Attendance, pass/fail, and certifications

Attendance and pass/fail are recorded on a session page. How you get there depends on the class type:

• Single-session class. Open the class and click Session & Attendance in the Quick Actions panel (on a phone the button reads Manage Students & Attendance).
• Multi-session class. The class page lists every session with its date, time, and location. Click a session to open it. Each session has its own attendance and its own pass/fail marks.

The session page has three tabs: Students (contact details and payment status, with call and email shortcuts), Attendance, and Pass/Fail. Instructors see the same page for their own classes in the instructor portal; see instructors and permissions.

1. Open the session and click the Attendance tab.
2. Set each student to Present, Absent, Late, or Excused. All Present and All Absent fill in everyone at once so you only have to change the exceptions. The notes box next to each student is optional.
3. Click Save Attendance. The button shows how many students you have marked out of the total.

Attendance is saved against the session date. It shows up on the student's record under Attendance History, and the record's Quick Stats card turns it into an attendance rate.

1. Click the Pass/Fail tab on the same session page.
2. Set each student to Passed or Failed, or leave them Pending. All Pass and All Fail work like the attendance shortcuts.
3. For anyone not marked Passed, a reason menu appears with the Red Cross reason list: Absent, Did not complete prerequisite, Did not meet skill competency, Did not meet knowledge competency, Behavioral/conduct issue, or Other. Add instructor notes on performance if you want them on the record.
4. Click Save Results.

CertClass rolls the session marks up into one course result per student. A student who fails any session is marked Failed for the course. A student who has passed every session is marked Passed, and that date becomes their certification date. Anyone else is In Progress. The result appears in the Cert Status column on the Students page, on the Certification card of the student's record, and in the CertClass and Red Cross exports described in the students and rosters guide.

Every class has a status: Scheduled, In Progress, Completed, or Cancelled. As an admin you change it from the status menu next to the class title on the class page. Marking a class Completed is what closes it out and, if you have the thank-you email switched on, what triggers the email to students (next section).

Instructors have two ways to finish a class from the instructor portal:

• If you gave them the Complete Classes Directly permission, they see Mark as Completed and the class is completed immediately.
• Otherwise they see Submit for Completion. The class shows a Pending Review badge, your admin users get an email, and the class page shows a yellow panel with Approve & mark completed and Send back to instructor.

A multi-session class cannot be submitted or completed by an instructor until every session date has passed.

When a class is marked Completed, CertClass can send each enrolled student a short thank-you email. It is an automation called Completion Thank You on the Automation tab on the Communication page (open Communication, then the Automation tab). Turn it on and click Save All Changes.

The default email is titled “Thank You for Training With Us” followed by the class name. It thanks the student, invites them to reply with any questions about their course or certification, and says you look forward to seeing them again. Each student gets it once per class, even if the class is re-completed, and refunded students are skipped. You can rewrite the wording under Communication and Templates; see the email and SMS guide.

For CertClass to know when a certification expires, tell it how long the certification lasts. On the class form, scroll to Additional Details (Optional):

• Certification Details is free text shown on the public class page, for example the name of the card the class leads to.
• Certification Validity (Months) is the number CertClass uses. Enter 24 for a two-year certification. Leave it blank if the class does not lead to a certification that expires.

The expiration date is the certification date plus the validity months. The certification date is the day the student was marked Passed; if a passed student has no completion date recorded, CertClass falls back to the last class date. The Students page uses this to show each student's Cert Status (Active, Expires in a number of days, Expired, No Expiration, Not Yet Certified, or Incomplete for a student marked Failed), an Expiring Certs card counting everyone due within 90 days or already expired, a certification filter, and sort options for certification and expiration dates. On wide screens the list also shows the Certified and Expires dates as columns.

Renewals are repeat business. CertClass can remind students before their certification lapses, automatically or in a batch you send yourself.

Automatic reminders. On the Automation tab on the Communication page, switch on Certification Expiry Reminders and click Save All Changes. CertClass checks every day and emails each student 60 days, 30 days, and 7 days before their expiration date. The email names the class they took, the expiration date, lists up to five of your upcoming scheduled classes, and links to your booking page. A student is never emailed twice for the same checkpoint. Email must be enabled in your communication settings for this to run.

Sending a batch yourself. Use this when you want to write your own message or reach people the schedule would miss, for example everyone whose certification already expired.

1. On the Students page, filter by Expiring Soon or Expired, or search for a class.
2. Tick the students, or use Select all matching (all pages), then click Send Cert Reminder.
3. Optionally tick classes under Link Upcoming Classes. They are inserted where the message has the upcoming classes placeholder.
4. Edit the subject and message. The placeholders for the student's first name, your company name, your company email, and the linked classes are filled in for each recipient, and the preview underneath shows the result. Save as default keeps your wording for next time (it is stored as a Cert Reminder template).
5. Click Send to N Students. A results list shows who was sent successfully and any failures.