SIS 2000+ Student Schedule Editor, Sec. 9, Walk-In Scheduler

SIS 2000+ Student Schedule Editor

Last update: 09/02/2000 jmm

Sec. 9, Walk-In Scheduler

The Walk-In Scheduler is an extension of the Student Loader. Walk-In Scheduler services may be accessed through a client application such as the Student Schedule Editor. The Walk-In Scheduler capabilities can be better understood by reviewing the capabilities of the Student Loader as follows:

The Student Loader mass-schedules students into course sections in the Master Schedule, attempting to satisfy the maximum number of course requests with the minimum amount of scheduling conflicts and, at the same time, comply with various user-defined scheduling parameters, rules and options such as demographic distribution, course rules, teams, class size, etc. The Student Loader uses a sophisticated algorithm to run its scheduling sessions. It is a tremendous tool for creating schedules that, when attempted by hand in the past, were very difficult to process and control. Computers have the ability to do more, and provide a sophisticated approach. Most importantly, the program allows the user to create student schedules that reflect priorities.

The Walk-In Scheduler (WIS) does the same thing as the Student Loader, using the same preferences, controls, and rules. The difference is that the WIS is specifically designed to process a single student per session. Furthermore, it can be conveniently accessed from a client without having launch the Loader itself. The WIS process is also similar to the operation of the Prepare for Mid Year application in that the WIS is able to load students into a schedules during the middle of the school year, albeit one at a time. See the "Prepare for Mid Year" document for more details.

Typical scenarios where the Walk-In Scheduler would be used:

For scheduling a new student who enrolls in a school during the middle of a term (Start at Step 9.1).
Rescheduling: Altering an existing student schedule for an approaching term or terms. (Start at Step 9.2).

Though an individual student can be scheduled manually using the regular functions of the Student Schedule Editor, counselors may find the Walk-In Scheduler to be faster when there are several courses to be scheduled.

The services of the Walk-In Scheduler are accessed from the Student Schedule Editor via the WIS command button (Fig. 73).

Fig. 73

Prerequisites -
Because the Walk-In Scheduler is an extension of the Student Loader, it abides by the rules, options, preferences, and controls that have been defined for the Loader.

Define Loader Rules -

See Loader Rules

Set Loader Options -

See Student Loader, Step 2, "Set Loader Options"

9.1 Schedule a new student

9.1.1 Find the New Student

See Sec. 1, "Introduction/Find a Student"

9.1.2 Enter Course requests
Course requests can be entered via the Student Schedule Editor (See Sec. 3, "Add, Edit, Delete Course Requests") or they can be added via the Course Request Editor application (See Course Request Editor). Course requests that are added via the Course Request Editor will also appear in the Student Schedule Editor in the target student's record (Fig. 74).

Fig. 74 - course requests added for a new student

9.1.3 Initialize Walk-In Scheduler
Click on the WIS command button (Fig. 73) to open the parameters dialog (Fig. 75). The Track field will default to the first track for which the target student is enrolled (in alphanumeric order). The First Term field will default to the first schedule term defined for the first track. The Effective Date will default to the begin date of the First Term selected.

Fig. 75 - sample default parameters

9.1.3.1

Define Parameters

Track -

First Term to be Scheduled -

Effective Date

First Term

Fig. 76

Override -

Effective Date

Effective Date -

First Term

Override

after

First Term

Override

Effective Date

Fig. 77 - sample schedule entry date override, where a student will be starting classes after the selected term has begun

9.1.3.2

Initialize the session

Click on the Schedule command button (or Quit to abort the process and return to the Student Schedule Editor). Allow a few moments for the Walk-In Scheduler to initialize and calculate preliminary data. Screen gauges will indicate the progress (Fig. 78).

Fig. 78

When calculations are completed the first 'Walk-In Schedule' screen will appear for the selected student (Fig. 79). Here the user will interact with the Walk-In Scheduler until an acceptable schedule is calculated for the selected student. The initial view displays the current status of all pending course requests for the selected student.

