlink	Both	This Tile will navigate Learners to a website. The URL could be one within the LMS or an external online location. Title: This field can be used to create a customized name, in place of Hyperlink, that will display on the Tile to the Learner. Description: This field can be used to create a customized summary of the Tile, which will display below the Title. Link: The URL entered into this field will be the one Learners are forwarded to. If it is an external link you will need to make sure the URL includes https:// at the start. Target: There are four options from this drop-down menu which determines how the Learner is forwarded to the URL entered in the Link field: _blank: Open the page in a new browser window, leaving the page with the referring link open behind it. _self: Loads the page within the same browser window. _parent: Loads the page within the immediate parent of a frame where nested frames are used in a page. _top: Causes the page to load in the full body of the page, breaking out of a frame set where applicable.
Profile	Private	This Tile will navigate the Learner to their Profile page within the LMS.
Transcript	Private	This Tile will navigate the Learner to their Transcript history within the LMS. Here is where the Learner can see a list of their most current Course Enrollments, the Status of each enrollment, print Certificates of completion, and see any Credits earned.
Calendar	Private	This Tile will navigate the Learner to their Calendar, where they will see Instructor Led Courses they are enrolled into in a Calendar view. Note: If a Learner is enrolled in a recurring ILC Session, they will only see a single Session on their Calendar. If all Session recurrences are in the future, they will see the first recurrence on their Calendar. If all Session recurrences are in the past, the Learner will see the last recurrence on their Calendar. If the Session recurrences started in the past, but more will occur in the future, the Learner will see the next upcoming recurrence on their Calendar.
Enrollment Key	Both	This Tile will navigate the Learner to a popup modal that prompts them to enter in an Enrollment Key. The Enrollment Key can be used to enroll Users into Courses and on the Public Dashboard, provide them a method to register into the LMS. Title: This field can be used to create a customized name, in place of the Enrollment Key, that will display on the tile to the Learner. Description: This field can be used to create a customized summary of the tile, which will display below the Title. Key Name: The text entered here should match the Key Name of an existing Enrollment Key. Once the Learner clicks on this tile a popup modal will display and the Learner will be prompted to enter in an Enrollment Key.
Log Off	Private	This Tile will log the Learner out of the LMS.
Manager	Private	This Tile will open the Manager Experience. This Tile will only appear if the User has the Is Manager toggle turned on.
Resources	Private	This Tile will navigate the Learner to a catalog of Resources if the Admins have created one in Global Resources. Title: This field can be used to create a customized name, in place of Resources, that will display on the Tile to the Learner. Description: This field can be used to create a customized summary of the Tile, which will display below the Title. Category: This drop-down menu allows System Admins to select the Category of Global Resources.
External Training	Private	This Tile will navigate the Learner to a popup modal, where the Learner can enter in the details of training they completed outside the LMS. Note: An External Training Template must be created in Portal Settings > Manage External Training Templates. Title: This field can be used to create a customized name, in place of External Training, that will display on the tile to the Learner. Description: This field can be used to create a customized summary of the tile, which will display below the Title. Template: This drop-down menu allows System Admins to select an External Training Template.
Catalog	Both	This Tile on the Private Dashboard will navigate the Learner to the Catalog of Courses they are enrolled in and new Courses they have not enrolled into yet. The Tile on the Public Dashboard will navigate the Learner to a Catalog of Courses they can purchase, where the Learner can search what training you have to offer before logging into the LMS or registering themselves in the LMS. Title: This field can be used to create a customized name, in place of the Catalog, that will display on the Tile to the Learner. Description: This field can be used to create a customized description of the Tile, which will display below the Title. Category: This drop-down menu allows System Admins to select the category of Courses they want the User to be routed to. Instead of sending the User to all Courses, it would send them to a specific Category of Courses.
FAQs	Both	This Tile will navigate the Learner to a list of Frequently Asks Questions populated by your Admin team. Note: FAQs will need to be created by an Administrator in the Setup > FAQ section of the Admin Experience. The Tile must be medium to large in size, in order for the question(s) to display. Title: This field can be used to create a customized name, in place of FAQs, that will display on the Tile to the Learner. Description: This field can be used to create a customized summary of the Tile, which will display below the Title. Number of Items: A System Admin can select a number from 1 to 5. This number will determine how many questions display on the Tile below the Title and Description.
Messages	Private	This Tile will navigate the Learner to the Messages page. Here they will see all Messages sent from the LMS (enrollment, completion, due date, approval, etc...). Title: This field can be used to create a customized name, in place of Messages, that will display on the Tile to the Learner. Description: This field can be used to create a customized summary of the Tile, which will display below the Title. Number of Items: A System Admin can select a number from 1 to 5. This number will determine how many Messages display on the Tile below the Title and Description. Note: The Tile must be medium to large in size, in order for the Message(s) to display.
Resume	Private	This Tile will forward the Learner to the last course they were working on.
Reviewer	Private	This Tile will forward the Learner to the Reviewer Experience. The Tile will only appear if the User has the Is Reviewer toggle turned on.
What's Next	Private	The What's Next Tile directs your Learners to their next training. More information about the What's Next Tile is available here.

