This article outlines new behavior that will take effect in Staging on 1/8/2025 for customers who convert over to the new New Term/Phases process.
You will be able to continue to modify merge settings until the New Term Phases process goes into Production.
Once also enabled in Production, merge settings will be locked, and you will no longer have access to them (which is great, because with this new setup, you no longer need them!).
Table of Contents
Overview
Permissions
Creating & Editing Phases
Assigning Phases to Terms
Build Your Timeline
Phase Badge
Adding Phases to Section Rules
Example Configurations
Related Articles
Overview
A “phase” is a combination of role and field permissions that can be associated with terms as your scheduling cycle changes. In other words, when your scheduling cycle is first beginning, you might want more users to have more editing abilities, but as the cycle progresses, you want to increasingly limit who can make changes (and to what).
If you use phases, role and field permissions can be updated en masse all at once, saving you from having to make manual changes every time.
Once phases are set up, they won’t take effect until you either assign them to a term OR assign them to a timeline.
If assigned to a term, you will need to change the assigned phase as your scheduling cycle progresses.
If assigned to a timeline, you will still need to assign the first phase to the term but beyond that, changes will be automatically applied on a predefined date.
Phases do not change the default configuration of role and field permissions. This allows for active scheduling in more than one term with different permission settings when needed.
Phases can be reused from one term to the next.
Permissions
PATH: Academic Scheduling > Settings > Roles
In order to edit Phases, the user's role assignment must have “Edit Phases” set to “Allow”.
In order to edit “Role Permissions” within Phases, the user's role assignment must have “Edit Roles” set to “Allow”.
In order to edit “Field Permissions” within Phases, the user simply needs the parent permission to “Edit Phases”.
Creating & Editing Phases
Creating Phases
Overview
The process for creating phases is outlined in our Preparing for Your First-Ever Scheduling Term in Coursedog article.
NOTE: Currently, Phases cannot be deleted.
Phases and Saved States
All Scheduling customers should have at least one Phase.
All Phases should have a Saved State assigned to them.
Coursedog determines which Terms to run merges for by checking which Terms are in Phases with a Saved State where the integration is running for Scheduling entities.
Therefore, at least one Phase is required, and all Phases where merges should be running need a Saved State assigned to them.
Without at least one Phase, and without Saved States assigned to Phases, Coursedog can’t recognize Terms where the integration is ON.
Read more about Integration Saved States and Merge Settings Configuration.
Editing Phases
To edit a phase, navigate to Scheduling > Settings > Phases.
Click the phase you wish to edit.
Edit as needed.
Click “Save”.
Assigning Phases to Terms
Once phases are set up, they won’t take effect until you either assign them to a term OR assign them to a timeline (more on that option later).
Directions for that – as well as a summary of what happens when you assign a phase to terms – can found be in our Getting Started article.
Build Your Timeline
Overview
Once Phases are set up, you can build a timeline to have those Phases automatically apply on a certain date.
Your timeline will appear across the top of your Academic Scheduling homepage as a way of tracking your institution’s scheduling process.
The user interface (UI) limits the current view to 6 events.
After a phase timeline item has passed, you might want to consider deleting the event to make “room” on the timeline bar for upcoming dates.
Milestones that have passed will appear as a blue circle. Upcoming events will appear as a gray circle.
Permissions
The ability to edit Timeline items is tied to Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in Academic Scheduling.
Settings > Roles Institution Settings > Edit Future Actions governs a role’s ability to view and edit what were formerly Future Actions and are now Timeline items. (The name of this permission will be updated to “View Timeline Items” in the near future.)
Phase Badge
Overview
A “phase badge” – which indicates the current Phase for a given term – will appear in your user interface (UI) next to the term name in the following locations:
Scheduling Home
Section Dashboard
Section Optimizer
Exam Optimizer
Relationships
Preference Forms
Viewing Phase Details
Hovering over the badge displays the description of the phase:
Adding Phases to Section Rules
Overview
Section Rules can also be turned on for specific phases.
Example Configurations
Overview | Example 1 | Example 2
Overview
How you set up phases – what you name each phase and how you use it – will depend on how you’ve already configured everyday role and field permissions. In other words: Phase configuration will vary from school to school, but we’re including two examples here to give you an idea of how you can use phases at your institution.
Example 1 is a fairly straight-forward example, and many schools follow something similar.
Example 2 is a bit more nuanced.
Example 1
Overview
Coursedog University has 5 scheduling phases; they’ve included a number in each Phase Name to ensure it’s clear which Phase comes first, second, and so on:
Call for Classes: Departments Draft Their Schedules (Open Editing)
Dean’s Office Review/Registrar’s Office Build: Section Updates Locked (Edits through Requests)
Chair Review: Submit Last Changes (Edits are Restricted)
Schedule Live (Limited Editing Allowed)
Schedule Closed: End of Add/Drop (No Edits Allowed)
Call for Classes: Departments Draft Their Schedules (Open Editing)
Description
Coursedog is open for editing semester schedules.
Role Permissions
Field Permissions
Merge Settings Configuration
n/a
Dean’s Office Review/Registrar’s Office Build: Section Updates Locked (Edits through Workflow)
Description
Any section updates for this semester must be done by submitting request, which will trigger a workflow.
