Shared Categories, or Shared Requirements, are requirements that are designed to be shared between multiple audits. For example, if you have 12 business majors that all share the same electives, it would be convenient to create the list of electives once and then use that same elective category in all 12 major audits. This not only saves time with building requirements, but also saves time when it comes to editing the list of electives.
Shared Requirements are not a standalone audit - they must be inserted into a program audit to be visible to any students. They are meant to be a section within a larger program audit.
Creating a Shared Requirement
To create a new shared requirement, navigate to the Programs tab, and then click ‘Create New’ and ‘Shared Requirement’
You’ll be prompted to select a name and scope from the pop-up menu that appears. If you select any scope criteria for the requirement, it will only be applicable to those specific programs, departments, etc. In other words, if you select "Math Department" as a scope, only programs that fall within the Math Department will be able to select that Shared Requirement to use within an audit.
You can also copy requirements from an existing shared requirement and then edit as necessary.
Once the new shared requirement has been created, you can add categories, sub-categories and courses just like any other audit. Once it’s published, you and other users will be able to add it to audits as needed. Keep in mind that when searching for a shared requirement to add to an audit, only those with criteria that fits or matches the current audit will appear in search results.
Editing a Shared Requirement
To edit an existing shared requirement, you can search for the requirement in the Programs tab.
Select the ‘shared requirement’ filter to tighten the search. Once you select a shared requirement, you’ll be able to see any audits currently using the requirement. You can click ‘Edit this Audit’ to make changes.
Any changes made to a shared requirement will be populated into any linked audit that contains the shared requirement. Make sure to test the requirement using ‘try on a student’ before you publish. You can see which audits are using the linked Shared Requirement by clicking on the "Audits" menu when viewing the Shared Requirement.
Linking/Unlinking Shared Requirements
Shared Requirements can be unlinked once they are added to an audit. If you unlink a shared requirement, it will no longer be "shared" - in other words, making changes to that shared requirement and publishing those changes will not impact any unlinked audits. This is commonly used when building audits that have a long list of requirements that are very similar but not exactly the same. You can add a Shared Requirement to the audit, unlink it, and then make changes. This is a time saver since you do not need to create the list from scratch, but you can also make any changes specific to that program.
To unlink a Shared Requirement, simply click on the "unlink" option once you have added your Shared Requirement to the audit. You will not be able to make any changes to the requirement specific to the audit that you are working on until you unlink it.