Team Captain User Guide

Overview

Cisco Learning Credits Program uses the Cisco Learning Credits Management Tool (LCMT) to manage all Cisco Learning Credit (CLC) activity for customers. Once a sales order is activated in LCMT, a customer account is created and must be managed by a designated Team Captain. The participating customer will identify an individual inside their organization to act as the Team Captain Designated Admin (TCDA) to manage their Cisco Learning Credits account. The Cisco Account Manager or the newly identified TCDA must open a support case with Cisco Learning Credits Team and request that the TCDA role be assigned to the person identified by the customer. Once the TCDA has been assigned and set up in LCMT, the system will automatically send an email with instructions on how to access the account and how to accept the Team Captain Affirmation (TCA) and the Cisco Learning Credits Terms and Conditions on behalf of the customer.

After being fully set up in LCMT (Learning Credit Management Tool) and after accepting the terms, the TCDA (Team Captain Designated Admin) will have visibility into the account details and be allowed to begin making decisions. The TCDA can also decide if more individuals are needed to help manage the account. Since there can be multiple Team Captains and Team Players on an account, the TCDA must decide who should be appointed to help manage the account and what level of authority will be needed. Before requesting someone to be assigned to the account, please review the Team Captain qualifications.

Team Captain Roles

There are three customer roles within LCMT. Read below to learn about the different roles, responsibilities, and qualifications.

Team Captain Designated Admin (TCDA)


The TCDA can only be a customer employee. This person must be identified and authorized by the customer to use the Learning Credits Management Tool (LCMT) to manage credits, review/approve/deny transactions, generate reports, and guard against fraudulent use of the credits. An account must always have at least one TCDA. Persons in this role must accept the Team Captain Affirmation and the Cisco Learning Credits Terms & Conditions on behalf of the customer to gain access to LCMT. After signing the terms, the TCDA has the authority to assign additional TCDAs, a Team Captain Other (TCO) and/or a Team Player to help manage the Learning Credits account. Read on for more information on these optional roles.

To qualify for the TCDA role, individuals must meet the following criteria:

  • Be an employee of the participating company.
  • Be authorized by the customer to act on the company’s behalf.
  • Have an email aligned with the company’s email domain. If the email is not aligned with the company’s email domain, it will be necessary to update the email in the profile. Generic names, public email domains are not allowed.

Team Captain Other (TCO)


The TCO is an optional role that can be appointed by the Team Captain Designated Admin, once fully set up in LCMT and having accepted the Team Captain Affirmation and Cisco Terms & Conditions. The role can be filled by a third party (managed services) other than an employee of the customer but cannot be a Cisco employee, Cisco contractor, or Learning Partner. Like the TCDA, a TCO is expected to accept the Cisco Learning Credits Terms and Conditions. The TCO can then manage the learning credits account to review/approve/deny transactions, generate reports, and guard against fraudulent use of the credits.

To qualify for the TCO role, individuals must meet the following criteria:

  • Be outside of the organization and assigned by the TCDA but cannot be a Cisco employee, contractor, or Learning Partner.​
  • Be added only after the TCDA has been fully set up in LCMT and the Terms and Conditions have been accepted.
  • Use their company email address that must be aligned to their business email address. If not aligned, user must update their email in their profile. Generic names and personal emails are not valid.

Team Player


The TCDA can assign individuals to the Team Player role to view and monitor CLC activity. Like the TCO, this is an optional role that can only be assigned by the TCDA. A Team Player has view-only access in LCMT and can review transactions in LCMT but lacks the authority to make approval decisions. A Team Player is also unable to add or remove members from the team.

Cisco Provided Resources

There are so many training opportunities available which is why developing a training plan might be challenging. This is why we provide a dedicated Business Development Manager (BDM) who is assigned with every Sales Order (SO) purchase of Cisco Learning Credits. BDMs are available to help you search for training that fits your organization's needs. They can help in developing a training plan to ensure learning credits from your SO are used effectively, and most importantly, before they expire. Your BDM is trained to locate courses that complement Cisco deployments, Cisco equipment and technical development opportunities for your employees. Visit the BDM Lookup Feature section of this document for instructions on how to locate your Business Development Manager (BDM).

