Credential Registry Publishing Tools and Instructions
Credential Engine offers a range of options to facilitate the publication of data to the Credential Registry. These options provide flexibility and cater to different needs. Listed below are the available publishing options and step-by-step instructions on how to set up your account. It is important to note that utilizing any of these options requires the setup of a Credential Engine account. It is completely free for organizations to create an account and access the publishing features. The responsibility of publishing data lies with either the information owner or a designated third party acting on behalf of the organization.
Please be aware that the Credential Registry prohibits the publishing of any personally identifiable information. Consequently, all the options and tools provided below are exclusively meant for describing information related to credentials and the many additional types of information supported by the CTDL and Credential Registry. By leveraging these publishing options, organizations can conveniently share information about credentials, competency frameworks, pathway structures, their respective organizations and much more using the CTDL and the Credential Registry.
Credential Registry Publishing System Options and Tools
Follow the links to details about the options and tools and contact us to learn more. To begin using any of these options, set up your free credential engine account https://apps.credentialengine.org/accounts/.
Publishing Options and Tools |
Description | User |
Account Creation API | API for creating Credential Registry accounts. | Technical team members familiar with providing data via APIs. |
Badge Publisher Tool | Imports Open Badge information from badging platforms to publish to the Credential Registry | Staff with organizations who offer badges to people and have access to the badging platform. |
Bulk Upload | Provides options to select CTDL terms to include with a CSV template, instructions and samples. Users download a template, populate it with information and upload it to publish to the Credential Registry | Staff with organizations who are familiar with and have access to the information relevant to the type of upload selected. |
Manual Entry | Manual entry interface intended for small quantities of information. | Staff with organizations who are familiar with and have access to the information relevant to the type of manual entry selected. |
Pathway Builder | Interactive tool for building education and career pathways. | Professionals who are either designing new or publishing existing education and career pathways. |
Registry Publishing Assistant API | API for publishing and maintaining currency of structured data from a database to the Credential Registry. | Technical team members familiar with providing data via APIs. |
Ready to Publish to the Credential Registry?
These instructions will help you navigate through the two-part process of account creation and adding an organization so you can publish data to the Credential Registry.
Create Your Account
- Begin by accessing our Accounts System and enter your personal information in the following fields.
- Once you have entered the information and clicked submit, you will receive an email that will ask you to confirm your account. Following that link will direct you to a new page where you will be asked to enter your organization’s information.
Add A New Organization
After confirming your account, you will be directed to a page where you can add your organization’s details. Fields that are marked with red are required.
If You Are Publishing Data
- Select “We will be publishing data to the Registry.”
- Select the Publishing Role(s). Note that one or more of these roles may be selected.
- Select your publishing method(s). One or more may be selected
If You Are Consuming Data
- Select “We will be consuming data from the Registry”
- Select your consumption method(s). One or more may be chosen
- Use Graph Search API – You plan to use the Registry Search API to do real time searching
- Downloading Data for Offline Storage – You plan to use the Registry Search API to download data for use offline, or in another application
- Customizing Credential Finder Widgets – Create a customized credential search to embed on your website
You may choose to BOTH consume AND publish if you wish
Add Details About Your Organization
In the next section, fill out basic information about your organization, such as its Name, website URL, FEIN, DUNS, and OPEID, sector, and type.
Note: An FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) is nine digits.
Add Publishing Estimates
If you are publishing credentials, you’ll add an estimate of the number of credentials your organization will publish to the Registry. For each credential type your organization offers, you’ll need to “add a new publishing estimate”.
Save Your Information
Once you have completed the items above, save your organization’s information by clicking one of the following options:
- Save without Submitting will save your information as a draft so you can come back and make changes.
- Save and Submit for Approval will notify Credential Engine. We will review and decide whether or not to approve your organization. We will notify you via email when your organization is submitted and when a decision has been made.
Upon approval, you will be ready to add your organization’s credentials to Credential Publisher by visiting https://apps.credentialengine.org/publisher
Note: You may always update your organization’s information via the Publisher’s Accounts Dashboard.
Add New Users to an Existing Account
Once you have an active account and approved organization, you may add additional users who can help collect and submit data to the Credential Registry.
- Log into your account via https://apps.credentialengine.org/accounts/
- Click Go to My Dashboard
- Click on the Users tab beneath My Organization
- Navigate to the bottom and click Add User
- Enter the new user’s information and click Invite
- The new user will receive an email asking them to verify their account.
Grant Permissions for Third-Party Publishers
Once your account is active and approved, you can grant permissions to third parties, such as a state agency, integration partner, or higher education vendor to publish on your organization’s behalf. Third-party publishers will request permission to publish on your behalf, which will notify your organization admins.
To grant permissions
- Log into your account via https://apps.credentialengine.org/accounts/ and go to your dashboard. You can also click the link in the notification email
- Click on the Third Party Publishing tab
- Go to the Pending Publisher Requests section
- Click Grant Permission
You will see the list of approved third-party publishers for your organization under the “Current Publishers” section.
Get in Touch
Our team of experts is ready to help you embark your credential transparency journey. Whether you have questions about our technologies, services, or don’t know how to get started, we’re here to assist.