Connect your community platform to your Skilljar training site using our integration toolset, branding, SSO, and deep-linking functionality. In this article, we’ll provide some best practices and a guide to some commonly integrated platforms.
Note: Skilljar doesn’t offer any pre-built community components, as every training program has different goals and functionality requirements. However, we do make sure our data pipeline options are as robust as possible to enable near-limitless customization.
Best Practices
Single sign-on (SSO) to Skilljar
To make navigating between your community and Skilljar easier, we recommend setting up a shared SSO connection to Skilljar. SSO allows community users to follow a deep link to your Skilljar training site and immediately start consuming your content without the need to log in or create an account. Skilljar can act as the Service Provider (SP) in an SSO connection and supports SAML 2.0, OAuth 2.0, OIDC, and token-based protocols.
Read more about SSO at Using Single Sign-On (SSO).
An SSO connection also makes it possible to pass parameters about your users that are already known, such as company, job role, or account type. Skilljar can use these parameters to automatically add users into groups and use the groups to control which courses users see upon login. SSO can provide new student accounts in real-time, and will also automatically reflect any updates made to user details or parameters.
Generally, Skilljar customers use an Identity Service to manage a single set of central authentication credentials for all of the resources their users have access to. This service will act as an “air traffic controller” of sorts, with each available resource as a “landing zone” for user access from a single source. Users can then seamlessly switch between a product, knowledge center, community platform, and training center that all share the same login session and credentials.
The most common Identity as a Service (IaaS) providers that Skilljar customers use are Auth0, Okta, and OneLogin, but Skilljar supports Identity Services, which can also be custom-built. Some community platforms can also act as an Identity Provider in an SSO connection with Skilljar acting as the Service Provider, which can be useful when a full Identity Service isn’t an option.
Deep-links to Skilljar
Skilljar allows deep-linking, which means it’s possible to direct users to specific training resources immediately relevant to their needs from links hosted within or from outside. As courses and lessons are created and published in Skilljar, they are assigned unique URLs that give them a permanent home on the web. In combination with an SSO connection, deep linking can enable a powerful and seamless user experience where it takes only a single click to start a training journey.
Some common use cases that use deep-linking from a community to Skilljar are as follows:
- On the community homepage, placing links to available learning paths by role or topic for easy discovery. For example admins, business users, developers, and onboarding.
- If product documentation is hosted on the community platform: Embedding links throughout knowledge articles that drop users into courses designed to train on the same feature or topic.
- If global search is a feature of the community platform: indexing relevant Skilljar training courses alongside knowledge articles and any other resources being offered in search results to assist in self-discovery.
Branded Customer Experience
Creating a hub for your customers or partners provides a cohesive experience for your different audiences. Branding pages such as your community, help center, and academy to align with your brand will ensure that whenever a user moves from one product to another it feels like the same solution.
Learn more about customizing your Skilljar training site at Customize Your Training Site With CSS and JavaScript.
Training Activity in Community
Taking the training activity of your learners out of Skilljar and into a community platform can empower some advanced use cases and custom functionality. Skilljar offers a robust set of data pipeline technology to streamline this process, including Global Code Snippets that support Javascript tags to relay events, an API with Webhooks, and a Data Connector. Many customers also use the Skilljar Salesforce integration to push training data to Salesforce, and then from Salesforce to the community platform (if it has a native Salesforce connector).
Once a training data stream is set up, the associated Skilljar course registrations, completions, certifications earned, and purchases made for the community user base will all be natively available for additional integration functionality. Some common use cases that use this data include:
- Awarding points for registering in and completing Skilljar courses, and then allowing users to turn in those points for rewards such as gift cards, swag, and donations to charity.
- Creating a leaderboard that showcases the top learners within your community to foster healthy competition and increase training engagement.
- Displaying any training certifications/badges earned on user profile pages and forum discussion signatures to promote product advocacy.
- Offering a curated “onboarding zone” for new users containing challenges promoting training for general onboarding and also courses/learning paths specific to user parameters such as persona or available products.
Federated Search
Federated search is a search technology that allows users to search multiple sources simultaneously from a single search interface. It is especially useful in a community setting where there are multiple stakeholders with different data sources and search requirements.
Federated search is good for your community because it allows for the pooling of knowledge and resources from multiple sources within the community, resulting in more comprehensive search results. It also encourages collaboration and knowledge sharing within the community, as members can easily access and contribute to the shared knowledge base.
