Introducing Programs

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to analyze when to use programs and when to use curricula based on training needs.

Overview of Programs for End Users

Programs organize various learning activities into a structured schedule. This schedule is guided by the program's agenda, which acts like an academic syllabus. It details the activities planned throughout the program. This syllabus-style agenda is beneficial for different types of training, including academic training, event-based training (such as orientation for new hires), and self-paced learning.

For instance, you can design a month-long onboarding program for new employees. The agenda can be organized by week, with different learning activities planned for each week. Additionally, you can include tasks that employees need to complete outside of SAP SuccessFactors Learning, such as obtaining a security badge or having a meeting with HR. The learning activities can include internal training materials or external resources, like a link to a welcome video on the company intranet. You can also incorporate Open Content Network (OCN) courses into the program.

Learners can view programs that have been assigned to them by their manager or an administrator. These assignments can be made directly or through an Assignment Profile. Learners can also search for programs in their library and, if their role allows, recommend programs to other users. When a program is assigned to a learner, it appears as a card on their learning plan. The content of the assigned program becomes available to the learner once they open the program.

Note

Learning activities included in a Program will not appear separately on the learner’s plan like it does with assigned curricula.

As the learner progresses through the Program, a completion percentage bar reflects progress accordingly. 

Program Completion Percentage Status Bar is highlighted.

When a learner completes an item from the Program agenda, the completion status will be annotated in their history record. Non-item-based activities will have to be physically marked complete by the learner to receive credit. When the entire Program has been successfully completed, its status will appear in the learner’s history record. 

Programs created by administrators can be accessed by learners or managers. Watch this video to learn the different ways learners and managers can access programs.

Video Summary

This video provides a guide to programs, explaining how they offer different learning experiences, such as academic-style and self-paced learning. It demonstrates how to find and enroll in programs in the library, complete learning activities on the agenda, track progress, and have completion recorded in the learning history.

Programs vs. Curricula

Although both Programs and Curricula are useful ways to assign learning, it's important to know that they're fundamentally different. The choice between a Curriculum or a Program will depend on the needs of your organization for deploying learning events. In the system, they're seen as competing entities. This means you cannot add a Curriculum to a Program, and vice versa.

Curricula

A curriculum may contain one or more items, curriculum requirements, or subcurricula. The curriculum will check the history to see if the user has completed any of the items or curriculum requirements. The curriculum will place outstanding items onto the user’s learning plan individually, but the curriculum itself does not appear as a separate entity on the learning plan. Each item placed on the learning plan by the curriculum will indicate which curriculum it came from. The curriculum status will be calculated based on the latest successful completion of all effective required items and curriculum requirements.

Functionalities supported by both Curricula and Programs:

  • Both can be assigned to learners though Assignment Profiles.
  • Both can be added to Libraries.
  • Both can ignore item completions that are too far in the past.
  • Completed items in both will appear as a separate history record in learning history.
  • Items can be sequential in both. Curricula use prerequisites and Programs use sections for sequencing the items.

Functionalities supported only by Curricula:

  • Tracking of retraining.
  • Completion status may change over time.
  • Provide users with options on how to meet curriculum requirements.
  • Approvals associated to items will prevent users from self-registering or launching learning.

Functionalities supported only by Programs:

  • Can contain links, text, and HTML activities.
  • Supports registration of users into Classes.
  • Approval processes are ignored for Items and Classes when added to a Program.
  • Prerequisites for Items are also ignored when added to a Program.

Summary

  • Programs organize learning activities into a structured agenda, ideal for academic, event-based, or self-paced training.
  • Programs allow learners to track progress, complete tasks, and have completion recorded in their learning history.
  • Programs and Curricula are distinct; Programs focus on flexibility, while Curricula emphasize structured item tracking and retraining.
  • Programs include unique features, such as links, HTML, and text activities, ignoring prerequisites and approval processes.

Learning

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