A course on Vome can live in two places. It can be a step inside a sequence, or it can stand on its own in your Courses list. Both are fully supported, and plenty of organizations use both at once. This article explains what actually changes between them, so you can pick the right one for each course you build.

Plan required: Courses are available on the Enterprise and Ultimate plans.

1. What is the real difference between the two?

It comes down to one question: who decides when the course happens, and what does it hold up?

• Inside a sequence, the course is part of a path you control. It sits at a specific point in the order, and it can block everything after it until the person passes.
• On its own, the course sits in the Courses list and the person takes it whenever they like. It blocks nothing by itself.

Everything else, the content, the quizzes, the grading, the certificate, the expiry, the automations, works identically either way. The course is the same object. Only its placement changes.

2. When should the course be a sequence step?

Put it in a sequence when the training is a condition of getting started. Typical cases:

• Orientation or safety training that has to happen before a first shift.
• Role-specific training that belongs to a particular onboarding path.
• Any training where the order matters, for example a policy acknowledgement that should come after a background check and before scheduling.
• Any training where you want the person genuinely stopped until they pass, rather than politely reminded.

The short version: if not finishing the course should stop someone from moving forward, it belongs in a sequence.

3. When should the course stand on its own?

Leave it standalone when the training is not a gate into onboarding. Typical cases:

• Annual refreshers and compliance renewals for people who are already onboarded.
• Optional or enrichment training that you want available but not mandatory.
• Training aimed at a group defined by something other than a sequence, for example everyone at one site, everyone assigned to a particular Opportunity, or everyone carrying a specific profile tag.
• Training you want to unlock access to shifts or Opportunities after the fact, rather than during onboarding.

4. How does a course behave as a sequence step?

A published course can be attached to a sequence as a Course step. The step carries its own gate:

• Hard (the default): the person cannot advance to the next step until the course is completed and passed.
• Soft: the result is recorded, but they can continue.
• None: no gating is applied.

You can also set a minimum score on the step, which overrides the course's own pass mark for that sequence only. That is useful when the same course serves two audiences at different standards. When the person finishes the course, they are returned to the sequence.

5. How do people get into a standalone course?

Two ways, and they work together.

They find it themselves. A published course appears in the Courses list for anyone eligible to see it, on the web and in the mobile app. You control eligibility with the course's visibility conditions, which can require the person to be active in your database, to have finished a specific sequence, to hold a specific Opportunity assignment, to be associated with a site, to fall in an age range, or to carry particular profile tags.

You enroll them. An administrator can always enroll someone directly from the course dashboard, including into a restricted or admin-only course. This is the practical answer when a course is meant for a named handful of people rather than a rule.

6. Can the same course be used both ways?

Yes. Attaching a published course to a sequence does not remove it from the Courses list, and one course keeps one roster. Whichever route people arrive by, the course dashboard is the single place you see everyone, their progress, their grades and their pass or fail result.

If you need people to take the training again later, use the course's expiry and renewal settings rather than building a second copy. A duplicate course splits your reporting and doubles the maintenance.

7. What happens when the course expires?

Expiry behaves the same whether the course was reached through a sequence or not. You can expire a credential a set time after completion, a set time after the person starts, or on a fixed date, and you can notify people ahead of time.

You can also point an expired person at a separate renewal course instead of the full original. In practice the renewal is usually the standalone case, because by then the person is long past onboarding and does not need to be walked back through a sequence.

8. Does the placement change what happens on completion?

No. Automations are configured on the course itself, not on the sequence step, so they run the same way in both situations. That includes granting an award, assigning profile tags, notifying the person and notifying an administrator.

There is one thing only a sequence can do. A sequence step automation can assign an Opportunity directly, and a course automation cannot. If direct Opportunity assignment on completion is the point of the exercise, that is an argument for the sequence.

Summary

• A sequence step is for training that must happen before someone can move forward. A standalone course is for training that should be available without blocking anything.
• As a sequence step, the gate can be Hard, Soft or None, and you can set a minimum score that overrides the course pass mark for that sequence.
• Standalone enrollment comes from visibility conditions, or from an administrator enrolling someone directly.
• The same course can do both jobs at once, and it keeps one roster and one dashboard either way.
• Use expiry and a renewal course for repeat training instead of duplicating the course.
• Automations live on the course and run in both cases. Only direct Opportunity assignment requires a sequence step.

For the full mechanics of building a course, see How do Courses work on Vome?. For turning a completed course into access, see How do I use a course to unlock shifts and Opportunities?