Certifications lets you track employee credentials (licenses, certificates, training) and require a current certification before an employee can work certain activities. Once an activity requires a certification, Hero Schedule blocks unqualified employees from being scheduled on it through shift edits, overtime, trades, open shifts, bidding, and the Schedule Builder.

Permissions

Two permissions control the admin side of Certifications. Assign them to a role under Menu > Setup > Employee Roles (if you have only a few admin items, Employee Roles appears directly in the menu instead of under Setup). Both permissions are listed in the Administration area of the role editor.

Both permissions apply to the whole organization. They cannot be limited to specific groups, so an approver can see and act on every pending certificate in the organization.

Users with either permission see a Certifications item in their main menu. Every employee sees My Certifications once at least one certification type exists.

Step 1: Create Certification Types

A certification type is the category a certificate belongs to, such as "Paramedic," "CDL Class A," or "Armed Patrol." Activities are restricted by type.

1. Go to Menu > Certifications and open the Types tab.
2. Click New Type, enter a Name, and save.

As soon as the first type is saved, My Certifications appears in every employee's menu. Use the pencil icon to rename a type.

Step 2: Add Certificates

Certificates can be entered three ways:

• Employees submit their own from My Certifications (see the employee guide).
• An admin enters one from the Certifications tab by clicking New Certificate and choosing the Employee. You can also click the plus icon on an employee's row to add one for that person.
• Import a spreadsheet (see Importing Certificates below).

The certificate form has these fields:

Every new certificate starts as Pending, including ones an admin enters. It must be approved on the Approvals tab before it counts toward any activity requirement. Only a spreadsheet import can create certificates that are already approved.

Step 3: Approve or Reject Certificates

The Approvals tab is the default tab. It lists every pending certificate in the organization, oldest submission first. You can narrow the list with the Groups and Types filters.

Columns: Action, Employee, Group, Type, Title (with the certificate number in parentheses), Effective Period, Submitted, Note (the employee's note), and Files. Click the Files icon to view or download attached documents.

• Approve: click the thumbs-up icon. A supervisor note is optional.
• Reject: click the thumbs-down icon. A supervisor note is required.

No email notifications are sent for certifications. Approvers are not emailed when a certificate is submitted, and employees are not emailed when one is approved or rejected or is about to expire. Pending certificates are shown by a red count badge on the Certifications menu item and on the main Menu button. Check the Approvals tab regularly.

Monitor Certificates (Certifications Tab)

The Certifications tab (Manage Certifications only) shows one row per employee and certification type, with columns for First Name, Last Name, Group, Type, Latest Gap, Expiration Date, and Status.

Filters:

• Groups: limit to employees in selected groups.
• Types: limit to selected certification types.
• Expiring: check Expiring Soon and use the slider to show certificates expiring in the next 0 to 90 days (default 30).
• Status: Pending, Upcoming, Current, Expiring, Expired.
• Show Active / Show Archived: Show Archived lists rejected and deleted certificates.

Columns explained:

• Expiration Date shows the expiration of the employee's latest approved certificate of that type.
• Status shows the status of the employee's latest certificate of that type. If an expired certificate has a renewal waiting for approval, Status shows Pending while Expiration Date still shows the expired date.
• Latest Gap shows the most recent date range not covered by any certificate of that type, for example between an old certificate's expiration and a renewal's effective date.

Click a type, date, or status in any row to open that employee's full history for the type. From there you can click Add to enter a renewal, or open any certificate. Admins can edit an approved certificate (it stays approved) or delete it. Rejected and deleted certificates are read-only.

Certificate Statuses

A certificate is valid through the end of its Expiration Date. The employee is no longer qualified starting the next day.

Importing Certificates

On the Certifications tab, click Import to open the Certificate Import dialog.

1. Click Download Template and fill in the Certificates sheet.
2. Required columns: First Name, Last Name, Type, Title, Effective Date, Expiration Date. Optional: Number, Issuing Authority, Note, Approval Status.
3. Approval Status can be Pending, Approved, or Rejected. Leave it blank for Pending. Use Approved to load existing, already-verified certificates without approving each one.
4. Check Create Missing Types to add any type names that do not exist yet.
5. Click Test Run to check for errors, then Import.

Employees are matched by exact first and last name, and two employees with the same name will cause an error. Import only adds certificates. Importing the same file twice creates duplicates.

Step 4: Require a Certification for an Activity

1. Open the activity in your Activities setup screen.
2. Check Qualification.
3. Choose the certification type employees must hold. You can also choose any regular employee group instead.
4. Save the activity.

Each activity can require one certification type or group. The requirement is either on or off. There is no warning-only mode and no supervisor override: an employee without a valid, approved certificate for the shift's date cannot be placed on the activity.

Where Requirements Are Enforced

The check uses the date of the shift, not today's date. When it fails, the user sees: Qualifications have not been met for activity "Activity Name."

Good to Know

• Only approved certificates count. A pending certificate does not qualify an employee, even if its dates are current.
• Existing schedules are not re-checked. Requirements are checked when an assignment is made or changed. If a certificate expires or is deleted later, shifts already on the schedule stay in place. Use the Expiring filter on the Certifications tab to catch upcoming lapses.
• Plan renewals before expiration. An approved renewal with a future Effective Date (Upcoming) starts counting automatically on that date, so renewals can be approved in advance with no gap.
• Certification types are not regular groups. They do not appear on the Groups screen and cannot be assigned on the Edit Employee screen. Membership comes only from approved certificates.