Module 7: Session and Nomination Administration

Course session management is utilized in the IQCS by creating a course session from an active course, rostering students manually or through the nomination process, and completing the session. When students are enrolled into a session, their Responder Training page is updated to reflect enrollment. When the course session is complete, enrollment status is changed to Complete in the responder’s training records and the competency(ies) are awarded.

If you want to use the IQCS session management, a course will have to be defined on the course table as active. All National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) courses and many agency-specific courses are loaded in the course table in the IQCS. Information specific for each course as described in the NWCG Standards for Course Delivery, PMS 901-1 is held in the Course table. A Course Status of Active denotes an active course. An inactive course is one that is no longer in use. You cannot create a session for an inactive course.

The advantage to using session administration is that the course completion will be automatically credited to the responder training records. This eliminates the need for the users to manually input the course completion credit.

The training officer or course coordinator schedules a course session in the IQCS by adding a course session for an active course. The system will automatically assign a session number upon saving.

Each session number is unique to that particular course. It is associated with the specific start and end dates of a particular offering. You should note the session number assigned for future use and tracking.

When you create a course session, accept the status of Active. Students can only be enrolled in active sessions.

INSTRUCTIONS – CREATING A COURSE SESSION

To create a course session, follow the process below.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Course Sessions > Course Sessions.
2. Select the Add New Value tab.
3. Course Session Profile Tab (Step 4 - 21)
4. Course Code: Enter the without a hyphen (e.g. S230) for the course you are creating a course session for or use the Look Up feature to select from a list of all courses.
5. Select the Add button.
6. Session Status: Accept the default of Active.
   • Active course sessions can be managed by users with access.
7. Start Date and End Date: Enter a start and end date for the course session.
   • This information will be populated to an application produced training certificate. 
8. Start Time and End Time: Enter start and end time for the course session.
9. Duration: Is automatically populated from the Course table and is editable. The duration unit defaults to ‘Hour, which is the most commonly used value. Duration can be changed to other units of measure.
10. Min Students/Session and Max Students/Session: Enter the values that fit your session. The values of 1 and 999 have been set in the Course table in order to give the most flexibility to the application.
11. Course Offer Level: Select the level (coverage) of the course.
12. Host Unit ID: Enter the unit id of the office sponsoring the training.
    1. This information will be populated to an application produced training certificate. 
13. Training Location...City and State: Enter the information of the training location. 
    1. This information will be populated to an application produced training certificate. 
14. Course Coordinator ID: Look up and select the course coordinator or enter the EmplID of the course coordinator.
    1. This information will be populated to an application produced training certificate. 
15. Enter or look up the Nomination Deadline and the Nomination Notification Date when the course uses the nomination process.
16. Pre-work Due Date: Enter or look up the when the session has pre-work required.
17. Course Session Security: Enter a Security Group ID to populate the security list and/or lookup/select EmpIDs.
    • The IQCS application applies security access to session management. 
    • Only those individuals with designated access will be able to make changes to session data, including enrollment, dates, and session completion. These individuals are: session creator, course coordinator, and those identified under authorized session access.
18. Session Administration: Accept the check in the checkbox.
    • When checked, the session’s enrollment, instructors, reports, certificates, etc. are managed in the IQCS. Responder training records and competency records updated.
    • If the box is not checked, responders cannot be enrolled nor will competency records or training records be updated.
19. Select the Nomination Workflow check box if you want to use the training nomination process built into the IQCS for this course session (see the next section of this document to learn about nomination workflow).
    • When checked, this indicates the session is included as a choice in the nomination workflow. If the box is not checked, the session will not show up in the list of courses for which a responder can be nominated.
20. Rescheduled: Select the box if you are changing session information.
    • Check the Rescheduled box only if you change session information, such as dates or times, so you know you have made changes to the original information. When you select this check box and save the page, the system changes the letter code in the student training record to RSC (reschedule).
21. The Within Area box indicates the intent to have courses taught to the local area responders.
22. Location, Instructor tab (steps 23 - 27)
23. Vendor ID. Use the Look Up feature to select the Vendor ID when an instructor is a through a vendor. Vendor information is stored in the Vendor Table.
24. Instructor ID: Lookup instructor(s) that have IQCS responder profiles and are identified as an instructor for the training. 
25. Name: Field will populate for Instructor ID or the administrator can type in a Instructor that is not set up in the application. 
26. Instructor Level: Identify the training instruction level of the person.
27. Lead Instructor Relevant Qualifications:  For the instructor identified as the Lead, the field will be available for the session administrator to type in their relevant qualification(s) for being the lead instructor. This information will populate to a course training certificate that is generated from the application. 
28. Select the Save button.
29. Upon save, the unique training course Session Number will be created.

