Welcome and closure

Every program has a beginning and an end. Welcome is what a participant sees the first time they step into a program. Closure is how the program recognizes that a participant is done. Together they’re the two bookends of the journey — everything else (sessions, exercises, goals, handshakes) happens in between.

Welcome: the first-run experience

When someone enters a program for the first time, they can be greeted with a short welcome message before they land on their regular program view. An admin can author, for each program:

A title
A message body
A call-to-action — both the button text and where it links to
Optionally, a video or an infographic image to introduce the program visually

Authored per role and per language

Welcome content is not one-size-fits-all. An admin writes separate welcome content for each role that takes part in a program — the person being supported, the person giving support, their manager, and HR/People partners — because each of these audiences needs a different framing of “why you’re here and what to do next.”

On top of that, welcome content is authored per enabled language for the program, so participants see their welcome in the language the program is running in.

Personalization

A welcome message can include a placeholder that gets swapped for the participant’s first name when it’s shown, so the greeting reads as personal rather than generic.

Falling back sensibly

If a program was set up before this per-role, per-language welcome authoring existed, and an admin opens the Welcome settings without having filled anything in yet, the system carries forward an older, simpler welcome message it finds on the program (if one exists) so admins aren’t starting from a blank page. Any older program-wide video that exists is treated the same way — the admin is made aware of it so they can decide whether to carry it into the newer, per-role setup.

Closure: how a program recognizes “done”

Closure is the mirror image of welcome: instead of greeting someone in, it decides when someone has finished the journey and marks that moment.

Completion requirements

An admin can turn on any combination of requirements that must be satisfied before a participant is considered eligible to complete a program:

All of the participant’s sessions have been completed
The relevant agreement (handshake) has been signed
Development goals have been reviewed

These requirements combine: a participant only becomes eligible for completion once every requirement an admin has switched on is satisfied. (A program can also collect a final evaluation at the end — see below — but that’s set up as a step the participant is routed into on completion, rather than a gate that holds completion back.) An admin can also choose whether someone is allowed to ask to complete early, before every requirement is met — in which case that early request can be routed for a program manager or HR approval rather than completing automatically.

What happens at completion

When a participant completes a program, two things can happen, both configurable by the admin:

A celebration page — a congratulatory moment marking the achievement, with a title and message the admin can customize (or leave as a sensible default)
A completion certificate experience tied to that same celebration moment

If a final evaluation form is configured, completing the program can also route the participant straight into that evaluation as their next step.

Grace period for rolling programs

Some programs don’t run on a single fixed end date for everyone — participants roll on and off on their own individual timelines. For these rolling programs, an admin can set a grace period: the number of days after a participant’s expected end date before they’re considered overdue. This gives participants breathing room to wrap up loose ends without being immediately flagged, while still giving program managers a clear signal when someone genuinely needs a nudge.

Why these two matter together

Welcome sets expectations at the start — who you are in this program, what you’re here to do, and where to begin. Closure defines what “finished” means and marks it when it happens. Getting both right means participants always know where they stand: what’s expected of them on day one, and what it takes to call the journey complete.