Automations

Automation Feature: Streamlining User Enrolment in 5Mins

Introduction

The Automation feature in 5Mins allows administrators to set up rules that automatically enroll users in courses based on specific criteria. This powerful tool reduces manual administrative work and ensures consistent training experiences across your organization.

This guide explains how to use automations for two key use cases:

  1. New employees automation

  2. Existing employees automation

Understanding Automations

Automations consist of three main components:

1. Triggers: The conditions that determine which users will be enrolled

2. Actions: The courses users will be enrolled in

3. Repeat Enrolment: Optional scheduling for recurring training

Each automation works in the background, continuously evaluating users against your defined triggers and enrolling them in the specified courses when conditions are met.

Use Case 1: New Employee Onboarding

What is it?

New Employee Onboarding automation helps you automatically assign required training to new team members when they join your organization. This ensures every new hire receives consistent onboarding materials without manual assignment.

When to use it

  • When you have standard training all new employees must complete

  • When different departments require different onboarding materials

  • When you need to ensure compliance training is assigned immediately upon hiring

How to set it up

Step 1: Navigate to Automations

From your admin dashboard, select "Automations" and click "Create Automation."

Step 2: Configure your trigger

  1. Select "When a new user joins 5Mins" as your trigger type

  2. Specify which roles should receive this onboarding (e.g., "All roles" or select specific roles)

  3. If the Region feature is enabled for your account, you can target specific regions

  4. If the Join Date feature is enabled, you can set date criteria to include only users who joined after a specific date

Please note - New employee

Step 3: Select onboarding courses

  1. Search for and select all courses that should be part of your onboarding program

  2. For each course, set:

    • Start date: "Now" for immediate access or a specific timeframe (e.g., "7 days after enrollment")

    • Due date: Set completion deadlines relative to enrollment or select "No due date"

Step 4: Review and activate

Click "Create Automation" to activate your onboarding program. New users who match your criteria will automatically be enrolled in the specified courses when they join.

Best practices

  • Keep onboarding focused on essential content to avoid overwhelming new hires

  • Consider staggering due dates to create a structured onboarding timeline

  • Review completion rates periodically to ensure your onboarding is effective

Use Case 2: Course Program Enrollment

What is it?

Course Program Enrollment allows you to assign a set of courses to both existing and new users who match certain criteria. This is ideal for company-wide training initiatives, certification programs, or compliance requirements that apply to everyone.

When to use it

  • When launching new company-wide training initiatives

  • When assigning role-specific certification programs

  • When implementing compliance training that everyone must complete

  • When you need recurring training at regular intervals (e.g., annual compliance refreshers)

How to set it up

Step 1: Navigate to Automations

From your admin dashboard, select "Automations" and click "Create Automation."

Step 2: Configure your trigger

  1. Trigger is set "For all new users and existing users on 5Mins" as your trigger type

  2. Specify which roles should receive this training. If there is no need for role based training, select all roles

  3. If the Region feature is enabled, select applicable regions (or "All regions")

Step 3: Select program courses

  1. Search for and select all courses that comprise your training program

  2. For each course, set:

    • Start date: "Immediate" for immediate access or stagger access with relative dates

    • Due date: Set appropriate deadlines based on your compliance requirements

Step 4: Configure repeat enrollment (optional)

  1. Enable "Repeat enrollment" if this training should recur

  2. Set the frequency (e.g., "Every 12 months")

  3. This ensures users are automatically re-enrolled in the same courses after the specified period

Step 5: Review impact and activate

  1. Click "Create Automation"

  2. Review the confirmation modal showing how many existing users will be immediately enrolled

  3. You can view the complete list of affected users before confirming

  4. Confirm to activate the automation and initiate enrollments

Best practices

  • Use the impact preview to understand the scale of immediate enrolments

  • For recurring training, align the frequency with compliance requirements or industry standards

Managing Your Automations

Monitoring effectiveness

From the Automations dashboard, you can:

  • View the number of users enrolled through each automation

  • Track completion rates for automated enrollments

  • Identify users who may be falling behind on automated training

Modifying automations

You can edit existing automations at any time:

  • Changes to triggers will affect which new users are enrolled going forward

  • Changes to course selections or timings will apply to future enrollments only

  • Existing enrollments are not affected by changes to the automation

Deactivating automations

If you need to pause or stop an automation:

  1. Navigate to the automation from your dashboard

  2. Toggle the activation switch to "Off"

  3. This prevents new enrollments but doesn't affect users already enrolled

Troubleshooting

Common issues

Users not being enrolled:

  • Verify the user's role, region, and join date match your trigger criteria

  • Check that the user hasn't already been enrolled in the courses

Too many users enrolled:

  • Review your trigger criteria to ensure they're not too broad

  • Consider adding more specific role or region filters

Recurring enrollments not working:

  • Verify that repeat enrollment is enabled and has a non-zero frequency

  • Check that the automation itself is still active

Getting Help

If you encounter any issues or have questions about setting up automations, please contact our support team through the Help Center or email support@5mins.com.

Remember that effective use of automations can significantly reduce administrative workload while ensuring consistent training experiences across your organization.