Platform access level: Org Admins, Managers, and Distributors (anyone who delivers courses).
A course only moves a number if it reaches the right learners at an address that still works. A stale phone number or a list built for last quarter costs you learners before the first lesson goes out. This guide covers how to build an audience, how to keep it current on its own, and how to read the signals that tell you delivery is working.
1. Build the cohort that fits the send
A cohort is a reusable named group of learners. It answers "who gets this course" once instead of every time. Pick the way of building it that matches how much you already know about the audience.
How you build it | Best when | Keeping it current |
Upload a CSV | You already have the audience in a spreadsheet | Upload again whenever the audience changes, and re-check the file is still accurate each time |
Set dynamic rules | The data you would group on already lives in learner profiles | Automatic. Learners join and leave as their own data changes |
Add learners by hand | A pilot, or any group small enough to pick one by one | Edit the cohort yourself whenever it changes |
Dynamic rules are the easiest to keep current, especially when an HCM or HRIS integration feeds learner data into Arist. There is no upload to repeat and no spreadsheet to re-check for accuracy. The cohort reads the same records your source system already keeps up to date.
Tip: Name cohorts the same way every time, something like organization, group type, and date. Cohorts can multiply fast, and a naming convention is what keeps the list usable a year in. The full walkthrough for all three paths is in Managing Cohorts.
2. Let the list maintain itself where you can
A dynamic cohort keeps itself current. Learners join automatically when they match the rules you set, so a new hire lands in the right audience the moment their record does.
The same learner data does more than group learners. Metadata can personalize what arrives, like sending a course in a learner's preferred language, and it can trigger enrollment on its own. Connect that to a schedule and the course becomes an ongoing campaign rather than a one-time send. Setting Up Automations covers it.
3. Keep learner records accurate
A learner profile gathers everything about how that person receives content, from their account details and every delivery address to the cohorts they belong to and each course they are enrolled in. When someone stops receiving lessons, a wrong or outdated delivery address is the most common reason. Check the profile first.
Important: If your organization uses teams, the Learners page shows only the team you have selected, and that applies to every role including Org Admins. Select the Default team to see everyone in your organization. (Teams is in Beta.)
Viewing and Managing Learners covers everything the profile can do, including updating addresses and metadata and enrolling someone without leaving the page.
4. Read the statuses and act on the stalls
Once a course is out, use enrollment status to tell delivery apart from engagement. The delivery tracker sorts every learner into states like Active, Not engaged, Up next, Error, Paused, Opted out, and Completed, with a count beside each one.
Check Error and Completed on launch day. An Error means delivery hit a problem that will not fix itself. Bulk actions let you help those learners continue. Completed means the course finished for that learner, not that they engaged with it.
Tip: Check the tracker in the first few delivery days rather than at the end. The earlier you catch an Error, the fewer lessons that learner misses.
Every status is defined in Understanding Enrollment Statuses, and the engagement picture behind them lives in Reviewing Analytics.
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Note: Need help at any point? Reach out to your Arist Customer Success contact, or email [email protected].