Learning Credits Management Tool

The Learning Credits Management Tool (LCMT) is a robust online tool that is designed to help team captains monitor and manage their company’s usage of Cisco Learning Credits. LCMT should be used to:

  • Access your account(s).
  • View and validate users on the account.
  • View and track your learning credit account balances and transactions.
  • Validate the redemption of your Learning Credits.
  • See important messages and action items via the LCMT Dashboard.

Accessing LCMT

  1. To access LCMT, go to cisco.com/go/lcmt using one of the preferred browsers Firefox or Chrome. The cisco.com login window will display.
  2. At the login window, enter your Cisco.com username and click Next.
  1. Enter your Cisco.com password and click Log In. The Terms and Conditions window appears when required.
  1. If you have not already, read the terms and conditions. Click “Accept”. If you decline the program terms, you will not be able to access your account details.
  1. The LCMT Home page will appear. A dashboard of Account Balance(s), Transactions, Expiration, and any applicable open Action Items will appear.

Viewing Accounts

To view your accounts, click the Account Information tab. This tab lists all the accounts that you have access to and gives the name of the team captain and the number of Learning Credits available for that account. You can also search for an account name from this page.

To view the details of an account, click the Triangle icon to the left of the account name.

BDM Lookup Feature

LCMT functionality is available to allow you to find the BDM assigned to help you develop a training plan for associated Sales Orders (SOs).

To find your assigned BDM:

  1. Click Accounts along the left navigation pane. Navigate to the Account Name section. Expand your Company Name to display all associated SO Numbers.
  2. Click Show BDM Details to display the BDM assigned for the SO Number.

If a BDM has been assigned, a window will populate with the BDM’s contact information.

Viewing Transactions

To view a statement of account transactions, click the Transactions tab and choose Advanced Search.

Specify all transactions, a date range, or a transaction type, then click Search. You can choose to view the results online or have them downloaded to Microsoft Excel.

TIP: You can click the Search button without entering any specific criteria to view all transactions that have occurred in the account since it was created.

NOTE: If you download the report to Excel, you can view the system notes that accompany the transactions.

Transactions: Approve or Deny Learning Credit Redemption Requests

Status definitions

Status Definition
On Hold You need further information before approving or denying the debit request.
Denied The training provider will not receive reimbursement. The provider can submit a new request, but the existing request is permanently denied, and the credits remain in your account.
Approved The request can be reimbursed to the training provider by Cisco and the credits are debited from your account.

Sorry, no results matched your search criteria(s). Please try again.

Tip: Prior to approval, denial, or placing on hold, you may also choose status Submitted if you only want to add notes to the request.

Dashboard:

The fastest way to locate transactions needing your attention.

Quickly locate the Submitted transactions pending your approval from the Dashboard’s Action Items section.

Transactions in Submitted status (needing review and approval) will appear.

Click Process to access the details.

Or, to navigate to the Submitted transactions from the Transactions tab, click Approve Debits. The quick access ribbon displays the status of all Learning Credits transactions in your account. Click a segment of the ribbon to view only those transactions.

Tip: You can also search for specific transactions by training provider, transaction number, SO number, course acronym, request status, a date range for debits, or a date range for the start of a class.

Requests that have been submitted but have not yet approved by the Team Captain have a status of Submitted.

Click the Process link to take action.

Review the request details. Approval status is displayed at the top of the screen.

To approve, deny, or place a debit request on hold, you must add a Note, providing any details you would like, in the Notes area at the lower right of the window. Select approval Status, then click Process.

Tip: You can also leave the status as Submitted if you simply want to add notes to the request.

To change the status of a request that is On Hold (only), click Approve Debits then On Hold within the status bar.

Click Process to open and update details or status.

You may then make the required notes updates and select an approval status for processing:

You may review a previously updated request that does not require action by clicking “View” under the Actions header. The request details will appear.

