LearnGxP is Veeva’s accredited regulatory and compliance training content product. With ContentDirect, LearnGxP course subscribers with Veeva Vault Training as their LMS solution can automatically receive content as it is published, eliminating the need for a Training Admin to manually upload and track new and updated course files.
Note: This feature is only available for current or future Veeva Vault Training customers, and must be configured by an Admin prior to activating a LearnGxP subscription.
How ContentDirect Manages Courses
In order to deliver e-learning courses directly to LearnGxP subscriber Training Vaults, Veeva uses an internal course storage tool called ContentDirect to manage and store finalized course files.
Vault Training initiates a series of SDK jobs to enable the feature, deliver courses, and maintain licensing information. In subscriber Vaults, such jobs are read-only in Admin > Operations > SDK Job Metadata, and are reflected in Admin > Operations > Job Status once scheduled, running, and complete.
Note: Delivered course ZIP files do not contain the course materials themselves, but rather a shell file, or a proxy for the course content that is “streamed” when a Learner accesses it. As such, you cannot open ContentDirect-delivered courses in SCORM file editors, nor in other non-Training Vaults. See Working with Delivered ContentDirect Courses for more information.
How ContentDirect is Enabled
Once the subscriber Training Vault is appropriately configured for E-Learning and ContentDirect, Veeva initiates the process to add courses and licensing information to a subscriber’s Training Vault. This process begins when Veeva initiates the VT: Register With LearnGxP job in the subscriber Vault.
Once the job completes, ContentDirect is enabled in the subscriber Vault in Application Settings. A sub-setting, Licenses Available, reflects the number of available licenses remaining in the subscriber Vault. This read-only value is maintained exclusively via Veeva activities in ContentDirect. See About Licensing for more information.
How ContentDirect Delivers New & Updated Courses
Once subscribed, Veeva associates the licensed courses to the subscriber Vault. This prompts another job in the subscriber Vault to run and create course files in the Library.
When the VT: Pull LearnGxP Content job runs successfully, Vault adds all subscribed courses as individual ZIP files under the LearnGxP Training Materials document type in the assigned document lifecyle’s starting state, for example Draft.
Additionally, Vault sets various document fields with values from ContentDirect, including the LearnGxP Release Notes URL field with a link to the release notes for that particular course.
Vault updates courses similar to when they are created:
- A LearnGxP Admin uploads and approves a new course in ContentDirect.
- ContentDirect pushes the update to individual or all subscriber Vaults.
- The VT: Pull LearnGxP Content job adds the course as a new version of the existing course, with updated metadata values.
Once delivered, courses are processed according to the configured document lifecycle and workflows, and the subscriber Training Admin can create or update corresponding Vault Document Training Requirement records. See Working with Delivered ContentDirect Courses for more information.
LearnGxP Metadata Fields
The LearnGxP Training Materials document type and Training Requirement Impact Assessment object include several corresponding fields for storing relevant course metadata:
- LearnGxP Course Type
- LearnGxP Document?
- LearnGxP Functional Area
- LearnGxP Regulatory Region
- LearnGxP Update Definition
- LearnGxP Update Type
A LearnGxP Admin sets these values, then they are populated in the subscriber Vault upon transfer. Additionally, the subscriber Vault copies these values to related Training Requirement Impact Assessment records.
A Vault Admin can configure various efficiencies using these fields’ metadata, including:
- Document lifecycle Field Dependencies.
- Conditional Training Requirement Impact Assessment workflow paths.
Working with Delivered ContentDirect Courses
LearnGxP courses delivered via ContentDirect are SCORM E-Learning files, hosted by Veeva. This means:
- Course ZIP files do not contain the course materials themselves, but rather a shell file, or a proxy for the course content that is “streamed” when a Learner accesses it. This mechanism is how Veeva retains LearnGxP content and version control.
- ContentDirect-delivered courses cannot be opened in SCORM file editors, nor other non-Training Vaults.
- Training Admins can preview the course using the Preview E-Learning Content action in the configured document lifecycle state(s).
- Training Admins are not required to define a course’s Training Completion Criteria as they normally would for hosted E-Learning courses. Completion criteria are defined by a LearnGxP Admin.
Once a new or updated course is added to the Library, the next steps depend entirely upon your organization’s configured requirements for ContentDirect and the Training appliction.
At minimum, Training Admins in subscriber Vaults must ensure the following to assign new or updated courses to Learners:
- The course is added to a Training Requirement, with the LearnGxP Training Requirement? field populated as “Yes”. The requirement must be part of a Curriculum with associated Learner Roles and Learners in order to be considered for assignment automation.
- Any outstanding Training Requirement Impact Assessment workflow tasks are complete so that the VT: Update Training Assignments job can assess requirements and create assignments accordingly.
About Licensing
Vault validates licensing each time a Learner selects Launch Content from a Training Assignment. This includes assigning unique Learners a license automatically the first time they select this action.
When Vault assigns a license to a unique Learner, it is counted as one (1) in-use license assigned to that Learner. Once licensed, Learners retain unlimited access to any subscribed, assigned courses, as long as enough licenses are available at the time the content is launched.
It is possible for Learners to lose access to an assigned course, even after starting it. Learners are redirected to an error page upon launching content when:
- The subscribed Vault’s Licenses Available count is zero (0).
- An organization no longer subscribes to a course, or the subscription has expired.
- A LearnGxP Admin removes a course from ContentDirect.
Note: Subscriber Vault Admins cannot adjust or manipulate license counts directly. Organizations requiring more licenses should contact their LearnGxP representative to add more licenses. Otherwise, licenses are released only when a licensed Learner is deactivated (their User record status is updated to Inactive).
About the LearnGxP Users Licensed Object
The subscriber Vault and ContentDirect use the LearnGxP Users Licensed object to maintain the bidirectional flow of licensing information:
- The first time a unique Learner selects Launch Content from a Training Assignment for any LearnGxP course, the subscriber Vault creates a LearnGxP Users Licensed record specific to that Learner.
- ContentDirect references the record to initiate a job and subtract one (1) license from the Licenses Available count in the subscriber Vault’s Application Settings.
The LearnGxP Users Licensed object is a system-managed object. Records cannot be edited, however the object is available for reporting and monitoring of license counts, as well as viewing other metadata such as a licensee’s User Status.
Subscription Expiration & Course Removal
When an organization no longer subscribes to a course, or if the course is retired or obsoleted in ContentDirect, the correlating information in subscriber Vaults does not change, so that the LearnGxP Training Materials document and related Training Requirement can be retired or otherwise removed from the training matrix.
Unless and until this occurs, Learners retain their assignments and are redirected to the licensing error page upon clicking Launch Content.