Totara Learn Open Discussions

Conflicting signups

Welcome to this forum!

Hi,

we've transferred to Totara 13 recently and it would seem that our users are facing an issue not previously encountered (in this form) on 2.9.

Namely, some of our users would like to sign up for conflicting sessions (conflicting timeslots, to be exact) and the L&D department is willing to let them do this as most of our sessions are webinars where an (almost) unlimited number of users can join. Therefore, it does not make a difference if we let users book 2 sessions even though it's impossible for them to attend both. However, I cannot find a setting on site level to allow something like this.

On 2.9 a user could not book a conflicting session but was notified after clicking on the signup button exactly which course/session prevents the booking (and also could relatively easily cancel the previous booking). On Totara 13 the button for signup on the second course is not accessible if there is conflicting signup. Moreover, most users do not know which other signup prevents them from signing up to the current event.

In short: Is there a possibility to allow conflicting signups? :)

Best,

Vlad

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Hi Vlad

There doesn't appear to be a setting in seminars to allow a user adding themselves to a conflicting seminar date.

It is possible for someone with add attendees permission to ignore the conflicting time and also if a seminar time is changed that result in scheduling conflicts the admin can override the warning.

regards

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Hi Craig,

thank you for checking. Am I mistaken or this option was present in Totara 2.9?

An additional issue that occurs is that we are using the Upcoming Events block on the Dashboard & just see that they can't sign up, not which other session is blocking their wanted sign-up.

Interested to see if anyone else in the community has a similar challenge?

Best,

Vlad

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Hi Craig,

I hope you're doing well.

Following your response to Vlad's query about conflicting seminar session sign-ups in Totara 13, I wanted to ask if there are any plans for Totara to implement a feature that allows learners to sign up for conflicting sessions?

It's true that Admins can bypass this and manually add users to an event, but this would be especially helpful for organizations where events have an unlimited capacity, and there would be a need to let users book concurrent sessions despite potential timing conflicts.

Thank you for your help!

Best regards,
Monica

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Hi,

I just wanted to follow up on my previous message regarding the possibility of Totara implementing a feature to allow learners to sign up for conflicting seminar sessions. I understand things can get busy, but I would appreciate any updates or insights you may have on this topic when you have the chance.

Thank you again for your help!

Best wishes,

Monica.

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Kia ora Monica,

Does not setting the sign-ups to unlimited resolve this issue?

Seminar activity settings

Ngā mihi,

Larry

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Hi Larry,

Thanks so much for pointing out the Seminar activity settings resource — much appreciated!

Setting sign-ups to unlimited within a seminar activity does indeed allow learners to register multiple times within that same activity. However, what we're specifically looking for is a way to let users sign up for different seminar activities that may occur on the same date but at different times of the day—even if there's a perceived scheduling conflict.

This would be especially useful in scenarios where sessions are intentionally designed to be flexible and there's no hard cap on attendance, such as virtual drop-in sessions or overlapping optional events.

Let me know if there’s a workaround or configuration setting that supports this behavior.

Thanks again!

Best regards,
Monica.

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