In today’s diverse learning environments, one-size-fits-all just doesn’t cut it. Whether you’re delivering training to employees, partners, volunteers, or contractors, each audience has its own needs, tone, and branding. That’s where Communities in Birch Learning Platform shine.

A Community in Birch is more than just a group of users—it’s a powerful top-level structure that lets you create completely separate learning experiences within the same platform.

What is a Community in Birch?

A Community is the top-level grouping for learners within Birch. Each learner is assigned to one Community only, which means you can deliver a completely customised learning experience tailored to that audience.

With Communities, you can:

• Run separate learning programs for different audiences (e.g. internal staff vs contractors)
• Apply distinct branding and login experiences
• Tailor sign-up and authentication methods
• Customise communication and security settings

Let’s explore how this feature can transform how your organisation delivers learning.

Custom Branding and Login Experiences

Each Community can have its own branding—logos, images, colours, and messaging. That means your external stakeholders can have a login page that reflects their brand, while internal staff see one that reflects yours.

Use cases:

• A hospital providing compliance training for staff and a separate portal for medical contractors.
• A retail chain offering onboarding for franchise partners under their own sub-branding.

These custom appearances create a seamless and familiar experience for each audience, reinforcing trust and professionalism.

Flexible Sign-up and Login Configuration

Birch Communities allow you to configure unique sign-up forms and login settings. You control what fields appear on each sign-up form, helping you collect exactly the right learner information for each audience.

Don’t need learners to self-register? Simply disable that option. Want to assign unique usernames or external IDs like employee numbers? Birch makes it easy.

It’s flexible, secure, and aligned to your organisation’s workflow.

Tailored Messaging by Audience

Every organisation communicates differently with their learners. Birch’s Community-specific messaging system allows you to tailor automated system emails and notifications at the Community level.

This means:

• Welcome messages can be different for staff versus volunteers.
• Course reminders can reflect the tone and culture of each business unit or external partner.

And the best part? Once saved as custom messages, these communications are owned and managed at the Community level without affecting others.

Enterprise-Grade Authentication and Security

Birch supports advanced security protocols at the Community level, including:

• Single Sign-On (SSO) via OAuth2 or SAML
• Password policies with scalable security levels: from standard to highly secure
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for an added layer of protection

You can tailor authentication requirements based on audience needs or internal policy. For example, an aviation provider may require strict 2FA for all users, while a volunteer network may opt for standard password protection.

External Achievement Tracking and CPD Hours

If you track learning achievements outside the LMS—like qualifications, seminars or licenses—you can enable External Achievement Settings for each Community.

This includes:

• Categorising and tagging external learning
• Tracking Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours
• Custom configuration per audience

This is especially useful in high-compliance industries such as healthcare, aged care, or mining, where tracking both internal and external learning is essential for audits and accreditation.

Scalable, Secure and Personalised

Whether you’re training 500 employees or 50,000 global users, Birch’s Community structure provides a scalable solution without sacrificing personalisation or control.

From one dashboard, your organisation can manage:

• Multiple brands
• Distinct learner experiences
• Robust security policies
• Clear segmentation of data and reporting

Real-World Examples

Healthcare:
A public health network uses Communities to differentiate between permanent staff, agency nurses, and medical students—each with their own learning pathways and secure logins.

Retail:
A major retail chain trains in-store employees and third-party logistics partners through separate Communities, each aligned to their company culture and reporting needs.

Mining:
An Australian mining company delivers safety and induction training across sites and contractors, using branding and sign-up forms specific to each project or contractor group.

Why It Matters

When you bring learners into an environment that looks and feels like it was built just for them, they engage more deeply. Birch Learning Platform’s Communities feature ensures each learner feels seen—without the complexity of managing multiple systems.

Whether you’re supporting internal teams, training external partners, or onboarding users from across the globe, Birch gives you control, consistency, and customisation—all in one place.

Ready to Experience the Benefits?

Learn more about Birch Learning Platform: https://bonlinelearning.com/birch-learning-platform