Existing Training (nesting) - Article

What Existing Training means

An Existing Training module references a Training Activity that already exists in Course Administration. It does not copy that activity into the new learning path or merge the two activities.

The Training Activity containing the module acts as the parent activity. Each activity selected in the module remains an independent selected activity. It is sometimes helpful to think of that activity as a nested or child activity, but it remains a complete Training Activity with its own administration and participant records.

For example, a parent activity called New Manager Program could contain:

• A Course module for online preparation
• An Existing Training module that lets the participant choose one of three scheduled Manager Workshop activities
• An Assignment module for a workplace action plan

The participant experiences one larger journey, while each Manager Workshop continues to be scheduled, enrolled, facilitated, reported, and maintained as its own Training Activity.

The three configuration layers have different purposes:

The parent enrollment and selected-activity enrollment are separate

Enrolling in the parent does not by itself enroll the participant in a selected activity. The participant must enroll through the Existing Training module unless Automatically enroll participants is enabled.

When to use an Existing Training module

Use Existing Training when the component should remain independently administered or when the participant needs to select between complete Training Activities.

Common reasons include:

• Building one program from several independently owned or certified sub-programs
• Letting participants choose a workshop date, time, location, language, or delivery format
• Offering alternative specialist tracks inside one common journey
• Reusing a recurring Training Activity without rebuilding it in every parent program
• Combining training that has its own enrollment form, approval, capacity, waiting list, price, communication, or certificate
• Giving participants one parent activity from which they access a more complex set of programs

💡Do not use nesting merely to reuse learning content. If the component is a course from Content Authoring and does not need a separate activity-level enrollment or administration process, add it as a Course module instead.

Also avoid creating an unnecessary second enrollment. If all learners should simply complete one course or attend one event as part of the current activity, adding the Course or Event module directly normally provides the clearest experience.Choose the right nesting pattern

Decide whether the nested activity is required, optional, or a participant choice before configuring the module.

One Existing Training module with several choices asks the participant to enroll in one of the available options. It does not require completion of every activity in the list. Use separate modules when multiple nested activities are all required.

Prepare the selected activities first

Create and configure the Training Activities you intend to select before building the parent. For each selected activity, confirm:

• Its participant-facing title and description are clear when seen outside the parent
• Its activity status and schedule support enrollment at the intended time
• Organization and other eligibility rules identify the correct audience
• Capacity, waiting list, on-demand, registration form, approval, and self-enrollment behavior are intentional
• The price and payment route are correct, if commerce is used
• Its modules, completion criteria, certificate, email workflows, and responsible users are ready
• The activity can be found easily by its administrative title in Course Administration

Nesting does not turn unfinished selected activities into one complete program. A change made later to a selected activity affects that activity wherever it is used.

Add the Existing Training module

Go to Course Administration → Activities and create or edit the parent Training Activity. Add the module type Existing training.

An activity containing only one Existing Training module is presented as the Existing training activity type. When Existing Training is one step among two or more modules, the parent is a learning path.

Title

Enter a module title that explains the participant's action or the role of the nested component. For example:

• Choose your workshop date
• Complete the Information Security certification
• Select one specialist track
• Book a monthly coaching session

The module title belongs to the parent journey. It does not rename any selected Training Activity.

Training activity

Search for and select one or more existing Training Activities.

Select one activity when all participants should enter the same child program or when that activity is the entry point to a linked group. Select several activities when the participant should choose from a deliberate, fixed set.

On platforms with many activities, the selector may ask you to start typing before it displays matches. Use distinct administrative titles to avoid selecting the wrong delivery.

Description

Use the module description to explain why the nested step is included and what the participant must do. The description appears in the parent learning path; it does not change the selected activity's own description.

When participants choose between options, state the decision criteria. For example, explain whether they should select one date, one language, one location, or one specialist track. If an option can require payment, approval, or a waiting list, set that expectation here.

Configure Existing Training enrollment

The module can either wait for the participant to select and enroll or enroll new parent participants automatically.

Let participants select and enroll

Leave Automatically enroll participants disabled when the participant should make a choice or complete the selected activity's normal enrollment route themselves.

In the parent learning path:

• A module with one available activity displays Enroll.
• A module with several available activities displays Select training.
• After the participant selects an activity, the regular enrollment process for that activity continues.

The selected activity can therefore take the participant through checkout, a registration form, approval, a waiting list, or an on-demand request when those features apply. A paid option remains paid; nesting does not transfer the parent price to the child or make the child free.

Manager roles can use this selection window to enroll themselves. They cannot use it to enroll members of staff; staff enrollment must be handled through the appropriate administrative or manager enrollment process.

