Deadlines help Training Administrators manage how long learners can access and complete their assignments.  There are two types of deadlines in the UE Learning Portal:

  • Hard Deadlines – These are set at the Learning Plan level and will lock access to any courses in that learning plan once the deadline has passed.
  • Soft Deadlines – These are set at the Course level and will not lock learners out of the course once the deadline has passed.  Learners can continue to take the course even after the deadline.

This guide covers the different types of deadlines, when to use them, and the learner experience.

Contents:

1. What Are Hard Deadlines? (Learning Plans Only)

A hard deadline is the enforceable expiration date set on a learner’s Learning Plan enrollment.

When a Learning Plan hard deadline passes:

  • All courses inside the plan become inaccessible.

  • The Learning Plan appears locked until a TA extends or updates the validity settings.

Hard deadlines are used for compliance, annual training cycles, programs with fixed schedules, and any case that requires preventing late completion.

2. What Are Soft Deadlines? (Courses Only)

A soft deadline is an informational due date shown on a learner’s course enrollment.

In the Learning Portal configuration:

  • Soft deadlines do not restrict access.
  • They do not lock the course.
  • They do not override Learning Plan hard deadlines.
  • Learners can continue accessing and completing a course after the soft deadline, provided the Learning Plan is still active.
Important: The Learning Portal automatically sends an email reminder to any learner who has not completed a course 14 days before the course’s soft deadline. This reminder is informational only and does not affect access or enrollment status.

Use soft deadlines to communicate expectations and to trigger automated reminders without restricting learner progress.

3. How Deadlines Interact in the Learning Portal

Learning Plan hard deadline (controls access)

The Learning Plan hard deadline is the final enforcement point. When the Learning Plan expires:

  • The learner is locked out of the entire plan.
  • All courses inside become inaccessible.
  • Course soft deadlines no longer matter once the plan has expired.

Course soft deadline (informational only)

Course soft deadlines display due dates and trigger the 14-day reminder email, but they do not limit access or prevent completion.

Key interaction notes

  • If a course appears to be locked, the cause is always a Learning Plan hard deadline, not a course deadline.
  • Extending or removing a Learning Plan deadline immediately restores access to its courses.
  • Course soft deadlines do not need to be updated when Learning Plan deadlines are changed.

4. Where Deadlines Are Set

Learning Plans

To enable a learning plan deadline, enable the Enrollment Validity in the Time Options section of the Learning Plan Properties.  You can then choose to apply hard or soft deadlines to the courses within the learning plan.

  • The default option is a hard deadline.  This means that once the deadline passes, learners will be locked out of the learning plan and any courses within it.
  • The second option is a soft deadline.  This means that learners will still be able to access the courses after the deadline passes.

Course Deadlines

Course deadlines can be set as part of the course enrollment process.  They can be added to bulk course enrollments through the csv file, or when enrolling learners through the Course Management setting.

5. How to Modify or Extend Deadlines

6. Troubleshooting

A learner sees a locked Learning Plan

Cause: The Learning Plan hard deadline has expired. Solution: Extend the Learning Plan deadline in the Learning Plan settings.

A learner sees a course due date but still has access

Cause: Expected soft deadline behavior. Solution: No action required.

A learner receives an email reminder before the deadline

Cause: Automated 14-day soft deadline notification. Solution: No action required.

Course and Learning Plan deadlines do not match

Learning Plan deadlines take priority. Course deadlines are informational only.