Overview of the Academic Scheduling Process

While meeting/event scheduling and academic scheduling have many features in common, EMS Academic Planning uses terms that are specific to the academic scheduling configuration process.

Before academic scheduling can be carried out, the following must be in place in your EMS database:

• Core data—building, rooms, instructors, course types, and subjects—must be synchronized with the Student Information System (SIS).

• Academic domains and academic units must be configured.

• Academic users must be configured with the appropriate security settings.

• Default values for academic parameters must be set.

See the EMS Desktop Client Configuration Guide for detailed instructions about configuring and synchronizing this needed academic data.

Although the academic scheduling configuration process varies from one academic site to another, typically, the same two-phase process, the Academic Planning phase and the Post-Publishing phase, is carried out, and each process typically has the same high-level steps.

The Academic Planning Phase is the first phase carried out in the academic scheduling process. This phase typically has the following high-level steps:

1. Import an Academic Term.

2. Define and Edit Courses.

3. Set Room Preferences.

   You can do Step 2 and Step 3 individually, or at the same time using Dual Mode.

1. Assign rooms and optimize.

2. Publish a Term.

3. After you publish a term:

   1. A new term is created in the SIS either by rolling forward a previous term or by creating it from scratch. The term is synchronized into EMS.

   2. The Domain Scheduler synchronizes the course schedule data from the campus SIS into EMS Campus.

   3. Academic units review the course schedule data in the Campus web client and make change requests as appropriate for new, edited, or canceled sections and/or mark the courses that Share Space.

   4. The Domain Scheduler reviews the changes and shared space settings in EMS Campus, modifies the data in the SIS and resynchronizes the updated course schedule into EMS Campus to synchronize the two systems.

   5. The Domain Scheduler and/or academic units submit room preferences for courses.

   6. Pre-assignments are completed and scenarios are created that apply weighted values to the preferences to meet organizational criteria for room scheduling and to make the best use of space.

   7. The Domain Scheduler publishes the schedule to create reservations and bookings in EMS Campus for all academic courses and write the course location information back to the SIS.

The Post-Publishing Phase is the second phase carried out in the academic scheduling process. This phase typically has the following high-level steps:

1. Reviewing reservations and resolving room assignments.

2. Creating a synchronization schedule.

3. Creating and publishing a final exam session.

For all these tasks, see Post-Publish Processing of Courses. Once you have completed them:

1. The Domain Scheduler reviews the room reservations and resolves unassigned courses or displaced event reservations.

2. A synchronization schedule is created to keep EMS up to date with changes that are made in the SIS.

3. The Domain Scheduler creates and publishes a final exam session for the term.

• Overview of Importing an Academic Term

• Synchronize an Academic Term

• Synchronize Courses