How to build course requisites

(undergraduate studies only)

Requisites are added to courses in Kuali Curriculum Management (CM) via the courses form by using rules, and are divided by separate fields for prerequisites, corequisites, and antirequisites.

When creating new requisites, or making changes to existing ones, reference the Kuali CM courses database to find similar examples that can assist with formatting.

Jump to: Guidelines for creating requisites | Editing existing requisites | How to build a new course requisite | Example scenarios

 Guidelines for course requisites

  1. Some rules allow for the selection of courses in order to display the courses. These rules are reserved to list active University of Waterloo courses.

    • For undergraduate records: Only link undergraduate courses (linked graduate courses will produce an error in the published academic calendar).
    • For graduate records: Only link graduate courses (linked undergraduate courses will produce an error in the published academic calendar).
    • If a retired course is listed, it will produce an error in the published academic calendar.
    • Wilfrid Laurier University courses are not part of the Courses database and thus will not be seen in search results.
  2. Within rules that allow for the selection of courses, all courses must be listed in alpha-numeric order by Subject Code and number (e.g., ANTH100, CS100, ENGL210F; e.g., 1 of MATH117, MATH127, MATH137).
  3. For listing retired or Laurier courses, the "Free form text" rule must be used, with standard wording (see below for more details).
  4. When using a rule that allows for the selection of programs and plans, place the plans in alphabetical order based on the visible short-form CM code.
    • For those with multiple programs: 3G > 4G > Honours
  5.  When more than one course rule is needed, place the various rules, if applicable, in the following order:
    • List of courses that must be taken/not taken
    • List of courses that must be within a choice (e.g., 1 of ...)
    • Courses with a required average
    • List of courses within a Free form text field
  6. When more than one type of rule is needed, place the various rules, if applicable, in the following order:
    • Courses
    • Level
    • Programs/plans
    • Milestones

  7. Some requisites will need to use Groups and/or Subgroups, to allow for a choice between rules, and create an "and/or" statement.

    • Groups: should be used when "or" statements exist between two or more rules; the first set of rules is automatically a "group".
      • To create a Group, select the More Actions ellipse icon next to a rule, and select Create Group.
        Screenshot of the More Actions ellipse button next to a rule, and Create Group button
    • Subgroups: should be used when "or" statements exist between two or more rules within another rule. Subgroups are groups created within a rule that is already in a group.
    • When Groups and Subgroups are used, you can select the appropriate choice "Complete ALL the following", "Complete 1 of the following", etc. to indicate the condition.
    • Note: When editing a rule group, you must first "ungroup" the rule to delete one of them.

Free Form Text rule

  • Use numbers to identify "# of".
  • Retired and Laurier courses should be written with SUBJECT+NUMBER (no space between), for example "SI101R", "BUS111W".
  • Do not use punctuation at the end of a requisite.
  • Standard wording to use with Free form text rule:
    • Prerequisites: 
      • Must have completed the following: [list of courses]
      • Must have completed at least # of the following: [list of courses]
      • Earned a minimum [name of major] average of #.0%
      • Enrolled in [list of programs/plans]
    • Corequisites: 
      • Completed or concurrently enrolled in: [list of courses]
      • Completed or concurrently enrolled in at least # of the following: [list of courses]
      • The corequisite listed is only for students in [name of plan(s)]
    • Antirequisites: 
      • Not completed nor concurrently enrolled in: [list of courses]

Tips for building rules: 

  • Within rules that allow for the selection of courses, begin by typing in part or all of the course code. Once the desired course appears in the list, use the mouse to click on the course, or use the keyboard arrow keys to select the course and hit Enter.
  • Filtering tip: Start typing and the list will narrow. For example, if type in "MATH23", you will get a small list and can click on MATH235 followed by MATH237 without retyping.
  • If a course or plan does not exist in the database (or a typing error has occurred) you will see "NEW" next to it:
    Screenshot of adding a requisite course that does not already exist.
    • Do not select this - it will immediately create a draft proposal for that course and will not display correctly in the Calendar.

How to edit existing requisites

For existing courses with requisites already programmed, the requisites can be edited by proposing changes to the course.

