Last Update:
August 2009 Release 7.3
Activities: Academics This lesson is specifically designed for users responsible for scheduling academic sections in the Astra Schedule sys足 tem.
Astra Schedule VII 足 Training Manual Document by: Terry L. Saye Training Developer
Ad Astra Information Systems, LLC. 6900 W. 80th Street, Suite 300 Overland Park, KS 66204 www.aais.com
Table of Contents
Lesson Objectives
3
Common Practices
3
Best Practices
3
Concept Introduction
3
Area Overview
4
Section Import
5
Global Preferences
6
Managing Meeting Types
12
Creating a Term
13
Managing Subjects
14
Managing Courses
15
Managing Departments
16
Section Scheduling
17
The Optimizer
21
Exercise Solutions
25
Page 3 · Provide an overall guide to the components and fields that support section scheduling in Astra Schedule. · Explain recommended techniques for applying preferences globally to a term. · Teach end users how to edit section information and use the manual scheduling tool to assign rooms. · Provide an overall understanding of the preference settings that guide manual and optimized scheduling. · Provide instruction on setting scheduling priorities and using the Astra Schedule optimizer.
Common Practices
· Roll forward of offerings and room assignments from previous terms · Dual entry and errors due to SIS system / Scheduling incompatibility · Inability to support multiple users creating paperwork nightmares for the scheduling office · Lengthy scheduling processes and unrealistic deadlines on course scheduling · “Grandfathered” use of room resources resulting in over/under usage of space · Extensive data manipulation and compilation in order to get utilization and scheduling results in an acceptable report format
The “Return on Investment” possibilities with Astra Schedule are vast. With refined scheduling policies and procedures, and the software to support these efforts, our customers have found ways to better manage space for growing enrollments, schedule in a zone based method to save enormous amounts on heating and cooling, and speed up the event and section scheduling tasks through automated room availability checking and messaging. For further information, please check out our customer Case Studies, Testimonials, and Best Practices documentation available on our website www.aais.com. · · · · ·
Lesson Objectives
Best Practices
SIS integration with scheduling software Distributed scheduling capabilities to avoid complicated paper trails Webbased toolset Optimized scheduling based on the institutions scheduling policies through preference weight costing analysis Resource utilization reporting for immediate result analysis
Concept Introduction
Astra Schedule is a bestinclass transactional scheduling application. It can be used by fulltime schedulers and anyone outside of your scheduling office: departmental or event schedulers who need occasional access, instructors and students who want to view realtime academic and event schedules and resource managers who want to confirm resource requests and view reports.
Astra Schedule manages Room Scheduling for your entire campus. It provides everything you would expect in an advanced scheduling system and a few things you wouldn't expect. Its bulk room optimizer can be tailored to the needs and politics of your campus. Availability lookups simultaneously check all event assignments, bookings inherited from your Student Information System and other academic assignments made by Astra Schedule.
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Notes:
In this lesson we will cover the academic scheduling process as managed in Astra Schedule from start to finish. This starts with importing the section records from a student information system or creating them using the Platinum Analytics Suite. ·
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Area Overview
Once the initial course and instructor information have been added to the system, scheduling preferences may be configured at the global level. Academic section meetings may then be assigned rooms in bulk using the optimizer or individually as needed using the available room tool. Edits and room assignments will be pushed back to the student information system as changes are made, or as a batch upon schedule completion based on interface settings.
Vocabulary Terms: Section: A Section record is a termspecific offering of a course. Arranged Section: A section that has components of its meeting pattern that are undetermined. Cross Listed: Two or more sections that share meeting patterns and room assign ments for the entire term or session. This is often referred to as a combined section. Meeting Type: Meeting Types are a subdivision of courses, defining the instruc tional delivery type for a course section offering. Term: Terms are defined date ranges during which course sections are offered. Terms are manually created and configured before section records are imported. Term Type: Label used to categorize a term. Examples include “Summer”, “Fall”, “Intercession”, etc. Preference: The consideration of a given room type, feature, region, building, or room as determined by course or instructor need. Preference Set: A reusable group of saved scheduling preferences (business rules) applied during room assignment to determine “best fit” based on the scheduling process, term, or scheduling goals.
