Why choose PremierCert+ ?

What is PremierCert+ ?
Public document access
Document Validation
Document Dashboard
Administration Portal
Overview
Workflow Overview
Permissions and Roles
Administration Portal Reports
Activity report
Outbound Email report
Production report
Document Portal report
Customising PremierCert+ for your Institution
Security
Contact Us

Last Updated: 30 April 2025

What is PremierCert+ ?

PremierCert+ is a cloud-based system for generating documents on behalf of an institution. The documents are typically certificates and transcripts, and the institutions are typically colleges, universities, and chartered institutes.
The generated documents can either be printed, or published as e-documents.
If e-documents are created, PremierCert+ also provides the facility to host and publish those documents online.
When e-documents are published online, this is done using a subdomain of the institution's public Internet domain, to provide assurance of the document's legitimacy.

Public document access

E-documents are published online, and are accessed via a randomised URL.

When a document owner wishes to give access to an e-document to another party (typically, a potential employer), they only need to send the URL to that party, via any messaging means. This can include by phone call or by paper - the URL is not so complex as to prohibit this.

Document views are tracked. The document owner can log on to see a report of views of their e-documents.

The document owner can also generate alternative URL's for their e-documents. This allows them to provide different URL's to different parties, and so to track which party has accessed their document.
The document owner can also withdraw access to their e-document at any time.

There is no list of document URL's, and so the documents cannot be indexed by search engines, or discovered by random "brute force" methods - the URL pattern complexity makes this impractical.

Document Validation

The e-document is always published on HTTPS, in a domain which is a subdomain of the awarding institution. These mechanisms provide the assurance that:

the document has in fact been awarded by the named institution (only the awarding institution can issue the subdomain)
the document has not been altered in transit (HTTPS guarantees this)

This method of assurance leverages the established, secure PKI technology. PKI is the technology which is used to validate online banking, for example. For more information see Wikipedia or any other authoritative source.

In order to discourage fraud, a watermark and QR code will normally be included in the e-document.
The watermark text will be similar to this: Only valid when viewed via the online portal at (URL)
The QR code will be the default document URL.

This effectively prevents a copy of the document from being modified (for example, having the name changed) and subsequently presented as genuine.
In addition, if the document owner chooses to send the document as an attachment, instead of sending the document URL, then the recipient is able to validate the document online.

Document Dashboard

The Document Owner controls access to their e-documents via their personal Document Dashboard. The document owner is normally the person who is named on the document, and has been awarded the associated qualification.

Access to the document dashboard does not use the standard email / password technique, owing to the difficulty of remaining in communication with document owners over an indefinite period. E-documents are normally awarded when an individual is about to lose their connection with the awarding institution, and lose access to the institution's email account.
The login is instead achieved using a combination of a random login URL and a random PIN, communicated in a single email. When the owner first logs in, the PIN is automatically changed, and so the initial email becomes ineffective. This helps to prevents an accidental security breach.
The owner cannot change the login URL. They can change the PIN, but only for a different random PIN. They are encouraged to register an alternative, personal email address, in addition to the one used by their institution.
The owner can recover access to the dashboard using either email address, should they lose their credentials in future. They can also contact the awarding institution's administrators to recover access.

It is worth noting that the combination of a random URL and a random PIN is no less secure than the email / password combination used to access most online services.

The document owner is able to perform the following actions from their dashboard:

hide (un-publish) a document, or re-publish it
view document-access logs
change their PIN to a new, random PIN
change their recovery email address

Note that they cannot upload or create a new certificate, or alter an existing one.

No personal information is held within the document dashboard other than the owner's name and email address.

Administration Portal

Overview

Institution staff manage the publication of documents via the Administration Portal.
Portal users are created by system administrators, and are assigned a given role, which determines what they can do within the system.
Users log in using standard email/password authentication.

Within the Administration Portal, and subject to permissions, the user may:

import data files, to generate documents either for print or for e-documents
carry out a full proof-review before sending documents to production
delay publication of e-documents, so as to co-ordinate with support hours or other events
include postal address data so as to allow a third party to fulfil the printing and posting of physical documents
be informed of the import/publication progress at every stage, via email
view various reports - details below

Workflow Overview

The process of issuing a batch of printable or e-certificates is very straightforward:

administrator selects a predefined Import Profile, optionally selects a date/time for publication, and uploads a data file
administrator reviews proofs of the documents
assuming the proofs are correct, administrator approves the proofs
a background process generates the documents

If the documents are e-documents:

the background process sends "Document Ready" emails to the document owners
the document owner logs into their dashboard, and copies the URL of their e-document
the document owner sends the e-document URL to potential employers, etc.

If the documents are printable:

an email is sent to the printing party to inform them that the document is ready for print.
the printing party logs into the administration portal (where they have very limited permissions), downloads the file for print, together with the postal address file if needed.

Permissions and Roles

The tasks that a user can perform is limited by the permissions assigned to them. For convenience, permissions are grouped into roles, and each user is assigned a single role.
For example, one user may be allowed to import data, but another user may be required to authorise publication.

Administration Portal Reports

The following reports are currently available:

Activity report

Activity within the administration portal, including:

Security events - log in, change password, reset password requests
Import events - file imported, proofs approved, email-send begun and completed
Management events - changes to documents, document owners, document batches

Outbound Email report

All system emails sent, including

document-ready emails sent to document owners
password-reset request emails
import-progress emails sent to staff

Production report

Logs all import batches which get to the final stage of production - either by producing a printable file, or by generating and publishing e-documents.
This is especially helpful for institutions who delete batches once they have been sent for print, but is also useful for e-document institutions who publish small batches at frequent intervals.

Document Portal report

All activity relating to the e-document portal, including

document views by members of the public
document access changes by document owners
creation of new document links by document owners
document dashboard activity - reset PIN, failed login, etc.

This report is also available to the document owner, who can view only their own documents, views and activity.

Customising PremierCert+ for your Institution

Your institution's instance of PremierCert+ will be customised to accommodate your circumstances, business processes, terminology and styling. Possible customisations include:

Document Dashboard styling, logo and wording
Document-ready email wording
Document-ready email sender
Workflow: whether to join workflows, for example to generate Certificate and Transcript from the same data
Workflow: selecting a particular print template based on data in the import record
Workflow: whether and what progress reports are sent, and to whom
Import file format: all standard formats are supported, including Excel, CSV, JSON, XML

Certificates and other documents will be fully designed according to your specifications, in consultation with the Hague Design Studio.

Security

As a leading provider of cloud services of high reputation, security considerations are foremost at Hague. A detailed architecture and security document may be obtained from your Hauge sales representative. Please contact us for more information.

Contact Us

Please contact your Hague sales representative if you already have one.

Email
sales@hague-group.com

Phone
+44 (0)1924 244555

Web
https://hague-group.com

The software described in this document is provided under licence and is only to be used within the terms of the end user licence agreement.

© 2025 Hague Computer Supplies Limited. All rights reserved.