A training provider is an outside organization, such as a school, employer, or training company, that trains people for your association. The provider can also register or renew certifications for those people. This article shows you how to register a provider, control where it can serve people, exempt it from billing, and set up its training locations and certification programs.
What It Controls
A training provider starts with an existing Rolodex organization. Rhythm uses that organization’s identifier and adds the certification details you need, including territories, a billing contact, a contract file, and whether the provider is exempt from billing. Each provider can also have training locations, which are the physical or virtual places where it holds training, and provider programs, which are the certification programs it offers and the fees billed for each one.
Where to Find It
Go to Certifications › Setup › Training › Providers to see the training providers registered in your account. Select Create Training Provider to register a new provider, or select a provider’s name to open its page.
Prerequisites
- The organization you want to register must already exist as a Rolodex organization.
- To let the provider’s staff act for it in the Portal, at least one of its contacts needs a contact role your account has marked as an administrator role.
Register a Training Provider
- Go to Certifications › Setup › Training › Providers and select Create Training Provider.
- Use Organization to search for and choose the Rolodex organization. Its name becomes the provider’s name, and you cannot change the provider to a different organization later.
- Optionally choose a billing contact from that organization.
- Under Territories, add one or more rows for the countries or U.S. states the provider may serve.
- Optionally attach a Contract, and check This training provider is exempt from all billing if the provider should never be billed.
- Set Active or Inactive.
- Select Save Changes.
Result
The provider is registered and opens on its own page, where you can add locations and programs.
Warning
A provider with no territory will not appear when someone searches in the Portal for contacts to serve. If this provider should act on people’s behalf in the Portal, add at least one territory.
Tip
Provider territories currently support countries and U.S. states only. Rhythm accepts a provider with mixed country and state territories, or with no territories, but that setup can keep the provider’s Portal contact search from working correctly. Keep each provider’s territories consistent by using either countries or U.S. states.
The Provider Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization | An existing Rolodex organization | None; required | Sets the provider’s identity and name. You cannot change it to a different organization after creation |
| Billing contact | A contact of the chosen organization | None | The contact used for invoices during a billing run |
| Territories | One or more rows, each a country or U.S. state | None | Limits which people the provider’s Portal staff can find and act for |
| Contract | An uploaded file | None | Keeps the file on the provider record for staff reference |
| This training provider is exempt from all billing | On, Off | Off | Keeps the provider out of billing runs, even when training-provider billing is turned on for your account |
| Status | Active, Inactive | Active | Controls whether staff pickers offer the provider for new use. See "Marking a Provider or Location Inactive" below |
Add a Training Location
A training location is a place where a provider holds training, such as a classroom, hangar, or testing room. When you schedule a course or exam offering, you choose from this location list.
- Open the provider’s page and go to its Locations tab.
- Select Add Location.
- Choose the Training Provider. This is pre-filled when you arrive from the provider’s page. Then enter a Name.
- Confirm the ID. Rhythm generates it from the provider’s identifier and the location’s name, and you cannot change it later.
- Enter the Address.
- Set Status and, optionally, upload a contract or set other fields your account has defined as custom fields.
- Select Save Changes.
Result
The location appears on the provider’s Locations tab and can be chosen when you schedule a course or exam offering.
To open and edit an existing location instead of adding a new one, go to the provider’s Locations tab and select the location you want to change.
Warning
Changing the provider on an imported virtual course offering can fail because the offering’s location must start with the new provider’s identifier, even though a virtual offering should not need a location. If a Training Provider change on a virtual offering fails this way, save the offering as In-Person with a valid location for the new provider first. Then edit it again and switch it back to Virtual.
Link a Certification Program to a Provider
Link a program to a provider to show that the provider offers that certification. The link also lets you set what the provider is billed for each person it brings through that program.
- Open the provider’s page and go to its Programs tab.
- Select Add Certification Program.
- Choose the Program.
- Enter any of the seven fee amounts that apply: Certification Fee, Renewal Fee, Reinstatement Fee, Course Fee, Live Exam Fee, Remote Proctor Exam Fee, and Exam Retest Fee.
- Select Save Changes.
Result
The program appears on the provider’s Programs tab. After you link at least one program, the provider is limited in the Portal to offering only its linked programs and their courses. A provider with no linked programs is offered every program.
Tip
A provider can be linked to the same program only once. To change what the provider is billed for a program, edit the existing link instead of adding a new one.
Marking a Provider or Location Inactive
Setting a provider’s or location’s Status to Inactive keeps staff pickers from offering it for new use, such as when you schedule a new course offering. It does not affect anything that already names the inactive provider or location, and it does not stop the provider’s Portal access or billing.
Dependencies and Precedence
- A provider's identifier is fixed to the organization chosen when it was registered. To point a provider record at a different organization, delete it and register a new one. Deletion is blocked while other records still name the provider.
- A provider's fees, once changed, apply only going forward. The next billing run prices every still-unbilled record using the fees in effect when it runs. A fee change is not dated or applied retroactively.
- A location's identifier always starts with its provider's identifier. You cannot move a location to a different provider. Add a new location under the other provider instead.
- Deleting the organization or the billing contact behind a training provider is blocked while the provider record exists. Other contacts at the same organization can still be deleted freely.
Change Impact and How to Revert
Marking a provider exempt from billing takes effect for records fulfilled after you save. It does not reverse billing already issued. To revert, clear the exemption checkbox. You can mark a provider or location active again at any time by setting the status back to Active.
Permissions
Staff who can open Certifications Setup can register, edit, and delete training providers, locations, and provider programs.
Validation and Errors
| Message or behavior | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Unable to delete the provider | Course offerings, course registrations, instructors, or provider profiles still name the provider | Remove or reassign those records first, or mark the provider inactive instead of deleting it |
| A location's save is refused | The location’s ID does not start with its provider’s identifier | Use the suggested ID instead of typing your own, or create the location from the provider’s own page |
| Adding a program a second time is refused | The provider is already linked to that program | Edit the existing link instead of adding a new one |
An instructor can be approved for more than one training provider at once by adding rows under that instructor’s own Training Providers field. Removing one provider from an instructor does not remove their approvals to teach existing classes for the others. See Instructors for how that field works. There is currently no way for an instructor to teach an offering under a training provider that is not already listed on their own record. Add the provider to the instructor first; using an instructor across providers without that step is not supported.
Related
- Instructors covers the people who teach for a training provider once it is registered.