Automatically enroll participants

Enable Automatically enroll participants when every new participant entering the parent should also be enrolled in one required selected activity.

This option is available only when:

• Exactly one Training Activity is selected
• Include linked activities as enrollment options is not enabled

It disappears when two or more activities are selected because Eurekos cannot decide which option to assign. It also disappears when a linked group is offered, because that design requires the participant to choose a particular delivery.

Automatic enrollment has an important timing rule:

Applies to new enrollments only. Does not affect existing participants.

After the option is enabled, participants who subsequently enroll in the parent are automatically registered in the selected activity or join its waiting list. Participants already enrolled in the parent are not added retrospectively.

If you enable the option after launch, identify existing parent participants and enroll them into the selected activity separately when required.

When the selected activity contains scheduled events, automatic enrollment also allows the configured enrollment communication and calendar information to be generated immediately for the selected activity. Verify the resulting confirmation email and Add to calendar file on your platform.

Include linked activities as enrollment options

Enable Include linked activities as enrollment options when the selected Training Activity belongs to a repeated or manually linked activity group and the participant should choose among the group's eligible deliveries.

This setting does not create a linked group. Create the recurring deliveries first by using Repeat activity or Link activity in Course Administration. Then select any suitable member of that group in the Existing Training module and enable this option.

The module expands the selection to the eligible activities in that linked group. This makes it useful for a rolling schedule: newly created linked sessions can become choices without maintaining an explicit list in every parent activity.

Activities in the group whose activity status is Completed are omitted. The participant still sees only the options for which they are eligible at the time of selection.

Enabling this option removes Automatically enroll participants. The participant must choose the specific linked delivery.

Explicit choices and linked choices are different

Selecting three activities manually creates a fixed list of those three activities. Selecting one member of a linked group and enabling Include linked activities as enrollment options exposes eligible members of that group. The latter depends on the linked group and can change as its activities change status or new linked deliveries are created.

Repeating, linking, unlinking, choosing the primary activity, updating linked activities, Storefront grouping, and allowing participants to change dates are separate recurring-activity processes.

For more detail, see Recurring events and activities.

Control which choices participants see

The list configured by the administrator is the starting point. Eurekos filters it again for the participant when the selection window opens.

Understand what participants see

Information about the selected options can appear on the parent Activity Description page, order confirmation, and learning path overview.

The route depends on the parent structure:

• When the parent contains only one Existing Training module, opening it can lead directly into the selected activity's checkout or enrollment flow. The number of steps for a free activity depends on the platform's simple-enrollment configuration.
• When Existing Training is one module in a larger learning path, the participant opens the parent overview and uses Enroll or Select training on that module.

After the participant enters a selected activity, that activity follows its own participant journey.

Depending on the activity and enabled features, each option can show:

• The participant-facing activity title
• Location
• Schedule and time, or Self-paced
• Price or Free
• Number of modules
• Available seats or waiting-list state
• On-demand request action
• Incentive points on completion

Learning paths in the selection window can be expanded so the participant can inspect their modules.

When the platform's options-overview feature is enabled, the learning path overview can also summarize unique information across all connected choices, including activity types, a CEU range, available languages, allocated-time range, and short descriptions. These details appear only when the corresponding platform feature is enabled and the source activities contain values.

Ordering of options

Options are presented in the following groups:

1. Learning paths without a start date
2. Learning paths with an activity or module schedule, with the soonest start first
3. Single-module activities without a schedule
4. Scheduled single-module activities, with the soonest start first

Use clear titles as well as dates. The order helps participants find upcoming training but does not explain the difference between similar deliveries.

Dashboard presentation

After enrolling through the parent, the participant can potentially see both the parent activity and the selected activity in their training overview. A platform-level setting can hide activities reached through Existing Training from being shown separately on the dashboard. Reach out to Eurekos support for this special use case.

Hiding the extra tile changes presentation only. The selected activity remains an independent enrollment with its own progress and administration.

Responsible users can find the parent under Trainings I instruct and preview the Existing Training selection in the same way a participant sees it, subject to the applicable preview behavior and permissions.

Configure the module presentation

Thumbnail

When the module contains exactly one activity, Eurekos uses that selected activity's thumbnail across the platform. The thumbnail can be an image, video, or playlist and can appear before the participant enrolls in the selected activity.

When the module contains two or more choices—including choices added from a linked group—you can select an image from the archive for the Existing Training module. You can preview, replace, or remove the selected image.

Choose a neutral image that represents the decision or program as a whole. Do not use an image that suggests every participant is eligible for a particular option.