Enrolling students in a course session in the IQCS and maintaining session enrollment information will develop and maintain the course training roster. You will not have to update a responder’s record individually for courses managed within the IQCS. When the session is completed, those students who successfully completed a course will have the competency for the course added to their training record then posted to their master record.

There are multiple pathways to enroll students and maintain rosters in sessions.

• Rapid Session Administration displays minimal information about the responder but allows the user to enroll several responders rapidly and to easily view a list of responders enrolled.
• Course Session Enrollment displays the most information about the responder.
• Group Enrollment allows user to define a Group and enroll them all at once into a session.

Session enrollment allows you to select from all responders in the database. Clicking on the magnifying glass will return the first 300 records. Obtaining basic information about your students, such as EmplID and Unit ID, is favorable for this function.

When you are enrolling courses, you should limit enrollments to under 75 students. The PeopleSoft functionality limits the success of completing large sessions.

RAPID SESSION ADMINISTRATION

Rapid Session Administration provides the capability to enroll many students in a session quickly. This screen also allows you to see a list of students assigned to the course session.

INSTRUCTIONS – RAPID SESSION ADMINISTRATION

Follow the directions below to enroll students with Rapid Enrollment.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Student Enrollment > Rapid Session Administration.
2. Search and select course session.
3. Type in or look up the responder’s EmplID.
4. Attendance Status will default to Enrolled. Change this if necessary.
5. Using the + button will allow you to add more students to the session. Repeat this step if entering multiple students.
6. Once all students are enrolled, click on the Prerequisite Checking button. IQCS will check and verify that each student meets the requirements.
   • If the student meets the prerequisites, the Prerequisites Met box will be checked.
   • If there are no course or competency prerequisites for the course, you will see a dialog box confirming that there are no prerequisites for the course.
7. Select Save.

You will receive a warning if you enroll a student who has already taken the course. This does not prevent you from enrolling the student. The IQCS will also warn you if a student is already enrolled in another session for the same dates.

Do not use Complete on the Rapid Session Enrolment page. Complete is only used at the Session Setup page. Use the Go to Course Session Setup link to transfer to the Course Session page where you initially set up the course session.

COURSE SESSION ENROLLMENT

An alternate method for enrolling students is the Course Session Enrollment, which provides more details about each student. However, this method should be used sparingly as it is difficult to see everyone who is enrolled in one view.

INSTRUCTIONS – COURSE SESSION ENROLLMENT

Follow the directions below to enroll students using Course Session Enrollment.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Student Enrollment > Course Session Enrollment.
2. Search and select course session.
3. EmplID. Type in or look up the responder’s EmplID.
4. The Enrollment/Attendance field will default to Enrolled, and the Letter Code will display CON for "Confirmed."
5. The Status Date is automatically populated with today’s date.
6. Trn Reason: Select the Trn Reason dropdown menu and select the appropriate training reason.
7. Prerequisite Checking: Select the Prerequisite Checking button. If the student meets the prerequisites, the Prerequisites Met box will be checked. A Notes button will appear. The Notes button will display a message explaining whether or not the prerequisite courses and competencies have been met for this responder.
8. Select OK to return to the Course Session Enrollment.
9. Use the plus (+) button to add more students to the session.
10. Select Save once you are finished enrolling students.

You can use the Go to Course Session Setup link to transfer to the Course Session page where you initially set up the course session.

GROUP ENROLLMENT

Allows user to define a Group and enroll them all at once into a session. See the Responder Administration Module for instructions on creating a group.

