Forum Discussion
New in Labs: Connected Packages
Connected packages is still in development and will receive updates as part of Labs. Functionality will change over time. Some options could be modified, while others may be removed based on feedback and feature stability. There is no guarantee that Labs experiments will become production features.
The Connected packages feature solves the ages-old headache of keeping your training up to date in your LMS. Now, instead of having to download a fresh package from Rise 360, then uploading it to your LMS every time you make a change, you can deliver updates to your content across LMS environments with just a few clicks.
Connected packages fulfills the dream of publishing once, then dynamically updating your content without re-uploading to your LMS!
Note: Currently, connected packages can only be exported from Rise 360 as SCORM 1.2 and 2004 files.
How to Use Connected Packages
Unlike with standard packages, connected packages let you quickly update your training and notify your learners of changes.
Publishing a Connected Package
Creating a connected package for training content is as simple as creating a standard LMS package.
- Open the content you want to publish from your Rise 360 dashboard. Then click Publish in the upper-right corner of the screen and select LMS.
- Choose an LMS standard. For connected packages, you must select SCORM 2004 or SCORM 1.2 (any edition).
- Select Connected package.
- Toggle the Notify learners option to display a banner to learners when you update the training.
- After selecting any tracking, reporting, and advanced options, click Download.
- Upload the package to your LMS as usual.
Updating a Connected Package
After you’ve published your connected package to your LMS, all future updates happen right in Rise 360.
- When you make changes to your content, an indicator displays on the Publish menu.
- Click either the View Updates button or you can select Connected package from the Publish menu to jump to step 4.
- Select Connected package. If you’ve published your content to Reach 360 or shared with Quick Share, you’ll be able to select those as well.
- Click Update now. Rise handles the rest!
If you toggle or have previously activated the Notify learners option, your learners will see an update banner the next time they refresh or log in to the training.
Note: You can also download a copy of the last-deployed LMS package by clicking Download again.
Notifying Learners of Changes and Resetting Learner Progress
If you update your content and want to notify learners but didn't select the option when you initially published your package, you can enable it when you publish changes.
- In your updated content, click Publish in the upper-right corner of the screen and select LMS.
- Toggle the Notify learners option.
- Click Update now.
With this option enabled, a banner displays for active learners whenever you update the training. Learners who've already completed the training don't receive any notification.
Sometimes, after making updates, you also need to reset learner progress so that active learners don't end up in a blank state when they resume the training. This functionality can now easily be enabled at any time when using connected packages.
- In your updated content, click Publish in the upper-right corner of the screen and select LMS.
- Toggle the Reset progress after updates option.
- Click Update now.
This operates the same as the Reset Learner Progress option in standard packages and does not reset the progress or cancel quiz scores for learners who've already completed the training.
Connected Packages FAQs
When I deploy training to my LMS via Connected Packages, is Articulate the host for my content? If so, in which regional data center does it reside?
Yes, training deployed to LMS via Connected Packages is hosted on Articulate's systems and is subject to the same security and data policies as other data hosted on the platform, as outlined in our Terms of Service.
While regional hosting isn't a consideration at this stage of development, Connected Packages should be available in your regional hosting location when launched for general availability.
What happens when I delete training in Rise that's been deployed using connected packages? Will training work in my LMS if I turn off the Labs feature?
Content deleted from your Rise dashboard will still function in your LMS until you permanently delete the source training. You’ll be able to restore it from the trash and continue to update via Connected Packages without manually uploading a new package to your LMS. When permanently deleted, the connected package is also deleted.
If you disable the Labs feature, all connected packages are deactivated and deleted, but the source content remains untouched.
Permanently deleting associated Rise content or disabling Labs, will cause the training in your LMS to stop functioning. To restore, manually upload a standard package as a new version of the same training.
Can I use the same troubleshooting steps with Connected Packages as I do with Standard Packages?
Yes, while your content is hosted by Articulate, the same troubleshooting steps, such as resetting learner progress and hiding the LMS interface, can still be applied as detailed in the Rise 360 user guide.
Do Connected Packages send information to Articulate from my LMS?
While the Connected Packages feature is in Labs, we use a third-party data subprocessor, Datadog, to track certain information in order to identify and debug issues as they arise. In particular: Course ID, Learner ID (based on the Subscription ID plus an LMS Learner ID, if one is returned by the LMS), and your subscription ID. This information is not captured for every Connected Package.
