Degree Audit User Training | Scope

What is scope?

Scope is the classification of a requirement based on where it exists in the cumulative degree plan. Scope is how IDA differentiates between sets of rules that are enforced by different academic units. It also partially determines how coursework can be reused to count for multiple requirements. Scope is a required metadata field for every requirement.

The current scopes, in order of appearance in the metadata, are:

Administrative

Typically used for GPA and Totals requirements at the University and school/college levels. Also used primarily for independent restrictions, such as duplicate checking. Administrative rules display differently from other scopes on audit results (see scope and display below).

Core

Used for requirements needed to fulfill the core curriculum. Each core rule requires a valid core code. Core rules are maintained exclusively by UGS; do NOT use this scope for non-core rules.

General Education

Typically used for requirements that apply to every degree plan within a given school/college.

Major

Used for any rule enforced by the major, including all requirement and restriction types.

Attribute Flag

Used for flag requirements. Used in conjunction with a course list that seeks a specific flag (WR, GC, etc.).

Track

Typically used for degree plans that have two or more distinct tracks or specializations within a single major. May be considered a more granular subset of major rules.

Minor (prior to 2016-18 only)

Used for degree plans that require a minor. Used in conjunction with special course lists that seek the minor FOS (or FOSes) submitted with the audit.

Minor/Certificate (starting in 2016-18 only)

Used for a single, specialized "trigger" requirement within each degree plan. Can have its description and estimated hours updated to reflect whether it's required for a degree or not. The trigger will retrieve the rules associated with the minor/certificate submitted with the major. Rules within each minor/certificate sequence record also receive this scope. For more information, read the minors/certificates module.

Custom

May be used for requirements that don't fit one of the other scopes. Carries no special processing.

Elective

Typically used for requirements that seek free electives.

Scope reuse

Scope reuse is one way that IDA handles coursework that may be counted in more than one place (known as "double-dipping"). Scope reuse is retrospective. When you enable scope reuse within a requirement, you permit the second "dip" for that requirement. Enabling scope reuse in a requirement does NOT mean that a course used to fulfill that requirement can be "double-dipped" in a later requirement.

Scope reuse may only be set for requirements that permit the use of coursework that was used for other scopes. One example pertains to core rules. An individual course cannot be used to fulfill more than one core rule. Core rules therefore cannot enable "Core" for scope reuse. On the other hand, any course used to fulfill a core rule may be used to fulfill rules with a different scope, such as major rules. If a major rule permits reuse of core coursework, then scope reuse for "Core" can be enabled on the major rule to allow core coursework to count for that major rule.

The sequence record can help you determine how and where scope reuse is needed. For example, the first requirement listed within a sequence is the first one evaluated, and is the first opportunity for coursework to be applied to a requirement. In theory, scope reuse is not needed here. If the second requirement allows coursework from the first requirement to be used, then scope reuse can be enabled on the second requirement to allow the coursework to count for both requirements. (Note: in practice it is common to enable scope reuse for all requirements regardless of sequence position.)

Another example involves minor/certificate rules and free electives (in the 16-18 catalog only). The trigger requirement should always be sequenced second-to-last, ahead of electives (if your degree plan has no electives, the trigger will come last). The minor/certificate rules will need to have their scope reuse updated from their own sequence record to allow reuse from parts of the degree plan. Since electives are sequenced (and evaluated) last, the college must decide if coursework used to fulfill minor/certificate rules can also be used to satisfy free electives. If so, then you need to enable "Minor/Certificate" scope reuse on the electives requirement.

If “exclude unused coursework” is checked yes in a requirement, then the course will be reusable if it was used for at least one of the scopes listed under scope reuse in the requirement. If “exclude unused coursework” is checked no, then the course is NOT reusable if any scope has applied that is not listed in scope reuse.

Scope restrictions

Scope restrictions are dependent restrictions that can be used to restrict courses from counting toward specific scopes. One example is a grade requirement. If your degree plan does not allow grades below a certain threshold to count for your major rules, you can use a scope restriction on the major rules to exclude any course that doesn't meet the threshold. For more information, see the restrictions module.

Because scope restrictions are dependent restrictions, they do not display on the audit results (even if they exclude a course) and their effects may not be obvious. A dependent restriction with an Administrative scope can have effects that are especially hard to detect. For this reason, you are strongly encouraged to remove Administrative from the list of scopes to which the restriction applies.

Scope and display

Each scope carries a header that has a predetermined position within the audit results. Each requirement with a given scope will appear on the audit results under that scope's header. From top to bottom, the order of headers is:

• Core
• Attribute Flag
• General Education
• Major
• Track
• Minor/Certificate
• Elective
• Custom

Note: Administrative requirements do not have a unique header, but are displayed using the requirement type. For example, an Administrative GPA requirement will appear under the "GPA Totals" header, while an Administrative totals requirement will appear under "Credit Hour Totals."

Scope display and sequence processing

The organization of scope headers on the audit results does not influence processing order. Rules are processed in order based on their position in the sequence record, regardless of where they display on the audit results.

Requirement Reuse

There are times when you may find scope reuse to be too broad and you can instead use requirement IDs to either include a specific requirement for reuse or to exclude a specific requirement from reuse. Allowing or denying reuse through requirement IDs takes precedence over scope reuse.