(OLD) Creating an Advanced Audience Rule

An Advanced Audience Rule can be complex, consisting of multiple Rule Groups and Rules within a group. This type of audience definition will provide more administrator control to expand or narrow the users included in an audience membership.

Selecting the Rule Type

From the Rule Type Selection screen, select the Advanced Audience option and click Create Rule.
A Rule Group is used in an Advanced Audience Template to define a set of rules based on a key target such as people, completions, quiz questions in a course, xAPI statements, or other audience templates.

Selecting a Rule Group

When the audience template is empty, you must select a Rule Group in order to access the Rules Definition screen. If the template has an existing Rule Group or Rule, then the system will navigate you to the Rules Definition screen after you select the Rule Type. Click Add Group.
See the table below for more details on each Rule Group.

Rule Groups and their Descriptions

Group	Description
People	Defines a set of Rules based on user data, such as hire date, role, or domain values.
Completions	Defines a set of Rules based on course completions (including expired completions).
Quiz Questions	Defines a set of Rules based on answers to questions in AICC, SCORM, xAPI courses, surveys, or assessments. When selecting the Quiz Questions Rule Group, you will be required to select a course first.
Audience Templates	Defines a set of Rules based on a user’s membership in other audience templates. This allows one template to be created that combines other templates.
xAPI	Defines a set of Rules based on xAPI statements.

After selecting a Rule Group, the Advanced Audience Rule Definition Screen is displayed.

Defining a Rule

A Rule is a criterion within a specific Rule Group. Each Rule Group can have one or more Rules. A Rule has three components that comprise a filter definition:

Field
Comparison Operator
Value

The Field Name component of the filter will show a drop-down list of all the entities related to the Rule Group selected, as described in the sections below. The Comparison Operator and the associated Values depend on the Field selected. See Selecting a Comparison Operator and Selecting a Single Value on this page for more information.

Defining Criteria Based on People Data

When you select People as the Rule Group, the filter options will be related to the domains (custom fields), roles, and other user fields such as city, state, postal code, country, time zone, culture, currency, etc. For example, you can use this audience template to assign a course for New Hires or to employees in a specific location (pictured below).

Parent vs. Child Domain Levels

When you select a parent domain level as shown in the example below, the system will include users who belong to the child domain levels as well. In this example, the domain is Location, and United States and New Jersey are parent domain levels. The audience will include users who live in any city in Mercer County.

Defining Criteria Based on Completions

When you select Completions as the Rule Group, the filter options in the Advanced Audience Rule Definition screen will be related to the following entities:

Completion Date (see recommendations below)
Course
Status (Completed, Waived, Exempt, Pass, or Fail)
Score
Time Spent (in minutes)
Latest Completion (Yes/No, see recommendations below)
Completed via Equivalency (Yes/No)

When using the Completions to create a Rule Group, you will be required to select an existing course within the LMS that the completion-based rule will apply to. After selecting the Completions radio button, use the drop-down menu to locate the name of the associated course.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Using the ‘Latest Completion’ Filter

We recommend using the Latest Completion entity in relation to another entity from the above list rather than using one entity alone. For example, when you use “Latest Completion = Yes” in combination with the “Score = is less than 80”, a user who has a score of less than 80 in their latest completions will be included in the audience. All earlier completions will be ignored. This audience template can then be used to assign follow-up training for users who meet these criteria. Conversely, this template can help to reveal users who need to be removed from certain audiences because they have already mastered the subject matter.

Using the ‘Completion Date’ Filter

If you do not select a specific course as a Rule, then this Rule will be applied to all courses. For example, if the completion date is less than or equal to March 1st, 2021, then completing any course on or before this date will put the users in the audience.

If you combine the Completion Date Rule in the above example with a specific course selected and the ALL condition, then the audience will include users who completed that specific course on or before March 1st, 2021. As you can see in the example below, the group count has changed due to the selected filters.

Defining Criteria Based on Quiz Questions

When you select Quiz Question as the Rule Group, you must select a course.
This course can be an AICC, SCORM, xAPI, survey, or assessment.

The filter options presented for this Rule are the quiz questions defined in this course. Users who answered the question as indicated in the Rule will be selected for the audience membership. You can choose to add multiple questions with the corresponding correct answers as Rules in the group. This filter takes into account a user’s most recent answers only.

NOTE: In order to get the data for an audience template with the Quiz Question Rule Group, at least one user should have answered at least one question in the course. The drop-down will show data even if the course is In Progress (incomplete) in a user’s Learning Plan, as long as at least one question has been answered. If no questions have been answered, you cannot select this Rule Group. It is recommended that administrators complete the quiz themselves prior to including this Rule Group in an audience template.

Defining Criteria Based on Audience Templates

When you select the Audience Template Rule Group, the filter option will be the Audience Template Title.

You can use the Audience Template in combination with other Rule Groups or consolidate one or more templates into a single template, as shown in the example below.

