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What happened?! A general introduction to basic troubleshooting in Activate LMS

Sebastian Lund
Updated

In this article there will be a introduction to some of the tools you can use for troubleshooting in Activate LMS. The list will not be thorough or specific about your problems, but it will, hopefully, give you an good idea of how to deal with issues in Activate LMS.

And now... Here's the list of tools you can use, so you can get to the bottom of what happened in your system:

  1. System log: The system log can be found in Reports > System Log. This log contains a list of all events occuring in your system, including details about the events (in XML). If you are not familiar with XML, the Details field can look a bit cryptical, but when you split up the details in smaller bites it is pretty straight forward. Here's an example of a detailed XML message:

    <root><UserId>1234</UserId><UserFullName>Jeppe Lindstrøm Jensen (jeppe)</UserFullName><Organisation>1138: Activate LMS</Organisation><LearningProfile></LearningProfile><Browser>Name: Chrome, Version: 60.0</Browser><IsMobile>False</IsMobile></root>

    All information is surrounded by a pair of guillemets ("<" and ">"). These guillemets are just a technical way to write:

    User's ID: 1234
    User's full name: Jeppe Lindstrøm Jensen (jeppe) ; The name in the paranthesis is the username
    Organisation: Activate LMS

    etc...

    This info is great for getting an overview of who did what, and some technical details about the user's actions (were they on a phone, which browser did they use etc.).

  2. Email Error Log: The Email Error Log can be found in Reports > Email Error Log. This log contains errors send from the mail server and therefore a log explaining issues regarding emails. You can specify the period from which you wish to get information about. This tool is great for clarifying:
    • if there's problems with your mail server.
    • if your user has given your system a faulty email address.
    • if your company's mail server isn't set up for receiving emails from the email address specified for your Activate LMS.

  3. The users sessions: This feature can be found in Resources tab > Users link > the user you wish to troubleshoot > Learning activities tab (next to the General tab). Another great tool for dealing with problems in Activate LMS is an overview of the individual sessions of the user. In this view you can see the progress, status etc. of your user. You can also edit or register results manually if needed.