INSTRUCTIONS – GROUP ENROLLMENT

Follow the directions below to enroll students using groups.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Student Enrollment > Group Enrollment.
2. Search for and select the desired course session.
3. Unit ID: Search for and select the Unit ID you will work with.
4. Group ID: Search for and select the Group ID of an existing group.
5. Load Students: Select Load Students.
6. Students assigned to the group will be enrolled into the course.
7. The Enrollment/Attendance field will default to Enrolled, and the Letter Code will display CON for "Confirmed."
8. Status Date is automatically populated with today’s date.
9. Prerequisite Checking: Select the Prerequisite Checking button.
   1. If the student meets the prerequisites, the Prerequisites Met box will be checked.
   2. If there are no course or competency prerequisites for the course, you will see a dialog box confirming that there are no prerequisites for the course.
10. Select the Save button.

You can use the Go to Course Session Setup link to transfer to the Course Session page where you initially set up the course session

Updating Attendance

Updating attendance is done on the source page of the training. For session managed courses, attendance is managed on the Rapid Session Enrollment page. For manually awarded training, attendance is managed on the responder training page.

INSTRUCTIONS – UPDATING SESSION ATTENDANCE

Follow the directions below to update session attendance.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Student Enrollment > Rapid Session Administration.
2. Search and select the correct course session.
3. Change the Attendance field as needed. This information will be written to the responder’s training record. The only one that will change upon the session status being updated from active to complete is the enrolled status, which will change to completed.
   • Enrolled indicates responder was enrolled and attended the course session. Incomplete indicates responder attended but did not complete the entire session or complete training requirements.
   • No Show indicates responder was enrolled but did not show up for the session.
   • Dropped indicated the student was not able to attend or withdrew from session.
   • Session Waitlist indicates responder was waitlisted and not able to get into the session.
   • Cancelled. The status of cancelled is used when the entire course session has been cancelled, not for a specific student.
4. Select the Save button.

Correcting a Course Session Enrollment Status

INSTRUCTIONS - CORRECTING A COURSE SESSION ENROLLMENT STATUS

Use the process below to correct a status of a responder in a completed course session.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Student Enrollment > Rapid Session Administration.
2. Search and select correct course session.
3. Set the session back to Active
   • This will put all responders back to the status they held prior to the session being completed. Generally, this will be Enrolled.
   • For any responder that was in a status of Complete, the awarded competency will be removed from their competency page and their training page will have a status of enrolled.
4. Go to the view course session enrollment page
5. Update the attendance status of the responder. For example, Enrolled to Dropped or Incomplete to Enrolled. Do not use Complete on the Rapid Session Enrolment page. Complete is only used at the Session Setup page.
6. Go to the course session setup and set the session back to Complete.
7. Select the Save button.
8. This will put all enrolled responders back to complete, award any competencies, and update the training page. The corrected action on responder(s) enrollment status will be applied and any corresponding actions on the training page and competency page will be updated.

There are times when the course session will have to be updated to new course date/time, location, course coordinator, instructors, etc. Updating this information is easily done but can only be accomplished by individuals with security access to the session. These individuals are the: session creator, course coordinator, and those identified under authorized session access.

Before completing the course session, you must ensure that the session roster is correct. Competencies will be awarded to those students who successfully completed the course and information will be added to the responder’s training record.

If the required data is not entered the ability to print the certificates will not be available.

INSTRUCTIONS – COMPLETING A COURSE SESSION

To complete an existing course session, follow the process below.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Course Sessions > Course Sessions.
2. Search and select course session.
3. Once you are sure that the student roster and enrolment is correct, change the Session Status to Complete. This will complete the session and award the competency for each student who attended the course session.
4. Select the Save button.

You can view the responder's record to verify the course completion information has been posted. Upon completion of the course session, Course Session Costs can be updated.

The update to the responder’s training record and the awarding of the competency is an automatic process when a session is set to Complete. If the session roster is not correct after completing the course, the session will have to be reset to Active and the corrective action done to the session or to the responder enrollment status on the Rapid Session Enrollment page. When the session is set to Active the enrollment status of all the responders will be set to the state they were at before the course was complete. Any awarded competencies will be removed from the responders record until the session is set to Complete.

