Tōtara version 20: Smarter compliance, sharper skills, better outcomes

In February 2026, Catalyst hosted the New Zealand launch of Tōtara Version 20 in Wellington. Over breakfast, members of the NZ Tōtara User Group heard directly from Bryn Whyman, Head of Product at Tōtara, and Loren Rodger, Product Owner, about what’s new and what it means for organisations managing learning. There was a real sense of energy and anticipation in the room before the briefing, with people curious and eager for what they were about to hear.

Version 20 focuses squarely on the things that matter most: keeping compliant, developing capable teams, and proving the value of learning investment to budget holders. It’s one of the most significant releases of Tōtara in recent years. Shayne Priddle, Learning Solutions Commercial Manager at Catalyst, shares what stood out.

Compliance that works with you, not against you

If your organisation manages multi-year certification cycles (health and safety, professional registration, or regulatory requirements), Version 20 changes the game.

Previously, administrators had to manage separate certifications for each stage of a recertification journey. Version 20 consolidates this. A single certification now holds multiple recertification paths: year one, year two, and a refresher in year three. Each has its own active period and recertification window, including repeat loops. The setup process is more straightforward, and administrators save significant time by managing everything in one place rather than juggling individual records.

When someone lapses, administrators choose exactly where to reinstate them: current path, previous path, or whichever path makes sense for that learner.

The new Compliance Insights dashboard block gives leaders an instant, visual snapshot of certification completion across their organisation. Set target compliance rates, drill down to the individual level, and take action before audit day, not during it. For organisations in regulated industries, this means your people stay qualified, current, and audit-ready with far less manual effort.

Skills development gets practical

Tōtara has renamed “competencies” to “skills” across the platform. This reflects how modern L&D, HR, and workforce planning teams actually talk about capability. More importantly, the features behind the label have been significantly enhanced.

Managers gain a clear, at-a-glance view of their team’s skill levels directly from their dashboard through the new Team Skill Proficiency block. No need to build custom reports or dig through data. Identify gaps, recognise strengths, and take action where it matters.

In healthcare and other highly regulated sectors, experienced team members who already hold a skill can now assess and sign off on others as competent. This enables practical, on-the-job professional development, freeing up time, encouraging collaborative working, and building capability where it’s needed most.

New skill status reports show proficiency levels across the organisation. Leaders get the data they need to make informed decisions about training investment and workforce capability.

Saving time with smarter tools

In versions 19.1 and 20, all users gain access to practical tools that reduce admin while improving content quality. Tōtara now includes built-in AI-powered features designed to save time on everyday tasks:

• Writing assistant: create, summarise, and refine course content consistently
• Image generation: produce professional hero images and course tiles without needing a designer
• Knowledge check: turn uploaded documents into informal quizzes, useful for reinforcing learning after training sessions
• SMART goal assistant: help learners create structured, actionable development goals in Tōtara Perform

These tools augment what your L&D team already does well. They handle repetitive content tasks so your people can focus on strategy and learner experience.

Growing capability, managing risk

At Catalyst, we see two themes running through everything in Version 20: growing capability through people, and managing risk through compliance and certifications.

Organisations today are focused on two things: growth through their people and managing risk through compliance. And the new features in Version 20 make that data much more accessible, visible, and useful. It will help you with your conversations with budget holders and senior executives to show the value that the platform can actually bring to support those two key drivers within an organisation.

Improved data visibility helps organisations demonstrate the real value of their learning platform. Show compliance rates. Show skill gaps being closed. Show measurable improvement in workforce capability. The conversation shifts from cost to investment.

Catalyst Cloud adds genuine data sovereignty to the equation. New Zealand-owned, New Zealand-operated, and approved under the All-of-Government Cloud Framework. Your data stays in Aotearoa, protected by New Zealand law.

Community-driven development

Many of the features in Version 20 started as community requests through Canny, Tōtara’s feature request tool. There’s a dedicated team working through the highest-rated items, and this release is proof that community input shapes the product roadmap.

If there’s something you’d like to see in future releases, submit a request, upvote existing ideas, and add comments describing your specific use case. The more context, the better.

L&D teams on what's exciting in Tōtara v20

At the Tōtara User Group we spoke to attendees about what they're excited about in the release. Hear what they had to say.