Engage Tiles

Absorb Engage is a paid add-on to the LMS that offers expanded options. These Tiles will not appear if you do not have Engage enabled for your portal. To discuss enabling Engage reach out to your Client Success Manager or Account Manager as is appropriate.

Tile Name	Public or Private Dashboard	Description
Facebook	Both	This Tile will display and allow navigation to a public Facebook page. The Tile must be edited to include your information before it will work properly. Edit the Tile to view two text fields: Widget HTML: Here is where you should include IFrame widget information based on your Facebook page. The official Page Plugins page from Facebook allows you to build this code: here. When you use the Get Code option from this tool, make sure to copy the IFrame code and paste it in Absorb in the Widget HTML field. Hyperlink: You will want to use the full URL to link to your Facebook page, for instance https://facebook.com/absorblms. Minimum Size: 180px and the maximum is 500px.
Leaderboards	Private	This Tile will navigate the Learner to Leaderboards page. Target: The drop-down-list allows you to select from your list of Leaderboards.
Latest News	Both	This Tile will navigate the Learner to the Latest News page. Title: This field can be used to create a customized name, in place of the Latest News, that will display on the Tile to the Learner. Description: This field can be used to create a customized summary of the Tile, which will display below the Title. Number of Items: A System Admin can select a number from 1 to 5. This number will determine how many news items are displayed on the Tile below the Title and Description.
Polls & Surveys	Private	This Tile will forward the Learner to the Polls & Surveys page.
Twitter	Both	This Tile will navigate the Learner to a public Twitter page. Widget HTML: This field is where you will enter your organization's account name/handle without the "@" symbol.
Collaborations Activity	Private	This Tile will navigate the Learner to the Collaborations Activity page if there have been any posts or responses associated with the Collaboration.

Skills Tile

Absorb Skills is a paid add-on to the LMS, offering a mechanism to allow Learners to create a playlist of recommended and related Courses to expand out their skillset, improve their Competencies, and/or advance their careers. For more information on purchasing this service, please reach out to either your Client Success Manager or Account Manager as appropriate. An introduction on Absorb Skills can be found here.'

Tile Name	Public or Private Dashboard	Description
Learning Path	Private	This Tile allows Learners to easily pick up where they left off in their Skills Learning Path. The Tile will appear differently dependent on whether or not a Learner has taken their Self-Assessment and started their Learning Path. More information on the Skills Learning Path can be found here.

Tile Name

Public or Private Dashboard

Description

Learning Path

Private

This Tile allows Learners to easily pick up where they left off in their Skills Learning Path. The Tile will appear differently dependent on whether or not a Learner has taken their Self-Assessment and started their Learning Path.

More information on the Skills Learning Path can be found here.

Welcome

Welcome is a Container type.

The Welcome Container allows you to customize a Welcome Message to your Learners. Here you can have images and a link to another website. The standard message will display as Welcome, Learner's First and Last Name, We are happy you stopped by. This message can be changed in Setup > Translations.

If you have purchased Engage you may want to consider choosing Billboards so that you can display more than one image and/or videos in a revolving banner.

Click the Welcome Tile inside the Container to open the Edit Welcome Tile modal frame.

From the Edit Welcome Tile there are four sections accessible from the right-hand side menu. Clicking between each section allows further customization of the Welcome Tile. Make sure to Save after making your changes.

The settings contained in each section are as follows:

Options

The Options section containers settings for Tile Height, Link URL and Page Opens.

Page Opens is a drop-down menu that determines how the URL entered in the Link URL field will be opened when the Welcome Tile is clicked by a Learner.

Text

The Text setting allows you to customize the words as they appear on the Welcome Tile.

Custom Translations allows you to select a Language and alter how the Welcome Message will appear for Learners using that Language. Text Block Opacity and Text Block Color allow you to change the visibility and color of the font. Alignment allows you to determine where on the Welcome Tile the Welcome Message will appear.

