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Use Case/Sanity Check - Configuring Formal and Informal Content, Curating by Asset Type and Additional Fields


I have scoured the community posts and cannot find anything that exactly addresses the challenges we are facing with our Docebo configuration. (This is the closest convo I can find and there aren’t viable solutions). We are relatively new to Docebo but have a decent understanding of how the different pieces and parts work. 

Here is our situation:

  • We have internal and external audiences, i.e., our own employees and customers. Everyone has a login, and based on their group, they see certain content. There is overlapping content, i.e., employees can see everything but customer cannot see the employee training content. This part is easy enough and we understand how to set visibility via catalogs and/or channels.
  • CHALLENGE #1: We have assets that we want to share both informally AND as a part of course. Example: a course on forklift safety that includes an e-learning module on operating a forklift properly, an e-learning module on common forklift-related hazards, a quiz to assess their understanding, and a forklift safety checklist which they can download.
    • We want the learner to be able to self-enroll into said course, or access any of the aforementioned assets individually if they so choose.
    • We have Discover, Coach and Share which enables us to surface these assets “informally” (individually) via channels, maintained in the “Assets” tab in Channel Management. 
    • However, to put these into courses like the example mentioned above, those same assets need to also be uploaded into the Central Repository. This is problematic for obvious reasons, including version control, the nature of having duplicate content, and reporting on activity related to a specific asset.
    • Our proposed solution to this challenge, which is not perfect, is to have essentially a decision tree for uploading assets -- if they are “educational” in nature (the two e-learning modules in the example), they will go to the Central Repository for inclusion in a course, and if they are more of a general resource (the forklift safety checklist PDF), it will go into a Channel related to that topic, e.g., Forklift Safety. This solution means we will be unable to put any “general resources” into a course, but this feels like an OK sacrifice in the interest of preventing duplicate content. Are there other solutions we haven’t considered? (Maybe read Challenge #2 before proposing something)
  • CHALLENGE #2: Pre-Docebo, in our customer resource portal, we categorized our assets not only by topic (e.g., Forklift Safety), but also by Resource Type (e.g., “Forms and Checklists”, or “Toolbox Talks” or “Webinars”), using vernacular that organizes our assets/content in a context our audience understands, and is a step above simply calling something a “Document” or “PDF” or “Video”. Pre-Docebo, our audience had the ability to filter on these different parameters, e.g., “Forms and Checklists” + “Forklift Safety”, to surface the exact content they are looking for.
    • We see that there is the ability to configure Additional Fields in Catalogs, as well as create Course Catalog structure that would, in theory, give our learners the ability to do exactly this. Yay!
    • Actually, not yay. It’s only available in Catalogs, which can only have courses assigned, not informal assets like a PDF. This same configuration is not available for Channels, where many of those types of assets will live.
    • Our proposed (and CLUNKY) solution is that when we upload an asset to a topic Channel (e.g., Forklift Safety), we will also upload it to another Channel that is Resource Type (e.g., Forms and Checklists). 
      • This solution will enable us to have 1) a single landing page for a single Resource Type - e.g., a custom page with a Channels widget that is filtered only on the Forms and Checklists Channel, with a search bar added, and 2) a landing page for Topic - e.g., a custom page with a Channels widget that is filtered only on the Forklift Safety Channel, with a search bar added. Are there other solutions we haven’t considered?

 

Of these two challenges, #2 is the most frustrating (both are annoying, honestly). We are pretty sure that if we had the following, we would be able to do exactly what we need:

  1. Ability to have Additional Fields in Channels (OR the ability to filter on multiple attributes on a landing page widget, like asset Tag + Channel)
  2. Ability to structure Channels in a similar way to the Course Catalog (though admittedly, if we’re still having to accommodate Challenge #1, we would have maintain those structure in two places which is also annoying)

Docebo pros, are we missing something? The platform is so robust and configurable that we were certain it would do what we needed it to do, but we are seriously scratching our heads. SEND HELP.

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4 replies

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I’m not sure if it helps, but something we did for similar scenarios was to create the 
Asset, then put the link to it in the course as a URL type training material.


  • Author
  • Novice II
  • 6 replies
  • March 7, 2025
ariel.zimmerman wrote:

I’m not sure if it helps, but something we did for similar scenarios was to create the 
Asset, then put the link to it in the course as a URL type training material.

I appreciate the idea. We want the assets to be stand-alone, not always part of a course. Docebo has been unable to provide a viable solution so what we have done is put all “e-learning modules” and “e-learning courses” (i.e., SCORM files) in the Central Repository, but nothing else. All other assets are in Channels. Obviously, the “e-learning modules/courses” can be assigned to a Channel, but this having governance helps us remember what type of asset should go where. This somewhat helps us address the issue described in Challenge #1 above. 

Challenge #2 remains with no solution in sight. Our workarounds are clunky and administratively burdensome but Docebo simply isn’t built to meet the meet right now so we are doing what we can within the configuration limitations of the platform.


Forum|alt.badge.img

For your challenge #1 I think our solution might work. Because we’re uploading them as Asset, they are available in appropriate channels for solo consumption. And by adding these assets to the courses by using the training material type “HTML Page”, we can use the asset url. This prevents us from having to load content in both the Central Repository and as assets.  I hope that makes sense. 

 

For challenge #2 - I can’t think of anything beyond what you’re doing. Having assets uploaded and then added to different channels for different purposes (topic and type of asset) is how we’ve handled that. Like you said, it allows us to have pages that are focused on topics and have only those channels included on those pages, and other pages that maybe group by type of asset (checklist, etc).

 

I agree that in some ways Docebo is so robust and can do so much, but in other ways it is maddening that some really simple things aren’t possible. We have had to figure out a LOT of workarounds and done tons of mental gymnastics and still don’t have completely acceptable solutions. 


Good luck!


  • Author
  • Novice II
  • 6 replies
  • March 7, 2025
ariel.zimmerman wrote:

For your challenge #1 I think our solution might work. Because we’re uploading them as Asset, they are available in appropriate channels for solo consumption. And by adding these assets to the courses by using the training material type “HTML Page”, we can use the asset url. This prevents us from having to load content in both the Central Repository and as assets.  I hope that makes sense. 

 

For challenge #2 - I can’t think of anything beyond what you’re doing. Having assets uploaded and then added to different channels for different purposes (topic and type of asset) is how we’ve handled that. Like you said, it allows us to have pages that are focused on topics and have only those channels included on those pages, and other pages that maybe group by type of asset (checklist, etc).

 

I agree that in some ways Docebo is so robust and can do so much, but in other ways it is maddening that some really simple things aren’t possible. We have had to figure out a LOT of workarounds and done tons of mental gymnastics and still don’t have completely acceptable solutions. 


Good luck!

Ah, I see what you mean about the assets/HTML page now. Hmm. That is an interesting solution that we can explore - thank you!

“Maddening” and “mental gymnastics” are definitely good terms for our experience, too :)


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