Fig. 79

In the case of a new student, immediately after initialization, before any scheduling is attempted, all new requests will be considered unscheduled until they are successfully scheduled in loading process in subsequent steps. Pending course requests will be color coded as follows:

Dropped Red: New request; not yet scheduled or attempted.

Alternate Purple: An alternate course request; not scheduled.

Team Medium blue: Team request. (A team request does not schedule course sections; rather, it applies course section exclusion/inclusion rules as defined for the team in the Team Editor program. See Team Editor for details.)

Fig. 80

9.1.4 Preprocess requests

9.1.4.1 'First' attempt

Click on the First command button. The first possible schedule result is calculated and displayed (Fig. 81). The section number, term, period and cycle day will be shown for each course scheduled. The faculty member teaching a schedulable course will be displayed in the Comments field.

Fig. 81 - sample of preprocessed schedule, first possible schedule result

The elements of the preprocessed schedule, including pending requests, will be color coded as follows:

New Green: Scheduled course section

Dropped Red: Not scheduled/Reasons below. For details on why this request could not be scheduled, select the entry and then read the text in the Reasons field below.

Alternate Purple: An alternate course request; not scheduled.

Linked Light blue: Linked section. A "linked" course section is one that was scheduled in the Walk-In session because it was linked to another course section that was successfully scheduled. See Section Links Editor for instructions on creating section links.

Team Medium blue: Team request. (A team request does not schedule course sections; rather, it applies course section exclusion/inclusion rules as defined for the team in the Team Editor program. See Team Editor for details.)

Fig. 82

9.1.4.2 View other possible schedule results
There may be more than one possible schedule configuration that satisfies a new student's requests. For example, a course that has more than one section could be scheduled in several possible periods or a course could be scheduled in the same period but with different teachers, etc. The user is given an opportunity to view the possibilities and choose the one that is best suited for the student.

Click on the Next command button to view the next possible schedule configuration (Fig. 83).

Fig. 83 - sample of preprocessed schedule, second possible schedule result.
Click on Next again to see the next result (Fig. 82).

Fig. 84 - sample of preprocessed schedule, third possible schedule result
Continue clicking on the Next command button. When all possible results have been displayed, a 'No More Possibilities' message will appear (Fig. 85). Click "OK" to close the message and return to the last result viewed.

Fig. 85

Use the navigation buttons (Fig. 86) to return to the desired schedule result.

Navigation buttons:

Use the Next command to advance to the next schedule result.

Use the Previous command button to go back to the previous schedule result.

Use the Bookmark command button to tag a schedule result screen for future reference (only the last bookmark executed will be saved).

Use the Goto Bookmark command button to return to the book marked schedule result.

Fig. 86

9.1.5 Save a Schedule

Next

Save

Fig. 87

Possible error message on Save -

Since more than one counselor could be using the WIS at the same time and viewing the schedules for a few minutes, it is possible for class seats to be "taken away" from a student during the interim. For example, if there is only one seat left in a course section and there are two counselors scheduling their student into that section simultaneously, one student will be locked out. The WIS checks this when the Save command is executed. If the proposed result has a full class, an error message will appear that reads, "At least one class has been filled. Reinitialize student." Click "OK" and go back to the 'First' command to start over (Step 9.1.4.1).

Select Term

Show Schedule as of

black

red

Fig. 88 - Saved schedule. In this sample, 'all year' courses have codes placed in all terms in the grid even though the schedule entry date was in the middle of Quarter 3. In future enhancements, all year courses that are started in the middle of the school year will only display in terms that are scheduled after the schedule entry date. Notice that Period 1 has two courses schedule concurrently, indicated by the extra line under Period 1.

9.1.6 Edit the schedule (optional)
The schedule may be edited at this point, if necessary, by scheduling or unscheduling courses.

9.2 Reschedule an existing schedule
While most students are scheduled for the entire school year, it may be necessary to reschedule a future term or terms for an individual.. The rescheduling steps are similar to the "Schedule a new student" steps above, but with a few differences: The rescheduling procedure is normally performed ahead of time; before the start date of the term to be rescheduled. For example, before Semester 1 ends, all or some of the courses scheduled for Semester 2 can be removed from the schedule and the WIS can then be used to recalculate possible schedules for Semester 2 based on a new set of course requests. However, in the process of rescheduling, the WIS will have to deal with more variables than when scheduling a new student who has no previous schedule records. For example, it must schedule around locked (prescheduled) schedule records.