February 2022 IQCS completed programming to include the NWCG Training Course Completion Certificate, PMS 921-1 (10/20), background image for NWCG course certificate being generated from IQCS per the direction of the IQCS Change Management Board (IQCSCMB).  With this programming now in place, users will no longer need to order the blank NFES 1272 certificates from the cache system to print the certificates. For non-NWCG course certificate completions, the background will be blank, and users can use their agency or local certificate background. 

The IQCSCMB identified additional required fields for the course completion certificate can be produced. The following fields must be populated at the Course Session Profile page for a course completion certificate to be generated.

Course Session Profile Tab

• Host Unit ID    
• Course Coordinator
• Session Status: Complete

Location Instructor Tab

• Instructor Name (added via an Instructor ID lookup or typing a name in the field)
• Instr Lvl (Instructor Level): one instructor identified as Lead

The course coordinator, or anyone listed with course security, needs to include the required information prior to completing the course. Those without security to the course session will have to contact the course coordinator or someone with course security to update the required data before they can produce certificates.

You can view the course coordinator information and those with course security by going to Main Menu-Training Administration-Course Sessions-Course Sessions. Enter in the course code and the session number.

PRINTING A COURSE CERTIFICATE

Certificates can be generated from two locations in the application: the Course Session Profile page and the reports page.

NWCG courses will include the NWCG background in the certificate, non NWCG courses will not.

PRINTING A COURSE CERTIFICATE FROM THE COURSE SESSION PAGE

You must be the course coordinator or have course security. If the course is not complete the Print button will not be available. If the Print button is available, you can choose print. If there is missing data, you will get a message indicting so.

PRINTING A COURSE CERTIFICATE FROM THE TRAINING CERTIFICATES (C232) REPORT RUN CONTROL

Certificates can still be printed from the Training Certificates (C232) report run control. However, all required data must be entered on the course session page for the report to be generated.

Navigate to Reports > Training > Course Sessions > Cert of Completion (C232). 

If the print certificate is not available it is likely the session is not complete or there is missing the certificate required data. 

Only active course sessions that have the Nomination Workflow box checked will be available for the Nomination Workflow process.

A training officer or nomination coordinator can submit nominations for any responder whom they have been identified as the Training Officer or Alternate Training Officer on the responder's Job Data page.

Approval of the nomination by the supervisor is performed before the nomination is entered into the IQCS. Once approved, the training officer then enters nominees from their unit for active course sessions. Once nominations have been submitted, the local, zone, geographic area, and national procedures for prioritization of students can take place.

The course coordinator at the agency or facility hosting the session can then enroll the prioritized nominees in the course.

The training officer will access the Training Nomination component. Selecting the Request Training Enrollment link launches the Search page for courses with active sessions.

The following tasks need to be completed before a nomination is submitted:

• The responder's record needs to be updated and complete.
• The training officer (or alternate training officer) listed on the responder's record needs to be the one submitting the nomination.

RESPONDER RECORDS

The Training Officer field on the Job Data page must be filled out correctly. A mass change of the training officer can be done on the Responder Administration > Unit Summary page. For example, this would be done if a new training officer were hired for a unit.

The Unit ID field must be defined for each responder. The prioritization process sorts the nominations by Unit ID.

INSTRUCTION - SUBMITTING A TRAINING NOMINATION

Follow the directions below to submit a training nomination.

1. Navigate to Training Nomination > Training and Development > Request Training Enrollment.
2. Select one of the four hyperlink options to search for a course session. The selected Course Search page will appear.
3. Enter the search criteria and select the Search button. A list of available sessions will be displayed by date. If active sessions are available for the selected search criteria, then a blue hyperlink will be displayed.
4. Select View Available Sessions.
5. Select the desired session number in the left-hand column. Only course sessions that have the Nomination Workflow box checked will be available. Make sure you select the correct session. Reference your Training Center’s web page (if available) to verify the session number.
6. Select the check boxes next to the names for the employees you want to submit nominations for or select the Select All button to nominate every student.
7. Select the Continue button.
8. The next page allows you to make comments for each employee you nominated. These comments will carry forward throughout the nomination and enrollment process. These comments will assist training officers/coordinators in selecting employees for a course. You may add reasons why the student needs this course in the Comment field.
9. When you have completed your comments, select the Submit button. You can also select the hyperlink Return to Select Employees to nominate other employees.
10. You will now see that the submitted training enrollment request was successful. Select OK.
11. To verify the nominations, navigate to Training Nomination > Training and Development > View Training Request Status.

