Why aren't approaching due date notifications being sent to learners?

Query

Learners aren't getting approaching due date notifications for a learning activity in the LMS.

Answer

Work through the checks below in order. The first two show whether the problem is with email sending or with the rule itself:

1. Check LMS emails are switched on
2. Check Notification History
3. Check the rule is active
4. Check the Approaching Due Date settings
5. Download the rule audit
6. Use Trial Run to check learners meet the conditions
7. Check for other rules changing the status
8. Check when the rule is due to run

Check LMS emails are switched on

• Go to Admin > Manage Settings > E-mails
• Make sure Send E-mails is switched on
  

Check Notification History

• Go to Admin > Manage Content > Notification History
• Search for the affected learner and look for the Rule Notification - General (E-mail) notification
• If it's listed, the LMS sent it. Ask the customer's IT team to allow emails from the digits.co.uk domain, because security filters may be blocking LMS emails.
• If it isn't listed, continue with the rule checks below

Check the rule is active

• Go to Admin > Advanced > Manage Rules and open the rule that sets the due date for the activity
• Make sure Toggle Active is on
  
• Check the rule's start and end dates. If the end date has passed, the rule won't run

Check the Approaching Due Date settings

• In the rule, check the action is Activity: Set due date for, set against the correct learning activity
• Check an Approaching Due Date window has been set, and that it's the length you expect
• Check a notification is set to go to learners when they reach Approaching Due Date

For setup steps, see Learning due dates & refreshers.

Download the rule audit

• In the rule, click on ... button and select Download Audit
  
• Check whether the rule has run for the affected learners, and whether it updated their training records

Use Trial Run to check learners meet the conditions

• In the rule, click on ... button and select Trial Run. This downloads a list of the learners the rule would affect, without running it
• If an affected learner isn't on the list, check the rule conditions (ALL or ANY) and the learner's activity status
  
• Once you've fixed the problem, you can select Run Rule to run the rule straight away

Check for other rules changing the status

• Check whether any other rule updated the learner's activity status before this rule was due to run
• If a learner's record has already moved to Overdue, they won't get the approaching due date notification 

Check when the rule is due to run

• Check the rule's Frequency to see when it next runs
• If the rule has been marked as processed, it won't run again until the next frequency interval
• If the scheduled run date is a non-working day, such as a Sunday, the rule may run on the next working day instead. 

Related articles

• Rules
• Learning due dates & refreshers
• LMS manage Notifications
• LMS e-mails