Establishing Prerequisite Relationships

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to create prerequisite relationships between items.

Prerequisites

A prerequisite is a course or a group of courses that students must complete before enrolling in a more advanced course. The purpose of prerequisites is to ensure that learners have the necessary foundational knowledge before tackling more complex subjects.

For instance, students must complete the Basic Accounting course before they can enroll in the Advanced Accounting course. This requirement helps ensure that students are well-prepared and set up for success in the advanced course.

Prerequisite relationships are configured on the entity that has the prerequisite.

Prerequisite Relationship Configuration

  1. Navigate to the item’s Prerequisites entity tab and add the prerequisite items.
  2. Use the AND or OR relationship to create groups that define prerequisites options.
    • For the AND relationship: create one group and add all prerequisite items to this group.
    • For the OR relationship: create two or more groups and add the prerequisite items to these groups.

To further illustrate, let's consider two use cases for each configuration option.

AND Relationship Use Case

The Advanced Accounting course prerequisites are the Basic Accounting AND the Server Basics courses.

Configuration steps:

  1. Access the Advanced Accounting item.
  2. Navigate to the Prerequisites tab, then select the plus icon to create a group. For example, Advanced Accounting Prerequisites Group.
  3. Add the prerequisite items to the group by selecting the plus icon within the group.
  4. Search for and add the Basic Accounting and Server Basics courses.

Learners can only enroll in Advanced Accounting once they have completed both prerequisites.

Prerequisite tab is selected and the two prerequisite courses and Assign to me buttons are shown.

OR Relationship Use Case

The Advanced Accounting course prerequisites are either the Basic Accounting OR the Server Basics course.

Configuration steps:

  1. Access the Advanced Accounting item.
  2. Navigate to the Prerequisites item entity tab.
  3. Select the plus icon to create a group. For example, Advanced Accounting Prerequisites – group A.
  4. Add the prerequisite items to the group by selecting the plus icon within the group and searching for the item. For example, add the Basic Accounting course.
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to create a second group Advanced Accounting Prerequisites – group B and add the Server Basics course.

Administrator view for the OR prerequisite is displayed.

Learners can only enroll in the Advanced Accounting course if they have completed either one of the prerequisite courses.

Important Things to Know About Prerequisites

Prerequisite relationships are essential for effective planning and successful completion of learning events. Here are some key points to keep in mind:

  • If a learner has successfully completed any of the required prerequisite courses in their learning history, they may be able to immediately take the course with the prerequisite.
  • A learner may be able to immediately enroll in a class with a prerequisite class if the end date of the prerequisite class is before the start date of the new class.
  • Administrators and managers may be allowed to override prerequisites. This is a Global Applications Setting that can be configured.
  • If an item with a prerequisite is added to a program, the prerequisite relationship is ignored. This means that learners can enroll in the course without meeting the prerequisite requirements.

Establish a Prerequisite Relationship

Business Example

In this exercise, you will establish a prerequisite relationship between two items.

Steps

  1. Require learners to complete the Core Fire Protection Basics course before they can complete the Fire Extinguisher course.

    1. Log into SAP SuccessFactors HCM as a Learning Administrator and navigate to Learning Administration → Learning Activities → Items.

      Note

      This relationship will be configured on the Fire Extinguisher course since this is the entity that requires a prerequisite.

    2. Find and open the Fire Extinguisher course.

    3. Select the Prerequisites entity tab.

    4. Select Create Group (plus icon).

    5. Enter a title for the group: Group 1.

    6. Select OK.

    7. Select the Add items/curricula (plus icon) next to the name of the group you just created.

    8. Enter Core Fire Protection Basics in the keyword search field.

    9. Select Search.

    10. Select the Add checkbox at the end of the Core Fire Protection Basics course row.

    11. Select the Add button.

    12. Verify the selected item is displayed.

    13. Select Save.

Summary

  • Prerequisites are courses or groups of courses learners must complete before enrolling in more advanced courses to ensure foundational knowledge.
  • Administrators configure prerequisites on the advanced course, defining them with AND (all prerequisites required) or OR (any one prerequisite required) relationships.
  • Prerequisites can be overridden by administrators and managers, or bypassed if the course is added to a program.

Learning

SAP FacebookSAP YoutubeSAP LinkedIn