Problem
The course is set to expire (by date) every year, but the progress report suggests that learners do not have to do the course for almost two years.
Solution
There are two ways to configure expiration on courses:
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Expiration by lapse time
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Expiration by date
The two options are mutually exclusive and are configured in the course settings.
The "Expire the learning record on" option was added at the request of healthcare customers because they wanted to track compliance based on a calendar (either fiscal or non-fiscal calendar). When you select "Expire the learning record on", you are specifying when the learning record for a learner who completes the course will expire. In other words, if you select "31 December", it means that regardless of when a user completes the course, their learning record will expire on December 31.
While the "Expire the learning record on" is used by many healthcare organizations, it's not without any downsides.
Let's assume that "Expiration by date" is set to "31 December of every year".
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If a user completes the course December 30th, their learning record will expire on the very next day. This may frustrate some learners as they will not understand why their learning record is only valid for one (1) day.
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A proactive user who completes their training early does not receive any benefit from doing so. For example, if a user knows in late December 2019 that they are required to complete a course in 2020 and chooses to complete it in December 2019, their learning record will still expire on December 31, 2019. As a result, users cannot complete their training in advance; they must wait until their existing learning record has expired before completing the course again.
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There is no “grace period” when using “Expire the learning record on.” If a user does not complete the course in 2019 and instead completes it on January 1, 2020, they will be marked as non-compliant for 2019.
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Continuing the scenario above, because the course was completed on January 1, 2020, the user is not required to complete it again in 2020, and their next due date becomes December 31, 2021. As a result, a user who skipped the training for the previous year effectively benefits by not having to complete the course for nearly two years, which may unintentionally encourage delays in completing required training.
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Finally, the expiration date doesn't really indicate when the user should take the course. When used by healthcare organizations for compliance purposes, these organizations are usually ok if the person does the course sometime during the year - even if it's December 30th. Technically, they will be marked as compliant for the year even if the only do the course at the last minute. This is why the "Due date" in the progress report shows the latest time people have to complete the course to remain compliant.