Skillpipe FAQ

New to Skillpipe – Get Started

Introduction to Skillpipe (Video)

New to Skillpipe?

If you are new to Skillpipe we highly recommend to watch the following 4:20 minute introduction video. It provides a first overview about the Skillpipe eReader and will teach you the basic navigation concepts and functionalities.

Video Contents:

  • Registering and accessing Skillpipe (0:12)
  • Redeeming new courses (0:25)
  • Accessing and working with your courses (0:58)
  • Create Highlights and Notes (2:03)
  • Create Print Outs (3:28)

 

For which systems is Skillpipe available?

The best way to experience Skillpipe is through www.skillpipe.com. Please make sure your browser is updated to the latest version. Skillpipe is supported on Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.

Who can I contact if I have questions concerning Skillpipe?

If you have any questions or feedback concerning Skillpipe, please contact your Training Partner. To facilitate the process, please download and fill out this Template.

Skillpipe User Guides

Registration / Login / Reset Password

Registration

Before you can access your digital courseware, you first need to create a Skillpipe account. Please follow the steps below to complete your registration:

  1. Open the Main Menu and access the Registration page.
  2. Please fill in all required information, accept the legal terms and press the Register button.
  3. Return to the Login screen, enter your credentials and press the Sign In button.

 

register-a-new-account9

Login

If you already have a user account with Skillpipe, navigate to the Login screen, enter your credentials and press the Sign In button to access your bookshelf.

Reset Password

In case you have forgotten your password you can set a new one by following the steps below:

  1. Open the Main Menu and Access the Reset Password Page.
  2. Enter the e-mail address you are registered with and press the Reset Password button.
  3. Check your inbox and click on the Set New Password button in the email.
  4. Enter your new password and press the Save button.

 

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Add new courses to your bookshelf

As soon as you have received a license key for your course, you can redeem it and add it to your bookshelf. Whether you have to redeem your first course or want to add additional books, the process will always be the same.

  1. Open Main Menu and select Add Course.
  2. Enter the license key and press Validate Code.
  3. Agree to the End-user License Agreement and press Redeem License Key button.
  4. Click on Done to return to your bookshelf where the course should now be visible.

add-book

Organize your bookshelf

Create / Edit / Remove Course Categories

By default all courses you have redeemed, will be listed in your bookshelf in the Unassigned Courses category. If you have many courses, we recommend to assign your courses into categories which you can setup and define as you like.

  1. Create a new course category
    • Open Category Menu and click on Add category.
    • Enter title and confirm the creation by pressing the Checkmark icon.
  2. Edit an existing categories
    • Open Category Menu and click on the Edit icon.
    • Edit the category title directly in the textbox and confirm you action by pressing the Checkmark icon.
  3. Delete an existing category
    • Open Category Menu and click on the Trash Can icon.
    • Confirm your action by pressing the Checkmark icon.
    • Note: all courses which were assigned to the deleted category will be shifted back into the Unassigned Courses category.

 

Move Courses to Categories

Once you have created your course categories, you need to add courses to them. You need to hover with your mouse over the respective category to display the controls for adding or removing courses.

  1. Click on the + icon next to the select category.
  2. Select all courses which you wish to add to the category by clicking on their cover.
  3. When you are done click on the Move button.
  4. Select All Courses in the category menu to see the full bookshelf again.

 

Remove Courses from Categories

Removing courses puts them back into the Unassigned Courses category. You need to hover with your mouse over the respective category to display the controls for adding or removing courses.

  1. Click on the – icon next to the select category.
  2. Select all courses which you wish to remove from the category by clicking on their cover.
  3. When you are done, click on the Remove button.
  4. Select All Courses in the category menu to see the full bookshelf again.

 

How can I quickly find the course I have last accessed?

Skillpipe provides two ways of finding the course you have last accessed.

  • Access the last read course via the Main Menu
    • Open the main menu and click on Current Course .
    • The course you have last accessed will open and you will resume at the position where you last left the course.

current-course

 

  • Currently Reading Flag
    • There is also a flag Currently Reading on the course you have last accessed.
    • Clicking on the course cover will open the course you have last accessed and you will resume at the position where you last left the course.

currently-reading

List and Cover View

Skillpipe provides two views for your bookshelf:

  1. The Cover View
  2. The List View

If you are having trouble reading the course title, please switch to the list view which displays all course details besides the cover artwork. To switch the view, please click on the view icon at the bottom left of your bookshelf.

