Tufts University – Medford Campus
Created by DEA Consultant Denise Berry, 12/2012
Academic Scheduling Process for Each Term
*This is meant to be a quick reference guide only. Full explanations of all steps are included in full detail
in the EMS User Guide available from www.dea.com.
Roll/Create Term in PeopleSoft
Synch/Verify Buildings, Rooms, Subjects, or Course Types in EMS – this is only necessary if new
buildings, rooms, subjects, or course types may have been added since the last processed term and need
to be brought into EMS.
- Academic Planning > Configuration > Synchronize X (where X = buildings, rooms, subjects or
course types)
o Highlight data item > Create > Process for items that need to be synchronized
Synch/Create the Term in EMS
- Academic Planning > Configuration > Synchronize Terms
o Highlight Term > Create > Process (if not already synchronized)
Synch Courses/Review List of Courses
- Manage Terms
o Select Campus and Term > ‘Sync’ Courses
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View in Academic Browser
o Academic Browser > Select Term > Get Data
For the most detailed view of your individual meeting patterns, select to Browse for: ‘Course Dates’
instead of Courses.
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Run Scripts to import PeopleSoft course preferences into EMS. Contact IT to run the scripts to:
- Populate the staging database with course preferences
- Process the entries in the staging database into course preferences in EMS
After the scripts have been run use the Academic Browser to open up various courses (in the Course
Navigator screen, see below) in order to verify that the course preferences have been populated.
Set term to ‘Dual’ mode to set/modify additional Course Preferences and Shared Space courses
-
Manage Terms > select and edit term > set mode to ‘Dual’
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Set/Modify Course Preferences in Academic Browser
- Academic Browser > Select Term > Get Data
 Shared Space – mark courses/course dates that are not cross-listed but need to share
space by highlighting two or more courses, then Tools >Share Space
 Publish SIS Room - mark courses/course dates that need to be in the specific room
where it was held for the last (rolled) term. Highlight courses that this applies to, then
Tools > Set Course Preferences > Publish in SIS Room (No Optimization) (see below)
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
Same Room - mark courses/course dates that need to be in same room as other specific
courses/course dates. Highlight two or more courses, then Tools > Set Course
Preferences > Same Room ……
Room Not Required – switch to ‘Advanced’ filter in the Academic Browser. Filter by
feature = ‘no room needed’.
Select (highlight) all of the returned results and then Tools >Set Course Preferences >
Room Not Required
Create & Resolve Optimization Scenarios
- Academic Planning > Courses > Optimization Scenarios
o Create ‘New’ optimization scenario – name it
o Set Slider Criteria according to how much weight each factor should be given
o Mark ‘Excluded Rooms’ to select all rooms that should NOT be used for optimization
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o
o
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Exit to save scenario settings
From scenario selection window, highlight scenario, select ‘Optimize’. Select all
Academic Departments to be optimized, then ‘Run’. This function will take several
minutes.
Resolve
o When optimization is complete, you be brought to the “resolve” screen which initially
only shows the Unassigned courses. To see all courses, uncheck the ‘Exceptions Only’
checkbox in the lower-left corner.
You may return to this screen at any time before publishing to “resolve” your scenario. From
the scenario selection screen (Academic Planning > Courses > Optimization Scenarios)
highlight scenario > select ‘Resolve’
o Unassign any courses that did not get assigned to your liking
o Search for rooms for any that are left unassigned, using “last resort” rooms if necessary
o Review, highlight, and ‘Lock In’ all courses with acceptable room assignments
o (Optional) Modify slider settings and/or excluded rooms and ‘Run’ the optimizer again
to re-optimize only those courses that have not been “locked in”.
Repeat creating/resolving optimization scenarios as desired until you have one that produces
the results you desire.
o Optional: Use Academic Book to review any scenarios.
o Optional: Review Unmet Preferences report
**Recommended optimization procedure for Tufts Medford Campus: If your Academic Departments
carry Building/Area preferences, you may choose to mark these as ‘Required’ for your first round of
optimization. Once the desired results have been locked in, remove the ‘Required’ setting on the
Academic Department building/area preference and run the optimization scenario again to open the
remaining courses up to further optimization.
Now you’re ready to Publish!
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Manage Terms > Edit Term
 ‘Term’ tab (see screen shot next page)
 Select Time Block Template to use for reporting on this term
 IMPORTANT!! Select scenario that should be published
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
o
Set ‘Excluded Dates’ tab. Choose to exclude any days you do not wish to
schedule classes, including break periods. However, any holiday dates that will
be moved to a new date, should be treated according to the below example:
 Martin Luther King Day (Mon 1/21/13) rescheduled to Wed 1/23/13.
