Courses Overview

LMS Course is the central content object in Smooth LMS. A course bundles marketing fields (title, image, tags, category), instructional structure (modules and lessons), assessments, optional pricing, certification rules, and corporate compliance flags (Mandatory Training, Validity Period). Published courses appear on /lms/courses and can be consumed self-paced, inside cohorts, or within programs.

Help URL: smoothhiring.com/help/lms/courses/overview

Table of Contents

1. Course lifecycle
2. Structure: modules and lessons
3. Publishing and visibility
4. Enrollment models
5. Assessments and certificates
6. Statistics tab
7. Desk paths
8. Step-by-step: course operations
9. Tips
10. Troubleshooting
11. Related guides
12. HRMS integration

Course lifecycle

Draft (portal/desk) → Add modules/lessons → Configure assessments → Review → Published → Enrollments → Completion → Certificate

Statuses on LMS Course include hidden workflow values (In Progress / Under Review / Approved) for moderation workflows. Day-to-day publishing is controlled by the Published checkbox and is_published_field metadata.

Unpublished drafts remain in desk lists; learners only see published = 1 unless staff preview links are shared.

Structure: modules and lessons

Courses reference modules through the Chapters child table (Chapter Reference), pointing to Course Chapter documents. Each chapter owns an ordered Lessons table (Lesson Reference) linking Course Lesson rows.

This three-level hierarchy (Course → Module → Lesson) maps to navigation breadcrumbs in the portal player. SCORM imports create a module with is_scorm_package = 1 and auto-generated lesson rows per SCO.

Publishing and visibility

Key fields:

Published On documents go-live for communications. Preview Image and Color (card gradient) control marketing cards.

Enrollment models

Each enrollment tracks progress percentage until 100% triggers completion logic and optional certificate.

Assessments and certificates

Lessons embed Quiz ID (LMS Quiz name) or assignment Question with file upload types. Quizzes support multiple question types via LMS Question child rows.

Enable Completion Certificate on the course pricing/certification tab. Paid certificate flows add Evaluator and evaluation scheduling—optional for internal HR training.

Print quiz results: desk LMS Quiz Submission → Quiz Submission Report print format.

Statistics tab

Read-only counters on the course form:

• Enrollments count
• Lessons count
• Rating aggregate from reviews

Use Learning workspace charts for cross-course trends; open LMS Course Review and LMS Course Interest for qualitative signals.

Desk paths

Step-by-step: course operations

Create and publish

1. Open /lms/courses/new/edit as Course Creator.
2. Enter title, trainers, short introduction, description.
3. Add modules and lessons; attach quizzes.
4. Set category and compliance flags if needed.
5. Check Published; save.

Assign to employees

1. As Moderator, open course admin or desk enrollment tools.
2. Select employee users (linked to HR employees).
3. Set due date for mandatory assignments.
4. Confirm LMS Training Assignment rows for reporting.

Audit completion

1. Filter /app/lms-enrollment where progress = 100.
2. Export quiz submissions for evidence.
3. Attach PDFs to HR compliance if required.

Tips

• Clone courses by duplicating record rows for seasonal refreshes.
• Use Related Courses table for learning paths inside a single subject area.
• Keep lesson Include In Preview on for sales demos of paid courses.
• Set Validity Period when OSHA-style annual refresh is required.

Troubleshooting

Related guides

• Create a course
• Chapters and lessons
• Lesson content types
• Mandatory training

HRMS integration

Courses underpin Employee Onboarding training tasks. Tie completion to Employee Compliance when regulations require more than LMS progress percentage. Ensure Employee records have active users before bulk-assigning training.

Course design standards

Establish an internal style guide: module titles start with verbs, lessons under 20 minutes, every compliance course ends with gradable quiz ≥ 80% pass. Require Category and Tags before publish approval. Use Related Courses for remediation paths after failed quizzes. Review Rating and Review records quarterly for content refresh priorities.

Desk path for catalog review: /lms/courses (employee view) and /app/lms-course (admin view).

Governance, auditing, and data retention

Training data in Smooth LMS is standard Frappe JSON in MariaDB plus files in public/files and public/scorm. HR audits typically require evidence of who completed what by when. Export desk lists (LMS Enrollment, LMS Quiz Submission, LMS Training Assignment, LMS Certificate) to CSV for sampling. Quiz submission print formats provide question-level detail suitable for safety investigations or harassment prevention audits.

Retention policy should align with HR document retention: keep LMS submissions at least as long as related Employee Compliance records. When employees depart, disable User accounts but retain enrollment history unless legal counsel approves purging. Version course content via amended records or annual duplicated courses so historical completions still reference the correct curriculum year.

System Managers should restrict Moderator role membership and enable login activity review on sensitive cohorts (executive leadership programs). Pair LMS reports with HR onboarding status from Employee Onboarding overview to prove training preceded start date when required.

Frequently asked questions

Do employees need desk access? No. LMS Student is portal-only by default; send {site}/lms/courses links.

Can one user be both Course Creator and Moderator? Yes on small teams; larger orgs should separate author vs publish duties.

How do we handle contractors? Create User + optional HR employee record; assign training like employees via Employee records linkage or direct enrollment.

What breaks if HRMS is down? LMS continues serving published content; new hire auto-enrollment pauses until Employee/Onboarding APIs succeed.

Are certificates legally equivalent to HR compliance rows? Not automatically—store PDFs on compliance or document types when statute requires.

Performance and scale notes

Large enrollments (5,000+ users) should batch assign overnight via assign_mandatory_training rather than manual enrollment rows. Rebuild website cache after bulk publish. Monitor background workers if email notifications queue heavily. SCORM packages should be optimized zip exports to reduce disk usage during large uploads.

Additional troubleshooting

Operations calendar (recommended)

Integration smoke tests with HRMS

1. Create test Employee with user — confirm LMS Student role.
2. Submit test Employee Onboarding — confirm enrollments when courses mandatory.
3. Complete course — attach quiz PDF to test Employee Compliance row.
4. Archive evidence in document compliance SOP.

Support runbook (L1)

Collect: user email, course/cohort name, screenshot of error, timestamp. Check enrollment exists, course published, role present. Escalate to System Manager if SCORM extract failed or permission hooks deny batch access. Reference Employee records to fix missing user_id before reassigning training.

Document history and change control

When updating this process, record the Smooth LMS app version, platform update date, and whether HRMS onboarding templates changed. Authors should note breaking changes in course release notes (quiz question changes may require reattempts). For regulated customers, maintain a binder linking LMS course ID to compliance control ID in Employee Compliance.

Desk administrators use /desk/learning for cross-course metrics; portal users rely on /lms/courses for consumption—both URLs should appear in internal SOP PDFs so auditors can reproduce learner steps without admin credentials.

Last updated: May 2026

Smooth HR (HRMS)