The Scheduling Runs interface enables users to generate a master schedule and place students into existing classes. If Resource Classes were created, users must select the Build and Section tab from the interface.
Before you Begin
All Resource classes should be defined prior to using the Build and Section tool. The Builder places all resource classes in the master schedule during each run, in the order defined within the Build & Prioritize tool, whether or not students have requested that course. Resource classes are assigned optimal meeting times based on a number of variables, including staff and room availability, course requests (from students included in the run), period blackouts (singleton courses requested by all students in a grade level) and bell times.
Once resource classes have been placed on the master schedule by the Builder, students are sectioned into each available class based upon student priority. Within each student priority, a difficulty matrix is generated, based on the number of singleton and doubleton requests, to determine the order in which students are sectioned. For each student, course requests are fulfilled based upon the associated request priority. Within each request priority, the Sectioner will place singleton and doubleton requests first, and all remaining requests are fulfilled based upon the defined course request sort priority.
Users can create as many runs as needed to achieve optimal student schedules, but should load only one run. Subsequent loads will delete previously loaded schedules.
Users have two options, if they want to use the automated Build tool and schedule students by grade level:
- Run the Builder for all or desired grade levels and load the results; lock the student schedules for the desired grade level(s); and use the Sectioner to schedule all subsequent grade levels.
- Run the Builder by grade level without loading the results, convert the resource classes for that grade to classes and lock the class rosters for those classes; repeat the run, convert and lock process for each additional grade level; then do a final run for all grades and load that run.
On both the Section Only and Build and Section tabs, users can run the scheduling engine for All grades or for individual grades by selecting the corresponding checkboxes.
Where to Start
- Go to Scheduling.
- Select Scheduling.
- Choose Scheduling Runs.
Build and Section
- Select the Build and Section tab.
- Leave Grades on All or deselect All to select the individual Grades to include in the run.
- To generate a new scheduling run, select Build.
- To generate a new scheduling run and prioritize the order of courses within the new run, click Prioritize & Build.
Red Light / Green Light
- The Red Light/Green Light window will display. This process checks the status of all recommended scheduling tasks to ensure that the scheduling engine produces optimal results. If an action has not been completed, the Red Light/Green Light message window will report the number of red lights (incomplete tasks). Select the number hyperlink to open the Red Light/Green Light Dashboard in order to resolve the red light tasks.
- Select OK to skip the dashboard and continue to the sectioning run. If users selected Build, clicking OK will open the Scheduling Engine Status screen. If users clicked Prioritize and Build, clicking OK will open the Priority Drag & Drop window.
Priority Drag & Drop
In the Priority Drag & Drop window, the initial run will display the default build priority and subsequent runs will display the build priority selected in the Red Light/Green Light window. Priority Drag & Drop features the following functionality:
- Click a column header to sort.
- Use the Search field to return any matching results at the top of the list, with all non-matching records listed below in the previous sort order.
- Hover over a course to highlight it and display the Move to Top / Move to Bottom icons. Click the icons to move the course to the top/bottom of the list.
- Users can click and drag a course to the desired position in the list.
- Click the Pushpin icon (next to the Course Title) to pin a course and maintain its position in the list across sorting and dragging options.
- Reordered courses are highlighted in light blue, and pinned courses are highlighted in red.
Once all courses are in the desired order, click Build to open the Scheduling Engine Status screen.
Scheduling Engine Status
On the Scheduling Engine Status screen, click Refresh to monitor the progress of the scheduling engine. When the status bar reaches 100%, the run is complete and the window may be closed.
Refresh the Scheduling Runs screen to view the results of the scheduling engine. Scheduling runs details include the description of the run (with grade level specifics, if the run is not all grades), the user that created the run, and the date/time of the run.