Additionally, Allow usage data collection is enabled by default for all content exported to an LMS. This option provides Articulate with the course ID launched and non-identifiable learner usage data, as shown in our data collection details. It can be disabled on a per-package basis.
If I collaborate with other creators, can they update training deployed to my LMS?
Only content owners and collaborator managers with the feature enabled can send training updates via Connected Packages.
What content is best suited to connected packages? Is there content I shouldn’t use with connected packages?
Connected packages is best used for content that’s updated frequently or that you plan to iterate on once it’s live. Due to the nature of updates, we don’t recommend using connected packages with content that requires strict audit trails, enhanced compliance procedures, or LMS version history tracking.
Can I download packages after initially publishing via connected packages?
Yes. There’s a Download button at the top of the LMS publish screen. Keep in mind that you have access only to the last-deployed version of the package.
Do connected package updates count as versions? Can I revert to a previous version of my training?
When working with connected packages, your LMS will only count as versions the files you manually upload, not the updates you make in Rise. While you can revert to a previous Snapshot, then update the connected package as indicated in the steps above to see restored content in your LMS, this isn’t considered a new “version” by your LMS.
Will connected packages be available for other LMS export standards? Is it coming to Storyline 360?
We would love to hear your feedback on what export format you’d like to see next for Connected Packages! And while Storyline support isn’t planned at this time, if it’s something you’d like to see, please let us know.
Share Your Feedback
For this initial Labs release, we want to hear how connected packages perform across real LMS environments and whether the experience feels as intuitive. Your feedback will directly influence development, so consider sharing your thoughts on the following topics:
- Uses: Does the "publish once, update anytime" workflow sync with how you manage training content?
- Bugs. Is anything not working as expected? Do the updates behave as you’d expect with your specific LMS setup?
- Improvements. How could this feature be better? What changes, if any, would you like to see?
- Insights. How does this new publish-to-update workflow fit into your day-to-day?
You can enable and disable this feature from the Labs page in account settings. Share your thoughts in this Labs forum or use the feedback form directly within the feature.
122 Replies
Hi - This feature is what we have been looking for!! Great add. We use Blackboard (Bb) as our LMS and we create learning modules in Rise360 for instructors to embed in their Bb courses for learners to complete. A few questions:
- Can the uploaded SCORM Connected Packages be copied over from Bb course to Bb course each semester? Does this degrade the package at all?
- If copied over from course to course, is there a way to track what Bb courses it is being used in?
- When updates are made and pushed/published through the connected packages, do learners lose progress? For learners that have completed the course, do they lose their scores and have to re-do the module?
So glad this hits the mark for your use case! To answer your questions:
1 & 2. Copying the package between Bb courses / tracking deployments
Since Connected Packages are standard SCORM files, you can copy them in Blackboard the way you would any SCORM content, but how Blackboard handles that (whether it creates a new instance, how it tracks completions per course, etc.) is controlled by Blackboard, not by us. We'd recommend testing it in your environment to see how it behaves. Alternatively, you could copy the course in Rise and republish a fresh Connected Package for each Bb course, which gives you a clean, separate courseId.As for tracking which Bb courses a package is deployed in — that visibility would live on the Blackboard side. It's not something we have insight into from Rise.
3- Do learners lose progress or scores after an update?
No, by default, learner progress and scores are preserved when you push an update. Learners who have completed the module keep their completion status and scores.The one exception: if you toggle on Reset Learner Progress when publishing, that will reset progress — it's an intentional setting for cases where you've made structural changes (like deleting a lesson or quiz) and need learners to start fresh.
Great feature!
Will this also be developed for xAPI exports?
And Storyline would be great for us, too. We currently have more courses in Storyline than in Rise, because Storyline offers many more options for customized templates. Unfortunately, exports from Storyline take significantly longer than those from Rise.
What happens if I publish an update to a Connected Package while learners are actively taking the course? Are learners currently in a session kicked out, prompted to refresh, or required to restart the course to receive the update? Or do the changes only appear the next time they refresh or relaunch the course?
Updates to a Connected Package don't interrupt learners who are mid-session. Changes take effect the next time a learner refreshes or relaunches the course — not during an active session.
If you've enabled Notify learners, they'll see an update banner on next launch. If it's off, they just get the new version seamlessly.
One exception worth knowing: if your update involves structural changes like deleting a lesson or quiz, learners whose progress was saved at that point may land on a blank page. Toggling on Reset Learner Progress when publishing prevents this — learners start fresh, though their quiz data is retained.
