The Knoitall Social Commerce Platform for learning providers helps them understand the key functionality of the Knoitall software platform.

1. White Paper
Title: The Knoitall “Social Commerce” Platform
Version: 1.0
Date: February, 2015
Synopsis: Knoitall provides a robust and highly flexible software platform to support the
marketing, distribution, and sales of education-related content. Core functionality of the
product offering includes:
• A web-based social commerce platform
• Competency mapping tools that automatically distribute learning from one
provider to other learning centers based upon the competency needs of those
centers.
• Support for all learning formats, including classes, degrees, learning products,
lessons, tutoring, and free resources (not a complete list).
• Support for both learning purchases and/or click through to a provider’s site to
request more information or to complete a transaction
• Inventory management tools to limit the sales and/or referrals for each program
marketed through Knoitall
• Integration with PayPal to support consumer credit card payments directly to the
provider’s PayPal account.
• Tools to build and customize a provider learning center that contains the
provider’s offerings created through Knoitall and that is mobile and tablet
friendly
• A communications platform that automates notifications to all parties involved in
the creation, registration, delivery and participation in learning activities.
• Student check-in functionality through a QR code that can be scanned
by any “smart phone”
• Tools to manage your instructors and locations
• Class rosters distributed to the instructor prior to the start of a learning
activity
• Social tools to support marketing efforts through the Provider’s
Facebook page
• Automatic placement of the provider offerings in the Knoitall Learning
Marketplace to increase provider sales
Throughout the remainder of this paper, the core features and functionality of the platform
will be covered.
1) Introduction
The Knoitall Social Commerce Platform (Platform) was developed to meet the following
objectives:
1. Provide a superior content management, marketing and sales platform for learning

2. providers offering continuing education opportunities
2. Support multiple channels of distribution for a provider’s offerings that include the
provider’s website, the provider’s free Knoitall learning center, and the Knoitall.com
learning marketplace. Knoitall is a social commerce platform that helps a provider
distribute learning to multiple learning centers based upon the competency needs of
those centers.
3. Provide a flexible architecture to support both large and small providers
4. Provide a business model to learning providers that offers a free solution for
consumer purchases and referrals that come through the Provider’s website and
learning center, while only paying for purchases that occur through the Knoitall.com
learning marketplace.
The Knoitall Platform is delivered to learning providers through a Software as a Service
Provider model, accessible through Knoitall.com.
a) Why does the Knoitall approach make sense for learning providers?
Providers approve of the approach that we have taken because Knoitall can
increase marketing, distribution, and sales lift while reducing costs to the learning
provider.
b) What are the costs to use the Knoitall software?
Knoitall provides its software to learning providers for free for activities that occur
through the provider’s learning center hosted by Knoitall.
Knoitall charges learning providers for activities (sales, referrals, online
advertising) that occur through the general Knoitall marketplace and affiliate
network. Costs are based upon the types of marketing/sales activities the
provider wishes to promote, and the format of the learning that the provider is
marketing.
c) How does Knoitall market alongside the learning provider’s Knoitall
Learning Center?
By using the Knoitall Platform, providers are able to market through the Knoitall
network without duplicating efforts. Learning offerings are managed from the
Knoitall Platform, and fed to both the provider’s online outlets, as well as the
Knoitall marketplace and affiliate network of learning centers, from a centralized
database. This guarantees that, no matter where a referral or purchase
originates, all are served on a “first-come-first-served” basis through a centralized
database.
2) Key Features and Functionality
The Knoitall Platform is used by learning providers for the following purposes:
1. List, promote, and/or sell learning-related offerings
2. Provide search, review, and purchase or referral capabilities to consumers through

3. the provider’s website
3. Assignment of advisors to assist potential students with questions regarding
provider offerings
4. Assignment of promotional components to the provider’s catalogue, including
discounts, coupons, and other flexible pricing options.
3) The Knoitall Technology Architecture
Knoitall has developed a robust technology architecture to provide “first-come-first-
served” support for all marketing and sales related activities through the provider’s
distribution network, and through Knoitall’s network of affiliate learning centers.
a) Web gateway for all course and prospect management functions
All course and enrollment management activities performed by a provider are
accessible through a protected gateway within Knoitall.com. This gives users
within an institution access, through a centralized web interface, to manage
listings and to respond to requests from prospective students.
Knoitall is not the first to serve a market in this way. Sabre provides a similar
architecture in support of airline ticketing; Ticketmaster provides a similar
architecture in support of event tickets; and the Multiple Listing Service supports
the real estate industry in much the same way.
b) Serving multiple distribution channels through a centralized
management system
One of the major social components of the Knoitall platform is our ability to map
the competencies of the learning entered to the competency requirements of the
affiliate learning centers residing on the Knoitall platform. The Knoitall platform
allows for affinity learning centers to be created by corporations, organizations,
and others who have an interest in building a learning site for their audience.
These organizations can then map the learning items available through Knoitall to
the competencies they are interested in delivering to their audience.
In this way a learning provider can enter listings into Knoitall and have those
listings distributed to other learning sites based upon the competencies deliverd
through the learning being listed. This process is automatic through Knoitall. It
requires no work on behalf of the learning provider. If their learning meets the
competency needs of another learning center that wishes to include additional
learning providers, their learning automatically appears in that learning center.
4) Key Components of the Knoitall Social Commerce Platform
The remainder of this paper will provide a detailed review of the core components
of the Knoitall Enrollment Management Platform.

