Automatic Scheduler

Video How-to

Automatic Scheduler video

This program uses the current Master Schedule Editor and the student`s course requests to build a schedule for each student. Each committed run which includes the student schedules that were created and Master Schedule Editor used for the run will be saved for future use. The schedule runs are saved so that if adjustments are made to the current Master Schedule Editor and/or student requests and another run is made, the best run can be chosen to be used for the students` schedules.

Steps to Take Prior to Using the Automatic Scheduler:

Click to open the New Year Scheduling Flow - Request Based Schools overview guide. The overview guide has the general flow of scheduling procedures, including the usual order of steps that are needed prior to using the Automatic Scheduler.

WebPams Scheduling Guide

A guide that covers request based scheduling.

To open the hyperlink above:

• In Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari: Right click on the link, then choose "Open in a new tab". When a new tab is opened, locate the "Click here to download" statement. Click on the word "here" to begin the download.
• In Internet Explorer: Hold down CTRL key while clicking on link.

How-to

1. Log in to WebPams
2. On the left, click on the Scheduling panel to open it.
3. Click on "Loaders"
4. Under "Loaders", select "Automatic Scheduler"
5. On the Setup Box:
   • Year should be set to the new upcoming school year
   • "District" and "School" should be defaulted based on security
   • “Grades” should be left blank if all grade levels are to be included into the scheduling process. Otherwise, click in the box to the right of “Grades” to select the desired grade level to be included. If all grades are selected, the Automatic Scheduler will always start with the highest grade level first
   • If a team is selected in the "Student Teams" field, the program will only schedule students who are on the team selected. Leave blank to schedule all students regardless of team
   • For the "Allow Overloads" drop down, select the number of students allowed to exceed the maximum in a section
     1. Note: The box "Allow all overloads" is required to be checked for the "Allow Overloads" option to function
   • Check the box to the left of "Reschedule manually scheduled items" to have the Auto Scheduler undo any schedules that were put in manually
     1. Manually scheduled means that a person used a program like the schedule maintenance program to schedule students into certain sections one by one
   • Check the box to the left of "Initialize counts" to have the Auto Scheduler count the number of students in each section and display those counts in the Master Schedule Editor
     1. This option should always be checked
   • Check the box to the left of "Schedule by team" to have the Auto Scheduler schedule students to courses that have the same team as the student or to courses with no team affiliation
   • Check the box to the left of "Allow teacher requests" to have the Auto Scheduler schedule students to a specific teacher that was requested in the program "Load Student Course Requests"
   • Check the box to the left of "Schedule special ed students" to have the Auto Scheduler schedule special education students
     1. This box is typically checked
   • Check the box to the left of "Allow all overloads" to have the Auto Scheduler exceed the maximum set in the Master Schedule Editor when scheduling the students
     1. Once "Allow all overloads" is checked, select the number of students to go over the maximum by clicking in the "Allow Overloads" drop down
   • Check the box to the left of "Set to request status only" so that the Auto Scheduler will not go through the entire scheduling process, it will only set the students' schedules back to schedule requests
   • Click the button "SELECT STUDENTS" to select from a list the students the Auto Scheduler will schedule. The list will be limited to the students that match the criteria that has been selected in the previous setup items
   • Click the button "CLEAR COUNTS" to clear the seat counts, reset to zero, in the Master Schedule Editor for selected grade level(s)
   • Click the button "PREVIOUS SCHEDULES" to see all stored scheduling runs
     1. Note: Scheduling runs are stored when "NEW RUN" is clicked and, after the schedules are processed, a "Run#" is selected to commit the schedules
   • Click the button "NEW RUN" to begin a new scheduling run
     1. Note: Starting the Auto Scheduler process will no longer delete currently scheduled items. Current schedules will only be altered when a "Run#" is selected to commit the schedules
   • After clicking "NEW RUN", a confirmation box will appear to verify the setup options selected. Click "Yes" to continue or "No" to make adjustments to the setup box
6. After the Auto Scheduler has finished processing, a box will appear with the date and time the Auto Scheduler finished processing, the number of students processed, and instructions to click the run number in the table to commit the schedules if desired. Click "OK"
7. Upon clicking "OK", a table will appear on the screen listing the current scheduling run and any previously committed scheduling runs. The items that appear in the table are:
   • "Run#" will provide the number of previously committed scheduling runs plus the current scheduling run
     1. Click on the number to commit the schedules for the run selected
   • "Abandons" will show the number of students who could not have all requests scheduled
     1. Click on the number to view the list of students abandoned, the classes that could not be scheduled, and why they could not be scheduled
   • "Overloads" will show the number of sections that exceeded the maximum
     1. Click on the number to view the course name, grade level, and the section number of the course overloaded
   • "Success %" will show the percentage of students with all schedule requests scheduled
   • "Complete %" will show the percentage of students with no empty periods
   • "Who Ran" will show who performed the scheduling run
   • "When Ran" will show the date and time of the scheduling run
   • "Who Committed" will show who clicked on the "Run#" to commit the scheduling run
   • "When Committed" will show when the scheduling run was committed
   • "Gd Level(s)" will show the grade levels selected on the setup box
   • "Stu Cnt" will show the number of students processed during the scheduling run
   • "MSched Cnt' will show the number of Master Schedule Editor sections processed during the scheduling run
8. Review abandons and overloads and make adjustments to students' requests and/or the Master Schedule Editor
9. Rerun Automatic Scheduler as needed to get the "Success %" as close to 100% as possible.
10. Click on the "Run#" associated with the schedule run desired to commit students' schedules.