Once nominations have been made, training officers (local training officers, zone training coordinators, etc.) can go the Prioritize Trainee Nominee page and prioritize their nominees.

Remember that training officers complete the prioritization of their unit’s nominees by a predetermined date according to the unit’s procedures.

INSTRUCTIONS - UNIT LEVEL PRIORITIZATION

Follow the directions below to do unit level prioritization.

1. Navigate to Training Nomination > Training and Development > Prioritize Trainee Nominees.
2. Enter the information for the desired course in the Search by field.
3. Select Search.
4. Select Course Session. The Prioritize Trainee Nominees page is shown.
5. You can view information about the course coordinator and the facility by clicking the hyperlinks in the Course Session Information box.
6. Enter the Unit priority next to each name for your unit. As each level prioritizes their nominees, duplicate unit priority numbers can occur. By the end of the prioritization process, a priority number MUST appear at each level for each nominee.
   • Level 1: Sub-Unit Training officer
   • Level 2: Unit Training Officer
   • Level 3: Zone Training Officer
   • Level 4: Geographic Area Training Officer
   • Level 5: National and/or Outside Geographic Area Training Officer
7. The last level of priority that is set will be transferred to the Summary Listing page. For example, if the highest level of priority set is Geographic Area, then the information in Geographic Area will be transferred to the Summary Listing page.
8. Once the nominees have been prioritized, select Save.

Once training officers at the appropriate levels have set the priority for the session, a coordinator with security access to the session can view the Final Priority and take action to enroll the students into the session. This process is done at the Summary Listing page.

The highest level of prioritization, from the Prioritize Trainee Nominees page, will be displayed in the Final Priority column. For example, if prioritization was entered at both the Local and Geographical columns, then the Geographical prioritization will be displayed as the final.

It is important that final priority numbers are given to every nominee as those numbers appear on the enrollment screen and are also used to enroll and waitlist students.

At this location, a coordinator can approve nominees for enrollment or given a reason for non enrollment, such as the class has a waiting list, the nominee lacks prerequisites, the class was cancelled, etc.

Once nominations have been identified with either an Enroll or Waitlist checkmark and the action is saved, the fields are grayed out and the priority and status fields cannot be changed. It is used as the historical reference of the final prioritization and initial enrollment for the session. Changes to enrollment status of students after this point can be managed at the Rapid Session Enrollment page. Nominations identified with the No Action check or new enrollment requests will be displayed with editable fields.

The highest level of prioritization, from the Prioritize Trainee Nominees page, will be displayed in the Final Priority column.

PRIORITY BY UNIT

Priority by Unit displays responders for just your local unit. Sort the Priority by Unit list by selecting any of the column headers.

Show Priority will show all units with nominees. Sort the Show Priority list by selecting any of the column headers.

If a Unit ID, zone, geographical area, etc., does not prioritize a nominee at the last level that numbers are entered, there will be no priority number moved from the Prioritize Training Nominee page to the Summary Listing page. This will be an indication that a particular entity did not follow through with prioritization.

Priority numbers can still be added to those nominees on the Summary Listing page. If no one has been enrolled or wait-listed in Summary Listing, you can readjust the priorities (only with authorization of all players in the prioritization process) to take those nominees into consideration.

Once action has been taken on nominees in Summary Listing, their priorities cannot be changed. New blank priorities can be filled in later with a priority number and action taken. It is important that priority numbers be given to every nominee as those numbers appear on the enrollment screen. These numbers are used to fill vacancies with wait-listed nominees in priority order.

ENROLL, WAITLIST, AND NO ACTION CHECKBOXES

By default, the No Action checkbox is checked for all the requests initially. Requests can be marked individually by checking the appropriate checkbox for every request for either enrolling or wait-listing. A status of “Enrolled” or “Waitlist” will show after saving the page. Once saved, only records checked for No Action can have action taken on them.