9.2.1 Find student and set view
Use the find command to locate the target student. See Sec. 1, "Introduction/Find a Student" . Set the View and Show Schedule as of date for optimum viewing of the terms to be rescheduled (Fig. 89). See Sec. 2, "Set Parameters".

Fig. 89 - sample existing schedule
9.2.2 Unschedule courses
Use the Unschedule procedure to remove (withdraw/exit or delete) courses that will no longer be needed in the term(s) to be rescheduled. (See Sec. 5, "Unschedule / Exit a Course" for instructions.) For scheduled courses that are not derived from course requests, such as those that were "scheduled by period", removal is optional because they will automatically be deleted anyway during the rescheduling process - as long as they are not "locked". (See Step 9.2.3 below for details on locked schedule records.)

Fig. 90 - Sample: schedule records removed from Semester 2, periods 2 and 6, leaving a total of 3 empty periods in Semester 2.
Pay special attention to 'all year' courses in the schedule. An 'all year' course will occupy the same period across all terms in the grid, thus preventing any rescheduling in that period, even if the course was dropped or withdrawn before the Effective Date of the rescheduling session. A future enhancement will allow the period of a dropped year long course to be rescheduled in the remaining space by the WIS as long as the course was dropped before the Effective Date of the rescheduling session (or the start date of the First Term to be rescheduled). Until this feature is implemented, if a period needs to be rescheduled after an 'all year' course was dropped, it can only be done manually from the Student Schedule Editor main screen. Whatever the case, remember that two schedule records in the same period cannot have overlapping date ranges - unless one of the sections has a "Conflict OK" attribute in the Master Schedule).
9.2.3 Lock down courses / retain courses
Scheduled courses that are to be retained in their original time slots (section/period/teacher), should be "locked" in place. This way, the scheduling will be done around the locked courses without disturbing them. In order to be considered locked, schedule records must have a schedule status code of 'Pre-Scheduled'. However, the scheduled courses to be retained may or may not have a status code of 'Pre-Scheduled', depending on the way they were originally scheduled. Check the status code of the schedule records using the edit mode in the schedule grid of the Student Schedule Editor. Change the Entry Code to 'Pre-Scheduled' for course sections to be locked (Fig. 91). See Step 4.6, "Edit a schedule record".

Fig. 91
These locking and retaining procedures only apply to schedule records that start on or after the Effective Date of the rescheduling session. 'All year' courses, 'Both semester" courses, and previous term courses that extend into the term(s) to be rescheduled, or schedule records with attendance data will automatically be "locked" by the WIS.

Retaining a course in any time slot -
If it doesn't matter what period or section a retained course is rescheduled, leave the course in the schedule grid. Make sure it has schedule status code of something other than "Prescheduled" (using the edit feature - to be announced) so that the WIS can remove the schedule record and reschedule it in another section or period, if necessary. Remember that the WIS schedules only course requests. However, some scheduled courses to be retained may not have course requests if they were originally scheduled using the 'schedule by period' method. Double check the Course Request list to make sure that any course to be retained has a corresponding course request registered. If none exists then one must be added before initializing the WIS.

9.2.4 Delete obsolete course requests
Check carefully for any obsolete, unscheduled course requests (displayed in red font) registered for the student in the Course Requests list. Make sure to delete any unscheduled course request that will not be required for rescheduling session. If this is not done the rescheduling attempt may be corrupted by irrelevant courses. See Step 3.3, "Delete an Unscheduled Course Request"

Fig. 92 - Obsolete course requests deleted

(Course requests in black font indicate that they are scheduled in the current View and Date; purple font indicates they are scheduled, but not in the current View and Date. Both of these type of course requests cannot be deleted unless the schedule record is first deleted.)
9.2.5 Add Course Requests
Add the course requests that will be needed for the new schedule. Make sure to Save the new requests before continuing to the next step. See Sec. 3, "Add, Edit, Delete Course Requests" .

