Table of Contents
Overview
Centralized vs. De-Centralized Scheduling
Key Data Elements
Getting Started
Using Room Release Filters to Prioritize Room Scheduling
Room Settings
Using Field Options to Restrict Access to Rooms
Editing Rooms
Blocked Out Times
Updating Room Settings in Bulk (Workaround)
Related Articles
Overview
Optimally configuring and organizing your room inventory is very important for you to get the most out of Academic Scheduling: Every assignment will use this information to determine the appropriate location for activities scheduled within the application. This article will help you do that, but keep in mind that each institution is different, so your room configuration may require some, but not all, of these settings.
Centralized vs. De-Centralized Scheduling
Some institutions schedule rooms through a single entity (“centralized scheduling”), whereas others distribute the scheduling of rooms to departments or colleges (“de-centralized scheduling''). Coursedog allows for the successful enforcement of either method through the use of configurations that enforce your rules automatically based on settings.
Key Data Elements
Certain data elements must be established before rooms can be fully utilized. These data elements determine options that are available for selection when adding and editing room records. They include Room Types, Features, and Room Custom Fields. If you are importing room records during your initial implementation from a file or from your SIS, these fields, if included, are automatically added to the database and will be available for use. Otherwise, you must manually configure these lists to meet the needs of your institution.
Getting Started
PATH: Academic Scheduling > Rooms
At the above path, admins and schedulers alike will see what rooms are available as well as the profile (including settings) for each.
Using Room Release Filters to Prioritize Room Scheduling
When you select Rooms on the left-side navigation bar, you will see one of two options under the header: “Click to release rooms” or “Click to edit or lock rooms”.
Click to Release Rooms
This means your rooms are locked from assignment and Coursedog will display "No rooms found" (shown below) if someone tries to assign a room to a section in the Section Editor.
Rooms Have Been Released for Assignment
If you see "Rooms have been released for assignment" this indicates some or all of the rooms are released for scheduling.
Releasing or Locking Rooms
When you select “Click to edit or lock rooms”, you will have the ability to release or lock rooms based on three options in the “What types of rooms should be released?” dropdown: “department rooms”, “all”, and “none”.
Department Rooms
Selecting "Department Rooms" releases rooms that are owned by departments, as defined by the Departments field for that room.
In the below example, we are releasing rooms to departments based on the Attribute of "Pre-Assigned."
You can also release on “Room Type”; this would allow you to release labs before lecture halls, for example.
All
Selecting "All" releases all rooms.
If you wish to ensure visibility for ALL rooms, you must select “None” under “Select Room Filter Type”. Otherwise, if you have any item selected under “Select Room Filter Type”, Coursedog will treat this as an empty filter value and not release any rooms.
None
Selecting "None" locks all the rooms.
Room Settings
PATH: Academic Scheduling > Rooms > (Select Room)
Overview
Every room has a number of settings available in its profile (Academic Scheduling > Rooms > (Select Room). The settings that appear will vary by school – it all depends on how the Admin sets up the Room Template (Academic Scheduling > Settings > Field Options > Room Template).
Room Attributes
In the below example, we see an attribute we created called "Pre-Assigned", indicating this is a room where we intend to allow a previously determined assignment. This attribute allows us to release these rooms at a different time than other rooms when we unlock the rooms.
Allowed Sections
When trying to limit a room to a particular department, Allowed Sections must be used. In the below example:
In the "Allowed Sections" area, there are a number of conditions available to help you determine which criteria you want to use for restricting access to rooms.
This room, "MH200", is currently only available to ANY section whose Course Code contains Accounting or Economics.
When a scheduler attempts to schedule sections whose Course Code does NOT contain either Accounting or Economics, this room will not appear in the list of available rooms.
Troubleshooting Allowed Sections
Note that within role based permissions there is an "Override Room Allowed Sections" permission. If this permission is set to ALLOW, filters set up in the Room Allowed Sections will not apply to the room select modal results, and the user will see the room in the modal regardless of any "allowed sections" restrictions.
