Certificates and QR verification

When someone finishes a course, Zunderwork issues a certificate for it. Every certificate carries a QR code, and as an administrator you can scan that code from inside Zunderwork to confirm the certificate is genuine, which course it was issued for, and who it belongs to.

This article explains how certificates are created, what is on them, and how the scan works.

#How a certificate is created

You do not have to do anything. The moment a learner completes the last lesson of a course, we mark the course as finished and issue the certificate for that completion. From the completion screen the learner chooses View certificate and the PDF opens in a new tab, ready to save or print.

A few things are worth knowing.

• A certificate belongs to one learner and one course completion. A learner cannot retake a course they already completed, unless their earlier completion has expired. In that case the retake produces a new certificate with its own code, and the old certificate keeps verifying as expired.
• Only the learner themselves can download their certificate from the platform.
• Previewing a course as an administrator does not issue a certificate. Preview runs are not real completions, and a preview will never verify.

#What is on the certificate

The certificate is a landscape A4 PDF in the learner's own language. It shows your organization's logo at the top, the course name, the name of the learner, and the date they completed the course. If the completion has an expiry date, that date is printed underneath.

In the bottom-left corner you will find the QR code, with a short reference code printed just above it.

• The QR code contains the certificate code. You can scan this code inside the Zunderwork platform.
• The printed reference code is the first part of the full certificate code. It is there so you can quote a certificate in an email or a support request. It is not something you type into the platform; verification always happens by scanning.

Each certificate code is unique and stays the same for the life of that certificate.

#Verifying a certificate

Verification is meant to be done on a device with a camera, so use your phone or tablet. Open Zunderwork on that device and log in as usual.

1. Open Scan certificate in the menu on the left. You will only see this item if you are an administrator.
2. Choose Open camera and scan. Your browser will ask permission to use the camera. Allow it.
3. Hold the camera over the QR code in the bottom-left corner of the certificate. As soon as the code is in view we read it, no button to press.
4. We look the code up and show you the result.

The certificate may be on paper or on a screen. Both scan equally well, as long as the code is in focus and reasonably well lit.

#Reading the result

A verified certificate shows a green confirmation, followed by the details we have on record.

Compare the name and the course on screen with what is printed on the paper. The certificate itself is just a document and can be edited by anyone with a PDF editor. The details on your screen come from our records, so those are the ones to trust.

Names can legitimately change between finishing a course and showing the certificate years later, through marriage or a correction. A certificate downloaded today carries the current name, while we keep the name the person had at the moment they finished. When the two differ we show you both, so a changed name looks like what it is, and a name that has nothing to do with the person in front of you is equally obvious.

Underneath you can choose Open user profile to jump to the learner in your organization, where you will find their full course history, or Scan another certificate to carry on with the next one.

#When something is different

Not every scan ends in a plain green result.

• This certificate is authentic but has expired. The certificate was genuinely issued by your organization, but its expiry date has passed. Whether that matters is your call: it usually means the training needs to be retaken.
• This learner is no longer active in your organization. The certificate is valid and was really issued by you, but the person no longer has an active account. Their completion history stays available on their profile.
• No valid certificate was found for this code in your organization. We know the shape of the code, but it does not belong to any completed course in your organization. Either the certificate was issued by a different organization, or the code on the document does not match anything we issued.
• The scanned code is not a Zunderwork certificate. You scanned some other QR code, for example a link or a payment code.

#If the camera does not start

Scanning uses your browser's camera. If it will not start, the message on screen tells you which of these applies.

• Permission was denied. The browser is blocking the camera for Zunderwork. Allow camera access for the site in your browser settings and try again. On a phone, this is usually under the padlock icon in the address bar.
• The camera could not be started. Another app or tab is holding on to the camera. Close it and scan again.
• The browser does not support camera access. Use a recent version of Safari, Chrome, or Firefox. Camera access also requires a secure https connection, which the Zunderwork platform always uses.

On a laptop the scan works too, but the front-facing camera makes it awkward to line up a piece of paper. A phone is the better tool for this.

#Who can scan

Scan certificate is available to administrators of your organization. Learners do not see the menu item, and cannot look up certificates. Scanning is also limited to your own organization: an administrator of two organizations sees results for the organization they are currently working in.