Show incentive points on completion

Show incentive points on completion can appear when Incentives is enabled on the platform and Automatically enroll participants is disabled. Enable it when participants should see the points associated with completing the available options while deciding what to select.

The option controls presentation in the Existing Training module. The selected activities remain responsible for their own incentive configuration and award behavior.

Configure progress in the parent activity

Enable tracking progress

Enable tracking progress determines whether completing the selected Training Activity contributes to progress in the parent.

It is disabled by default:

• The participant can still select, enroll in, and complete the selected activity.
• The selected activity records its own progress and completion.
• The Existing Training module does not contribute to the parent activity's overall progress.

Enable it when the selected activity is a required or intentionally measured part of the parent journey.

With tracking enabled:

• The Existing Training module appears in the parent activity's path progress after the participant enrolls in a selected activity.
• Completion of the selected activity completes that Existing Training module for the participant.
• The module then contributes to the parent activity's overall progress and completion.

One completed selected activity counts as one completed module in the parent, regardless of how many modules exist inside that selected activity. If a parent has four tracked modules and one is an Existing Training module, completing a ten-module selected activity completes that one parent module—not ten parent modules.

Changing tracking after participants have started

When participants already have In progress or Completed status, enabling or disabling tracking displays a warning with the number of affected participants.

Saving the change recalculates:

• Parent training progress
• Parent training status
• Relevant certification results

Treat this as a live-program change. Review affected participants, certificate criteria, downstream access, and automated communication before saving it.

Progress reporting

The parent activity's Progress view includes the Existing Training module and identifies the participant's Selected training. The value remains empty until the participant has selected or entered an activity.

The parent report provides the consolidated view. Detailed module progress inside the selected activity remains in that activity's own Progress view. Administrators therefore use both layers when investigating why a participant has or has not completed the parent journey.

Use the module in certification

An Existing Training module can be used in certificate issuance criteria at module or activity level. This is separate from Enable tracking progress.

As a result, a selected activity can satisfy a configured certificate criterion even when its module is not included in the parent progress percentage. Design these settings together so that the certificate and progress communicate the same intended requirement.

The selected activity can also issue its own certificate. Completing it may therefore result in:

• A certificate from the selected activity
• Progress or completion in the parent
• A separate certificate from the parent when the parent's criteria are met

‼️ Do not assume that the selected activity's certificate automatically becomes the parent certificate. Each certificate and its issuance criteria are configured independently.

Re-certification is likewise configured on the relevant Training Activity. Review what should recur: the selected qualification, the parent program, or both.

For more detail, see Re-certification, Certificates.

Configure the supported module-level features

The Existing Training module supports fewer module-level features than Course or Event modules because operational behavior stays with the selected Training Activity.

The Location shown for a selected activity uses that activity’s derived Location summary. It displays the shared Location when all modules that have a Location use the same Location entry. It displays Multi-site when two or more distinct Location entries are used. Modules without a Location do not affect the summary.

When an option displays Multi-site, participants should inspect the selected activity’s modules to understand where its individual sessions take place.

Completion behavior

For Existing Training, Completion behavior offers Don't show congratulations message. Enable it when the module should complete normally without showing the module-completion message.

This does not change completion status, progress, certificate processing, or other connected features. Existing Training does not offer User confirmation is required.

Adaptive module

Use Adaptive module when the nested step should be supplemental, become optional after criteria are met, or remain Always optional.

Examples include:

• Showing a remedial Training Activity only to participants whose test result meets a rule
• Making an introductory program optional for participants who already hold a certificate
• Offering a permanently optional coaching activity without including it in parent progress

Adaptive behavior changes whether the Existing Training module is visible or counted in the parent. The participant must still satisfy the selected activity's own availability and eligibility rules after the module becomes available.

Review Adaptive module, progress tracking, certification criteria, and access design together. A module excluded from progress can still become an unintended requirement if another rule explicitly references it.

For more detail, see Adaptive Modules.

Keep parent and selected activities aligned

Nesting creates a reference, not synchronized administration. Unless activities are part of a linked group with separately configured linked-update behavior, editing a selected activity does not update the parent, and editing the parent does not update the selected activity.

Review both layers when changing:

• Titles and descriptions
• Schedules and activity statuses
• Organization eligibility
• Capacity, waiting list, or on-demand behavior
• Price and checkout
• Registration forms and approval
• Completion rules and certificates
• Email workflows and responsible users

Linked activity synchronization is also limited to supported fields and depends on platform configuration. It should not be treated as general parent-child synchronization.

Common Existing Training designs

Verify the configuration

Use representative accounts and the routes enabled for your delivery. Check the relevant outcomes before launch and after a material change; an administrator preview alone does not verify the participant experience.