Many Peoplesoft schools rely on course attributes heavily and modify the set and definition of attributes term by term using effective dates. To ensure that Coursedog has the correct set of effective dated Course Attributes for the term you are scheduling, configure the system as follows:
Section Template
In the section template configuration under Settings → Field Options:
Locate the Section Attributes card and set it to 'Use Effective Dating'.
The above 'Use Effective Dating' checkbox selection will cause the section editor to only display attributes that are effective dated for the term you are scheduling. Attributes that are not effective for the term you are scheduling will not be presented for selection to the scheduler.
If you do not check the 'Use Effective Dating' checkbox then the scheduler will be presented with a list of all attributes, even those not effective for the term being scheduled. This would be appropriate for schools that do not use effective dates for their course attributes, however, the majority of schools should check the box next to Use Effective Dating.
Merge Settings
From the admin console Merge Settings screen configure Course Attributes to have an Effective Date of 'Selected Term Start Date'. This will ensure that all course attributes that we store in the Coursedog database will be correct for the term being scheduled, effective as of the first day of term. Also, ensure that all terms for which you are currently or will be shortly scheduling are listed in the 'Only run integrations for selected terms' list.
Additional Data Setup
Since Coursedog support for course attribute effective dating was released early in 2021, for any school already deployed who has course attributes and courses in their system please execute the following steps to set up the data baseline.. See the Admin console → Execute Merge screen:
Execute a merge of Course Attributes for each term, one by one, that you are actively scheduling for, i.e. Spring 2021, Summer 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022
Execute a merge of Courses for each term you are actively scheduling for. This will cause courses to be refreshed with the now effective dated attributes that you pulled into Coursedog in #1 above.
Consider whether you want to refresh schedules you've recently completed with updated effective dated course attributes. Reach out to Coursedog for advice if you do, however, note that the process would be the same: 1. Merge Course Attributes for that term. 2. Merge Courses for that term.