Need Help with Variables

Hi everyone.

I have a question about tracking variables.  First i'll explain what i'm doing.  I have built a course for a client that asks the student upon start what business line they are in.  It's a simple slide with two buttons.  Let's say button 1 is for department A and button 2 is for Department B.  I have two True/False variables named for each department and set the corresponding department variable to True when the student selects their business line.  During the course I have slides with layers that trigger based on what department is selected. Example being a slide plays and when it reaches the end I have a trigger that checks what variable is True and then displays the layer to continue to play with the business line info on it.  If the student selected Dept. A then Layer Dept A would trigger, or if they selected Dept B then layer Dept. B would trigger.  RU still with me :)?

Ok.  Here's my dilemma. If a student leaves the course half way through for example and comes back later will my variable be saved?  I'm thinking that SL writes the variable to memory which gets wiped out upon close of the course.  The problem is when the student comes back in the variables will both be reading False and none of my layer triggers will function.  

Is there a way I can write the variable results to an external file and call on that file when the course restarts and repopulate the variables?  Somehow I doubt this.

Is it possible to create a script that would run upon restart to display a pop-up window asking them to select their business line again?  If so how can I trigger this and where would it be housed?

I could create a trigger on every slide that checks for this and then display a hidden pop-up to re-ask the question but my course has over 100 slides which makes this a bit of a nightmare and also an error trap.

Sorry this is a bit long and convoluted.  Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Graham