A knowledge-based tool in facilitating course exemption process for institution of higher learning

Course exemption is an important phase in the enrollment process. It is done before a student being enrolled and accepted into a program such as diploma students enroll into degree programs. A knowledge-based tool is required to assist program leaders to provide exemption advice to students. The traditional approach requires much cumbersome manual iteration, making the process longer and error-prone. In order to overcome these problems, a knowledge-based tool is proposed and it contains knowledge-based engine that assist program leaders in generating course exemption advice report by using rule-based reasoning technique. The knowledge-based engine incorporates several features, including rules and requirements set by authorized regulatory board for standardization and compliance purposes. The course exemption process may vary from one university to another, and one faculty to another. In this paper, a case study is conducted at a business faculty at University A. It is hoped that by using the proposed tool, the business faculty being the largest faculty in University A will increase work efficiency. This tool is an exemption advice tool to assist program leaders in facilitating course exemption to students under categories of new students, returning students, transfer students and existing students. This paper presents the existing exemption process adopted by department Y, which parked under the business faculty.