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Section Import
Section imports and interface settings will be configured by the system administrator in the Setup tab upon implementation. Once the configuration is completed, each new term must be added to the Astra Schedule system prior to section import. Course, Subject, Faculty, and Meeting Type tables are created and maintained as sections are imported into the scheduling system.
If academics are not imported into system, but created using the Survey Tool or Platinum Analytics, these data lists must be entered manually by the institution, prior to section creation. The data maintained in these tables is not date based and therefore can be accessed by all sections regardless of term. These tables are also updated as new information enters the system from the SIS. View / Edit imported Sections
Manage section support data
Some features may not appear as active depending on the institution’s license agreement.
While academic scheduling preferences (or business rules) may be applied at the section or section meeting level after import, it is recommended that they be configured at the global level to avoid duplicating effort term after term.
Notes:
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Notes:
The academic scheduling process in Astra Schedule begins with a careful analysis of the objectives and goals of scheduling. Creating preferences that take into account these goals, is paramount to getting the most out of Astra Schedule.
Global Preferences
Academic scheduling preferences allow you to require, exclude or specify a weighted preference for room types, features, regions, buildings or even specific rooms for each subject, course, meeting type, and instructor. These settings may then be applied to all corresponding section meetings during room assignment. How do global preferences affect section scheduling? Preferences may be set at the following global levels: 1. Meeting type (ie. All lectures prefer a room type of “classroom”) 2. Meeting type/Subject (ie. All biology labs prefer a room 3. type of “bio lab”) 4. Subject (ie. All accounting sections prefer the “business” region) 5. Course/Meeting type (ie. Art 101 Lab needs a “sculpting lab” while Art 106 lab prefers a “classroom” with “easel” features) 6. Instructor (ie. Kelly Douglas requests rooms with a feature of “overhead projector” when instructing) When assigning a room to a section in Astra Schedule, corresponding global preferences are considered to score each building and room in order to find the “best fit”. Meeting Type: Lecture Room type: Classroom
Course: Acct. 101 Feature: Whiteboard
Subject: Acct Region: Business
With the global preferences shown here on the left, the best fit room for Accounting 101 lecture sections will be a classroom in the business region with a whiteboard and the appropriate seat count.
In order to allow variation in scheduling practices, these business rules are created in Preference Sets which can be selected when utilizing the system scheduling tools. Example: Fall Set: Maximizes space utilization and focuses on course vs. seat fill needs. Summer Set: Restricts campus space with regional or building preferences in order to save on cooling costs.
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Creating a Preference Set Each preference set created may include preferences set at each of three global levels: 路
Meeting Type/Subject allows users to place preference settings on all sections of the same meeting type, or all sections of the same meeting type for a selected subject. Preferences applied to the meeting type will affect all sections of that meeting type regardless of subject. From the Subject level.
At the (current) Course level. Preferences applied at the meeting type/subject level will only affect sections of that subject and meeting type.
路
Subject/Course allows users to place preference settings for an entire subject (this would then filter down to every section offering of that subject), or on a specific meeting type of a selected course.
Preferences applied to the subject, will affect all sections of the subject. Inherited from the subject level.
Set at the course level. Preferences applied at the level will only affect sections of that course and meeting type.
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Notes:
This level will also inherit from the Meeting type/Subject preferences where applicable.
Inherited from the meeting type level.
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Inherited from the subject level.
Instructor, allows users to place preference settings on an individual instructor which would then apply to all sections taught by the instructor. This level is not part of an inheritance tree and will always append to any other preferences applied to the section.
Set at the instructor level.
Example: Meeting Type / Subject: Room type is a good example of pref erences that should be set at the meeting type / subject level. All lecture sections will generally use the same room type of “classroom” or “lecture hall”. All Biology labs will need a “Biology lab”. Subject / Course: Subjects are often linked to building or region re strictions. At the course level, instructional needs should be consid ered, such as “World Maps” for Geography. Instructor: Preferences at this level should be limited to absolute re quirements, such as “Wheel Chair Access” since each request further restricts scheduling options.