  1. Locate the course record that needs to be edited by searching in the Courses database.
  2. Open the record.
  3. Select Propose Changes.
  4. Determine whether this is a new version or a revision.
  5. Use the clickable Table of Contents in the right navigation panel to toggle to the Enrolment Rules section (or scroll down).
  6. Make edits by adding requisites to the existing rules, or by adding new rules as needed.

View the requisite example scenarios below for guidance in adding requisites.

How to build a new course requisite

In a draft proposal for the new requisite, requisite fields are located in the Enrolment Rules section. Select the applicable requisite type(s) to enter the desired requisites. For example:

  1. Under Prerequisites, select + Add Rules.
  2. A new requisite rule (named A) will open.
  3. Add requisites as necessary, using the requisites example scenarios below as a guide.

Note: The same process occurs for Corequisites and Antirequisites, but with different permissible rules.

Example scenarios

Jump to: Build a list of several courses that are required | Build an antirequisite of both a UW course and Laurier course | Build a "Choice of" list of courses | Build a plan and level requirement | Create a simple choice between rules | Group rules to allow complex choice between rules ("and/or" statements) | Add a required milestone | Build an antirequisite of a topic course

Scenario 1 - Build a list of several courses that are required

Goal: Replicate "Prereq: ACTSC 231, MATH 235, MATH 237".

  1. Select the rule Must have completed.
  2. Select the sub-rule all selected courses. Important: The "Must have completed" rule can only be used for active UW courses. The rule excludes retired courses, Laurier courses, transfer credit notations, etc. See how to add courses that are not active (Scenario 2).
  3. In the Courses box, one of the courses was individually typed in, then the correct course selected from the list. This was repeated for each of the courses, ensuring alpha-numeric order.
    Scenario 1 rules.
     
     

Scenario 2 - Build an antirequisite of both a UW course and Laurier course

Occasionally, it is necessary to add requisite courses that cannot be added to the database in Kuali CM, for example retired courses, Laurier courses, or transfer credit notations. 

For these instances, use the Free form text rule.

Goal: Replicate "Antireq: ARABIC 120R, SI 102R, SI 120R, AB 102W".

In this example, SI 102R and SI 120R are retired courses. AB 102W is a Laurier course. 

  1. Add the course that is active in Kuali CM, using the Not completed nor concurrently enrolled in rule.
  2. Use the Free form text rule to type in a rule and the non-active courses.
    Screenshot of scenario using free form text rule to add a non active course requisite.

Scenario 3 - Build a "Choice of" list of courses

Goal: Replicate "Prereq: Two of FR 251, 252, 255, 297"

  1. Select the rule Must have completed.
  2. Select the sub-rule minimum number of courses from selected courses.
  3. In the Number box, type in 2.
  4. In the Courses box, type and select the four courses listed above in the scenario goal.
    Screenshot of Scenario 3 rules.

Scenario 4 - Build a plan and level requirement

Goal: Replicate "Prereq: Level at least 1B Chemical, Civil, Environmental, Geological Engineering"

  1. Select the rule Students must be. 
  2. Select the sub-rule in selected degree level or higher.
  3. In the blank box that opened, select 1B.
  4. Add another rule by selecting the + button on the right of A.
  5. Next to B, select the rule Enrolled in.
  6. Select the sub-rule selected program.
  7. In the blank box, type and select each of the following: "Chemical Engineering", "Civil Engineering", "Environmental Engineering", and "Geological Engineering".
    Screenshot of Scenario 4 rules.

Scenario 5 - Create a simple choice between rules

Goal: Replicate "Prereq: Level at least 2A or students pursuing the Diploma in Black Studies or the Diploma in Fundamentals of Anti-Racist Communication"

  1. Under Prerequisites, select + Add Rules.
  2. Next to A: Select the rule Students must be.
  3. Select the sub-rule in selected degree level or higher.
  4. Select 2A from the list.
  5. Add another rule by selecting the + button on the right of A.
  6. Next to B, select the rule Enrolled in.
  7. Select the sub-rule selected program.
  8. In the blank box, type and select each of the following: "Black Studies Diploma", "Fundamentals of Anti-Racist Communication Diploma". 