Fig. 93 - New course requests added
9.2.6 Initialize Walk-In Scheduler
In the main screen of the Student Schedule Editor click on the WIS command button (Fig. 73) to open the parameters dialog (Fig. 94). The Track field will default to the first track for which the target student is enrolled (in alphanumeric order). The First Term field will default to the first schedule term defined for the first track. The Effective Date will default to the begin date of the First Term.

Fig. 94
9.2.6.1 Define Parameters

Track -

Select the target track from the drop-down list. The list is initialized to contain all tracks for which the selected student is enrolled.
First Term to be Scheduled -

Select the first term to be rescheduled from the drop-down list. The list is initialized (as Track is changed) to contain all scheduling terms for the selected track. The Effective Date will default to the begin date of the First Term selected (Fig. 95).

Fig. 95

Override -

Leave this option unselected.
Effective Date -

A read-only field that defaults to the start date for the selected First Term.

9.2.6.2 Initialize the session

Click on the Schedule command button (or Quit to abort the process and return to the Student Schedule Editor). Allow a few moments for the Walk-In Scheduler to initialize and calculate preliminary data. Screen gauges will indicate the progress (Fig. 96).

Fig. 96
After initialization, the WIS grid will appear (Fig. 97) showing all the elements of the student's current schedule, including the status of pending course requests. Here the user will interact with the WIS until an acceptable schedule is located for the student.

Fig. 97

The elements of the current schedule will be color coded as follows:

Remove Light red: This color indicates a schedule record that will be deleted during the process of rescheduling, thus freeing its time slot.

Lock(Date) Yellow: This color will be displayed for schedule records that are locked by date; i.e., they started before the Effective Date of the session or have a status code of "Prescheduled". Locked schedule records will not be altered by the Walk-In Scheduler session.

Lock(Att.) Orange: This color is will be displayed initially for any schedule records that have attendance data on file (other than the default place holder attendance codes). These type of records will be converted to 'locked by date' records (displayed in yellow) after the First command is executed. They will not be altered by the Walk-In Scheduler session.

Dropped Dark red: Indicates a new, unscheduled course request in the initial view or a request that could not be scheduled in the First and Next views. For details on the status of a dropped course request, select the entry in the grid and read the text displayed in the Reason field in the lower right.

New Green: This status code will not appear in the grid on the initial view of a WIS session. It will only appear in subsequent views if a request has been successfully scheduled.

Alternate Purple: Alternate course request; not scheduled.

Linked Light blue: Linked section. A "linked" course section is one that was scheduled in the Walk-In session because it was linked to another course section that was successfully scheduled. See Section Links Editor for instructions on creating section links.

Team Medium blue: Team request. (A team request does not schedule course sections; rather, it applies course section exclusion/inclusion rules as defined for the team in the Team Editor program. See Team Editor for details.)

Fig. 98
9.2.7 Preprocess requests
In this step the Walk-In Scheduler will attempt find viable schedules for the course requests according to the Master Schedule. If there is more than one possible schedule configuration, the user will be shown all the possibilities and be allowed to pick one. The schedule configurations produced in this step are not considered permanent until one of them is saved; thus the term "preprocess".
9.2.7.1 'First' attempt

Click on the First command button.
A prompt will appear (Fig. 99) to alert the user that preprocessing is about to begin. Answer "Yes" to continue or "No" or "Cancel" to exit the WIS procedure before preprocessing.

Fig. 99
When calculations are completed the first possible schedule configuration will be displayed (Fig. 100).

Fig. 100 - sample of preprocessed schedule, first possible schedule result
The section number, term, period and cycle day will be shown for each schedulable course. The faculty member teaching the course will be displayed in the Comments field.

9.2.7.2 View other possible schedule results
There may be more than one possible schedule that satisfies a student's requests. For example, a course that has more than one section could be scheduled in several possible periods or a course could be scheduled in the same period but with different teachers, etc. The user is given an opportunity to view the possibilities and chose the one that is best suited for the student.