Page 9 To create a new Preference Set: 1. Select the Scheduling Preference Sets link located in the Academics Admin area of the Academics tab. 2. Click the Add Preference Set button. 3. Enter a Name for the set. 4. Optionally enter a Description. 5. Add preferences as desired (this will be covered in the next section). 6. Click Save.
Notes:
This button allows the user to create a new preference set, based on a previously created set.
A default preference set is associated with every academic term. These will be visible at the section level. Users may select any prefer足 ence set when optimizing or time tabling.
Applying Preferences The Preference Application Tool is used to add new preferences, edit existing preferences, replace existing preferences, or toggle the inheritance setting. To select a single item for editing: 1. First make sure the Preference Set is in edit mode by clicking on the Edit button. 2. Next select the item in the tree by clicking on the item name. This should highlight the item. Currently highlighted item.
This button will edit the highlighted item.
This button will edit all checked items in the list.
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Notes:
3. Click the Edit Preference button. 4. When editing a single item, all inherited preferences will appear on the form for review and editing. To add a new preference, click the Add button in the header of the preference type box. 5. Select the desired preference and click Save to add it to the form. 6. Set the desired weight and requirement option. Multiple requirements, mean that it must meet one of the check preferences to be assigned.
Set a weight for determining room fit. The higher the weight, the more desired the request.
7. Remove inherited preferences, or choose Do Not Inherit. Use the delete icon to remove individual inherited requests. The refresh icon will reapply the request. Do Not Inherit will move all inherited preferences to the current level for edit足 ing or deletion. This will also block all future inheritance.
8. Click Apply to return to the preference set for further editing. 9. Click Save when finished editing to save changes. To select multiple items for editing: 1. Check the items in the tree to be edited. 2. Click the Multi足Edit button. By default, the multi足preference application tool has no preferences defined and the Append option is selected for all preference types to indicate that new preferences will be appended to any previously configured preferences on each of the selected items.
Page 11 3. To add a new preference to the selected items, click the Add button in the header of the preference type box. 4. Select the desired preference and click Save to add it to the form. 5. Set the desired weight and requirement option. 6. To replace previously configured preferences on the items, select the Replace All… radio button. (To replace inherited preferences as well, select the Replace All… and check Do Not Inherit.) 7. Click Apply to return to the preference set for further editing. 8. Click Save when finished editing to save changes. Items selected for editing
Append to current preferences
Replace current preferences
When viewing academic preferences at the sec tion record level, it is important to remember the following:
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If a preferences has been added at the section level, it will override (remove) any global prefer ences. Removing all section level preferences will cause the system to refresh the screen with the inherited global preferences. Global preferences viewed at the section level will be inherited from the preference set associated with term. Global preferences viewed from a section record in the optimizer results area will be inherited from the preference set selected during optimization.
Exercise #1 Create a preference set for a selected subject utilizing subject, course/ meetingtype preferences. Include the subject in the naming conven tion of the preference set.
Notes:
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Notes:
The meeting type list in Astra Schedule is created and maintained by the system during section import. However, users with security access can edit and add new meeting types from the Meeting Types link in the Academics Admin area of the Academics tab when necessary. Meeting types may also be configured from the Master List area of the Setup tab by users with administrative rights. To add a new meeting type: 1. Scroll to the end of the list. 2. Fill in the Name and Description box. 3. Click Add.
Use the icons to edit or delete existing meeting types.
Managing Meeting Types
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Creating a Term
Terms are managed in the Academics Admin area of the Academics tab. Terms created in Astra Schedule must match the corresponding term in the student information system in order to properly import the section data. From the Terms list page, users with the appropriate access will add new terms, delete old terms, and manage term settings.
