Skillsoft Library Maintenance

Skillsoft continually develops and releases new content to meet your evolving needs. We also periodically update the subject matter of existing content and make changes for accuracy. Occasionally we choose to retire content that is outdated, no longer relevant, or is replaced by newer content.

Your Skillsoft library is automatically maintained; you do not have to do anything to get new content or remove retired content from your site. Content that has been retired and removed from your site no longer shows to your learners, but if previously accessed by a learner, retired content still shows in reports.

All content that currently exists on your site, that has recently been added, and that is set to retire is contained in the All Content Listing report. You will see retire dates up to a year in advance so you have time to make necessary changes to your programs.

The following sections explain how Skillsoft library maintenance works for you.

New content releases

New content, such as courses, books, videos, and practice labs, are released on Percipio on an ongoing basis. New releases can be found in the All Content Listing report, which is available to administrators and others with that privilege.

To stay up to date on monthly releases, we recommend that you set up a custom report template and recurring schedule for the All Content Listing report to see just the latest content added to your site on a monthly basis. Review the report when you get it in your email to see if there is new content that makes sense to promote or assign to your learners based on the skills you are looking to build in your business.

To set up a custom report template and schedule:

  1. Open the All Content Listing report.
  2. Set these filters:
    • Added to Percipio = Last 1 month.
    • Content status = Published
  3. Select these columns:
    • Area
    • Subject
    • Channel
    • Content title
    • Asset type
    • Content type
    • Journey title
    • Skills
    • First published date
    • Any other columns you feel necessary for new content
  4. From Actions, select Save as new template.
  5. Provide a name that makes sense to you. Example: Content new last month.
  6. From Actions, select Create report schedule.
    • Schedule it for at least a year.
    • Set the frequency for once per month on the first day of the month.
    • Set Report date range to last 1 month.
    • Select to get notified when report is available.
  7. If you want, you can share this report with others in your organization so they know what content has been added to your site.

Updates to existing content

Periodically, minor changes to content are required. This typically happens when content needs to reflect new technology features added since initial publication. We often choose to update existing content, rather than retire old content and release a new version of similar content. This allows us to use the same course code and UUID, seamlessly delivering updated content to your organization.

Content retirement

We periodically retire content that is outdated. Content becomes outdated for two reasons. First, it may cover a subject that is no longer relevant, such as a course covering an application that is no longer made or supported. Second, a content topic may still be relevant, but the way in which we cover it may need updates. In both cases, we choose to remove the content entirely from the library, which prevents learners from using that content in the future. In the first case, we may or may not have replacement content available. In the second case, we release replacement content.

Similarly, books and audiobooks are retired due to relevancy of the subject, overall usage of the books, and changing relationships we have with publishers.

Before Skillsoft removes retired content from your site, we send an email letting you know that content flagged to retire will be removed from your site in 90 days. This notification goes out the first Monday of every month to site administrators and those with the privilege of managing content. The notification contains a link to the Content Status report. The Content Status report shows in which assignments, custom channels, and promotions retiring content is contained.

In addition to this email, we recommend that you set up a custom report template and schedule for your's and your team's benefit so you can regularly review content that will be retiring. Identify the content that you used in your custom channels, journeys, dynamic content, promotions, learning programs, or assignments. By reviewing this report on a monthly basis, if a piece of content that is part of one of your major programs will be retiring, you will then have up to a year's notice to let learners know to complete it or change it out for the replacement content.

You can compare the All Content Listing report to a Learner Activity report to see if any learners are in the middle of completing a course that is soon to be retired. If they are, use the email campaigns feature to send them notification to complete it before the retire date.

To set up a custom report template and schedule:

  1. Open the All Content Listing report.
  2. Set these filters:
    • Added to Percipio = All time
    • Content status = Pending retirement
  3. Select these columns:
    • Area
    • Subject
    • Channel: shows if the retiring item is in a custom channel
    • Content title
    • Journey title: shows if the retiring item is in a custom journey
    • Assignment title: shows if the retiring item is in an assignment or learning program
    • Dynamic content title: shows if the retiring item is in dynamic content
    • Promotion title: shows if the retiring item is in a promotion
    • Container type
    • Asset type
    • Content type
    • Planned retirement date
    • Replacement content ID
    • Replacement content title
    • Replacement content coming
    • Reason for retirement
    • Any other columns you feel necessary for new content
  4. From Actions, select Save as new template.
  5. Provide a name that makes sense to you. Example: Content pending retirement.
  6. From Actions, select Create report schedule.
    • Schedule it for at least a year.
    • Set the frequency for once per month on the first day of the month.
    • Set Report date range to All time.
    • Select to get notified when report is available.
  7. If you want, you can share this report with others in your organization so they know when content will be retired.

