Conditions and prerequisites

Assignment decides who sees a course. Conditions decide who may start it. They are separate on purpose: a course can be visible to a whole department while only opening up for the people who are ready for it.

You will find them in the course settings, under Conditions.

#What a condition can check

Two things.

• Has tag: the person carries a particular tag.
• Completed course: the person has finished a particular course.

That second one is the classic prerequisite. An advanced course that only opens once the introduction is finished takes one condition and nothing else.

#Combining them

Conditions live in groups, and you choose how they are read.

Inside a group, you pick Match all or Match any. Across groups, you decide whether someone must match all of the groups or any of them. That gives you the usual logic without ever writing a formula: "finished the introduction and carries the Forklift tag", or "finished either of these two courses".

Start with the simplest version that describes your rule. Most courses need one condition; a course needing three groups usually means the rule itself is unclear.

#What the learner sees

A course whose conditions are not met is shown as Locked, with the requirements listed: complete this course, or have that tag. Nothing is hidden and there is no dead end. The learner can see exactly what stands between them and the course, which is usually enough for them to sort it out themselves.

As soon as they meet the requirement, the lock disappears on its own. Nobody has to release it.

#Where conditions go wrong

A locked course still counts as assigned. If it is marked required, it appears in your compliance figures as not completed, even though the learner is not allowed to start it. A chain of prerequisites can therefore drag your numbers down while everyone is doing exactly what you asked.

A tag condition can duplicate the assignment. If a course is assigned to a tag and also has a condition requiring that same tag, the condition adds nothing. Conditions are for extra requirements beyond the audience, not for repeating it.

Circular prerequisites lock everyone out. Two courses that each require the other are a dead end for every learner. Nothing stops you saving it, so check the chain when you build a series.