Role Permissions
Field Permissions
Merge Settings Configuration
n/a
Chair Review: Submit Last Changes (Edits are Restricted)
Description
Allow Dept Schedulers, Chairs and Deans to change the following fields:
Waitlist Max
Seat Cap
Instructor
Room
Role Permissions
Field Permissions
Merge Settings Configuration
n/a
Schedule Live (Limited Editing Allowed)
Description
Allow Chairs and Admins to change the following fields:
Instructor
Final Exam
Special Approval
Section Long Title
Preferred Room
Role Permissions
n/a
Field Permissions
Merge Settings Configuration
n/a
Schedule Closed: End of Add/Drop (No Edits Allowed)
Description
The schedule is officially closed; no further edits can be made.
Role Permissions
Field Permissions
n/a
Merge Settings Configuration
n/a
Example 2
Overview
Coursedog College has eight phases and includes merge setting configurations for several:
Phase 1: Department Planning
Phase 1: Dean’s Review
Phase 1: Registrar Review
Phase 2: Chair Proofing
Phase 2: Dean Final Review
Phase 2: Registrar Finalization
Phase 3: Chair/Dean Requests
SIS Maintenance
Phase 1: Department Planning
Description
This phase begins the department planning process. Courses have been rolled from the previous Spring term. Department Chairs/Directors begin to review rolled sections and add, change, or delete courses as needed. At the conclusion of this phase, Department Chairs/Program Directors will have their editing privileges suspended until the start of Phase 2. Deans may also revise as needed during this phase, at their own discretion.
Role Permissions
n/a
Field Permissions
n/a
Merge Settings Configuration
n/a
Phase 1: Dean’s Review
Description
This phase begins the Dean's Initial Review. Deans may begin to review all changes made by Department Chairs/Program Directors. Deans may also make changes as needed during this phase. During this time, Department Chairs/Program Directors will have their editing privileges suspended, but may still view their department sections. At the conclusion of this phase, Deans will also have their editing privileges suspended until the start of Phase 2.
Role Permissions
Field Permissions
n/a
Merge Settings Configuration
Clone from prod of: Bi-Directional
Phase 1: Registrar Review
Description
This phase begins the Registrar's Initial Review. The Registrar's Office will begin to review all changes made by Department Chairs/Program Directors and Deans. The Registrar's Office will also assign rooms, create requested cross-listings and synchronous pairings, as well as review any additional notes attached to sections. During this time, Department Chairs/Program Directors and Deans will have their editing privileges suspended, but may still view their department sections.
Role Permissions
Field Permissions
n/a
Merge Settings Configuration
Clone from prod of: Bi-Directional
Phase 2: Chair Proofing
Description
Phase 2 of the department planning process has now begun. Department Chairs/Directors have had their editing privileges restored and may conduct a final review of their designated sections; add, change, or delete courses as needed. Upon completion of this phase, Department Chairs/Program Directors will have their editing privileges suspended. Deans have had their editing privileges restored at this time, and may revise as needed during this phase at their own discretion. At the completion of this phase, all further changes will require submission of individual Requests - Phase 3.
Role Permissions
n/a
Field Permissions
n/a
Merge Settings Configuration
Clone from prod of: Bi-Directional
Phase 2: Dean Final Review
Description
This step is a Dean's continuation of Phase 2 of the department planning process. Deans may now conduct a final review of their designated sections; add, change, or delete courses as needed. Upon completion of this phase, Deans and Department Chairs/Program Directors will have their editing privileges suspended until they are permitted to submit individual Requests for further changes in Phase 3. NOTE: At the conclusion of this phase, Dean's must individually submit each department for final VALIDATION to the Registrar's Office.
Role Permissions
Field Permissions
n/a
Merge Settings Configuration
n/a
Phase 2: Registrar Finalization
Description
This phase begins the Registrar's Final Review. The Registrar's Office will review all final changes made by Department Chairs/Program Directors and Deans. The Registrar will also assign additional rooms, create requested cross-listings and synchronous pairings, as well as review any additional notes attached to sections as needed. At this time, Department Chairs/Program Directors and Deans will have their editing privileges suspended, and the departments will be locked for further live editing, but all roles may still view their department sections.
Role Permissions
Field Permissions
n/a
Merge Settings Configuration
n/a
Phase 3: Chair/Dean Requests
Description
This phase marks the transition to editing via Requests. At this time all departments have been locked by the Registrar's Office, and additional changes must be submitted via the Requests function to be entered into an approval workflow before being finalized by the Registrar and taking effect. Both Department Chairs/Program Directors as well as Deans may submit requests, but please note that requests by the Department Chairs/Program Directors are subject to approval by their respective Deans before being sent to the Registrar's Office for a final decision.
Role Permissions
Field Permissions
n/a
Merge Settings Configuration
Clone from prod of: Bi-Directional
Banner (SIS) Maintenance
Description
Coursedog syncing will result in errors during this time. No need for correction.
Role Permissions
n/a
Field Permissions
n/a
Merge Settings Configuration
n/a