Certificate Generation Service

Automated certificate creation with digital badges and blockchain verification

Requirements Document

Comprehensive requirements for the Certificate Generation Service in the KnowledgeTracker Platform.

1. Functional Requirements

1.1 Certificate Templates

  • Customizable certificate templates with drag-and-drop editor
  • Support for custom fonts, colors, logos, and backgrounds
  • Dynamic fields (learner name, course name, completion date, score)
  • Multiple certificate types (completion, achievement, participation)
  • Organization-specific branding and templates

1.2 Automated Generation

  • Trigger certificate generation upon course completion
  • Bulk certificate generation for cohorts
  • Conditional certificate issuance based on criteria (score threshold)
  • Generate certificates in PDF and PNG formats

1.3 Digital Badges

  • Create and award digital badges for achievements
  • Badge design with custom icons and metadata
  • Open Badges standard compliance
  • Badge collections and display on learner profiles
  • Social sharing of badges (LinkedIn, Twitter)

1.4 Verification & Authentication

  • Unique certificate ID and QR code for verification
  • Public verification portal for employers
  • Blockchain-based certificate verification (optional)
  • Digital signatures and tamper-proof certificates
  • Revocation capability for fraudulent certificates

1.5 Certificate Management

  • Learner certificate portfolio and download history
  • Email delivery of certificates upon generation
  • Reissue certificates with updated information
  • Certificate expiration dates and renewal

1.6 Analytics & Reporting

  • Track certificate issuance by course and period
  • Verification request analytics
  • Badge earning trends and popular achievements

2. Non-Functional Requirements

2.1 Performance

  • Certificate generation time < 5 seconds per certificate
  • Bulk generation of 1,000+ certificates in parallel
  • Verification lookup response time < 1 second

2.2 Security

  • Cryptographic signatures for certificate authenticity
  • Secure storage of certificate PDFs
  • Access control for certificate downloads

2.3 Reliability

  • 99.9% uptime for certificate generation service
  • Retry mechanism for failed generation attempts
  • Permanent storage of issued certificates

2.4 Scalability

  • Support for millions of certificates in the system
  • CDN distribution for certificate downloads

3. Integration Requirements

3.1 Internal Microservices

  • Course Management: Course completion triggers
  • User Management: Learner information
  • Assessment Engine: Score and achievement data
  • Notification Service: Certificate delivery notifications

3.2 External Services

  • PDF Generation: Puppeteer, WeasyPrint
  • Blockchain: Ethereum, Polygon for verification
  • Storage: S3, Cloudinary for certificate storage

Requirements Validation

Use this requirements document alongside the Database Design to validate:

  • Template storage and versioning schema
  • Certificate issuance tracking and history
  • Verification database for quick lookups
  • Badge metadata and earning criteria storage