 

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Navigate your course

If you simply want to read your course from start to finish, there is nothing much to tell. Simply open the course, scroll through the contents and switch modules by using the controls at the bottom of the text.

Jumping to a specific position

If you quickly want to access a specific section inside your course you have multiple options to get there:

  1. Table of contents
    • Clicking on the module title will navigate you to the beginning of the module.
    • Clicking on any sub-chapter will navigate you to the section inside the module.
  2. Bookmarks
    • Enter a bookmark title and press the add button to create a bookmark.
    • Clicking on the bookmark will bring you to the position inside the module where you created the bookmark.
  3. Position IDs
    • Enter the chapter and position you want to go to.
    • Press the “Go” button and you will navigate directly to the desired position.

 

Change your display settings

You can customize the text display, to your personal preferences by changing the font size, the font type or the text margins. All settings will automatically be stored with your profile.

 

Adjust your video settings

Videos for MOC On-Demand courses are available in multiple resolutions (180p, 270p, 360p, 540p, 720p, 1080p). By default, the video player is set to “auto” which means that the video quality will be automatically adjusted based on your available bandwidth.

Recommended video resolution settings:

  • If you are not experiencing any problems with the default setting, we recommend leaving the video settings to “auto”.
  • If you are experiencing a continuous up- and downgrade of the video quality, you can manually set a fixed resolution (for example 540p) to have a consistent video quality.
  • If you are experiencing extended pre-buffering or video stutters, please consequently lower the resolution gradually until you have a smooth video delivery.

Create highlights and notes

Creating Highlights and Notes

You have the option to create a highlight or a note for a text passage, just like you would in a physical textbook. Please refer to the sections below to learn more about text highlights and notes.

Create Highlights:

  1. Mark a text passage and choose Highlight from the popup menu.
  2. The text passaged is highlighted in yellow.

Create Notes:

  1. Mark a text passage and choose Note from the popup menu.
  2. Enter a note text with up to 1.000 characters.
  3. Chose a privacy setting for your note.
    • Private: the note is only visible to you
    • Public: the note will be shared with all students of your training center
  4. Click Save to create your note.
    • The text passage is highlighted in yellow with dotted lines.
    • A new entry in your notes list is created.

 

Edit Highlights and Notes
  1. Click on the Highlight or Note you wish to edit.
  2. Change the text or privacy settings and press Save.

 

Delete Highlights and Notes

To delete a highlight or a note you have two possible options.

  1. Delete it from the notes panel
    • Open the notes panel and hover over the entry you wish to delete.
    • Click on the Trash Can icon besides the entry to delete it.
  2. Delete if from the text
    • Navigate to the highlight or note you wish to delete.
    • Click on it to open the notes popup.
    • Click on the Trash Can icon to delete it.

 

Review trainer and other public notes

Skillpipe provides trainers and students with the option to create public notes which they can share with all their training center’s students. You can review these additional insights to the course contents and enrich your learning experience.

Make public notes visible
  1. Open the Notes panel.
  2. Tick the checkboxes for Trainer and/ or Other notes.
  3. The notes will become visible in your notes panel.
    • Yellow: your own notes
    • Green: trainer notes
    • Blue: other (student) notes
  4. Public notes are also displayed as colored markers right beside the text.
    • The number indicates the number of public notes at this position
    • Green markers: contain at least one trainer note.
    • Blue markers: contain notes from other students.
  5. A click on the marker opens the Notes panel only showing the notes at this position.

 

Create course printouts

You can print a chapter of the course you are currently reading. Please follow the steps below to print the current chapter:

  1. Navigate to the chapter which you want to print.
  2. Open the Print panel and choose which notes shall be included in the print out.
  3. Click the Print button.
  4. The printer menu popup appears and you can make final adjustments to your print settings.

Print Restrictions:

  • Each chapter needs to be printed separately.
  • Your print copy will contain a watermark including your name.
  • Be aware that copies are only authorized for personal use. Unauthorized copying and distribution of Courseware content is prohibited.

