Platform Guide

Platform Overview

Cert Verifi is a secure platform for issuing, managing, and verifying digital learning certificates. It provides a complete end-to-end workflow:

Plans & Getting Started

Cert Verifi is available in two ways, and you can start using either without talking to anyone first.

Starting a Trial

Sign up takes under a minute: your organisation name, an admin email, and a password. You'll get a short verification code by email to confirm the address before your account activates — this is a bot-prevention step, not an extra approval process.

1. Fill in your organisation details and admin email
2. Enter the 6-digit code sent to that email
3. You're in — 5 free certificate credits are ready to use immediately

Trial → Paid

A trial account works exactly like a paid Pay-as-you-go account, just with a limited credit pool to start. Buying your first credit bundle upgrades the account automatically — nothing else to configure.

Admin Portal

The Cert Verifi admin dashboard provides tools for staff to manage certificates, learner accounts, and your account settings.

Access Control & Roles

Staff you invite are assigned one of three roles:

• Admin: Full access to everything — certificates, templates, staff, account & billing
• Cert Manager: Can issue certificates, manage templates, and search existing certificates
• Cert Admin: Can search and send/resend certificates only

Admin Dashboard Sections

Key Admin Workflows

Issuing Certificates

1. Navigate to Issue Certificate → Send a Certificate
2. Enter recipient email, course details, and optional score
3. Preview the certificate and send
4. Recipient receives an email with their certificate

Bulk Upload

1. Go to Issue Certificate → Bulk upload
2. Upload a CSV with columns: email, holderName, courseName, platform, issuedAt, score, etc.
3. Certificates are created and PDFs generated automatically
4. Track progress in the queue

Inviting Staff

1. Navigate to Manage Users
2. Enter their email and choose a role
3. They receive an invite email to set their own password and sign in

Managing Learner Accounts

1. Navigate to External Users
2. Search by email (account or certificate email)
3. View learner details: account email, verified certificate email, preferences, join date
4. Suspend accounts to block login (learners will be unable to access certificates)
5. Delete accounts to remove all data permanently
6. Export opted-in users as CSV for email campaigns

Learner Management

External User Accounts

Cert Verifi supports external learner accounts separate from staff. Learners sign up using:

• Google OAuth — Gmail or Google Workspace accounts
• Microsoft OAuth — Outlook or Microsoft 365 accounts
• Email/Password — Traditional signup with email verification

Signup Verification Flow

To prevent fraudulent account creation, learners must verify their work/school email:

1. Sign up with Google, Microsoft, or email/password
2. Enter the work or school email where they received their certificate
3. Receive a 6-digit OTP code via email
4. Enter the code to verify they own that email address
5. Choose marketing preferences (product updates, course updates)
6. Account is created and ready to use

Learner Account Lifecycle

• Created: First successful signup after OTP verification
• Active: Normal state — can access certificates, generate share links
• Suspended: Admin suspended for policy violation — cannot log in
• Deleted: Permanently removed — all data erased, account cannot be recovered

Data Export

Export learner data for email campaigns:

1. Go to External Users → Export
2. Downloads CSV with opted-in learners only
3. Columns: Email, Joined Date, Preferences
4. Ready to import into email marketing platform

Certificate Issuance & Management

Certificate Fields

Each certificate contains:

• certId: Unique HMAC-protected identifier (e.g., CV-ELT-202608-...)
• holderName: Name of the learner
• courseName: Official course title
• platform: Platform/provider code (e.g., ELT, FIT, DEV)
• issuedAt: Date and time certificate was issued
• expiresAt: Optional expiration date
• score: Optional numeric score
• passMark: Optional passing score threshold
• revoked: Boolean — whether certificate has been invalidated

Certificate Design

Every certificate is generated from a template — your logo, text, and layout. What you can change depends on your plan:

• Pay-as-you-go: Customise from a set of ready-made designs — add your logo, adjust text and colours
• Enterprise: Full template builder — unlimited, fully custom designs from scratch

Revocation & Updates

Admins can revoke certificates (mark as invalid) or update details:

• Revoke: Certificate becomes invalid — public verification will fail
• Update: Change holder name, course details, or expiration date
• Resend: Send new email to learner if they didn't receive the original

Public Verification

Anyone can verify a certificate without creating an account or logging in.

How Public Verification Works

1. User visits Cert Verifi's verification page
2. Enters a certificate ID (or uses a share link)
3. System validates the certificate's signature
4. Certificate details are displayed if valid

Security

All certificates are cryptographically signed. Any tampering with the certificate ID will cause verification to fail. This ensures:

• Authenticity: Only your organisation (or Cert Verifi) can issue valid certificates for it
• Integrity: Certificate details cannot be modified after issuance
• Tamper Detection: Fake or altered IDs are immediately rejected

Share Links

Learners can create permanent share links that embed certificate details:

• Links include preview details for LinkedIn/social sharing
• Preview shows certificate title, course, dates, and score
• Direct link to verify the certificate