Forum Discussion
Course completions not recording for some users
Hello everyone! Our organisation uses SAP SuccessFactors as our LMS and for the past several months (since mid-May 2020), we have experienced issues where course completions are not recording for some of our users.
The behaviour is very inconsistent - some users don't have any issues with the courses, while others do. It is happening to a range of different courses.
I've done some research and found that this is caused by the recent Google Chrome releases, where Chrome no longer allows synchronous XHR. SuccessFactors have applied a patch to their system in early September, but this has not resolved the issue for us. Our Technology department also rolled out a global group policy, which has enabled the browser option of 'Allows synchronous XHR requests in page dismissal', but some of our staff are still experiencing issues with their courses not recording.
We have recorded watch logs while our staff complete their courses from start to finish and these show an 'incomplete' completion status is being sent from the course to the LMS.
SAP have suggested we build an Exit button within the courses, rather than use the buttons provided by the LMS for users to close the courses. They said that this will stop the course from making synchronous calls and completions will be captured without any issues. Most of our courses are built and published from Rise 360. We have tried to import a Storyline block and use this to track completion, but this did not work (we are going to look into this process again as this is our first time testing this and want to make sure we've set it up correctly).
Given this issue seems to have impacted Learning Management Systems beyond our organisation, I am hoping to get some advice and see if anyone else has managed to resolve the issue. I'd also be interested to hear from others also using SAP SuccessFactors as their LMS and see whether they have been able to resolve the issue.
Many thanks!
Jade
26 Replies
Hi Jade,
We had the same problem with our LMS (not SuccessFactors), and you are right, it's caused by changes made to the Chrome browser.
Our LMS vendor issued a patch, and we've not had this problem again.
If SuccessFactors actually fixed the problem you should no longer be experiencing this issue.
You could try creating an Exit button that Exits the course and returns control to the LMS.
I'm having the same issue with Totara as LMS. I took a look at other scorm package performance, and it looks like my courses (Storyline 3) are the only ones with completion issues. My training does contain exit button, as noted by Karl Muller, but it doesn't work all the time. This appears to occur for 20% of users. Other than getting a patch is there anything I can do?
Hi Margaret! Thanks for letting us know some of your learners are seeing completion issues with their Storyline 3 courses. Can you help me with a few more details?
- Is this a problem you've been able to reproduce in your own testing?
- What web browser are those learners using when they run into this issue?
- How long ago did you notice this problem? Is it a recent issue?
Is this a problem you've been able to reproduce in your own testing?
No. I've done an analysis of the SCORM package data, and the issue occurs in about 18% of attempts to complete the course. We have not been able to replicate the issue. We can report, however, that it is occurring in different physical locations across the country.
What happens is that the training stops communicating with the LMS. The learner is able to proceed through the training, "submit" answers to the quiz, reach the results slide showing a passing grade, but the results are not recorded. In many cases, there's no evidence that the learned spent more than a couple of seconds in the training or interacted with the quiz at all, but these same learners can produce screenshots of the result slide.
What web browser are those learners using when they run into this issue?
Our training help desks do not gather this data, but directions to use chrome are plastered on the LMS home page, and in every help desk response I've seen. Only 17 complaints out of the nearly 900 failed attempts have reached my desk. From those, I have ascertained that most people were using Chrome, some were using IE, some were using firefox. Learners have completed the course using all three browsers, as well.
Chrome is the default browser for the organization, but many users are not sophisticated enough to resist Windows' efforts to push them to IE or Edge.
How long ago did you notice this problem? Is it a recent issue?
The course was released on 10/1, and there have been issues since day 1. The failure rate has been consistent around 18% since day 1. To simplify the course, we took out the quiz from question bank and just added individual quiz question slides. There are no large files (no animations, no video, no audio).
It's not the Chrome 80 XHR issue - the patch for that was released last year.
Any advice/thoughts are most welcome.Margaret Ross | Ethics Officer | Office of General Counsel | US EPA | William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building Room 4310A North | Washington, DC 20460 (for ground deliveries: 20004) | phone 202-564-3221 |work cell 202-527-0432 | Visit us online!<https://usepa.sharepoint.com/sites/OGC
Apologies - wrong report attached.
Margaret Ross | Ethics Officer | Office of General Counsel | US EPA | William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building Room 4310A North | Washington, DC 20460 (for ground deliveries: 20004) | phone 202-564-3221 |work cell 202-527-0432 | Visit us online!<https://usepa.sharepoint.com/sites/OGC
Ross, Margaret would like to recall the message, "Re: Course completions not recording for some users".
Hi Margaret,
Thanks for the additional information. I know it can be frustrating when you cannot consistently replicate the issue.
I've opened a support case on your behalf and sent along an email requesting your .story file so that one of our support engineers can take a look and work with you 1:1.
It looks like your email signature came through when you replied via email. You can remove that if needed by clicking ‘Edit’ beneath your response. Here’s a quick Peek video if you need help.
Hello,
I just published my first storyline course in our LMS and it appears to be running into this same issue. We also use SAP SuccessFactors. I just ran a report and 32 people have successfully completed the course. I've heard from 2 other people who say they have completed the course, taken the quiz, closed out of it, and then when they go back into LMS, the course is still on their learning plan. Has there been any successful resolution to this issue?
Hi Lucas,
I am sorry to hear that two of your users are experiencing the problem. We would love to look deeper into this; please open a case here. Our support engineers are ready to help
I'm curious to hear if there's been any resolution to this problem. I've been running into the same issue with my clients. One client is using SuccessFactors, with a variety of browsers across the company but we've been encouraging them to use Microsoft Edge for elearning. The other is using Cornerstone with Chrome. There doesn't seem to be a common denominator underlying who is impacted and who isn't, and some learners complete the training 4 - 5 times without ever being able to get the system to update their completion status. I haven't been able to recreate the problem on my end, and neither have the LMS administrators - the modules themselves seem to be fine. For what it's worth, I include a large exit button with instructions to learners to click it to exit the course. It's been a very frustrating issue. Is there anything more I can do on my end?
Hi there, Anna. It sounds like you've done everything you can to mitigate any issues with course completions.
We are investigating some scenarios where completion isn't being recorded, and it would be helpful to have a look at your output. You can privately share your output with us by clicking here. We keep everything confidential and delete it once we're done troubleshooting.
We are also experiencing this issue on an increased level. Our clients are saying it is only happening with our courses. I will also be submitting a support case. Just wanted to note this here to help determine volume of cases and for other users as an fyi.
Those who have had these issues -- have you found a resolution and can you share?
For those who are still experiencing the issue, do you run your courses directly through an LMS or do you use SCORM cloud dispatch files?
Thank you in advance!
Hi Everybody,
I'm seeing this same issue with courses that I have written in Rise360, and which I'm hosting in Front. In one course it is just one particular chapter that is presenting this behaviour. I can't see anything special about this chapter, it is very much like the others, but if I complete the lessons, log out and then log back in again, I find that the completion history for that lesson is gone.
Any help would be gratefully accepted.
Thanks.
Alex
Hi Alex! When you resume a Rise 360 course, you should resume to the top of the last lesson you viewed. Is that not what you're seeing in your LMS?
If you could share some screenshots of what you see when you resume a course, that would be very helpful!
Hi Alyssa,
Thanks for the reply - sorry for the response being so long after!!
I noticed your comment today. Thanks for the update. I should have said back then that what I also found was that breaking my chapters into smaller segments seemed to help; almost as if there was a size limit that the LMS couldn't work beyond?
It's all working now, but I'll be interested to see if the improvement you referenced today makes a difference also.
Alex