Cisco Learning Credits (CLC) Lifecycle

Cisco Learning Credits have a limited lifespan so it is important that you have thoughtfully planned how learning credits will be used within the 365-days in which they are effective. In addition to planning ahead for training and Cisco Live attendance, you must also stay diligent in making approval decisions on transaction requests to ensure that training is not impacted. When requests are neither approved nor denied after 30 days, LCMT will send notifications with transactional detail and call to action. When no action has been taken after 60 days, the following will happen:

  • LCMT will process an auto refund of the learning credit request.
  • Learning Credits that have expired will refund as expired.
  • LCMT notifications with transactional detail will be sent to the team captain.
  • Debits will be auto-refunded if within that 60-day window they are unapproved 3 working days prior to class start date.
  • If the refunded sales order (SO) has expired, reissuance will follow the standard program guidelines. If it is a reissued SO that has expired, those CLCs will no longer be usable. If it is a valid training that needs to be paid for, a new SO number will need to be provided to Cisco. It is in everyone’s best interest to avoid auto-refunding valid transactions as it may cause issues. To avoid auto-refunds, Team Captains should approve reservations on a regular basis.

Reissue Policy

Effective September 15, 2023, Cisco is changing its Learning Credit Terms and Conditions which will affect how reissue requests must be submitted, how they will be handled, and the guidelines for reissue consideration. With the updated terms, there are two reissue policies that will be in effect. Read below to learn more about the updated policy.

Legacy Reissues

This section explains our Legacy Reissue Policy that is for SOs purchased before 10/1/2023

Cisco Learning Credits (CLC) sales orders purchased prior to October 1, 2023, are subject to the previous terms and conditions which are referred to in this guide as the Legacy Reissue Policy. Cisco will allow Team Captains (either a Team Captain Designated Admin (TCDA) or Team Captain Other (TCO) to submit a request for a six-month reissue of Learning Credits that are about to expire, one time only.

If there are CLCs in your account that were purchased prior to 10/1/2023 that you will not be able to use before the expiration date, the Team Captain may submit a reissue request for approval by the Cisco Learning Credits Team.

A Cisco Business Development Manager (BDM) working with the Team Captain can also create a reissue request on behalf of the customer, but the request will require team captain review and approval. Requests can be submitted via the Learning Credits Management Tool (LCMT) up to 60 days after the expiration date and must include a detailed training plan for using the expiring credits.

All requests are subject to the requirements below; there are no exceptions.

  • Cisco Learning Credits converted from other programs which have already been assigned a 12-month Cisco Learning Credits lifespan are eligible for reissue.
  • All requests must be submitted by the Team Captain (either TCDA or TCO) or created by the Business Development Manager (BDM) via the Learning Credits Management Tool (LCMT).
  • Requests must be submitted any time after Cisco Learning Credits activation, up to 60 days after the expiration date.
  • Unused credits can be reissued for a maximum of six months from the original expiration date, one time only.
  • The reissue request must include a description of your training plan to use the credits.
  • Reissue approval is not automatic and is at the sole discretion of Cisco.

How to Request Reissue

Follow these steps to submit a request for reissue (extension) of unused Cisco Learning Credits:

  1. Team captains should access the Learning Credits Management Tool (LCMT)
  2. Click the Accounts tab and view the list of your accounts. You can search for the account name if you have more accounts than are showing in the list.
  1. Click the (>) icon to expand the account that is associated with the unused Learning Credits. If the account meets the eligibility requirements, a Reissue button appears in the applicable Sales Order (SO) number row.
  1. Click the Reissue button. A Terms and Conditions message appears. Click Accept to continue.
  1. In the form that appears, enter the required information in the fields. A red asterisk denotes required fields.
  1. Click Submit. A message confirming your request appears and the system sends a notification to the team captain and account manager with a reissue request ID.

How to update a reissue request

You can update your request for reissue (extension) of unused Cisco Learning Credits if you need to add further information or change some information. Follow these steps to update a request:

Team captains should access the Learning Credits Management Tool (LCMT) using one of our preferred browsers - Chrome or Firefox. The Team Captain should regularly check the Action Items section on the LCMT Dashboard for actions that are outstanding. If there are expired sales orders, the Team Captain will be able to review the status of submitted reissue requests.

Managing Reissue Requests

Once submitted, you can manage your reissue requests from the Reissue screen in LCMT where you will be able to review and approve requests submitted on your behalf by your BDM.

On this screen, there are tabs that show all your reissue requests, along with the status of the request.