Exclude 1/23/13 and do not exclude 1/21/13. The courses from
1/21/13 will be moved (see below) to 1/23/13, so 1/23/13 should be
clear of classes.
 ‘Auto Sync Settings’ tab
 Auto Sync Courses – Checked
 Automatically Process Course Updates – Checked
 Last Date of Auto Sync – enter date close to end of term
Highlight Term > Publish (accept all defaults)
Post-Publish Troubleshooting and Term Maintenance
Move holiday bookings that are to be rescheduled to a new date
- Use the Booking Move/Change Status Wizard to move your holiday classes to their rescheduled
date. System Administration>Tools>Booking Move/Change Status Wizard
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o
o
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Enter the Start Date/End Date (should be the same date) of the current bookings
Event Type = Academic Class
Leave all other filters unspecified
The next screen will return results of all classes on that data. ‘Select All’
o
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Select the ‘Move’ button
Select Reschedule bookings to specific date (the date you are moving the bookings to)
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Select ‘OK’
‘Changes Made Successfully’ will indicate when the action is completed.
Manage Post-Publish Conflicts, Academic Bumps, and TBD Room Assignments
- Use the ‘Browser’ tool on your EMS Toolbar to search for course reservations that need followup after publishing:
o Search by Booking Status = Academic Conflict to find classes that are conflicting with
other classes for room assignment. Assign rooms accordingly using the
Tools>Wizards>Change Rooms function in the Navigator screen.
IMPORTANT: A course existing in a room by itself with only Academic Conflict status has not
actually taking the space out of inventory! So, if you change the room on a course with an
Academic Conflict status, also make sure the status is changed to Academic Confirmed.
o
o
Search by Booking Status = Academic Bumped. These are the events that have been
“bumped” by your courses. They need new rooms! Also make sure to change them
back to Confirmed status after they are rebooked.
Search by Building= TBA, Room= TBA to find classes that were left unassigned when
published and need to find rooms. None of these should be a surprise, since they would
be the same courses that came back as exceptions when optimizing. Assign rooms
accordingly using the Tools>Wizards>Change Rooms function in the Navigator screen.
Managing Post-Publish Changes:
Note: Must select “update” after change is made to ensure space/change is published in iSIS
- If you need to change the ROOM on an existing course:
o Change in EMS and it will auto-update PeopleSoft (Must change ALL bookings to update
PeopleSoft)
o Find course using any of the searching tools (Navigator, Browser, Book, etc) and open
into the Navigator window. From the Navigator window, select Tools > Wizards >
Change Rooms to follow the wizard through the selection process.
- If the Department needs to change the DAYS OF WEEK or TIME:
o Change in PeopleSoft. Auto-sync service will find and process.
- If the Department needs to ADD a course:
o Change in PeopleSoft. Auto-sync service will find and process.
- If the Department needs to CANCEL a course:
o Cancel in PeopleSoft. Auto-sync service will find and process.
- If the Department changes the instructor or enrollment, those will be processed automatically
upon the next synch.
- To add a NEW course or course section, use the Search for Rooms tool in EMS(see next page) to
check for room availability, and then add the course (with room assignment) in PeopleSoft. The
new course will be processed upon the next synch.
**Note: If any of the above changes made in PeopleSoft are not able to be processed in EMS
without conflict or further verification, this will populate your dashboard with the Course Conflicts
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or Cross-List Verification tabs of the Dashboard. Your Dashboard will turn RED when it needs
attention. These items will remain in your Dashboard until properly resolved. You should monitor
your Course Updates window in your Dashboard on a regular basis and resolve and process them as
quickly as possible to avoid “stacked” conflicts.
Search for Rooms Tool:
Once your term has been published you may use the Search for Rooms tool (Academic Planning >
Courses > Search for Rooms) to identify available rooms for a given time block.
Post-Publish Actual Enrollment
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When registration is near completion, you may switch your term to ‘Actual Enrollment’ instead
of ‘Estimated Enrollment’ (Academic Planning>Courses>Manage Terms>Select Term,
Edit>Change Post Publish Enrollment setting). When you next synch your term (or autosynching occurs) any room capacity violations will appear in your Course Updates window. Your
attendance settings in EMS will also auto-update each time you synch to match actual
enrollment in PeopleSoft.
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