BioSig Authentication - Information & Setup

What BioSig does

BioSig adds identity verification to regulated training. When it's on, your learners are asked to verify their identity (via our third-party BioSig provider) at set points during the training — not just at login. It's used for regulated training (e.g. NMLS mortgage licensing) where you must prove the person doing the training is who they say they are.

Two ways to enable BioSig

BioSig can be turned on at two different levels. Pick one — they are mutually exclusive for a given category.

Which should I use?

• Use category-level when the whole category is a single regulated course of study reported to NMLS as one unit.
• Use course-level when each course in the category is its own NMLS-approved course with its own course ID and credit hours, and needs to be verified and reported separately.

⚠️ Never turn on both. If a category's BioSig toggle is ON, the category-level behavior takes over and the per-course toggles are ignored. For course-level setups the category toggle must stay OFF.

Existing category-level setups are completely unaffected by the course-level feature — turning on course-level BioSig elsewhere changes nothing about how they behave.

Before you start (prerequisites)

Applies to both modes

• You're provisioned with the third-party BioSig service. Verification is performed by an outside provider — confirm you're set up on that side first, or the checkpoints will appear but won't complete. (Check with your LightSpeed VT support representative.)
• Your NMLS Course Provider # is configured on the BioSig side. You report under your own provider number. If this hasn't been set, verifications land under the wrong provider. (Handled by LightSpeed VT — reach out to your support representative if you're not sure.)
• You have the NMLS course ID and credit-hour count for whatever you're tagging (the category, or each course).
• Every learner has their NMLS ID in the user's Misc2 field. See the section below — this is a hard requirement, not a nice-to-have.

🔑 Required user setup: NMLS ID in Misc2 ("Other Info 2")

BioSig identifies each learner by the value in the user's Misc2 field (labeled Other Info 2 in the user editor). The value must be formatted exactly as:

NMLS ID,<number>

• Your registration process must capture the student's NMLS number and store it in this exact format. This is how BioSig's verification records tie back to the student's NMLS identity for audits and reporting.
• ⚠️ Set it before the learner starts training. If someone begins with the field blank and you fill it in later, BioSig sees a brand-new identity — they have to re-enroll, and their verification history splits across two identities.
• ⚠️ Never leave it as the prefix only (NMLS ID, with no number). That sends a blank identity to BioSig and verification breaks.
• If the field is blank or missing entirely, the system falls back to an internal ID. That works mechanically, but the records aren't tied to the learner's NMLS identity — acceptable for test accounts, not for real students.

Category-level only

• All the courses that need verification live under ONE category. BioSig is set per category and applies to every course inside it.
• Your course order is correct. Begin is anchored to the first course and Final to the last course, so the order of courses in the category matters.
• The first course has at least 3 chapters. Because Begin lands on chapter 3, a first course with fewer than 3 chapters won't show the Begin checkpoint where you expect it.

Course-level only

• The category's BioSig toggle is OFF. (See the warning above.)
• You know exactly which courses need verification. The toggle is per course — courses in the same category can be mixed (some verified, some not).
• Each course has its own NMLS course ID and credit hours.
• ⚠️ Every BioSig-enabled course has at least 3 active chapters. Begin lands on chapter 3 of each enabled course, so a course with fewer than 3 active chapters won't fire verification. Check this on every course you enable — not just the first one.

When the checkpoints appear

There are three kinds of checkpoint. Begin and Final are automatic. Middle is manual — it only appears where you place it.

Category-level

Course-level

Every BioSig-enabled course follows the same pattern, start to finish:

• Chapters 1 and 2: play normally, no verification
• Chapter 3: Begin verification
• Last chapter: Final verification (when the learner opens it, before the exam)

What a checkpoint looks like to the learner. The verification renders in place of the chapter's content — it isn't a popup or overlay. The trigger is the chapter loading; completing the previous chapter only matters because it advances the learner into the next one. Once the learner completes the verification, the page reloads and the chapter (or exam) loads normally.

⚠️ Short courses (course-level only). Because Begin is anchored to chapter 3, an enabled course with fewer than 3 active chapters won't fire verification. If you have a 1- or 2-chapter course that must be verified, it needs additional active chapters before BioSig will work on it — catch this during setup rather than after your learners are live.

The key things to remember: the toggle gives you Begin and Final — but you also must add the biosig:<NMLSid>|<duration> token (to the category for category-level, or to each course for course-level) or verification fails, and Middle checkpoints must be added by hand. These two are the easy-to-forget steps.

How to enable BioSig at the CATEGORY level

Steps 1–5 are required. Step 6 (Middle checkpoints) is optional.