  • The TC Review tab lists all reissue requests that have been submitted by a BDM on your behalf. Acceptance is needed for them to be considered “submitted” and ready for Cisco review.
  • Approved requests display a View button in the applicable SO number row.
  • Requests in progress display an Update button in the applicable SO number row, which allows you to update information in the request, if needed.
  • Submitted: Your request is being reviewed. You can change or add to the information on the form if you need to, then click Update to submit an updated request.
  • On hold: Your request has been reviewed but further information is needed. You can change or add to the information in the request, then click Update to submit the updated request.
  • Denied: Your request has been reviewed and denied.
  • Approved: Your request has been reviewed and approved.

How to approve a BDM reissue request

  1. Click the ‘UPDATE” button next to the request you would like to review and accept.
  2. Under the Status dropdown you can either approve or decline.
    • Approval moves the reissue request to Submitted.
    • Declining does not preclude the request from being recreated by either the Team Captain or the BDM .
    • Add a Note (mandatory).
    • Click Submit to complete this action.

Restricted Reissues

This section explains our Restricted Reissue Policy that is for SOs purchased after September 30, 2023.

Cisco Learning Credits sales orders purchased on or after October 1, 2023, are subject to the new Cisco Learning Credits Terms & Conditions effective 9/15/2023 and are referred to as the Restricted Reissue Policy. To stay in step with the industry, Cisco will no longer have a 'grace period' for consideration of a possible extension on Cisco Learning Credits post expiration date. Our Terms & Conditions indicate that CLCs are effective for one year, and reissues will be granted only at the discretion of Cisco. Under the restricted reissue policy, Team Captains will no longer have the ability to request reissues for learning credits that were issued after September 30, 2023. All reissue requests will be restricted for submission by a Cisco Business Development Manager (BDM). With this new policy, requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and reissues will only be granted for a limited number of circumstances.

If it is determined that there is enough justification for the request, the assigned BDM will submit the reissue request on your behalf. Once submitted, the Team Captain will be notified and will be required to review and approve the submission in LCMT for the request to be considered.

In some cases, your BDM may be able to help you identify other ways to redeem and use your learning credits before they expire. Email your BDM for help developing a plan to use your credits or for assistance requesting an extension or exception. If you don’t know who your assigned BDM is, click here.

Managing Restricted Reissue Requests

Once a request has been submitted, the request will become visible on the Reissue screen in LCMT. From this screen, you can review and approve BDM submitted requests on your company’s behalf. You will need to work with your BDM if updates to the request are required.

Setting up Automatic Approval

To allow debit requests in some or all accounts to be approved automatically, go to the Transactions tab, click Approve Debits then the Auto Approve Debits button.

  1. At the right, in the Actions column, check the check box for each account that does not require manual approval by the team captain. You can enable automatic approval for some accounts or select it or deselect it for all accounts.
    • Checking a box means that the team captain takes no action when Cisco submits a debit request for that account. Reimbursement is automatic.
    • Unchecking all boxes means that the team captain manually processes every request.
  1. Click Save to update the automatic approvals.

Users: Adding/Removing Team Captains or Team Players

The account MUST first have an active Team Captain Designated Admin (TCDA) on the account who has accepted the Team Captain Affirmation (TCA) and Cisco Learning Credit Terms & Conditions before any additional team captains or team players can be added. A TCDA who has accepted the Cisco Terms and Conditions MUST always remain on the account. An effort should be made to always maintain an active TCDA. When a TCDA is being replaced, it is important to remove the old TCDA and assign someone else to the role as soon as possible.

Accounts may have multiple Team Captains and Team Players. Role assignment changes can only be made by opening a support case with the Cisco Learning Credits Team. When requesting a customer role change, please note:

  • Cisco employees, Cisco contractors or Learning Partners are not allowed to be assigned as the Team Captain nor as a Team Player.
  • Cisco.com credentials cannot be shared.
  • Each user must have a valid Cisco.com username and password.

When one TCDA is being added to replace one that is leaving, until the newly added TCDA accepts the Cisco Terms & Conditions, any existing Team Captain Other on the account will be blocked from viewing the account in LCMT.

