Creating Faculty Workload Management Calculations

Tiffany Winters

Modified on: Thu, Mar 13, 2025 at 7:21 PM

Overview
Where the Data Comes From
How It Works
Saving Your Work
Adding, Ordering, Editing, Duplicating, Previewing, and Deleting Formulas
How Workload is Calculated
Related Articles

Overview

The creation of Workload Calculations is the backbone of Faculty Workload Management – this feature allows partners to replace tangled spreadsheets, manual review processes, and time-wasting one-off emails and conversations with automatically calculated workload values for each section and instructor.
These formulas work like a spreadsheet formula in that they define a set of IF conditions and a THEN formula. The IF conditions define which sections should use the formula, and the THEN formula defines the workload value that is the output of the Workload Formula.
These Formulas will thereby define a workload value for every section, and Faculty Workload Management includes a Dashboard and individual Instructor Profile views to track and report on instructor workloads.

Where the Data Comes From

Faculty Workload Management looks at data on the Section level and the Instructor level.
When creating IF conditions and THEN formulas, you will have Section and Instructor data available to you.
This data comes from Sections and Instructors, which use the Section and Instructor Templates built in Settings > Templates.
Read more about Templates here.

How It Works

Overview | The Basics of Workload Calculations | Building Workload Calculations | Ordering Workload Formulas

Overview

Workload Formulas live in Academic Scheduling > Settings > Workload Calculations.

Click “New Formula” to begin building new formulas.
Before beginning to build formulas, read the “How do ordered calculations work?” toggle by clicking "expand".

The Basics of Workload Calculations

Each formula consists of a name, a set of IF conditions, and a THEN formula.
The IF conditions define which sections should use the formula, and the THEN formula defines the workload value that is the output of the Workload Formula.
Think of the IF conditions as filters and the THEN as the action.
IF the section in question meets the given filter criteria, THEN this calculation will be executed to determine the workload value.
In the below screenshot, the IF scenario states that sections where Section Type IS “Direct Clinical Observation” AND where the Actual Enrollment IS GREATER THAN 10 will match this rule.
- In this example, the THEN formula is section.creditHours*2.
- This means that any section that matches the IF conditions will have its workload calculated as the number of credit hours on the section record multiplied by two.

Building Workload Calculations

When building the IF portion of your Workload Calculations, you will have the ability to choose between Section fields and Instructor fields.

Section fields pull data from the Section Template and Section Record, while Instructor fields pull data from the Instructor Template and Instructor Record.
If you select “Section” as your field type, the next dropdown menu will offer you a list of your Section Template fields from which to select. If you select “Instructor” as your field type, the next dropdown menu will offer you a list of your Instructor Template fields from which to select.

The IF condition builder supports multiple conditions and multiple condition groups.
Within one condition group, conditions can be connected by either AND or OR connectors. It is not possible to mix connectors within one condition group.
Different condition groups can be connected by either AND or OR connectors. It is not possible to use both AND and OR connectors in one Workload Calculation between condition groups.

Remember that the THEN portion of your formula is the portion of the calculation that produces the workload value.
This portion can be as simple as entering a number value, such as 3 or 4.5 if the sections in the IF condition filters should always receive a simple output of that number value as the workload units.
The THEN portion of your formula can get much more complex, however – you have the ability to use any number field on your Section Template to produce these calculations. Here are some common examples:
- THEN Credit Hours * 1.5
- THEN Actual Enrollment * 0.1
- THEN (Credit Hours*Actual Enrollment) / 0.085
When building the THEN portion of your Workload Calculations, you can use the “Add New Formula Field” button to locate and add the field you’d like to use.

When you click the “Add New Formula Field” button, you will see a menu of all Section Template and Instructor Template fields. NOTE: It is extremely uncommon that you would select any field that is not a “Number” field type, like Enrollment or Credit Hours.

Search for the field you are looking for. In this case, let’s assume that we are trying to build a calculation where THEN = Actual Enrollment * 0.1.

Click the blue plus sign to add that field to your THEN calculation. That field will populate in your THEN input box, and you can complete your calculation.

NOTE: As in the example above, it is always important to ensure that you have selected the correct field from your Section Template. In this example, we’re looking for “Actual Enrollment” rather than “Enrollment Capacity.” Your Section Template may have several types of Credit Hour or Contact Hour fields – review your Section Template and section data to be sure you are targeting the correct field in your calculation.

Ordering Workload Formulas

Overview

Formulas should be ordered most specific (at the top) to least specific (at the bottom).
By most specific, we mean formulas that are highly exact and only apply to one or very few sections. These might include exceptions for specific course codes or rules that apply only to courses with, for example, three students on a satellite campus.
By least specific, we mean broad rules like a rule that should apply to all 100-level lectures or all courses with more than seventy-five students.
This is because the tool will check each section against the first, then second, then third formula, etc., proceeding down the list from top to bottom until the section matches the conditions built in the IF portion of the formula.
Once a section matches a formula, the formula will be run, and the tool will move onto the next section.
A section cannot match multiple rules.
The goal is that a section should match a specific rule before a general rule.