To add a new Term: 1. Click the Add Term button. 2. Enter the desired Term Name (descriptive name). 3. Enter the SIS Import Key (this term code must match the term code in the student information system). 4. Select a Term Type. 5. Select a default Preference Group. 6. Enter the Start and End Dates. 7. Check the Is Active checkbox to activate the term. 8. Mark the appropriate Campus(es). 9. Click the Save button.
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Notes:
The subject list in Astra Schedule is generally created and maintained by the system during section import. However, users with security access can edit and add new subjects from the Subjects link in the Academics Admin area of the Academics tab when necessary.
Managing Subjects
To create a new Subject record: 1. Click the Add Subject button. 2. Enter the desired Subject Title (descriptive name). 3. Enter the Subject Short Name (this should match the subject code in the student information system). 4. Check the Is Active checkbox to activate the subject. 5. Click the Save button.
To edit an existing Subject: 1. Click the edit icon at the end of the item row. 2. Edit the record as desired. 3. Click the Save button. To delete an existing Subject: 1. Click the delete icon at the end of the item row. 2. Click OK to remove the item.
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Managing Courses
Like subjects, the course list is created and maintained by the system during section import. However, some additional course information may need to be configured within Astra Schedule for advanced feature use. Courses may be edited and added from the Courses link on the Academics tab. To create a new Course record:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Click the Add Course button. Enter the desired Course Title. Select the Subject. Contact Hours are required for institutions using the Timetabling feature. Meeting Pattern Type is also required for Timetabling. Check the Is Active checkbox. Associate one or more Meeting Example: Types. (The enrollment values While typically a course may placed at the meeting type level will have a single meeting type of determine the number of sections Lecture or Seminar, some courses may have multiple delivery meth足 created by the Survey Tool.) ods such as those broken in to Lec足 8. Click the Save button. ture and Lab offerings.
To edit an existing Course: 1. Click the edit icon at the end of the item row. 2. Edit the record as desired. 3. Click the Save button. To delete an existing Course: 1. Click the delete icon at the end of the item row. 2. Click OK to remove the item.
Notes:
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Departments may be configured in the scheduling system under the Academics Admin area of the Academics tab. In upcoming releases of the software, courses may be associated to a department record making this a useful way to filter and report on courses, sections, or faculty. To add a new Department: 1. Click the Add Department button. 2. Enter the desired Name and Campus. 3. Optionally enter a Description. 4. Check the Is Active checkbox to activate. 5. Click the Save button. To edit an existing Department: 1. Click the edit icon at the end of the item row. 2. Edit the record as desired. 3. Click the Save button. To delete an existing Department: 1. Click the delete icon at the end of the item row. 2. Click OK to remove the item.
Managing Departments
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Section Scheduling
Course sections are located under the Academics tab, Sections link. This list page may be filtered using the options available in the left column. This list may also be exported to Excel if desired for reporting purposes. From this list, sections may be added, edited, assigned, or deleted, depending on user security settings.
Sections may be opened for viewing by clicking on the Course/Section field of the desired row and then placed in edit mode using the Edit button. User’s may also open the section in edit mode by using the icon at the end of the section row.
Section Details General information about the specific section record is displayed at the top of the Section form. This includes data that defines the section, but is not related to the meeting pattern. For most institutions using Astra Schedule, this information will be maintained in the student information system and will therefore not be editable by users of the scheduling system.
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This area also contains the Do Not Optimize checkbox. This flag simply indicates that the section should not be given room assignment by the optimizer.
Meeting patterns and meetingÂspecific details are shown in the Meetings area of the section form. In edit mode, this area also provides the ability to add additional meeting patterns and access to the available rooms tool for room assignment. To expand the meeting and view its scheduling preferences users may click on the arrow icon to the left of the listed meeting type.
Meeting Details Clicking directly on the meeting type hyperlink will open the Section Meeting form which allows for viewing and editing of the specific meeting, it’s scheduling preferences, crosslist properties, and room assignment. While most institutions will use the SIS as the system of record and these changes will be imported into Astra Schedule, it is possible to edit meeting pattern, crosslist, and enrollment information from this area.
