Automating milestone emails when learners complete any N module quizzes+surveys (Intelligent Agents)

Question

Hi all! I’m hoping to get suggestions for a D2L automation problem.

Context:

* Single D2L course contains 11 units. Each unit is “complete” when the learner finishes the unit’s survey AND the unit quiz(s) with a passing score (>=70%).
* We want automated emails sent to instructors when a learner has completed ANY 5, 10, 15 units (order doesn’t matter).
* Currently we use Awards to manually count how many learners have completed 5/10/15 units. Intelligent Agents would be ideal to send emails, but the Release Conditions in Intelligent Agents do not include “Completed any N quizzes/surveys/awards.”
* Surveys cannot be placed in the gradebook, so gradebook-based triggers aren’t viable.

What I’ve considered:

* Intelligent Agents can’t check “any N activities completed” as a release condition.
* Surveys aren’t grade items.
* Quizzes need to enforce >=70% as part of the unit completion rule.
* We don’t need a specific sequence. We just need a count of completed units.

Questions:

* Has anyone used Checklists / Competencies / Standards (or Learning Objectives) to represent each unit and then used those as the basis for counting “units completed”? Can Competencies be used in Intelligent Agents’ release conditions (or otherwise polled) to trigger an agent when a learner reaches any N competencies?
* Any examples of mapping quizzes/surveys to a competency or checklist item, and having that competency marked complete only when both quiz (>=70%) and survey are done?
* Alternatives: Has anyone used Class Progress, Completion Tracking, or Custom Progress tools + Intelligent Agents to do this? Can Class Progress be used as a trigger for an Intelligent Agent (e.g., “progress >= X topics completed”)?
* Integrations / automation: Anyone automate milestone emails outside Intelligent Agents that monitors D2L activity and sends emails when learners hit thresholds?
* Any other recommended approach that reliably counts “any N units completed” and can send automated notifications?

If you have step-by-step config notes, screenshots, or sample release-condition logic/scripts you can share, that would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance!

Steve.B.446 · Answer

It's a shame formula grade items can't be used in release conditions, I've spent quite a bit of time working around that one this week.

Jennifer.W.973 · Answer

@Tom.C.8067 Hi Tom! You would only be able to automate determining N number of quiz completions within D2L using a formula grade item and basing the release condition on meeting a learning objective (in the Competencies tool) attached to that grade item, but there's no way to include the corresponding survey completions since those can't be graded.

Counting awards is probably your best bet, but again, that can't be done within D2L. It might be worthwhile to get Enterprise Services involved and see if they can build you a dashboard in Power BI using the Awards and Users data sets from the EDW and then you could use Power Automate to send the emails.

Bhoomika.M.5897 · Answer

Hi @Tom.C.8067

Thank you for reaching out via Brightspace Community!

Regarding your question about automating milestone emails when learners complete multiple quizzes and surveys:

Based on the official Brightspace documentation (https://community.d2l.com/brightspace/kb/articles/5305-about-intelligent-agents), Intelligent Agents can only trigger emails based on specific activities, release conditions, or grade thresholds. There is no built-in trigger for “any N completed activities,” so the milestone automation you described is not natively supported.

If having this milestone count is critical, the recommended approach is to submit a D2L support case. Support can help explore potential workarounds, such as using competencies or checklists, and provide guidance on supported methods.

Thanks,

Bhoomika