Foreground Image

The image uploaded here will display behind the Welcome Message and in front of the Background Image. This image will be smaller in width. For instance, if you have a logo or an image that displays a message you could possibly add as the Foreground Image and then add the Background Image to display your colors or theme.

This section will initially only have a toggle that defaults to being turned off. Click the toggle to turn it on and expand Foreground Image options.

The Foreground Image must be selected/uploaded first using the Browse button to open the File Manager. After selecting/uploading the Foreground Image the Display, Height, Opacity and Alignment options allow for further customization of the image.

Background Image

The image uploaded here will display behind the Welcome Message and the full width of the page. The image is responsive and will adjust to the Learner's browser size. If a Background Image is not loaded, the default blue diamond image will display.

The Show Image toggle is defaulted to ON for Background Images. Similar to Foreground Image an image must be selected/uploaded from the File Manager using the Browse button. Once an image is selected/uploaded the Display, Opacity, Background Color and Alignment settings allow further customization of the Background Image.

Ribbon

The Ribbon Container displays Courses assigned to the Label selected in the Label drop-down.

Each Course will display an uploaded or default Icon, Course Name, Course Type, Rating (if applicable), Due Date (if applicable), Mandatory flag (if applicable), and the next action to complete the Course (Status).

The Ribbon will provide the Learner the ability to scroll through each Course or the option to be taken to the specific page that displays the full list.

Label Name	Public, Private or Both	Label Description
Featured Courses	Both	Displays all the Featured Courses that the Learner is eligible to see, based on the Enrollment Rules.
Catalog	Both	Displays Courses that the Learner is eligible to enroll in, based on the Enrollment Rules. This ribbon will display Courses the Learner is already enrolled in, Courses they can enroll into and Courses they have completed (unless otherwise configured in the Courses tab).
LinkedIn Learning	Both	Displays the Courses associated with the Partner Content with LinkedIn. Note: Clients must have an agreement with LinkedIn, have selected which Courses they would like to use, and Published them, in order to have Courses available in this Ribbon.
Trending Courses	Both	Displays the trending list of Courses that are applicable for the Learner, based on Availability and Enrollment Rules. These Courses will be sorted based on the number of recent self-enrollments by Learners in the LMS.
My Courses	Private	Displays the Course(s) the Learner is enrolled into. Completed or not completed Courses will display in this Ribbon unless otherwise configured on the Courses tab.
Resume Courses	Private	Displays the last Course or set of Courses the Learner worked on.
My Pinned Courses	Private	Displays the Course(s) where the Learner has selected the Pin icon in the top right-hand side of the Course Tile, to save and reference in the future.
Mandatory Courses	Private	Displays all of the Courses configured as Mandatory Courses that the Learner is eligible to see, based on the Enrollment Rules.
Recommended Courses (Last Completion)	Private	Displays up to 20 Courses that machine learning has determined to be related to the last Course completed by a Learner, subject to availability to that Learner. Requires the Learner to have completed at least one Online Course. Recommendations are regenerated after every Online Course completion.
Recommended Courses (All Completions)	Private	Displays up to 20 Courses that machine learning has determined to be related to any of the Learner's previous Online Course completions, subject to the availability of that Learner. Requires the Learner to have completed at least one Online Course. Recommendations are regenerated after every Online Course completion.

Billboard

Billboards are an element of the Absorb Engage product. A Billboard provides the System Admin the ability to display one or more images and/or videos on the Private and Public Dashboard.

If there is more than one image and/or video, the graphics will rotate automatically or provide a way for the Learner to manually transition to the next graphic. Making a more engaging and interactive experience for your Learners.

Billboards can be configured in the Admin Experience by going to Engage > Billboards prior to selecting this option on the Dashboard.

Please see the Absorb Engage: Billboards article for more about this option.

Advanced

The Advanced menu primarily allows you to add and modify the Background Image of the Dashboard.

The Background image will display on the Dashboard, behind all the Containers configured. In this section you can add the Background Image, adjust the size, determine if you would like the image Full Screen or on Repeat, adjust the Alignment and adjust the Opacity.

Notes

By default, this menu will have the settings inherited from your Parent Template. If you're editing the Parent Template, then this won't appear.
Don't forget to select Save to apply your changes.

Content

Container Actions

Tile

Standard Tiles

Engage Tiles

Skills Tile

Welcome

Options

Text

Foreground Image

Background Image

Ribbon

Billboard

Advanced

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