How to assign tests to employees

In Smart Way, any company administrator can manually assign one or more tests to employees. The system creates a separate invitation for each selected employee and sends them an email with a personal link.

This guide covers manual test assignments made through Employee testing. It does not apply to tests that employees take as part of Academy courses.

Related guides:

What does the employee testing process involve?

Stage	What happens
1. Select tests	In `Employee testing`, select one or more built-in or company-created tests. Company-created tests must first be created and activated in `Test Builder`.
2. Select employees	Click `Select employees` and choose the people you need from the list. You can filter employees by full name, job title and department.
3. Send invitations	Click `Send`. The system creates and sends a separate invitation email to each selected employee, with a link to all the chosen tests.
4. Take the tests	The employee follows the link, reads the instructions and completes the assigned tests in sequence.
5. Review results	The invited employees appear in `Reports on testing`. You can download a detailed test report for each person. See How to view test reports for full instructions.

What should you check before sending a test invitation?

Complete these checks before assigning tests to a large group:

Open the relevant employee records in Employees and check their email addresses. Invitations are sent to the address saved in each employee’s record.
Make sure each employee’s full name, job title and department are correct. These details are used for searching, filtering and reports.
If you plan to assign a company test from Test Builder, make sure it is active. An inactive test will not appear in the test selection form.
Check the test settings, including the timer, number of questions, pass mark and attempt limit.
If there is no active Testing subscription, check how many invitations are available. Send the tests to one employee first to make sure the process works as expected before starting a bulk send.

You can edit employee details in Employees. Click the relevant employee’s row to open their record. Academy access is not required for tests that are not linked to courses: the employee takes the tests through the personal link in the email without signing in to the LMS platform.

How many tests and invitations can you send?

Tests, employees and invitations are counted differently:

What is counted	Current rule
Tests in one invitation	There is no set maximum: you can include as many tests as the employee needs to take.
Employees in one batch	You can select as many employees as needed in one batch. A page can display up to 100 employees; you can then move to another page and continue selecting people. Your selection is retained when you move between pages, change the number of rows (`10`, `25` or `100`) or apply filters. The select-all checkbox covers only employees on the current page, but you can add people from other pages to the same selection. Each selected employee uses one invitation, regardless of how many tests the email contains.
Emails	Each employee receives one email with a personal link to all the selected tests.
Reports	One report containing all test results is created for each employee and each invitation sent. For example, an invitation containing five tests creates one report with the results of those tests. If you later send the same employee another invitation containing three tests, the system creates a second report.

How do you select tests to send to employees?

Open Employee testing from the main menu.
In Select which tests need to be taken, choose the required system tests.
If the company has active company-created tests, they appear below under Test Builder. Select the tests you need.
Click Select employees.

The Select employees button becomes available only after you have selected at least one test.

Which company tests appear in the list?

Only active company tests are available when you invite employees. If the test you need is missing:

open Test Builder under Testing;
find the relevant test;
find its switch in the Activate column and activate it: the switch is orange when the test is active and grey when it is inactive;
return to Employee testing — the test will now appear in the list.

How do you select employees?

Click Select employees to open the Employees window.

Select several specific employees

Find an employee in the visible list.
Select the checkbox in the first column or click the employee’s row.
Repeat this for every employee you need.
Check that each required employee remains selected.

Select every employee on the current page

Choose how many employees to display: 10, 25 or 100.
Select the select-all checkbox in the first column, above the first employee.
The system selects every employee shown on the current page.

The select-all checkbox does not select employees on other pages. Employees already selected remain selected when you move to another page, change the number of rows or apply a filter. The total number selected is shown above the table; click Clear selection if you need to start again.

To test more than 100 employees, move through the pages and continue adding people. All selected employees remain in the same selection. You must add each page separately because there is no single action to select every employee in the company.

How do you select employees with filters?

Three fields are available at the top of the window:

Search by full name;
Search by job title;
Search by department.

Search using one field

Enter part of a first name or surname, job title or department name.
Click Search.
Wait for the table to refresh.
Select the required employees, or use the select-all checkbox for all matching employees on the current page.

For a name search, enter part of the first name or surname rather than the full Surname First name string.

Search using several fields

You can fill in several fields at the same time. For example:

job title — Manager;
department — Sales.

After you click Search, the system shows employees who match every completed field. This is useful when the same job title exists in several departments.

