SCORM FAQs – Paychex

Paychex Learning Enhanced will accept, upload, and play SCORM zip files as courses. Certain SCORM export settings will affect SCORM-course performance. This document includes settings suggestions when using a SCORM course in Paychex Learning Enhanced. Note that recommendations will not be made for every setting. Please review the documentation for your SCORM authoring tool.

FAQs

What version of SCORM can be played within Paychex Learning Enhanced? PLE accepts SCORM packages in Scorm 1.2 and SCORM 2004 (versions 2-4).

Your requirements and goals will dictate which version you should use. Here are some points to consider:

SCORM 1.2
- By default, SCORM 1.2 tracks completion standard simplistically, using only one variable and doesn’t distinguish between completing a course and completing it successfully (pass / fail). Requires additional pass back settings to be added in order to conform to current SCORM standards.
SCORM 2004
- Enforces module sequencing so learners must view them in a certain order or pass one before accessing the next.
- Supports read/write interactions. This feature prevents users from getting extra attempts at a quiz in SCORM simply by closing and relaunching the course. SCORM 2004 increased the amount of suspend data that can be stored from 4k characters to 64k characters, allowing courses to better track resume data and ensure users who return to a course pick up where they left off.

PLE complies with the updated SCORM standards and requires that courses always pass back a completion status. It must then also pass back one of the two data points:

success status
score

The completion status tells PLE the attempt is completed regardless of the success/score. The Passed/Incomplete and Passed/Failed reporting options will report a completion and success status by default. When publishing the course with the Complete/Incomplete or Complete/Failed reporting options, you would need to ensure that a success status and/or score is set to be passed back.

We do have a setting to mark attempts at 0% or 100% when a completion status is present but a score/success is not; however, we highly advise having a success and/or score where possible.

What is the difference between Passed/Incomplete and Passed/Failed?

Passed/Incomplete: Best for scored content where the user should be allowed to try again if they do not achieve the minimum passing score. If the user achieves the minimum passing score they are marked as “completed/passed” with a score. If not, they remain “in progress” and no score is passed.
Passed/Failed: Best for cases like compliance or certification activities where a failed status is required and users should not be allowed to try again. If the user achieves the minimum passing score, they are marked “completed/passed” with a score. If not, they are marked as “completed/failed” with a score.

The SCORM course launches in a new window. Can this be changed?

Yes, you can change this in the PLE course settings. Just change the “Opens in” setting in the “More Settings” area. The options are:

Current window—The course will open in the same browser window the learner has been using to navigate PLE.
New window—The course will open in a new window, most likely with a prompt from the learner’s pop-up blocker.
New window w/ confirm—The course will play in a new window after they click a prompt confirming that action

The pass back requirements and settings within the course are not affected when updating how the course is launched.

What happens to current enrollments when updating a SCORM course?

When a course is updated, you can decide if you’d like to migrate enrollments or only allow users to see the old version of the SCORM course. The Migrating Enrollments settings are found within the course settings of PLE. They can be used to choose when and which group of learners will see the new version of a replaced course. When a learner’s enrollment in a SCORM course is migrated, the learner will see the new version of the course the next time the learner launches the course. To select the best option for your company’s policies, click the Migrating Enrollments drop down menu. The options for migration include the following:

Move enrollments when completed and new course version exists—if a new course version exists, learners will see the new version after the course has been completed
Never move enrollments—learners will continue to see the original version
Always move enrollments—learners will see the new version the next time the learners launch the course
Move enrollments if incomplete and new course version exists—learners who haven't completed the original version will start the new version the next time the course is launched
Move enrollments when completed—learners will see the new version once the original version has been completed
Move enrollments when failed—failed learners will see the new version upon the next launch
Move enrollments when failed and new course version exists—failed learners will see the new version upon the next launch
Move enrollments when passed and new course version exists—learners will see the new version after the course has been completed and passed
Move enrollments when satisfied—learners will see the new version after the course has been satisfied

How is the time spent in a course calculated with SCORM courses?

The time spent in a SCORM course is calculated by the SCORM course and passed to the LMS. In most cases, the time spent in a course will only be passed to the LMS after the user has completed and exited the course. You may be able to adjust when and how often the time spent in a course passes back to PLE. Refer to your authoring tools documentation for specific steps on updating this trigger.

Please note: when importing a SCORM course, the estimated duration of the course is not automatically imported into PLE. This can be manually updated within the settings of the course in PLE.

Is there a file size limit for SCORM courses?

There is not a file size limit imposed by the PLE platform. However, there may be some restrictions through your network configuration and settings. Reach out to your network provider for any questions involving their configuration, including file upload/timeout settings.

From the learner’s perspective, consider the Internet capabilities of your audience when developing courses. If your target audience has limitations on internet options and speeds, learners may experience playback issues with larger, resource-heavy courses.