Defining Criteria Based on xAPI Statements

When you select the xAPI Rule Group, the filters are derived from the xAPI statements available in LearnShare.

xAPI, or Experience API, is a method of collecting learning data from a variety of sources that is quantifiable, sharable, and trackable. This data is based on individual learning experiences, which can take place both online and offline. Offline learning, such as experiential and social learning, can be difficult to track. xAPI makes tracking various types of learning possible through the use of xAPI statements. These statements are structured using nouns, verbs, and objects (i.e., “I did this.”). This allows greater freedom to communicate learning experiences.

While SCORM allows tracking information such as time, completion, scores, or passing/failing a course, xAPI captures the user’s experience to allow you to collect more detailed data points in real time about informal and formal learning activities and experiences. xAPI tracks more data than SCORM, thus allowing you to get more context to analyze the learning experience of users. LearnShare can store xAPI statements from external courses and other sources.

Rule Filters and Group Options

Each Field within a Rule requires its own Comparison Operator and Value to provide the necessary level of detail required to effectively manage audience membership. See each of the sections below for more details.

Selecting a Comparison Operator

The Comparison Operators available for a field will differ based on the data type. For example, the Operator “starts with” is not applicable for a number or a date field.

Equal To
Not Equal To
Greater Than / Greater Than or Equal To*
Less Than / Less Than or Equal To*
Contains**
Starts With**
Ends With**
Date Range – available only for date fields. This Operator offers many predefined options to target specific users for audience membership. See Date Range Filter Options for more details.

*This Operator is not applicable when selecting multiple values.

**This Operator is not applicable when selecting multiple values and is available only for text fields.

Selecting a Single Value

After selecting a Field Name and a Comparison Operator, you must select a value to complete defining the Rule. Type or select a value from the drop-down list. Date fields will provide access to a calendar tool, as shown below.

Date Range Filter Options

When you select a date field and select a date range as the Comparison Operators, the Value drop-down list will display predefined options to target specific users for audience membership.

Select a Date Field (i.e., Hire Date in the People Rule Group and Completion Date in the Completions Rule Group). Select Date Range as the Comparison Operator. Then click on the Values drop-down. See the table below for more information on date range categories.

Date Range Category	Options
Current	Day, Week, Month, Month to Date, Quarter, Quarter to Date, Year, Year to Date (These options are related to the current calendar year.)
Next	Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year
Previous (Time and Days Ago)	Day, 7 Days, Week, 14 Days, 30 Days, Month, Fiscal Quarter, Quarter, 12 Months, Year
Variable (N Days Before or After)	N = Days After Today, Days Before Today, Days Before and After Today (You can also specify a date range.)

Selecting Multiple Values

When you select certain fields using the Comparison Operator “equal to” or “not equal to”, the multi-selection icon will become visible. The selection window will appear with a list of values for the selected field. See Selecting Multiple Values on this page for further instructions.

Adding Multiple Rules to a Rule Group

When defining an Advanced Audience Rule, you can add multiple Rules to a group to better manage audience membership. To add more than one Item to the Rule Group, you must click the Save icon to save the current Item, then click the Add icon to add an additional Item.

Select the Field Name, Comparison Operator, and Value(s) for the new Item and click the Save icon.

Editing and Deleting Rules

To edit or delete a Rule, place your cursor over it. The Edit icon (pencil) and Delete icon (trash can) will appear to the right of the Rule. Click the Edit icon to modify the criteria for a Rule and click Save. Click the Delete icon to remove a Rule and click OK to confirm.

Any / All Condition

To narrow the membership of a Rule Group, select All. This implies that the criteria defined in all the Rules for the group must be satisfied for a user to be included in the audience membership. For example, users must have a completion date earlier than March 1st, 2020, AND have a score that is less than 10.

To expand the membership of a Rule Group, select Any. This implies that even if one of the Rules is satisfied, those users will be in the audience membership. For example, users can have a completion date earlier than March 1st, 2020, OR have a score of less than 10.

Adding Multiple Rule Groups

An Advanced Rule can contain multiple Rule Groups to add more control to the audience membership. To add another Rule Group when creating an Advanced Audience Template, click on the Add icon located at the top right corner of the screen.

Select the type of Rule Group you want to add and click Add Group.

The Advanced Rules screen will show the new Rule Group section. Rule Groups are processed in the order they appear on the screen and the interaction option selected. See Interactions Between Rule Groups for more information.

Define the filters and click the Save icon.

Interactions Between Rule Groups

Each Rule Group can expand or limit the number of people in an audience membership. Rule Groups are evaluated and processed in the order they are defined on the screen and the interaction criteria selected. The result from the previous group is passed on to the next group.

Interaction Criteria	Description
Remove people who are not in the following group	Users who do not match the criteria of the next group will be excluded from the audience.
Add people who are in the following group	In addition to the users already included in this audience, users who match the criteria in the next Rule Group will also be included.
Remove people who are in the following group	Users who match the criteria of the next group will be excluded from the audience.

Deleting a Rule Group

To remove a Rule Group, click the Delete icon at the group level. Click OK to confirm.

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