If regular monthly maintenance gets away from you, be rest assured that retired content automatically gets removed from your site and does not show to learners, but it does show in reports if there is activity against it. If you need a list of all retired content that was accessed on your site, you can access the Retired Content report.

Frequently asked questions

Content is added automatically. There is nothing you need to do in order to update your library with new content.

Like new content releases, these updates require no action on your part.

When content retires, it is removed from your site. Your learners cannot access it from the Percipio library, from assignments, learning programs, dynamic content, or promotions, or from custom channels and journeys you may have created.

When accessing a share link (from either an individual or from an external LMS) to content that has been removed, learners see an on-screen notification message.

If one or more assets within an assignment is retired, and the assignment has active content in it, the retired content no longer counts towards the assignment completion criteria. If the order is forced, the learner is automatically able to access the next item in the list after the retired content. If you want to replace retired content within an assignment, see Replace retired content.

All learner activity associated with the retired content remains on the learner's Activity page and in reports. If learners previously accessed a piece of retired content, they can see the retired content item in their Activity, but if they attempt to access it, they will get a message indicating that the content was retired and it is no longer available. It will remain in a Started status.

Content replacements are listed in the All Content Listing report. The replacement content is published just like other new content and your library includes it automatically.

  • The All Content Listing and the Content Status report.report list content that will retire soon and shows the retiring date, which could be up to year away. We recommend setting up a custom report template and schedule for the All Content Listing report so you are regularly notified of retiring content and identified replacements if available.
  • Administrators and those with content privileges receive a monthly Retiring Content email. It alerts you about retiring assets due to be removed from your site in the next 90 days and contains a link to view the Content Status report. In addition, the Content Status report can show items due to retire in the next year so you can plan ahead.

You can use the Retired Content report to see content that has been used on your site that has been retired. This report shows retired content that was accessed by a learner or used in an assignment, learning program, custom channel, custom journey, dynamic content, or promotion at any time.

Course retirements occur on an as needed basis. On the last day of each of the Skillsoft fiscal quarters: January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31, we review and schedule content retirements with a minimum of 90 days advance notice.

Book retirements are generally scheduled with 30 days advance notice.

The most maintenance-free way to let learners know about content that is retiring is to enable Content change notifications. From Site settings > Content settings > Content change notifications.

There are two settings in this section:

  • Notify learners when content they are accessing is retiring: When checked, learners see a pop-up message indicating the content they are accessing is retiring soon. If available, the message also contains a link to a replacement content item. Uncheck this option if you do not want learners to see a pop-up message when accessing content that is retiring soon.
  • Notify learners when content they are accessing has a new version: When checked, learners see a pop-up message indicating that the content they are accessing has a new version available. The message contains a link to the new version. Uncheck this option if you do not want learners to see a pop-up message when accessing content that is has a new version.

If you don't want to enable the change notification settings, you can schedule the All Content Listing report to run on a monthly basis, determine which courses have activity and then send email reminders to learners letting them know to complete items they started before the courses retire. You can use the email campaigns feature for this type of email if you want.

If one or more assets within an assignment is retired, and the assignment has active content in it, the retired content no longer counts towards the assignment completion criteria. If the order is forced, the learner is automatically able to access the next item in the list after the retired content.If you want to replace retired content within an assignment, see Replace retired content.

If all content within an assignment is retired, the admin must cancel or archive the assignment, otherwise learners who started the assignment see it listed as In Progress and can't complete it.

No. If retiring content is used in any assignment, learning program, custom channel, custom journey, promotion, or dynamic content, it will not automatically be replaced if a replacement is available, it will just be removed.

Prior to the content retiring, you will have to edit the custom channel, custom journey, promotion, and dynamic content, remove the retiring content and add the replacement item. The process is simple:

  1. In the stepper workflow, select to add content.
  2. Search for the retiring content title. If there is replacement content, it shows below the retiring content.
  3. Remove the retiring item and select the replacement item.
  4. Save your changes.

For assignments and learning programs, you cannot change out content if the assignment or learning program is in progress. You can only change content in an assignment or learning program if they are in a draft or schedule state. In this case, you must:

  1. Copy the current assignment or learning program.
  2. Edit the copy to include a replacement item and assign the copy to learners.
  3. Archive the original assignment or learning program.

Yes. You can retired whatever custom content you add to Percipio. When you retire content, learners still see it listed on their Learning Activity page if they previously launched it, but they are unable to open it again. You continue to see the retired content in reports.