Important points about filters

You can change filters and gradually add employees to the same selection.
Clicking Search refreshes the table but does not remove employees selected earlier.
The select-all checkbox covers results only on the current page.
If you return to a page you viewed earlier, the selected employees are marked again.
If an employee is missing, check the spelling of their name, job title and department in their employee record.

How do you send the invitations?

After selecting the employees, check the boxes in the first column once more.
Click Send.
The selection window closes, and the system displays a message that bulk email sending has started.
Once sending has started successfully, the test selection form is cleared.

The bulk-send message means that the invitations have been queued for processing. It does not confirm that every email has reached its recipient immediately. For a large group, records and emails may be processed gradually.

If you have not selected any employees, no emails will be sent. Before clicking Send, make sure at least one checkbox is selected.

How does an employee receive the invitation?

Smart Way sends each selected employee a separate system email:

the subject line is Test invitation;
the email contains a Start button;
the button opens the assigned tests in a browser;
the employee does not need to reply because it is an automated message.

The company profile settings determine the default language of the email and the page opened from its link. On the test page, the employee can change the language in the top-right corner.

The employee does not need to sign in to the Academy or find the test in a course. They can open the tests directly by selecting the button in the invitation email.

What does the employee need to do?

Open the email with the subject Test invitation.
Click Start.
If needed, choose a language in the top-right corner of the test page.
Read the instructions carefully.
Click Start testing.
Answer every question in the current test.
If several tests were assigned, continue through them in sequence. The system shows how many tests remain.
Continue until the Testing completed! message appears.

Points to explain to the employee

After clicking ANSWER, the employee cannot change the answer or return to the previous question.
The ANSWER button becomes available only after an answer has been provided.
If the test has a timer, it ends automatically when the allotted time expires.
The system shows how many tests remain. Once the current test is complete, the employee cannot return to it or change their answers; the next test starts immediately.
The question counter applies to the current test and updates when the next test begins.
If the internet connection drops, the employee can reopen the personal link and return to the interrupted test. They do not need to repeat tests already completed, but they must restart the last test if it was not completed before the connection was lost.
For a file, audio or video answer, the employee must wait for the upload to finish before moving to the next question. Where a question allows several answers, they cannot select more options than the question permits.
If a test from Test Builder contains an Upload file, Video answer or Audio answer question, the employee may need to:
- allow the browser to use the camera or microphone;
- record an answer in the browser or select an existing file;
- keep within the 500 MB file-size limit.

How do you assign the test again?

Sending tests to the same employee again creates a new personal invitation, a new email and a separate entry in the reports.

Before sending the tests again:

ask the employee to check whether the previous email went to Spam;
check the email address in the employee’s record;
make sure the old link genuinely does not work;
in Reports on testing, delete the empty report created for the previous invitation.

Common issues and how to resolve them

Issue	What to check
`Select employees` is unavailable	Select at least one test to send to employees.
The system asks you to buy a testing package	There is no active Testing subscription, and there are not enough invitations for the number of selected employees. Reduce the selection or buy a package of invitations.
A company test is missing from the form	Make sure the test is active in `Test Builder`.
The select-all checkbox did not select every employee in the company	This is expected: it applies only to the current page. Move to the next page and add those employees to the same selection.
An employee did not receive the email	Check the email address in their record and ask them to check `Spam`. If many invitations were sent at once, the email may not arrive immediately.
The page says that the attempt limit has been reached	Check `Attempt limit` in the test settings and the employee’s completed-attempt history.

FAQ

Can you assign several tests in one email?

Yes. Select all the required tests before opening the employee list. Each employee receives one email and takes the tests in sequence.

Does each test use a separate invitation?

No. Each selected employee uses one invitation, even when several tests are assigned.

Can you select every employee in the company with one click?

No. The select-all checkbox covers only the current page. Move through the other pages and add the employees you need; your previous selections are retained.

Does an employee need Academy access to take manually assigned tests?

No. For manually assigned tests, the employee uses the personal link in the email. Academy access is required only for tests within learning courses.

Can an employee return to the previous question?

No. Once an answer has been submitted, the employee cannot go back and change it.

Does an entry in the reports confirm that the email was delivered?

No. The entry confirms that the invitation was created in the system. Check the employee’s mailbox to confirm delivery.

Can this process be used for tests in courses?

No. For tests linked to learning courses, use Academy assignments and reports.