Automation Feature: Streamlining User Enrolment in 5Mins

Introduction

The Automation feature in 5Mins allows admins to set up rules that automatically enrol people in courses based on specific criteria. This reduces manual admin work and ensures consistent training experiences across your organisation.

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Steps shown in this video

1. Automations have their own place in the admin menu: open Automations. They enrol people in courses automatically, based on rules you set — no manual assignment.
2. New Employee Automation assigns onboarding courses the moment a new hire joins — it draws new starters from your HRIS integration.
3. Existing Employee Automation assigns training to people already on 5Mins — ideal for company-wide or recurring compliance programmes.
4. Opening it reveals the rule builder — a Trigger that decides who is enrolled, and an Action that picks the courses.
5. Give the automation a clear name.
6. Set the trigger — by default the rule covers every existing user on 5Mins.
7. Use Add Filter to narrow it by role, rights, join date, region, cohort or a custom field.
8. Then choose the courses to enrol them in — each with its own start and due date, and an optional repeat schedule for recurring training.
9. Click Create Automation to activate the rule — every matching learner is enrolled automatically, with no chasing.

🎬 Watch this as a short narrated video

Steps shown in this video

1. Automations live under Content and Courses, and they save you enrolling people by hand
2. New Employee Automation assigns onboarding the moment someone joins
3. Existing Employee Automation assigns training to people already here
4. Open one and you get a simple rule builder
5. Set the trigger - who the rule applies to
6. Add filters to fine-tune exactly who matches
7. Create the automation, and the right people are enrolled on their own - no chasing

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

1. New employees automation
2. Existing employees automation

Where to find automations

Open Automations in the admin sidebar. The page has three tabs:

• Manage: create, edit, switch on or off, and run your automations
• Activity: see every time an automation has enrolled someone
• Workflows: set up the Team Progress Email and Course reminders

At the top of the Manage tab you'll find two cards to start from: New Employee Automation (requires an HRIS integration) and Existing Employee Automation.

Understanding Automations

Automations consist of two main parts:

1. Trigger: the conditions that decide which people will be enrolled

2. Actions: the courses people will be enrolled in. For each course you set when enrolment starts, an optional due date, and a Frequency (one time only, or recurring for refresher training)

When each type runs:

• A New Employee Automation checks each person when they register on 5Mins and enrols them if they match.
• An Existing Employee Automation enrols everyone already on 5Mins who matches at the moment you create it. People who join later are not enrolled by it.
• You can also run any active automation on demand with Trigger automation (see below).

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 organisation. 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: Start a new automation

Open Automations in the admin sidebar and, on the Manage tab, select New Employee Automation. Click the pencil icon next to the title to give the automation a clear name.

Step 2: Configure your trigger

1. The trigger reads "When a user registers on 5Mins.ai"
2. Add filters to narrow down who matches, for example Role (or "All roles"), Rights (Admin, Team Manager, or Subject Expert), Join date, Region, Cohorts, Team, or any of your custom fields
3. Join date is when an employee starts at your company. Use it to include, for example, only people who started after a specific date

Please note - some filters only appear when they apply to your organisation. Region and Team appear when they are enabled for your account, Cohorts appears once you have created cohorts, and Join date is shown but locked unless it is enabled for your account.

Step 3: Select onboarding courses

1. Search for and select all courses that should be part of your onboarding programme. You can drag courses to reorder them
2. For each course, set:
   • Enrolment: "Immediate" to enrol the person as soon as the automation is triggered, or "After delay" to enrol them a set number of days after registration (or after the previous course enrolment, for the second course onwards)
   • Due date: "No due date", or "Relative to start date" to set a deadline a number of days after the course starts
   • Frequency: "One time only", or "Recurring" to re-enrol people on a regular interval

Step 4: Review and activate

Click Create Automation to activate your onboarding programme. 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 start and due dates to create a structured onboarding timeline
• Review completion rates periodically to ensure your onboarding is effective

Use Case 2: Existing Employee Automation

What is it?

Existing Employee Automation lets you assign a set of courses to people already on 5Mins who match certain criteria. This is ideal for company-wide training initiatives, certification programmes, or compliance requirements that apply to everyone.

It enrols matching people at the moment you create it. People who join after that are not picked up automatically, so pair it with a New Employee Automation, or use Trigger automation to add people later.

When to use it

• When launching new company-wide training initiatives
• When assigning role-specific certification programmes
• When implementing compliance training that everyone must complete
• When you need recurring training at regular intervals (for example, annual compliance refreshers)

How to set it up

Step 1: Start a new automation

Open Automations in the admin sidebar and, on the Manage tab, select Existing Employee Automation. Click the pencil icon next to the title to give the automation a clear name.

Step 2: Configure your trigger

1. The trigger reads "For all existing users on 5Mins.ai"
2. Add filters to narrow down who matches, such as role, rights, region, cohort, team, or a custom field. If there is no need for role-based training, leave it as "All roles"

Step 3: Select programme courses

1. Search for and select all courses that make up your training programme
2. For each course, set the Enrolment ("Immediate" or "After delay") and the Due date ("No due date" or "Relative to start date") based on your compliance requirements

Step 4: Set up recurring training (optional)

1. In the Frequency column for a course, choose Recurring
2. Under Repeat every, set the interval in weeks or months (for example, every 12 months)
3. People are automatically re-enrolled in that course at that interval after its start date

Step 5: Review impact and activate

1. Click Create Automation
2. Review the Existing users confirmation, which shows how many existing users will be enrolled straight away
3. Select the avatars to view the complete list of affected users before confirming
4. Click Create Automation again to activate the automation and start the enrolments

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

Every automation appears in the list on the Manage tab, with an Active switch and a three-dots (⋯) menu offering Edit, View activity, Trigger automation, Duplicate, and Delete.

Monitoring activity

On the Activity tab you can:

• See totals for Total triggers, triggers this month, and Active automations
• Review a table of each time an automation enrolled someone, showing the user and the automation
• Choose View activity from an automation's ⋯ menu to see the activity for that automation only

To track how people are progressing through the courses they were enrolled in, use the Course Completion report under Reports.

Running an automation manually

1. On the Manage tab, open the ⋯ menu of an active automation and choose Trigger automation
2. Search by name or email and select the people to run it for. People it has already run for are marked "Triggered"
3. Click Run Automation

Modifying automations

To edit an automation, choose Edit from its ⋯ menu, make your changes, and click Update Automation.

• Changes to triggers will affect which new users are enrolled going forward
• Changes to course selections or timings will apply to future enrolments only
• Existing enrolments are not affected by changes to the automation

To reuse a set-up, choose Duplicate. To remove an automation completely, choose Delete. Deleting cannot be undone.

Deactivating automations

If you need to pause or stop an automation:

1. Find the automation in the list on the Manage tab
2. Switch its Active toggle off
3. This prevents new enrolments 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
• Check that the automation's Active switch is on
• If they joined after you created an Existing Employee Automation, they won't be enrolled by it. Use Trigger automation, or set up a New Employee Automation

Too many users enrolled:

• Review your trigger criteria to ensure they're not too broad
• Consider adding more specific role or region filters

Recurring enrolments not working:

• Check that the course's Frequency is set to "Recurring" with an interval
• 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 Centre or email support@5mins.ai.

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