Staff / Instructor Certifications

Watch a (2:30) video tutorial on Staff Certifications

Jackrabbit understands that keeping staff certification records up to date plays an important role in your business. The Staff Certifications feature streamlines this process for you.

  • Ensure students are protected by keeping staff certifications current.
  • Maintain historical reporting; expired certifications are not overwritten and remain in the staff record.
  • Monitor certification alerts from the Executive Dashboard.

The first step for Staff Certifications is to add new certification drop-down values.



Create and Manage Certification Drop-down Values

Add New Certification Drop-down Values

Determine which certifications are needed for your business and add the drop-down values. These values will display as options in the drop-down list when adding new certifications to a staff member (Staff record). There is no limit to the number of certification drop-downs you can add.

To add a certification drop-down value:

  1. Go to Tools > Edit Settings > Drop-down Lists  and choose the Certifications list (Staff section).
  2. Click +Add Row and add the Certification Name. 
  3. Select Required (if applicable), and the Expiration Time Frame in months (up to 60 months/5 years).
    Note: A Certification Name cannot be used more than once. You will be prompted to change the name.

  4. Click Save Changes.

Edit a Certification Drop-down Value

There may be instances when you have to make changes to a certification requirement. For example, change an Expiration Time Frame from 12 months to 24 months.

  1. Go to Tools > Edit Settings > Drop-down Lists  and choose the Certifications list (Staff section) and update the certification as needed.
    Note: These edits will change all existing certifications in staff records. Existing certifications' Name, Type (required or not), Status, and Expires On fields will be updated.
  2. Click Save Changes when done.

Delete Certification Drop-down Value

Give careful consideration when deleting a Certification drop-down value. 

  1. Go to Tools > Edit Settings > Drop-down Lists  and choose the Certifications list  (Staff section).
  2. Click Delete and Save Changes when done.

IMPORTANT! Once removed, a deleted drop-down value will no longer be available in the system and any history of the certification in your staff records will be deleted.


Work with Staff Certifications 

There are a few different ways to access the certifications. 

  • Go to the Staff menu > List Active Staff and select a staff member. Select the Certification tab. The staff member's certificates are listed.
  • We recommend this preferred method: Go to the Staff menu > Staff Certifications, all staff members are displayed in the grid. This allows you to review and work with all of your staff's certificates on a single page!

Use the action icons (top right of page) to complete the following:

  • Click the Manage Certifications quick link to go to the Drop-down List Editor, where you can add or make changes  to certification drop-down values. Changes made will update all existing certifications in all staff records.
  • Use the send icon to generate email reminders to selected staff members when certifications are due.
    Note: To email all staff members, leave the checkboxes in the first column of the grid unselected.
  • Click (+) to open a New Certificate window and add a new individual certificate for a staff member.

Additional actions can be completed in the grid:

  • Move and sort columns in the grid. Refer to Work with Grids in Jackrabbit for more details on how easy and flexible the grids are to work with.
  • Edit or delete individual staff certificates from the row menu () in the 2nd column. 
  • Edit an Incomplete certification for a staff member. Add the Certified On date to remove the Incomplete status.
  • Click on a staff member name to access their individual certifications (Staff record > Certifications tab).
    Note: In the Notes column in the staff record: "Legacy Date= xxxxxxxxx", indicates certifications existing prior to December 2019 and have been migrated to the grid format. These certificates will display as Incomplete for required certificates under Cert Status because they need to be updated with a Certified On date.

The status of each certificate is listed in the Cert Status column:

Cert StatusDescription
IncompleteA required certification with no Certified On/Expired On.
CurrentBased on the Expires On date, this certification is up to date.
Due (30 days)Based on the Expires On date, this certification will be overdue in the next 30 days.
OverdueBased on the Expires On date, this certification is overdue and needs to be updated.
ExpiredThis certificate has been replaced by a newer version.


When a staff member re-certifies, DO NOT delete or edit their outdated certificate, instead, add a new certificate with the new Certified On date; the status of the old certificate will show as Expired. This allows you to retain the history. 


Executive Dashboard Certification Alerts

Certifications that are coming due in the next 30 days or are currently overdue are listed in the Alerts section on the Executive Dashboard. Use the links to go to the Staff Certifications page where you can see details of the certifications and take action, for example, email a reminder to the staff members to update their certifications.

Setting the right Certification permissions for your Users is very important!
Click this link to review the User Permissions for Certifications.

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