Page 19 Meeting preferences will display any inherited business rules and their source. This inheritance is based on the preference set associated with the section term.
Preferences edited at the section level will only affect the current section for the current term. Individual occurrences of the section meeting are listed for editing in order to handle exceptions in the normal pattern. For any specific meeting date the section may be canceled or have a change in time, date, or venue. This is handled in the Meeting Date area of the Section Meeting form. Any change in room assignment at the section or meeting level will be handled by the available rooms tool.
The Available Rooms Tool The available rooms tool calculates which rooms are acceptable to the meeting in question and determines best fit based on score. Acceptable rooms will include any that have a capacity large enough to fit the section enrollment/capacity and that meet all required preference settings. Sections with no preferences may be placed in any room with a large enough scheduling capacity. Any acceptable room that does not have a conflicting booking will appear in the list for selection. Acceptable rooms with conflicts and shared rooms may also be included in the list by checking the Show Conflicts or the Show Shared Rooms option and clicking the Find Rooms button.
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Notes:
Available rooms are listed in descending order based on the Score column. The overall score is an average of the Preference Score and the Seat Fill score. These scores are calculated based on the section capacity, applied business rules, and the weights given to the business rules.
Schedulers will assign the desired room by clicking the Select link and then the Save button on the section. Conflicting meeting information is displayed when mousing over the status field of a room with conflicts.
Exercise #2 Locate an unscheduled section. Use the available rooms tool to find a room assignment. Edit section preferences as necessary.
Exercise #3 The instructor of the section scheduled in the exercise above has an足 nounced a guest speaker for one of the class meetings. Move this single meeting to an auditorium or large lecture hall for the single occurrence.
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The Optimizer
Once preference sets have been created. The academic scheduler may use the Optimizer to make building and room assignments. With refined business rules and processes this tool can not only save valuable time for the scheduling staff but, optimize campus space utilization and highlight trouble areas in current meeting patterns and preference use.
The Optimizer link is located in the Academics tab. Clicking on this link opens the Optimizer Run List, which displays any saved optimizer runs. A run is comprised of the selected settings utilized and optionally the generated results. The Status field of each run will display one of the following activity statuses: · Configured Only optimizer settings are saved. There are no results saved with the run. · Scheduled The optimizer run is scheduled to run at a later time. · Running The optimizer run is currently generating results. · Completed The optimizer run is finished and results are available for review. · Published The optimizer run results were published to the production section file. Vocabulary Terms: Score: A numeric representation of a room’s suitability for scheduling, based on sched uling preferences and seat fill. Score is used to suggest room assignments during manual scheduling and to make room assignment during optimization. Suitability: Suitability determines whether or not a room is appropriate for a course sec tion. Suitability takes into consideration campus, number of seats, and whether or not the room satisfies any required preferences. Scheduling Priorities: An optimizer setting that specifies the balance between subjective (preference priority) and objective (seat fill priority) scheduling. Bottleneck: A scheduling deficit caused by a scarce resource or heavily used time pe riod. A bottleneck is indicated when suitable rooms exist, but none are available for a given section. Infeasible: A section which has no suitable rooms due to a combination of scheduling requirements that are impossible to meet. Publish: The process of updating the production section data with room assignments made during an optimization run.
Notes:
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Notes:
Like other lists throughout Astra Schedule, the Optimizer Run List may be searched and filtered for easier viewing. To view or edit a specific run, click on the Name hyperlink or the edit icon available at the end of the record row.
Creating an Optimizer Run To create a new Optimizer Run: 1. Click the Add Optimizer Run button. Based on production data or a previous run.
Select desired preference set.
2. Select the appropriate parameters for the optimization.
Filter on term(s) and/or campus(es). Filter the data to be optimized.
Select preprocessing options. Minimum seat fill required to book room.
3. Set the Scheduling Priorities. (Room assignments are made based on subjective and objective scheduling criteria. During optimization the user may determine the importance given to preferences based on the preference type. ) Placing more emphasis on Seat Fill will produce a schedule that prioritizes better enrollment to seat ratio over preference attainment.