Click on the Next command button to view the next possible schedule result. Click on Next again to see the next result, and so on. When all possible results have been displayed, a 'No More Possibilities' message will appear (Fig. 101). Click "OK" to close the message and return to the last result viewed.

Fig. 101

After viewing all possibilities using the Next command, use the navigation buttons (Fig. 84) to locate the desired schedule result.

9.2.8 Save a Schedule
When the desired schedule result is found and displayed in the Walk-In Schedule grid, click on the Save command button. A "Schedule Saved" message will appear (Fig. 102).

Fig. 102
Possible error message on Save -
Since more than one counselor could be using the WIS at the same time and viewing the schedules for a few minutes, it is possible for class seats to be "taken away" from a student during the interim. For example, if there is only one seat left in a course section and there are two counselors scheduling their student into that section simultaneously, one student will be locked out. The WIS checks this when the Save command is executed. If the proposed result has a full class, an error message will appear that reads, "At least one class has been filled. Reinitialize student." Click "OK" and go back to the 'First' command to start over (Step 9.1.4.1).
Click "OK" to close the Walk-In Scheduler and return to the Student Schedule Editor. The walk-in schedule will be copied and saved to the schedule grid of the selected student in the read-only mode (Fig. 103).

Fig. 103 - sample saved schedule
To view the new schedule correctly be sure to select the target term in the Select Term field and the target date in the Show Schedule as of field. If necessary, use the mouse to adjust the column widths in the grid for optimal viewing of course descriptions. Notice that the course requests that were successfully scheduled are displayed in black font in the Course Requests list on the left. Requests that remain unscheduled are displayed in red font. The student is now considered officially "loaded" into the Master Schedule.
9.2.9 Edit the schedule (optional)
The schedule may be edited at this point, if necessary, by scheduling or unscheduling courses.

See Sec 3, "Schedule a Course"

See Sec. 4, "Unschedule/Exit a Course"

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Dropped	Red: New request; not yet scheduled or attempted.
Alternate	Purple: An alternate course request; not scheduled.
Team	Medium blue: Team request. (A team request does not schedule course sections; rather, it applies course section exclusion/inclusion rules as defined for the team in the Team Editor program. See Team Editor for details.)

New	Green: Scheduled course section
Dropped	Red: Not scheduled/Reasons below. For details on why this request could not be scheduled, select the entry and then read the text in the Reasons field below.
Alternate	Purple: An alternate course request; not scheduled.
Linked	Light blue: Linked section. A "linked" course section is one that was scheduled in the Walk-In session because it was linked to another course section that was successfully scheduled. See Section Links Editor for instructions on creating section links.
Team	Medium blue: Team request. (A team request does not schedule course sections; rather, it applies course section exclusion/inclusion rules as defined for the team in the Team Editor program. See Team Editor for details.)

Remove	Light red: This color indicates a schedule record that will be deleted during the process of rescheduling, thus freeing its time slot.
Lock(Date)	Yellow: This color will be displayed for schedule records that are locked by date; i.e., they started before the Effective Date of the session or have a status code of "Prescheduled". Locked schedule records will not be altered by the Walk-In Scheduler session.
Lock(Att.)	Orange: This color is will be displayed initially for any schedule records that have attendance data on file (other than the default place holder attendance codes). These type of records will be converted to 'locked by date' records (displayed in yellow) after the First command is executed. They will not be altered by the Walk-In Scheduler session.
Dropped	Dark red: Indicates a new, unscheduled course request in the initial view or a request that could not be scheduled in the First and Next views. For details on the status of a dropped course request, select the entry in the grid and read the text displayed in the Reason field in the lower right.
New	Green: This status code will not appear in the grid on the initial view of a WIS session. It will only appear in subsequent views if a request has been successfully scheduled.
Alternate	Purple: Alternate course request; not scheduled.
Linked	Light blue: Linked section. A "linked" course section is one that was scheduled in the Walk-In session because it was linked to another course section that was successfully scheduled. See Section Links Editor for instructions on creating section links.
Team	Medium blue: Team request. (A team request does not schedule course sections; rather, it applies course section exclusion/inclusion rules as defined for the team in the Team Editor program. See Team Editor for details.)