To request a role assignment:

  1. Open a case at certsupport.cisco.com
  2. Click My Cases
  3. Click Open a Case
  4. Use the drop-down to select Product 'Cisco Learning Credits
  5. Use the drop-down to select 'Cisco Internal Team'
  6. Enter Title
  7. Enter a Description and include the following information:
    • Customer Account Name as displayed in LCMT
    • Sales Order (SO) Number(s) for validation
    • User Cisco Connection Online ID (CCOID) with First & Last Name (no generic names)
    • List role to be added as TCDA or Team Player
    • If a US Federal Account, indicate ‘Federal’ in the description
    • If MS (Managed Service) or GSI (Global System Integrator) Provider, list role to be added as TCO (Team Captain Other).
      Note: Only when there is a TCDA already assigned to the account who has also accepted the terms can a TCO be added.
  8. Click Submit.

For more instructions on how to assign a Team Captain role, click here.

Prime-Branch Account Linkage

If you would like to distribute and utilize learning credits within your organization without permanently combining accounts or assign CLCs to a specific branch/department within an existing account, Prime-Branch account linkage may be a viable solution. This allows Team Captains to initiate a one-way push of Cisco Learning Credits (CLCs) to be distributed and used across multiple Branch Accounts. You and/or your Account Manager can request that a Prime-Branch linkage be set up in LCMT. 

Please ensure that you understand that transfers are one-way and can only be initiated at the Prime level and that transfers cannot be made from the Branch Account to the Prime Account. All transfers are final, expiration date and reissue rules are unchanged, and the Branch Account Team Captain will be required to approve, or auto approve, all debit requests. 

Prime-Branch Account Linkage Qualifications:

To qualify for the Prime-Branch Account, each of the requirements listed below must be met: 

  • You must request the account linkage 
  • You must provide Branch Team Captain information 
  • Learning credits must belong to the same legal entity and have the same GUID
  • Sales orders from different Cisco entities cannot be combined

Account Setup

If all requirements have been met and you are interested in opening a Prime-Branch account, you can request that the linkage account be set up in LCMT.  Submit a request with the Learning Credits Team and provide the following information:

  • Prime Account Name 
  • Branch Account Name(s) 
  • GUID information and relationship of the accounts 
  • Sales order number(s)
  • Team Captain details for both accounts with respective approval(s) 

Note: The account linkage is dependent on both Prime and Branch accounts having active TCDA assigned.

Transferring CLCs from the Prime to Branch account

Upon account linkage, the Prime Account Team Captain will be able to enter the sales order they want to pass to the Branch Account(s).

  1. Navigate to the Accounts tab to see which Prime account has been setup. Note the SO Number you wish to transfer to the Branch account.
  1. Click the Transactions tab, then Transfer Credits. You will be prompted to enter the SO Number that you wish to transfer.
  1. Enter the entire SO Number in the field. Click Submit.
  1. To transfer credits to the Branch account, enter the number of learning credits (in whole units) to be transferred. Click Submit.
  1. Once successfully transferred, credits will be deducted from the Prime Account’s SO balance; a new SO Number will be created under the Branch Account with the transferred balance and visible only to the Branch Team Captain.

Note: All Branch Account Sales Orders will have a suffix appended to the end of the SO# (example: “12345678-ABC”) to denote that it is part of the Branch account. All expiration dates remain unchanged.

If you are a Branch Account Team Captain for a Branch Account, you will manage and approve your Learning Credits the same as previously demonstrated in this User Guide. Please note that transfers are final, expiration date and reissue rules are unchanged, and the Branch Account Team Captain must approve or auto-approve debit requests.

Reporting

  1. To pull reporting on your account transactions – go to the Transactions tab and select Search Transactions.
  2. To the far left of the Search Results, click on the EXCEL icon.
  3. The system will download an Excel report.

Setting notification preferences

A team captain can opt in or out of receiving certain system notifications. The notification preferences can be set by logging into LCMT and clicking the “Bell” in the upper right corner next to the circle with your initials.

Here you will see a listing of all notifications sent to you and the date they were sent.

From this screen select User Preferences to update the notifications you chose to receive.

There is one notification that a team captain CANNOT opt out of receiving – the Team Captain Welcome Email.

The CLC team suggests receiving the following:

  • Debit pending approval
  • Monthly statement
  • Reissue request submitted
  • Cisco Learning Credit Expiration Notice
  • Transfer SO

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