How O&O fonds NWb sells e-learning without handling orders by hand
Thousands of contractors needed an asbestos certificate within a short period. Selling the course meant a voucher code by email and a separate invoice for every order, often a small one. Now large contractors such as Van Gelder and Baas enroll their own people through an LTI link, and others buy through a webshop that uses Linqur to take care of payment, invoicing and access.
At a glance
Thousands of certificates, in a short time
The Opleidings- & Ontwikkelingsfonds Netwerkbedrijven is the training and development fund for the network companies sector. Its secretariat, run from the employers' association WENB, handles training requests for the sector. In April 2025 that work changed. Thousands of contractors working for network companies had to complete an asbestos e-learning module and get their certificate within a short period.
The requests came in by email, by phone and through forms, every day. Some of the learners have a non-Dutch background, and some don't own a computer or laptop, but do have a smartphone. The fund still wants them to have a good experience. For a contractor, the fund is sometimes the first 'face' of the network companies, and a frustrating sign-up reflects on those companies.
At the peak, Iris van de Haar (Project Secretary) and Marco Sassen (Financial Policy Adviser at employers' association WENB and the O&O funds) spent around a day and a half a week on asbestos orders and questions alone.
Voucher codes by email
The fund received voucher codes in a spreadsheet from the supplier of its learning management system (LMS) and emailed them by hand to every person who ordered. With thousands of learners in a short period, it was all hands on deck: every order meant manual work, and a typo in an email address meant codes that never reached the learner.
An invoice per order
Each order got its own invoice, hundreds in a year. Many were for small amounts, and each one meant manual work.
The alternative: extra staff
The fund wasn't looking for a new system. If nothing had changed, the most likely next step was a temp, at a real cost to the fund just to process orders and invoices.
Three requirements for selling the course
Large contractors handle their own enrollment
Contractors with hundreds of workers can get their own people into the training without the fund handling every learner.
Pay first, invoice without anyone touching it
Individual buyers pay before they get access, and invoices are created without anyone at the fund touching them.
Clear in two or three steps
A process that works on a phone as well as a computer, for people who don't always read Dutch.
A colleague spotted it, and the timing was right
A colleague at the fund pointed Marco to Linqur: it could take the asbestos module from the fund's LMS and distribute it from there. The fund hadn't been searching. As Marco puts it, you work with what you have, and it's hard to think about options you don't know exist.
Linqur distributes e-learning content to other platforms and directly to learners. The fund started with LTI links for the largest contractors. The voucher orders from others kept coming, so Linqur suggested a webshop connection it had already built for another client. With the workload where it was, the fund said yes straight away.
See how the webshop connection worksWe probably would have put a temp on it. Someone doing nothing all day but orders and invoices.
What it changed
LTI Tool Dispatch: large contractors enroll their own people
Van Gelder, Baas and a few other large contractors, each with hundreds of workers, got their own LTI link through Linqur's LTI Tool Dispatch. The contractor sends that link to its staff. A worker clicks it, completes the training and hands the certificate in to the fund. No order or voucher code passes through the secretariat. Result: thousands of workers at Van Gelder, Baas and the other large contractors trained through their own company's LTI link.
Sign-up URLs and webshop: payment and invoicing without the secretariat
Others order through a WordPress webshop with WooCommerce and the Linqur plugin. The buyer pays, the invoice is created automatically and access goes out through a Sign-up URLs. "With the webshop, we're simply out of the loop. Completely. Invoicing is automatic. Payment is automatic," says Marco. Result: no more hand-made invoices for small orders, and payment comes before access.
Volume: around 15,000 completions, two people, no extra hire
Between the LTI links and the webshop, the fund has delivered around 15,000 e-learning module completions through Linqur, mostly the asbestos module. The team behind that is two people. Iris answers emails and phone calls, Marco works in the system. Without Linqur, Marco expects the fund would have needed a temp just for orders and invoices. Result: around 15,000 completions handled by the existing two-person team, without hiring extra staff.
The audience sets the bar for simplicity
The first version of the webshop had too many choices, and buyers ended up on the wrong page. A few months ago the web builder reworked it into three starting options: an employer buying coupon codes for staff, a self-employed contractor who wants to start right away, or someone redeeming a code. That second version made a big difference.
Phones were another early issue. Many learners don't have a computer, and at first the course didn't always fit the screen or let them click through. Linqur fixed that, and Iris also wrote two sets of instructions, one for computer and one for phone.
Questions haven't gone away. A handful of emails still come in each day, mostly the same three or four issues: a link that didn't arrive, a typo in an email address, a wrong name on a certificate. The order form already asks people to confirm their email address. The fund is collecting its most common questions to share with Linqur and the web builder, to see what else can be solved at the source.
It has to be simple and clear for the target group. Not too many choices, not too many clicks. It really has to be clear in two or three steps, otherwise they don't understand it.
A mental fitness course for the whole sector
A new e-learning module on mental fitness is ready and will be offered to all employees in the fund’s sectors, between 40,000 and 50,000 people. Sign-up URLs registration pages, where learners sign up with their name and email address, are the likely route. Large network companies such as Alliander, with around 10,000 employees, and Enexis could each get their own link through the LTI Tool Dispatch.
Would Marco recommend Linqur to a similar organization? Without hesitation. When the topic comes up with people he knows in the sector, he tells them the fund is very happy with it.
Other organizations that distribute their content with Linqur
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