The Check All Enroll/Waitlist button auto-enrolls everyone on the list. The system will enroll as many students as seats were indicated for the session in Course Session Setup. The remaining students are waitlisted with their priority numbers retained for future reference. For example, assume there are 10 available seats for a particular session and 15 requests came in for the session enrollment. If the Check All Enroll/Waitlist option is selected for all 15 requests, then the first 10 employees (sorted by final priority) associated with the requests will be enrolled for the course session. The remaining 5 students will be wait-listed for the session.

If the coordinator wants to wait-list a particular student on the Administer Training Request page, then he or she can manually enroll the student in the session with the status of “Session Waitlist” by checking the Waitlist box.

The No Action box will contain a check mark until action is taken. Then it will be blank when the page is saved. The Status section will auto-populate with the status when action is taken and the page is saved.

PROCESS FOR FINAL PRIORITY SESSION ENROLLMENT

Nomination Coordinators can use the process below to view the final prioritization and take action for enrollment for a course session.

INSTRUCTIONS – SUMMARY LISTING

Follow the directions below to view and take action on the final prioritization.

1. Navigate to Training Nomination > Training and Development > Summary Listing.
2. Search and select the correct course session.
3. Select Show Priority or Priority by Unit buttons to view the Nomination Priorities page. From this page, you can create an Excel spreadsheet by clicking on the yellow grid icon.
4. The final priority for each student is automatically carried over from the Prioritize Training Nominee page. The highest level of prioritization will be displayed in the Final Priority column and is editable. It is important that final priority numbers are given to every nominee as those numbers appear on the enrollment screen and is also used to enroll and waitlist students
5. Select the Edit icon under Your Comments column to enter or view comments for a nominee.
6. Select View Comments for the nominee to read the previous comments made by the training officer.
7. Enroll column checkbox. If selected the nominee will be enrolled into the course session.
8. Waitlist column checkbox. If selected the nominee will be waitlisted for the course session.
9. No Action column checkbox. All records will initially be checked as No Action. This will not enroll or waitlist a trainee into the course.
10. The Status column will be updated automatically once the process is saved and completed.
11. Select the Save button.
12. Select the Go to Enrollment hyperlink to go the Rapid Session Administration page. You can change the enrollment status on the Course Session Enrollment or on the Rapid Session Enrollment pages.

Once nominations have been identified with either an Enroll or Waitlist checkmark and the action is saved, the fields are grayed out and the priority and status fields cannot be changed. It is used as the historical reference of the final prioritization and initial enrollment for the session. Changes to enrollment status of students after this point will can be managed at the Rapid Session Enrollment page. Nominations identified with the No Action check or new enrollment requests will be displayed with editable fields.

There may be times when you want to allow a group of users access to modify a course session that you created. For instance, you could create a security group for a regional training center whose employees may all need access to all courses held at their facility.

INSTRUCTIONS – COURSE SESSION SECURITY GROUPS

Follow the directions below to create and populate the Course Session Security Group.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Course Sessions > Course Session Security Group.
2. Add a New Value. Select the tab to add your group. This is not the same group that is created in the Responder Administrative section of the IQCS. This group is only for those users with security access to a course session.
3. Group ID. Enter your desired name for the group. The Group ID field is up to six (6) characters long.
4. Group Members. Select to add the group members. Only IQCS users with an Empl ID assigned to their account can be included.

To add this group to a course session Authorized Session Access, follow the following process.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Course Sessions > Course Sessions.
2. Search for and select course session.
3. Enter the Group ID and select the Populate List From Group button.
4. Select the Save button.

You can confirm a responder's completed training by navigating to the Responder Training Summary or to the Responder Summary pages.

INSTRUCTIONS - RESPONDER TRAINING SUMMARY

To view a responder’s training history, follow the process below.

1. Navigate to Training Administration > Student Enrollment > Responder Training Summary.
2. Search and select responder.
3. This screen will show a summary for all training for a responder. This is a read-only screen.

INSTRUCTIONS - RESPONDER SUMMARY

To view a responder’s training history, follow the process below.

1. Navigate to Qualification Management > Competency Management > Responder Summary.
2. Enter or look up the responder’s record that you would like to review.
3. This screen will show the summary history for a responder. This is an information only screen. Select the Training Summary tab to view a responder’s training summary history.