Example

Say you have a section ASTRO101. It is a Lab course with 10 students enrolled.
For some reason, the ATSRO department in this example has a specific set of rules – maybe the Astronomy department is a new (or old) department and needs to be treated differently.
You have one formula that is designed for all 100-level ASTRO courses.
You have another formula that applies to all Lab courses with more than 10 students in other departments.
You need this section to match the 100-level ASTRO course rule, not the more general Labs with 10+ students rule.
So, you should place the 100-level ASTRO course rule above the Labs with 10+ students rule.
- You could also handle this by creating a negative IS NOT condition in the more general rule, but the ordering in this case should not change.
Ideally, the last formula on the list would have the broadest set of IF conditions, working as a catch-all formula for all sections that do not match a previous rule.

Saving Your Work

There are two “Save” buttons in Faculty Workload Management.
One Save button appears in the “Workload Formulas” list view.

The other appears in the Workload Formula edit screen.

If you have not made an edit or taken an action that requires saving, the buttons will be greyed out.
It is important to note when it is necessary to save your progress.
When working in the Workload Formulas list, you will need to save your work by using the “Save” button in that view whenever you take one of the following actions:
- Create a new formula via the New Formula Button
- Create a new formula by duplicating a Formula
- Re-order Formulas
- Delete a Formula
When working in the edit Workload Formulas view within an individual Formula, you will need to save your work by using the “Save” button whenever you have made any edit to that Formula, including the Formula name or the calculation itself.
If the “Save” button in either view is greyed out, you have no work to save. If the button is blue, it is always safer to click “Save” before navigating away from that screen.

Adding, Ordering, Editing, Duplicating, Previewing, and Deleting Formulas

To create a new Workload Formula, click the blue “New Formula” button at the top of the screen.

A new formula will always appear at the bottom of the list.
To reorder formulas, click the six dots at the left-hand end of the formula bar. Drag and drop the formula in its new position.

Click the blue “Edit” option on the right-hand side of the Workload Calculation bar to open the calculation and edit it (including rename the calculation).
Clicking the “Preview” icon on the right-hand side of the Workload Calculation bar will open a preview modal of the calculation. This makes it possible to check the calculator and review it for accuracy without having to use the “Edit” button to open up the calculation.

Use the “Duplicate” button to copy an existing Workload Calculation.
- The new calculation will always appear at the bottom of the list with “(Copy)” appended to the Calculation name.
- In cases where you would like to create many similar but slightly different calculations, use this option to save time by generating new Calculations in fewer clicks and with fewer edits.

How Workload is Calculated

Overview

The Workload Formula builder offers a wide range of operations and makes building your workload formulas very customizable.
Here, we’ll cover two examples of how workload might be calculated.
Example 1: Workload Units = section.contactHours/.75

This formula will take the Contact Hours value from the Section record and divide it by 0.75. If Contact Hours = 4, then the Instructor for this Section will receive a workload credit of 3.
Example 2: Workload Units = section.enrollment/.1

Some small courses may be allotted workload credit based on enrollment. In this case, the formula divides enrollment by 0.1. If the enrollment is 10, the instructor will receive 1 unit of workload for that section.

Example Workload Calculation

Example Scenario | Approach to Example Scenario | Workload Calculation Order in Example Scenario

Example Scenario

A partner would like to use Workload Calculations to enforce the following workload policies:

Most of our sections get workload credit equal to credit hours.
Our Lab sections get workload credit based on the number of students. Every student gives .1 workload.
We have two sections that are exceptions. AEROSPC100 always gets 2.5 workload and AEROSPC135A always gets 3.5 workload.
Lectures of more than 30 students get workload credit for 1.25 times the assigned credit hours.

Approach to Example Scenario

Here is how you might think about ordering these Workload Calculations:

“Most of our sections get workload credit equal to credit hours.”
1. We’ll call this “Workload = Credit Hours”
2. This is a default, generic rule that should apply to many sections. Therefore, it should be towards the end of the rule list.
“Our Lab sections get workload credit based on the number of students. Every student gives .1 workload.”
1. We’ll call this “Lab Sections”
2. This is another generic rule, but it is slightly more specific than Rule 1 above. It applies only to Lab sections rather than to “most” sections, so it will be placed above Rule 1.
“We have two sections that are exceptions. AEROSPC100 always gets 2.5 workload and AEROSPC135A always gets 3.5 workload.”
1. This rule will need to be divided into two separate Workload Calculations.
2. We’ll call one “AEROSPC100 Exception” and the other “AEROSPC135A” exception. The order in which the rules are placed will not matter relative to one another, as a section cannot have both of those course codes.
3. Because AEROSPC100 always gets 2.5 workload and AEROSPC135A always gets 3.5 workload, it won’t be possible to create one THEN portion of the calculation that handles both cases.
4. For that reason, one Workload Calculation will support AEROSPC100 and another will support AEROSPC135A.
5. This is a highly specific rule that is an exception for two courses. This should be one of the first rules listed, as it’s very specific.
“Lectures of more than 30 students get workload credit for 1.25 times the assigned credit hours.”
1. We’ll call this “Lectures of more than 30 students.”
2. This rule is more specific than Rule 1, but less specific than Rule 3. Because it will affect only Lectures and not Labs, it will not be crucial to decide if it goes before or after Rule 2. Most important will be that we place this rule after Rule 3 and before Rule 1.