1. Sign in to Courseware Management.

2. Open the category you want to protect (the one containing your regulated courses).

3. Go to the category's Category Rules section.

4. Turn Enable BioSig Authentication to ON, then Save.

   "Authenticate user identity with third-party BioSig verification."

   This activates the Begin (chapter 3 of the first course) and Final (on opening the last chapter of the last course) checkpoints.

5. Set the category's NMLS ID + duration — REQUIRED. Edit the category's Internal Description and include this token:

   biosig:<NMLSid>|<duration>
   

   • <NMLSid> = the NMLS-approved course ID (a number, e.g. 14297).
   • <duration> = the credit hours, a whole number 1–12 (e.g. 1). Anything over 12 is ignored and treated as 1.
   • Examples: a 1-credit course → biosig:14297|1; a 2-credit course → biosig:14312|2; a 3-credit course → biosig:14386|3.
   • You can leave other text in the description — the service just scans for the biosig:… token.
   • ⚠️ Without this token, verification fails. The toggle alone is not enough — the BioSig service rejects the request ("biosig catid is required") if the description has no biosig: entry.

6. Add Middle checkpoint(s) — manual, only if you need mid-course checks. See Adding Middle checkpoints below.

Once steps 1–5 are done (and any Middle chapters from step 6), every learner who opens a course in that category hits the Begin, any Middle, and Final checkpoints automatically.

How to enable BioSig at the COURSE level

Steps 1–3 are required. Step 4 (Middle checkpoints) is optional.

1. Confirm the category's BioSig toggle is OFF. Open the category in Courseware Management → Category Rules and make sure Enable BioSig Authentication is OFF. If it's on, the category-level behavior takes over and your per-course toggles do nothing.

2. Turn the toggle on for each course that needs verification. Open the course in Courseware Management, go to the course's Course Rules section, set Enable BioSig Authentication to ON, and Save. This works just like the category toggle, only scoped to that one course.

   • The toggle is per course. Courses in the same category can be mixed — only the enabled ones get checkpoints.
   • ⚠️ Before you enable a course, confirm it has at least 3 active chapters. Begin fires on chapter 3, so a shorter course will be enabled but never verify.

3. Set each course's NMLS ID + credit hours — REQUIRED. In the course editor, edit the course's Internal Description and include this token:

   biosig:<NMLSid>|<duration>
   

   • <NMLSid> = the NMLS-approved course ID for that course (a number).
   • <duration> = that course's credit hours, a whole number 1–12. Anything over 12 is ignored and treated as 1.
   • Example: biosig:18624|3 (a 3-credit-hour course).
   • Other text in the description is fine — the service just scans for the biosig:… token.
   • ⚠️ This is what gets reported to BioSig per course. Every enabled course needs its own token. Without it, verification fails on that course ("biosig catid is required").

4. Add Middle checkpoint(s) — manual, only if the course needs mid-course checks. See below. On course-level setups, pay extra attention to the coid value.

Once steps 1–3 are done, each enabled course runs as its own verification session: Begin on chapter 3, any Middle checkpoints, and Final when the learner opens the course's last chapter.

Adding Middle checkpoints (both modes)

Middle checkpoints are always manual — no toggle ever creates them.

For each mid-course point where you want a verification to appear, insert a custom chapter at that position whose internal path points to the BioSig Middle URL. The path format is:

customInternal|https://webservices.lightspeedvt.net/client/nmls/biosig.ashx?status=Middle%231&catId=<CatID>&coid=<CoID>

• ⚠️ The # MUST be encoded as %23. Write Middle%231, not Middle#1. A literal # in a URL starts the "fragment" — everything after it (1&catId=…&coid=…) is dropped before the request reaches the server, so the checkpoint silently breaks. All live checkpoints use %23.
• status=Middle%231 for your first mid-course check, Middle%232 for the second, and so on (%231 = #1, %232 = #2).
• <CatID> = your BioSig category's ID. <CoID> = the ID of the course that chapter lives in.
• ⚠️ On course-level setups, the coid matters more than ever. The NMLS ID now resolves per course, so a coid that points at the wrong course will report the wrong NMLS course ID. Double-check that coid matches the course the chapter actually lives in.
• Type the IDs carefully — you enter these values by hand, and a wrong or spaced-in ID breaks the checkpoint.
• Example of a completed path:
  customInternal|https://webservices.lightspeedvt.net/client/nmls/biosig.ashx?status=Middle%231&catId=41508&coid=214970

The system automatically handles the "resume" case for these (a returning learner sees the Resuming version) — you only author the Middle#N entry.

