A guide to attributes

Imagine the situation where you need to issue personalized certificates to 500 recipients. Each of those certificates will have a different recipient name, grade, and course instructor. Given that the manual editing of each of those certificates takes approximately 30 seconds while the modification of the email takes at least one minute, you would complete your task in 260 minutes or 4,5 hours! This is crazy, right? With the help of attributes, the number of certificates you need to issue does not impact the amount of time you need to spend on this process. 

What are Dynamic Attributes?

Attributes are placeholders in your certificate templates that allow you to insert dynamic information into your certificates. For example, if you have an attribute called [recipient.name] in your template, this attribute will be replaced with the name of the recipient when you generate a certificate. This allows you to create a single template that can be used to generate multiple certificates, with the recipient's name automatically inserted into each one.

The template above has the following attributes on it: 1) [recipient.name] 2) [certificate.uuid] 3) [certificate.issued_on].

Why should you use attributes?

• Without attributes, you would have to create a separate design for each recipient, which can be time-consuming and error-prone. With attributes, you can create a single template and then quickly generate multiple certificates by simply uploading a list of recipients and their information. This saves time and ensures that all of the certificates are consistent and accurate.

• By using attributes, you can ensure that your certificates are always up-to-date and accurate. For example, if you use the [certificate.issued_on] attribute to insert the date of the learning event into your certificates, you can be sure that this information will always be correct, even if the date of the event changes after you have created your template.

• Attributes can also help to make your certificates more professional and polished. By using a consistent set of attributes in your templates, you can create a standardized format for your certificates that is easy to read and understand.

• Using attributes can also make it easier to keep track of your certificates and the information they contain. For example, if you use the [certificate.uuid] attribute to insert a unique identifier for each certificate into your certificates, you can use this information to search for and manage your certificates more easily. 

How do Dynamic Attributes work?

The logic behind dynamic attributes is simple:

1. You place particular dynamic attributes on your certificate/template or write them in your email.

2. When you issue credentials, you are asked to upload a spreadsheet with recipients' data. The information in this spreadsheet tells Certifier what should be placed instead of dynamic attributes for each recipient in your list. The screenshot below shows a spreadsheet sample. The [recipient.name] attribute will be replaced with data from the recipient's name column, while the data from the recipient's email column will be used to distribute certificates by email.

What kind of attributes can you use?

At Certifier, we differentiate between default and custom attributes.

Default Attributes

The default attributes are available to all Certifier users. Here is the list of all default attributes and their description:

• Issue Date – gets populated with the date when your credential (certificate or badge) is published. This attribute is auto-generated by Certifier. If your issue date is different than the date when credentials are published, you should go with a custom attribute.

• Credential ID –  gets populated with the unique ID of your credential that is auto-generated by Certifier. It consists of numbers only.

• Expiry Date – gets populated with the expiry date of your credentials. This date can be either added during the issuing process, or auto-generated if you have added a global expiration date to the group.

• Credential UUID – gets populated with the unique ID of your credential that is auto-generated by Certifier. It consists of letters and numbers.

• Issuer Support Email – gets populated with the support email you add in the settings (by default it is your account's primary email). This email is added to the bottom of the credential delivery email template and can be used by your recipients to contact you.

• Issuer Name – gets populated with the issuer name you provide in Settings. By default, this is the name of your company or organization that you provided during registration.

• Group Name – gets populated with the name of the group for which you issue the certificates or badges. We recommend you use the name of the event for which you would like to issue credentials as the name of your group.

• Recipient Name – gets populated with the name of the recipient for whom you issue a certificate or badge. You provide this information during the process of distributing your credentials either manually (one by one) or by uploading these data in a form of a spreadsheet. Get a spreadsheet sample here.

Custom Attributes

In addition to the default attributes present in Certifier, you can also create custom attributes that you would like to display on your certificate templates, badges, or emails. Custom attributes can be useful in a number of different situations. Take a look at these custom attribute ideas:

• Event Sessions – the specific sessions or modules that the recipient attended at the event (e.g. "Introduction to Machine Learning" or "Effective Communication Skills")

• Event instructor – the name of the instructor or facilitator for the event (e.g. "Dr. John Smith")

• Event hours – the number of hours or credits that the recipient earned by attending the event (e.g. "12 hours" or "3 credits")

• Course grade – the number of points or a single grade that the recipient earned (e.g. "12 points" or "3.5")

Using custom attributes allows you to create more personalized and detailed certificates, without having to manually enter this information for each recipient.

Conclusion

As you can see, dynamic attributes provide a flexible and personalized approach to creating, issuing, and managing digital certificates and badges. By utilizing dynamic attributes, such as [recipient.name], [credential.issued_on], etc., you can easily customize the information included on their certificates, badges, or emails, ensuring that each recipient receives a unique and personalized document.