Upon entering requisite rules A and B, the logic row automatically updated to show all 2 rules are required. We will change this, to any 1 of the rules must be met.

  1. In the top row, above rule A, we change “Complete ALL of the following” to “Complete 1 of the following”.
    Screenshot of "Complete all of the following" pull-down menu.
  2. We now have:
    Screenshot of Scenario 5, step 10, "Complete 1 of the following" box.

Scenario 6 - Build a group to allow a choice between rules ("and/or" statements)

To use when more than one type of rule needs to be used and it involves a choice (an "or" statement) as well as an "and".

Goal: Replicate "Prereq: BIOL 110 or 2A Faculty of Environment students"

  1. Under Prerequisites, select + Add Rules.
  2. Next to A: Select Must have completed.
  3. Select the sub-rule all selected courses.
  4. In the Courses box, type and select BIOL110.
  5. Under the ... button on the right of A, select Create Group. Rule A became rule A.1. 
    Scenario 5 rules, at step 5.
  6. Select the + button next to A.1 to add another rule.
  7. Next to A.2: select the rule Students must be.
  8. Select the sub-rule in selected degree level or higher.
  9. In the blank box, select 2A.
  10. Under the … button on the right of A.2, select Create Group. Rule A.2 became rule A.2.1.
    Screenshot of Scenario 5, step 10, "Complete 1 of the following" box.
  11. Select the + button next to A.2.1 to add another rule.
  12. Next to A.2.2, Select the rule Enrolled in.
  13. Select the sub-rule Program & Plan offered by a selected group.
  14. In the Category box, select Faculty.
  15. In the Group box, select Faculty of Environment.
  16. This results in an entire prerequisite, which is interpreted to say A.1 and all A.2 (A.2.1 + A.2.2) are required: 
    Scenario 5 rules, step 16.
  17. To finish this prerequisite, we need to change it to say A.1 or all A.2 (A.2.1 + A.2.2). This is done by changing the Complete ALL of the following under Group A to Complete 1 of the following:
    Scenario 5 rule, step 17, changing to Complete all rule.
  18. Final version: 
    Scenario 5 rule, step 18, final version.
  19. Once saved, it looks like this: 
    Scenario 5 rule, step 19, saved final view.

Scenario 7 - Add a required milestone

Goal: Replicate “Prereq: Fine Arts Health and Safety Milestone; Fine Arts Woodshop Workshop Milestone”

  1. Under Prerequisites, select + Add Rules.
  2. Next to A, select the rule Obtained.
  3. Select the sub-rule selected milestones.
  4. In the Competencies box, add both milestones listed above, by typing them in one at a time, and clicking on the appropriate milestone in the list (to appear in alpha order). 
    Screenshot of Scenario 6 rule, step 5.

Scenario 8: Build an antirequisite of a topic course

Goal: Replicate "Antireq: EARTH 491 (Topic: Data to Decisions) taken winter 2021".

  1. Under Antirequisites, select + Add Rules.
  2. Next to A, select Not completed nor concurrently enrolled in.
  3. Choose any of the selected courses.
  4. Select the + button next to A to add another rule.
  5. Next to B, select Free form text and a box will appear.
  6. Copy the text from Rule A (up to the colon) and paste into the Rule B Free form text box.
    Antirequisite rule added to a Kuali CM course proposal, with the rule "Not completed nor concurrently enrolled" selected.
  7. Type in the course Subject+Number, followed by the Topic Number and Title in parentheses: "EARTH491 (Topic 6: Data to Decisions)"
  8. Delete Rule A.
  9. Final version:
    Free form text rule, for an antirequisite including a topics course, in Kuali CM.
  10. Once saved, it looks like this:
    Saved version of a Free form text rule, for an antirequisite including a topics course, in Kuali CM.

Notes:

  1. Topic courses must be represented with the Topic Number and Title coded in Quest; we do not reference the term it was taken unless it was only a specific instance of a topic number (all other scheduled instances would not be considered as an antirequisite).
  2. Don't know the Topic Number associated with the Title? Reach out to your faculty contact who can access that information in Quest for you, or submit a support ticket - making sure to provide the correct Topic Title - and the Office of the Registrar team can do that for you as well.