If the allowed sections filters do not appear to be working in the section editor, it is likely due to this permission being set to ALLOW. More on role based permissions here.
Departments
Adding a department to the “Department” field will not restrict the room to a particular department, and instead is used with the Room Release functionality described above.
Exclude from Optimizer
If “Exclude from Optimizer” is set to “Yes”, the room is only available for manual scheduling.
Online Space
If “Online Space” is set to “Yes”, then the room will be recorded for tracking purposes and will be taken out of the Optimizer.
Status
Keep in mind that if you set Status to 'Inactive', the room will disappear from the Room inventory in the User Interface (i.e. 'Rooms' in the left nav), but will still exist in the db and be included in reports (such as the 'Room Utilization List').
Effective Start Date and Effective End Date
“Effective Start Date” and “Effective End Date” define when the room will show up in results (i.e. if a section takes place outside of these dates, the room will be unable to be selected / assigned to the section and its meeting patterns). In cases where a term / session date is being applied to sections, you must ensure that rooms you wish to be used for that term / session fall within the date ranges of that term / session as well or the rooms will be unable to be assigned to sections using those dates.
Using Field Options to Restrict Access to Rooms
Overview
You can use field field options to restrict access to scheduling rooms so rooms can only be selected based on a role or a term.
How To Do It
PATH: Academic Scheduling > Settings > Field Options
Step One: On the "Section Template", scroll down to the "Meeting Patterns & Rooms" card.
Step Two: Click on the gear icon to open the "Meeting Patterns Advanced Settings" modal.
Step Three: Scroll down to the row labeled "Times Room", where you will have the ability to make some changes to how these fields are edited using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).
Step Four: Determine how you would like to adjust settings based on the following:
Make the Field Editable – When making changes to this field, note that only the role listed in this field can make room assignments in the Section Editor. If this box is marked "Editable" but no roles are selected, this means any account that can edit sections will be able to make room assignments. In the example below, only the Coursedog Super Admin can make room assignments.
Make the Field Editable by Terms – When making changes to this field, note that only the term listed in this field is eligible for room assignments in the Section Editor. If this box is marked "Editable" but no terms are selected, this means any term with open, editable sections will be able to make room assignments. In the example below, only the Spring 2021 term allows room assignments.
Additional Guidance
Here are some additional solution articles you might need to reference when making and testing these configuration changes:
Editing Rooms
PATH: Academic Scheduling > Rooms > (Select Room to Open Room Profile)
Overview
You can edit rooms from the same page that you view them.
If Unable to Edit Rooms
If the field options are not listed as “Editable” on the Room Template, you will not be able to edit, and the room details will appear as shown in the below screenshot. Steps to help you fix this are outlined below.
Step One: Navigate to Academic Scheduling > Settings > Field Options
Step Two: Select “Room Template”.
Step Three: Click any fields that were not editable in the room profile, and check the box under “Editable”.
Step Four: You may also decide which roles will be able to edit room forms in the field below the editable check box.
After checking and making each field “editable”, each room’s form should look like this:
Blocked Out Times
PATH: Academic Scheduling > Rooms > (Select Room) > Blocked Out Times
Overview
Rooms and Buildings have a “Blocked Out Times” tab which allows users to define the times when a room or building is not available for scheduling. If a user is assigning rooms to a section, and that section's time overlaps with a room's blocked out times, that room will not show up in the list of available rooms.
Related Rules
A “Room Blocked Out Time Conflict” and “Building Blocked Out Time Conflict” rule can be turned on to see if any sections with existing room assignments violate the block out time restrictions.
Updating Room Settings in Bulk (Workaround)
Currently, there is no functionality to mass update room settings within the user interface (UI). For example, reducing the room capacity for all rooms across the board to accommodate distancing requirements. To achieve this, Coursedog recommends the update be made in the SIS which will then push to the UI. Alternatively, a CSV upload could be utilized.