4. a) Content Management
Knoitall’s platform supports the combination of multiple assets within a learning
item, including a location, an instructor, and an advisor. These assets can be
stored by the learning provider and pulled into new listings as they are created.
Content managed by a provider through the Knoitall platform may include classes,
workshops, products, free resources, tutoring opportunities, certification & degree
programs offered by the provider. It may also include the assignment of advisors
and instructors, and provider locations, rooms, and unit types to various instances
of offerings.
i) Setting Up a New Account
A provider can set up an account within Knoitall directly from the home page. The
user enters certain information regarding the organization they represent, and
their account is created and ready to be accessed.
ii) Creating a Free Provider Learning Center
A provider develops a profile through a protected gateway within Knoitall.com.
This gateway creates virtual private storage within Knoitall’s database systems for
the provider’s future content. The provider profile includes such things as the
provider name, main phone number, provider description (types of programs
offered, awards, hours of operation, etc.), provider accreditations, and payment
terms. In addition, the provider creates a name for their learning center. Knoitall
then creates a unique URL for the provider (www.knoitall.com/learn/YourName).
The learning center will store all of your learning activities available for sale.
iii) Linking content back to Provider Properties
The provider has the option of linking consumers directly to their learning center
to view and access learning activities, create an iFrame within the provider’s
existing pages to contain the provider’s learning activities, or link each item
directly back to the provider’s website so that the provider has complete control
over the look and feel of each activity created within Knoitall.
b) Attributes of a learning activity supported by the Knoitall software
Each learning activity created within Knoitall can contain some or all of the
following details:
§ Title
§ Description
§ Learning category
§ Learning Outcomes (specific outcomes or skills that the participant will
receive as a result of participation in the learning activity)
§ Image to help describe the learning activity
§ Type of delivery (face-to-face, online)
§ Audience (Infant, child, pre-teen, teen, adult)
§ Instructor information (with hyperlink to an instructor profile)
§ Activity schedule, including days of week, times, and # of sessions

5. § Location (including details of the specific location such as room #, building,
etc)
§ Price for the activity
§ Price Discounts through a coupon or an expiring discount based upon the
enrollment deadline (discount for early enrollments)
§ Required items for the course
§ Inventory available for sale (# of participants)
c) Transactions
There are two types of transactions managed through Knoitall:
1. Those that occur through the provider learning center or provider website; and
2. Those that occur through the Knoitall marketplace.
iv) Transaction Types
Knoitall supports multiple transaction types based upon the type of learning being
marketed and the desire of the learning provider. These can include:
• Enrollments
• Product Purchases
• Referrals
All purchases are conducted through the Knoitall payment platform, and funds are
transferred directly to the provider account using PayPal. The consumer may use Visa,
Mastercard, or Discover to pay through the PayPal gateway. The provider must have a
PayPal account in order to receive the payment.
All referrals are passed directly to the provider site through Knoitall. The
consumer is notified that they are being forwarded to the provider site for
additional information.
In the case where a purchase or referral originates through either the provider learning
center or through the provider’s own website, there is no fee paid to Knoitall for this
transaction.
In the case where a transaction originates through the Knoitall marketplace, there is a fee
paid to Knoitall based upon the type of program and the transaction type (see Knoitall
pricing for more information). This fee may either be paid to Knoitall on a monthly basis,
or Knoitall may elect to take this fee at the point of purchase.
v) Pricing & Discounts
A key feature of the Knoitall Platform is the ability to assign and implement price
discounts using coupons. These discounts may be automatically assigned based
upon a user’s past purchasing habits, or they may be passed to a user or group of
users through a coupon code. Once the coupon code is placed into the purchase
form, the discount is automatically calculated.
vi) Canceling a Course
A course may be canceled through the Knoitall system, and all students that enrolled in
the course will be automatically notified. The provider may manage the refund back to the

6. consumer using their existing processes, or can utilize PayPal to refund the student.
d) Communications
The Knoitall Platform automates the notifications that should occur during the
lifecycle of a learning activity. Knoitall automates the following notifications:
§ Registration reminders to students, teachers, and the learning provider
§ Enrollment notifications to the learning provider whenever a new
enrollment occurs
§ Roster of students delivered to the learning provider prior to the start of
each class
§ Notifications to instructors when they have been assigned to teach a class
§ Notifications and refunds to students when a class is canceled
e) Student Check-In on the first day of class
When students register for a class through Knoitall, they are provided a bar-coded
receipt onscreen and via email which contains a unique QR code. This receipt is
again sent to them the day before the class when they receive an email reminder
regarding the event.
The student can print out the receipt or save it on their smart phone or tablet
device as proof of their enrollment in the class.
On the date of the class the learning provider, using any freely downloadable QR
reader, can scan the student QR code which sends a message to the Knoitall
servers and automatically checks the student into the event. This information is
stored in the learning provider’s account so that the learning provider can confirm
the student’s participation in class.
f) Reporting
The Knoitall software application stores all information regarding enrollments,
participation, and payments received for each of the items offered by a learning
provider. In addition, the Knoitall system keeps an online transcript for each
participant that includes information on each of the classes that person has
completed. This is valuable if the learning provider wishes to track classes
completed towards a certificate program.
g) Communications to the Student After a Class or Lesson
From the Provider’s account they have the ability to post student messages,
badges, or coupons for other events that will be placed directly in the student’s
transcript. The student is notified when these communications are initiated by
you, and can log into their account to obtain these communications through their
online Knoitall transcript.

7. 5) Conclusion
Knoitall provides a robust social commerce platform utilizing a Software as a
Service model that provides an attractive pricing alternative to the providers of
continuing education. A learning provider can now build a course once and
distribute the course through multiple enrollment channels, guaranteeing that
everyone is enrolled on a “first-come-first-served” basis.