Feature Overview and Requirements

Equivalency rules can apply to all users who complete a course, be restricted by a user’s assigned position, or can be set at the Certification/Curriculum program level. Eligibility rules are strictly enforced, but can be adjusted at any time.

The tool helps to eliminate the need for manual transcript administration, repetitive/unnecessary training exercises, and reconfiguration of Accreditation programs by developing a process to automatically grant students who fulfill all eligibility criteria credit for “equivalent” coursework.

Once an equivalency rule is established, course credit is granted to users retroactively, with a process that takes 10 – 30 minutes (depending on number of user transcripts being generated). It is important to note that the equivalency process runs on a continuous cycle. So any time an equivalency rule is updated, a user’s position changes, or a course transcript expires, training credit can be revoked from those learners who used to but no longer meet the eligibility criteria.

To create Equivalency Rules, follow this two-step process. If you are confused about which course to put the equivalency on, on the course for which you want to give the student credit, add the course entity for the alternative course that they have credit for or could take as an alternative and get credit for in the future. Then if they take the course listed as an equivalent, they will automatically get credit for the course on which you placed it.

Step by Step Procedure and Field Description

To create an equivalency rule:

1. From the Administration menu, select Courses > Search Courses, then find and edit the course for which you want to add an equivalency.
2. On the Equivalencies tab, define the Rule Entities. These are the equivalencies you want to establish. You can select more than one.
   

3. Click Add Courses to open a picker to select any course(s) that will count as equivalents to the course.
4. • Click Add Accreditation to open a picker to select any certifications or curricula that will count as equivalent credit for a course.
   • Click Add Position Codes to open a picker and select the position codes that will count as equivalent credit for a course.
   • Click Add Position Group to open a picker and select the position group membership that will count as equivalent credit for a course.
   • For each entity you selected, select the Type from the dropdown (highlighted in green above) to control what is considered in the equivalency rule established.
     Use the following to decide:
     Course – Any completed transcript meets the rule, whether achieved by the student or granted by administrative override. This is the most flexible option.
     Course by Exact Match – Course completion was achieved by the student
     Course by Equivalency – Student received equivalent credit for the course

      

5. Next, click on the letter labels next to the rule entities above (highlighted in yellow) and click on operators to insert them and build the equivalency rule.
   
   &             AND
   |              OR
   ( )            Used for creating groups of entities
   BKSP     Backspace button to remove the last symbol entered
   CLEAR  Clears all rule setup
   
   The screenshot below shows an example of an “OR” rule which gives equivalency credit via the course or having one of the two positions listed.

If you just have a single course entered in the rule, you can simply place the letter associated with it in the rule field by itself. 

To remove an equivalency rule:

1. From the Administration menu, select Courses > Search Courses, then find and edit the course you want to modify.
2. On the Equivalencies tab, to remove an equivalency completely, click the Operator Clear button to remove them from the Rule box.
3. Click Remove next to each entity.
4. Submit the change.
   
   To remove just part of the rule, remove the associated letter from the rule and adjust the logic as necessary. Then click Remove to eliminate that entity from the list.