Page 23 4. Click the Save & Run Optimizer button to save your configurations and start the optimization process. 5. When the run is complete, the Reports page becomes available. If the user chose to move to another screen during the optimizer run, this screen is available once the status on the Optimizer Run List reads “Completed”.
Viewing Optimizer Results The Optimizer Results page provides an optimization summary as well as detailed information about those sections that were scheduled and those that were not.
The Reports page is broken down into the following three tabs: · Scheduled sections This tab provides a list of the sections assigned rooms by the optimizer run. Clicking on the section will allow the user to view the section detail information. At the bottom of this report tab is a report of the scheduled sections by meeting pattern for standard time and scheduling grid comparison.
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BottleNeck sections This tab provides a list of sections that were unable to be assigned to a room due to conflicts. Below the section list is a list of the rooms suitable for the bottlenecked sections that were unavailable do to assigned conflicts. Infeasible sections This tab displays a list of sections for which there were no suitable rooms found in the system. The cause of an infeasible will be found in the scheduling requirements of the section. Often this is a capacity issue or a required region or feature request that can not be met by the current room inventory.
Exiting the optimizer at this point saves the current run in the “Completed” status. The results remain available for future viewing or updating to production. The user may also choose to Discard Results, which maintains the run settings for future use or editing. When the user is satisfied with the optimizer results they may update the production data set with the new room assignments.
Publishing an Optimization Run To publish room assignments back to production data, click on the Prepare to Publish button. The system will then check the optimizer assignments against the production section file for possible issues. These issues may include: · Changes to production room assignments or events that have created conflicts since the optimizer run. · Changes to production room controls or other blocks (i.e. holidays) that impact room scheduling.
If issues exist, a list of the involved sections will appear with the following options (based on the user’s security settings): · Discard Results and rerun the optimization. · Override the controls or conflicts and publish the results. · Publish without including the conflicting section assignments.
Exercise #4 Create an optimizer run utilizing the preference set created in the first exercise and view the results.
Page 25 Exercise #1 Create a preference set for a selected subject utilizing subject, course/meeting type preferences. Include the subject in the naming convention of the preference set.
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Click on the Academics tab. Select the Scheduling Preference Sets link. Click the Add Preference Set button. Enter a Name and optional Description. Check the desired subject or expand the subject and select course meeting types to apply preferences. Click the Edit button to open the preference tool and add preferences. Click the Apply and Save button. Repeat until all desired preferences are added. Change the preference type dropdown list to “Instructor” Find and apply preferences to the proper faculty member. Click Save to save the completed Preference Set.
Exercise Solutions
Exercise #2 Locate an unscheduled section. Use the available rooms tool to find a room assignment. Edit section preferences as necessary.
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Click on the Academics tab. Select the Sections link. Use the filter and sorting options to locate an unassigned section. Click on the edit icon. Under the Meetings area, click the Assign button. Select an available room and click the Save button. If no rooms are available, close the rooms list and edit the section preferences as necessary. Once a room has been located and assigned to the section click the Save button to keep the room assignment.
Exercise #3 The instructor of the section scheduled in the exercise above has announced a guest speaker for one of the class meetings. Move this single meeting to an auditorium or large lecture hall for the single occurrence.
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From the Section Information page, click on the meeting type link located in the Meetings area. In the Section Meeting page, click on the Edit button. Select a specific date from the Meeting Dates area and click on the edit icon. Click the Change button to select a new room for the meeting. Click the Save Meeting Date button. Click Save on the Meeting Information page. Click Back to return to the Section Information page. Click Back again to return to the Sections List.
Exercise #4 Create an optimizer run utilizing the preference set created in the first exercise and view the results.
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Click on the Academics tab. Select the Optimizer link. Click the Add Optimizer Run button. Enter a Name and optional Description. Select the correct Preference Set. Filter the data for optimization to the desired subject. Click the Save & Run Optimizer button.
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