Can I use flash content within a SCORM course?

Yes, flash content can be added to a SCORM course. When deciding whether or not you should include flash content in your course, here are a few items to consider:

Adobe has announced that they will no longer be supporting flash in the year 2020. Adobe has provided some additional details regarding this decision here: https://theblog.adobe.com/adobe-flash-update/
Flash does not work natively in mobile browsers. That’s a choice Apple and Google have made. In order to play a SCORM course on a mobile device, the course would need to be published in the HTML5 format.
Users may encounter browser compatibility issues and could face requirements to download and run flash before they are able to view the SCORM course.

Common Authoring Tools - Publishing Steps

Adobe Captivate for SCORM 2004

After you’ve created your content and you’re ready to publish, we recommend these settings:

Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences (Mac OS)
In the Category sidebar menu, select Reporting from the Quiz menu
1. Select the Enable reporting for this project checkbox
2. In the LMS dropdown, select Other Standard LMSs
3. In the Standard dropdown, select SCORM 2004
4. Click the Configure button
5. In the SCORM Version box, select the 4th Edition radio button. Click OK.

Option 1 - For courses without a quiz

In the Completion Criteria section:

Select the Slide views and / or quiz radio button
Select the Slide Views checkbox and ensure the 100% radio button is selected
Deselect the Quiz checkbox, as this is invalid completion criteria for a course without a quiz
Select the Success Criteria checkbox
Select the Slide views and / or quiz radio button
Select the Slide Views checkbox and ensure the 100% radio button is selected
Deselect the Quiz is Passed checkbox, as this is invalid completion criteria for a course without a quiz

Option 2 - For courses with a quiz

In the Completion Criteria section:

Select the Slide views and / or quiz radio button
Select the Quiz checkbox and select the desired criteria for your quiz from the dropdown
Select the Success Criteria checkbox
Select the Quiz is Passed checkbox
In the Category sidebar menu, select Settings from the Quiz menu
1. Select the Required or Pass Required option from the Required dropdown menu, depending on which option was selected in the Completion Criteria section
In the Category sidebar menu, select Pass Or Fail from the Quiz menu
1. In the Pass/Fail Options section, select the % or more of total points to pass radio button and enter the percentage score a learner must earn to complete the course (the score that a learner earns in the course will be reported in PLE)
2. In the If Failing Grade section, enter the number of attempts you would like to allow for the quiz
Click OK

Articulate Storyline 3 and 360

After you’ve created your content and you’re ready to publish, we recommend these settings:

Click Publish
Click LMS on the left side menu
In the LMS Output Options dropdown, select SCORM 2004
Click the Report and Tracking button
In the Reporting tab…
1. In the LMS dropdown, ensure that SCORM 2004 and 4th edition is selected
2. In the LMS Reporting section, select the Report status to LMS as: Passed/Failed or Passed/Completed
Click the Tracking tab and select the Track using quiz result option (if tracking by slide view, select the Track using number of slides viewed)
1. In the Result slide to report dropdown, select which quiz result slide you want to use for tracking
Click OK

Note: Behavior of your course may be altered if using variables. It is recommended that you test to ensure the course is functioning as intended.

For more information: Articulate Storyline Help - Publish for LMS and Articulate Storyline Help - Browser and Player Settings

Articulate Rise

After you’ve created your content and you’re ready to publish, we recommend these settings:

From the course page, click on Export
Change Export Type to LMS
Change LMS to SCORM 2004
Change Edition to 4th Edition
Select desired Tracking method. If using quiz, select the quiz it should be based off of
Change Reporting to Passed/Failed
Once ready to export, click the Export button in the upper right corner

Additional Resources

Additional Resources

SCORM Cloud offers a free account to allow testing of SCORM courses. If you want to test a SCORM package to see how it will play in PLE, start by signing up for a free trial of SCORM Cloud.

Testing a course in SCORM Cloud

To be able to test your content, you must first import your content. SCORM Cloud doesn’t do anything until you have content. Importing your content is easy. Just follow these steps.

Log in to your SCORM Cloud account at cloud.scorm.com
In the upper right corner of your home screen, you will see a green box. Click the box to open your import options.

3. Click the Import a SCORM, AICC, xAPI or cmi5 package link

4. Click Choose File and find the SCORM course you wish to upload. Click Import Course

Your content will be uploaded and you can move on to the fun part: testing it out!

Testing your content is one of the most important things you can do inside SCORM Cloud. The SCORM Cloud course Sandbox is an ideal place to launch your content repeatedly, without having to worry about registration limits. SCORM Cloud is probably the friendliest, most accepting SCORM player out there. If your content doesn’t work in SCORM Cloud, it is probably not going to work in your LMS either.

Testing your content is easy. Just click the ‘Launch’ button from inside your course sandbox.