Moreover, federated search can help to eliminate information silos and reduce duplication of effort, enabling the community to work more efficiently and effectively towards their common goals. It also enhances the discoverability of resources, allowing community members to find and utilize valuable information that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
Federated search is a powerful tool that can benefit communities by promoting collaboration, knowledge sharing, and efficient use of resources. Learn more at Federated Search with Skilljar.
Commonly Integrated Community Platforms
Skilljar can work with any community vendor at a minimum through SSO and deep-linking to help businesses create a more comprehensive and engaging learning experience for their customers, while also building a community of knowledgeable and supportive individuals who can help each other succeed. Here are just a few examples:
Salesforce Community
Read more at the Salesforce Community site.
The Skilljar Salesforce integration streams Skilljar training data into custom objects that are attached to the same native contact objects that represent users of a Salesforce community. Training activities such as registrations, completions, and certifications can be pulled into custom-built lightning components that display in your community, such as a leaderboard or personalized profile page.
All Skilljar published courses and their details such as deep-link URLs and associated tags are also available as custom objects, simplifying the process of weaving these links throughout your Salesforce community. These custom objects also allow for easy indexing of the available training courses into community global search alongside knowledge articles and discussions.
The Salesforce community can also act as the Identity Provider in an SSO connection with Skilljar as the service provider, allowing for seamless one-click access to training for users. Known user Salesforce Contact object parameters such as job role, persona, company, and available products, can be passed through this SSO connection to show/hide the available training materials and learning paths a user will have access to upon login to Skilljar.
HigherLogic
Read more at the HigherLogic website.
HigherLogic is a customer community platform that enables businesses to engage with their customers and build relationships. You can connect Skilljar with the HigherLogic community platform through the federated search integration that lets users simultaneously search through your Skilljar courses and HigherLogic content, allowing for ease of information all in one place.
- Onboarding: When a new customer signs up for a product or service, they may need to go through an onboarding process to get started. Skilljar can be used to create a series of onboarding courses, while HigherLogic can be used to provide a platform for customers to ask questions and get support. By integrating Skilljar with HigherLogic, businesses can ensure that customers have easy access to their onboarding courses, and that they can get help from the community if they need it.
- Customer Training: Many businesses offer training to their customers to help them get the most out of their products or services. Skilljar can be used to create and deliver this training, while HigherLogic can be used to provide a platform for customers to discuss the training, ask questions, and share their experiences. By integrating Skilljar with HigherLogic, businesses can foster a community of engaged and knowledgeable customers who can help each other learn and grow.
- Certification Programs: Some businesses offer certification programs to their customers, partners, or employees. Skilljar can be used to create and manage these programs, while HigherLogic can be used to provide a platform for certified individuals to connect, share knowledge, and collaborate. By integrating Skilljar with HigherLogic, businesses can create a vibrant community of certified professionals who can help each other succeed and grow.
- Continuing Education: Some industries require ongoing training and education to maintain professional certifications or licenses. Skilljar can be used to create and deliver this education, while HigherLogic can be used to provide a platform for professionals to discuss their training, share best practices, and learn from each other. By integrating Skilljar with HigherLogic, businesses can create a dynamic community of professionals who are committed to continuous learning and improvement.
Influitive
Read more at the Influitive website.
Influitive offers a Javascript Event Tracking SDK that can be embedded into Skilljar to easily relay training events to their platform as they occur. Once training events are streamed into their platform, Influitive can be used to gamify training activity for the users within your community. For SSO, Influitive cannot act as the Identity Provider in a connection to Skilljar. However, they can act as a Service Provider in a shared connection with Skilljar from a mutual source, allowing users to switch between the two platforms with a single set of credentials.
Use cases:
- Users receive Influitive points for enrolling in courses, as well as, completing courses. points can then be turned in for all kinds of rewards (for example, gift cards and experiences).
- Badges are awarded based on the number of completed courses.
- Influitive challenges to promote new courses (admins receive points for completing the challenge, enrolling in the course, and completing the course).
- New customer onboarding zone in Influitive with multiple challenges that promote Getting Started, Setup, and onboarding training
- Advocate Anywhere Influitive challenge, where customers can join "ClubZen"/Influitive directly from Skilljar. Points are awarded for joining from Skilljar and credentials are passed to Influitive so the customer doesn’t have to manually create an Influitive account.
- Leaderboards displayed in Influitive for Skilljar training activity.