Certifications
How certificates are issued, numbered and expire, the Certifications page, printing and PDFs, revoke, reinstate and reissue, and the automatic expiry reminders.
Updated · JoinCPR help center
A certification records that a student completed a course: who, which course, the class date and when it expires. Admins and staff manage them under Training → Certifications.
Who issues the credential
Each course says who issues the credential, under Certification issued by on the course form:
| A certifying body issues the card (default) | We issue our own certificate | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical use | AHA, Red Cross, NSC, HSI, ECSI programmes. You submit the roster to the provider, who issues the card. | Your own courses, such as workplace safety or a custom skills class |
| What JoinCPR stores | The record: student, course, class date, expiry, plus an optional Card number you type in once the provider's card arrives | The same, plus a JoinCPR certificate number |
| What students see | Course, dates, status, and the card number if you recorded it. No JoinCPR number. | The certificate number, a printable certificate and a PDF |
| Printing | None. The provider's card is the document. | Print and Download PDF on the Certifications page and in the student's account |
| Public verification | Not available. Employers verify with the provider. | your-portal/verify/{number} |
| Renewal reminders and expiry reports | Yes | Yes |
Every library course is set to the certifying body. Set your own courses to We issue our own certificate if you want JoinCPR to print one. Set each course's validity and expiry rule to match the provider so JoinCPR's dates agree with the card; see Courses.
How certificates are issued
| Way | Details |
|---|---|
| Pass on a roster | The normal path: choose Pass in the Evaluation column, use Mark All as Passed for the whole class, or Mark Complete from the row menu. Issues a certificate for the class's course unless the student already holds a valid one for it, or their evaluation is Fail or Incomplete. See The class page and roster. |
| Issue Certification (manual) | From the Certifications page: search a student, pick a course, click Issue Certification. Dated today. No duplicate check, so look before you issue. |
| Student import | Completed rows with a class date and validity create a certificate dated from the class date. No email is sent. See Importing students. |
What the student receives:
- Mark Complete on a roster sends the Class Completed email ("Congratulations! You completed {class}") with the course, issue and expiry dates. For certificates you issue yourself it includes the certificate number and says the certificate can be downloaded from their account; for provider-issued courses it shows the card number if recorded and explains that the card comes from the certifying body. If you switch Class Completed off under Notifications, the Certification Issued email is sent instead when a certificate is issued.
- Issue Certification (manual) and Reissue send the Certification Issued email ("Your Certification Has Been Issued").
Both tell the student to view the certificate in their student account; the PDF is not attached.
Numbers, dates and status
- Every record has an internal JoinCPR number like
CERT-12-2026-A1B2C3. It is shown as the Certificate # only for certificates you issue yourself. For provider-issued courses the Certifications page shows the provider's card number instead, or a dash until you record one. - The issue date is the class date (the last day of a multi-day class), however many days later you mark the roster complete. Manual issues are dated today. A certificate is never dated in the future, so a class marked complete before it happens is dated today.
- Expiry is the issue date plus the course's Certification validity (months), calculated per the course's Certification expiry rule: exact date (same day of the month) or end of month. Blank validity means never expires. See Matching the certifying body for which rule each provider uses.
- Status is derived: Revoked, Expired, Expiring soon (30 days or fewer), or Active.
Important
Students evaluated Fail or Incomplete never get a certificate, and changing a Pass to Fail revokes the one already issued. Un-completing a student from the admin roster (Confirm) does not revoke it; use Revoke here, or the Instructor Portal's Revert to Confirmed, which does revoke.
The Certifications page
- Search by student name, email, course or certificate number.
- Filter: All statuses, Active, Expiring Soon, Expired, Revoked.
- Sort by Certificate #, Issued or Expires.
- Row menu: View, Print, Download PDF, Reissue, Revoke, or Reinstate for revoked ones.
The detail page shows the certificate details, the student, and the class attended (or "Manually issued"). For provider-issued courses it has a Card number field: type the number from the AHA, Red Cross or other provider's card and click Save; it then appears on the Certifications page, the student's profile and the student's account. For certificates you issue yourself it shows an on-screen preview with the verification address instead.
Revoke, reinstate, reissue
- Revoke marks the certificate invalid. The public verification page then shows "Certificate Revoked" without the student's name. No email is sent.
- Reinstate reverses a revoke.
- Reissue revokes the current certificate and issues a new one with a new number but the same issue and expiry dates, and sends the Certification Issued email. Use it when a student needs a fresh copy, or after the course's validity or expiry rule has been corrected (the new certificate uses the current rule).
There is no way to edit a certificate's number or dates, delete one, or re-send the issued email without reissuing.
Printing and PDFs
Only available for courses set to We issue our own certificate. Print and Download PDF produce the same landscape certificate: your logo and company name in your brand colour, "Certificate of Completion", the student's name, the course, the issue date, "Valid through {date}" when it expires, a signature line per instructor of the class (or one "Authorized Signature" line), and the certificate number. Students can print or download their own from their account.
Note
The printed certificate does not include a QR code or verification link. Share the verification address separately: your-portal/verify/{certificate number}. See Certificate verification.
Expiry reminders
Students are emailed before a certificate expires so they can rebook.
- Controlled under Settings → Notifications: the Certification Expiring switch, Certification Expiry Reminder Days (default "30, 7") and Include renewal link.
- Each morning JoinCPR finds certificates expiring exactly that many days ahead and sends the Certification Expiring email once per interval. Students who already hold a newer valid certificate for the same course are skipped.
- The Find a Renewal Class button in the email opens your schedule filtered to that course.
- Imported training history without a certificate record is included, using the class date plus the course validity.
Warning
Reminders match the exact day. If a certificate is already inside the window when you add a new interval, that interval will not fire for it.
Where else certifications appear
- The Active Certifications dashboard tile.
- Reports → Certifications: issued in period, active, expiring soon, expired, revoked, by course, with CSV and PDF.
- The student's account under My Certifications, including revoked and expired ones.
- The client portal dashboard's Expiring Certifications card.