In the event of the Articulate license expiring, will the contents of the connected SCORM package that are already loaded into the LMS still be viewable?
MayraAlejandraA Please take a look at our Terms of Service for the full details on the subscription cancelation/lapse scenario, but the short version: shortly after subscription cancelation, course content is deactivated/no longer available for end users if it's hosted on our servers. So keeping an active license will ensure the connected package continues to operate properly.
catganim do we get a an option whether to "Restart Learners" in the course or to "Maintain progress". Ive being saying to our CSM for years that this feature is critical and lacking in articulate forever. As such we bought Rustici Content Controller to deal with our versioning.
MartinDunne-949 Thanks for sharing this, I want to make sure I'm understanding your question correctly before pointing you in the wrong direction. Are you asking whether Connected Packages gives you the choice to restart learners vs. maintain progress when you push an update?
If so, both options exist in the publish and update flows: the Reset Learner Progress toggle controls whether learners restart or pick up where they left off, and the Notify Learners toggle controls whether they see an update banner the next time they launch. Each time you update, you have access to these options.
But if there's a more specific scenario you're trying to solve for, let me know and I can dig in further!
I'm assuming this is only good if we're using Reach 360, not another 3rd party LMS?
ChrisWilliams-f Great question! Connected Packages are distributed as standard SCORM 1.2 or SCORM 2004 files, so they'll work with any LMS that supports those standards, no special configuration needed on the LMS side. If your LMS accepts a regular SCORM package today, it will accept a Connected Package.
The key difference is that after you upload it once, you can push updates from Rise without re-uploading to your LMS. Your learners will automatically get the latest version the next time they launch the course.
Hi Luciana, thank you so much for this. I can't wait to now test it :)
You're welcome JennaOsborne-74! Feel free to share your results in our feedback form after testing. Thanks for joining this Labs Experiment!
Hi all, just some feedback and info for anyone who may be using the code blocks.
Connected packages change the runtime origin to packages.articulateusercontent.com (instead of the LMS). This prevents custom HTML/JS blocks from accessing LMS parent-frame context that was previously available in static SCORM exports, such as the launch URL, parent DOM context, content ID, and LMS/session metadata.This also affects custom interactions that previously relied on LMS-side context to trigger platform actions, for example learners giving feedback actions such as liking content from within a RISE course.
I am not an expert but I understand that direct access/cross scripting to parent-frame session tokens is likely restricted for security reasons. Is there a supported way to pass safe LMS/container context into connected packages, such as launch URL, content ID, learner ID, custom query parameters, SCORM variables, or a secure postMessage/API mechanism for platform actions?
Adam_P, thanks for the detailed breakdown.
You've diagnosed it correctly. Connected Packages load from packages.articulateusercontent.com, which is a different origin than your LMS. Browsers enforce strict cross-origin rules that block direct access to the parent frame, so LMS context like launch URL, learner ID, and session metadata is no longer accessible the way it was in standard SCORM exports, this is a browser-level security restriction, not something Rise-specific.
There's no supported mechanism today for passing LMS context into Connected Packages. Can you share more details about your use case so we can evaluate it in more detail?Thanks for your reply catganim. What I am doing is really just experimental with what I can and cannot do with code blocks and the LMS. So I am also still finding out what can and cannot be done. Our LMS is quite limited as far as I can see with their API so this is something I will also speak to them about in terms of what can be accessed.
What I am currently doing is obtaining the contentID from the parent LMS page using it's URL, and then reading meta data to find csrf and auth token to validate and authorise an LMS platform action, in this case - liking content. This means a learner can like the RISE content on the LMS platform from within the course itself. Hope that helps.
Tested this in our LMS (Workday) and it worked like a charm. Very excited for this roll out!
Great news jonicampbell! Feel free to share your thoughts within our feedback link if you haven't done so already!
Hi, I am not seeing this connected packages feature as an option. How can I get this? I think this will be a game changer for a lot of systems training that I create.
Hello JennaOsborne-74,
Thanks for reaching out! So glad to hear that this will be such an impactful feature for your training!
In order to access Connected Packages, you'll need to toggle the specific Labs Experiment on in your Account Dashboard.
- Go to manage.articulate.com after logging in to your Articulate 360 subscription.
- Click Labs on the left-hand side of the window to access our active Labs experiments.
- Find Connected Packages in the available options and toggle this feature on.
Please let us know if you're still having trouble accessing this Labs experiment. We're happy to help!
