Cert Verifi
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Platform Guide

Complete overview of Cert Verifi's platform architecture, admin features, and learner management capabilities.

Platform Overview

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

Core Components

  • Certificate Issuance: Staff issue certificates via bulk upload or individual creation
  • Learner Portal: External users sign up, verify ownership, and manage certificates
  • Admin Dashboard: Staff manage users, certificates, templates, and system settings
  • Public Verification: Anyone can verify a certificate using its unique ID
  • Sharing: Learners generate permanent share links for LinkedIn, email, and resumes

Admin Portal

The Cert Verifi admin dashboard provides comprehensive tools for staff to manage certificates, learner accounts, and system configuration.

Access Control & Roles

Admins are assigned one of three roles:

  • Admin: Full access to all features (users, certificates, templates, settings)
  • Cert Manager: Can upload certificates, manage templates, and search existing certificates
  • Cert Admin: Can search and send/resend certificates only

Admin Dashboard Sections

🎓 Certificates

Issue, search, edit, revoke, and resend certificates. Bulk upload via CSV with automatic PDF generation.

👥 External Users

Manage learner accounts — search, suspend, reactivate, delete, and export opted-in users for email campaigns.

🔧 Manage Users

Add and manage admin staff accounts and role assignments.

🔑 API Keys

Generate and manage API keys for integrations and automated certificate issuance.

📋 Templates

Create and edit certificate PDF templates with drag-and-drop text/image positioning.

⚙️ Maintain

Configure data retention, schedule purge processes, and manage system settings.

Key Admin Workflows

Issuing Certificates

  1. Navigate to Certificates → Send
  2. Enter learner email, course details, and optional score
  3. Select or upload a PDF template
  4. Preview the certificate and send
  5. Learner receives email with certificate link

Bulk Upload

  1. Go to Certificates → Bulk Upload
  2. Upload a CSV with columns: email, holderName, courseName, platform, issuedAt, score, etc.
  3. System creates certificates and generates PDFs automatically
  4. Track progress in the queue

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
Suspended learners cannot log in or generate share links. Use suspension for policy violations, data requests, or account disputes.

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
The certificate email is separate from the account email. This ensures only the rightful certificate holder can create an account.

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
Only learners who selected "product updates" and/or "course updates" during signup will be included in exports. Always comply with privacy regulations when using learner data.

Certificate Issuance & Management

Certificate Fields

Each certificate contains:

  • certId: Unique HMAC-protected identifier (e.g., CV-ELT-202606-...)
  • 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

PDF Templates

Create professional certificate PDFs with the visual template builder:

  • Drag-and-drop text blocks with merge fields ({{holderName}}, {{courseName}}, etc.)
  • Add images (logos, backgrounds, signatures)
  • Position elements precisely with pixel-level control
  • Preview rendered certificates before saving
  • Reuse templates across multiple certificate sends

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
Revoked certificates remain in the system for audit purposes but cannot be shared or verified by the public.

Public Verification

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

How Public Verification Works

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

Security

All certificates are cryptographically signed with HMAC-SHA256. Any tampering with the certificate ID will cause verification to fail. This ensures:

  • Authenticity: Only Cert Verifi can issue valid certificates
  • Integrity: Certificate details cannot be modified
  • Tamper Detection: Fake or altered IDs are immediately rejected

Share Links

Learners can create permanent share links that embed certificate details:

  • Links include OpenGraph meta tags for LinkedIn/social sharing
  • Preview shows certificate title, course, dates, and score
  • Direct link to verify the certificate
  • One share link per certificate (regeneration reuses the same slug)
Share links work forever until the certificate is revoked or the learner's account is suspended.