Skillpipe Apps

ATTENTION: Offline Skillpipe apps scheduled to retire

On June 30, 2019, Microsoft and Arvato are retiring native offline Skillpipe apps, in addition to the legacy Windows Vista/Windows 7 Reader, because these native apps and legacy reader:

    • Support only a limited set of course formats and do not support role-based instructor-led training (ILT) courses.
    • Create confusion in the market, as a result of this limited support.
    • Have very low usage.
    • Require development resources to maintain, and these resources could otherwise be directed to the new progressive web app (PWA) solution in development.

This new PWA solution involves a responsive website that acts and feels like a native app and is installable on the user’s home screen.

Get the details about the retirement of native apps and the legacy reader here.

Why should I go to www.skillpipe.com instead of using the Skillpipe apps?

In contrast to www.skillpipe.com, the apps only support a limited set of course formats. For this reasons, we plan to retire them in the near future.

What is the best way to access Skillpipe with my smartphone or tablet?

The best way to experience Skillpipe on your mobile devices is through www.skillpipe.com. Mobile browsers on Android and iOS devices support all available Skillpipe features and course formats.

I have reached my activation limit. What can I do?

Up to 3 devices can be activated with your Skillpipe account at the same time. If you have reached the maximum number of authorizations, you need to de-activate a device before you can continue with the new one.

  1. A list with your authorized devices appears.
  2. Select a device from the list you wish to remove/ swap with your current device.
  3. Press the Activate Device button.

Known Issues

Video Streaming

Videos for MOC On-Demand courses are available in multiple resolutions (180p, 270p, 360p, 540p, 720p, 1080p). For more details, please go to “Skillpipe User Guide / Adjust your video settings”. Known issues:

  • The change in video resolution is not immediate. Depending on how much of the video has already pre-buffered by the player, it might take between 5-30 seconds before the resolution update becomes visible.
  • The IE11 uses the Adobe Flash player to enable adaptive video streaming. Adobe Flash does not support Video Speed Adjustments.
  • Changing the video resolution under Windows 10 environment using IE11 or Microsoft Edge can cause video artifacts when the player changes the video resolution.
    • The effect should only appear for a short moment and will disappear once the player update the display to the selected resolution.
    • If this effect appears frequently, please manually select a resolution before proceeding.
  • In very rare instances:
    • The IE11 under Windows 10, sometimes has trouble in automatically adjusting the video quality and is not progressing with the video display. In that case, please reload the page and try selecting a manual resolution before proceeding.
    • The IE11 and Microsoft Edge under Windows 10 do not display the resolution picker. In these cases the video stream will automatically default back to “auto” setting.

Why are there two versions of the same role-based ILT course in my bookshelf?

On March 20th 2019, we introduced the new “-A” course version (e.g. AZ-300T03-A) for role-based ILT courses. This new course version will always show the latest content and your highlights, notes and bookmarks will be migrated, if the course receives an update.

Important: The highlights and notes transfer will only work for the “-A” versions moving forward. If you want to keep your highlights and notes from earlier versions of a course, you need to transfer them from the old course revisions (e.g. AZ-300T03-2019_Q1A) to the new course version (e.g. AZ-300T03-A).
In order to do so, please open the old version and the new version in two browser tabs and create the important highlights and notes in the new version again. This only needs to be completed once, and then your highlights and notes will transfer to future versions.

We will retire the old course revisions end of August.

Problems to login again after session expires or was ended in IE11

Problem:
  • In rare instances, we have seen reports of people using IE11 who had problems logging into Skillpipe again after their sessions expired or they logged out manually.
Workaround:
  • Please close your browser, restart it and access www.skillpipe.com again.
  • If this does not help, please delete your browser cache by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Del and following the instructions on screen.

Rare service timeouts and connection errors

Problem:
  • In very rare occasions some server requests time out and display a services not available or database connection error message.
Workaround:
  • Simply pressing F5 or manually reloading the page, should solve the problem.

Management Dashboard – License Distribution

Introduction to the Management Dashboard (Video)

New to the Management Dashboard?

If you are new to the Management Dashboard we highly recommend to watch the following 8:12 minute introduction video. It provides a good overview about the Management Dashboard and explains its basic navigation concepts and functionalities.

Video Contents:

  • How to access the Management Dashboard (00:30)
  • How to Distribute Licenses to your students (03:49)
  • How licenses for bundles are managed (05:58)
  • How to manage trainers associated with your organization (06:51)