How often verification happens (cadence)

There is no automatic "every N hours" timer in the platform. You set verification frequency two ways:

• duration — the credit hours sent to the third-party BioSig provider. It tells the provider the expected seat-time (whole number, 1–12). On category-level setups you set this once on the category; on course-level setups you set it per course.
• Number of Middle checkpoints — you decide how many mid-course checks there are by how many Middle chapters you place, and where.

Recommended cadence: one Middle roughly every ~2 hours

The BioSig-ID standard integration (documented by others that use the same Begin / Middle #N / Final Exam tokens) triggers a Middle about every 2 hours of course duration — e.g. a 6-hour course prompts at the 2-hour and 4-hour marks (splitting it into thirds), plus Begin at the start and Final before the exam. NMLS itself only requires verification "at various times during the course" and does not publish an exact interval, so ~2 hours is the practical, provider-standard cadence.

Suggested Middle placement by course length:

On course-level setups, apply this per course using that course's own credit hours — a 1-hour course in the category may need no Middle checkpoints while a 3-hour course beside it needs one.

Status values (reference)

These are the status= values BioSig sends to the verification service — useful when you're reading a URL in the browser or troubleshooting with LightSpeed VT support:

The #N above is the decoded value the service receives. In the URL you author, it must be typed encoded as %23N.

How to confirm it's working

Log in as a test learner with access to the category. Confirm your test account's Misc2 / Other Info 2 field is populated correctly first — a blank value falls back to an internal ID and won't exercise the real identity path.

Category-level

1. Open the first course and move through the chapters — on chapter 3, the BioSig verification screen appears in place of the chapter (Begin).
2. Complete it — training resumes automatically.
3. If you added Middle checkpoints, reach each of those chapters — a verification appears (Middle #1, #2, …).
4. Go to the last course and open its last chapter — verification appears (Final) in place of the chapter content, before the exam. Complete it and the exam loads normally.
5. Log out, log back in, and re-enter mid-way — a Resuming verification appears.

Course-level

1. Confirm the category toggle is OFF.
2. Confirm every enabled course has at least 3 active chapters — a shorter course won't fire verification at all.
3. Open the first enabled course. Chapters 1 and 2 should play normally with no verification, and verification appears on chapter 3 (Begin).
4. Open the last chapter of that course — verification appears (Final) in place of the chapter content, before the exam. Complete it and the exam loads normally.
5. Open a different enabled course — the same pattern repeats: chapters 1 and 2 play normally, verification appears on its 3rd chapter (Begin), and again on its last chapter (Final).
6. Open a course in the same category that is not enabled — no verification should appear at all.
7. If you added Middle checkpoints, reach each of those chapters — a verification appears (Middle #1, #2, …).
8. Log out, log back in, and re-enter mid-way — a Resuming verification appears, scoped to the course you're in.

Troubleshooting

How to turn BioSig off

Category-level

1. Open the category in Courseware Management → Category Rules.
2. Turn Enable BioSig Authentication to OFF, and Save. (This removes Begin + Final.)
3. If you added Middle checkpoint chapters, remove those chapters too — they are separate manual inserts and won't disappear on their own.

Course-level

1. Open the course in Courseware Management → Course Rules and turn Enable BioSig Authentication to OFF, then Save.
2. Optionally remove the biosig:… token from the course's Internal Description (harmless if left, but cleaner to remove).
3. If you added Middle checkpoint chapters in that course, remove those chapters too.

Note on copying content: if you duplicate a BioSig-enabled category, the copy keeps BioSig on. Turn it off on the copy if the duplicate shouldn't require verification.

Good to know

• Two levels, one at a time. Category-level covers the whole category as one session; course-level makes each enabled course its own session. A category toggle that's ON always wins.
• Every course-level course follows the same shape: chapters 1–2 free, Begin on chapter 3, Final on the last chapter. At least 3 active chapters is a hard requirement on every enabled course.
• No per-user BioSig setting. There's no way to require verification for some learners and not others within the same scope.
• Middle checkpoints are the manual part — neither toggle ever creates them.
• The biosig: token is never optional. Category-level needs it on the category; course-level needs it on every enabled course.
• The learner's NMLS ID lives in Misc2 / Other Info 2 (NMLS ID,<number>) and must be set before training starts.
• Where the ID/photos live. The actual identity capture and verification records are held by the third-party BioSig provider, not inside LightSpeed VT. Requests for verification records go through that integration, not standard LSVT reports.
• Who to contact. To get provisioned on the BioSig provider, set your NMLS Course Provider #, or pull verification records, contact your LightSpeed VT support representative.