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Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Scheduling U workshops: 11/14-11/19

All schedulers should plan to attend the annual scheduling workshop series, Scheduling U. This year Scheduling U takes place November 14 - November 19. Whether you are new to class scheduling or are a pro, there is a session for you during Scheduling U.

Workshops are open to any University staff member. Sessions will be lead by Scheduling staff and ASR trainers. No registration is required.

Workshop Agenda:

Monday, November 14
9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. -- Student Records Systems: The Big Picture, Appleby 319
2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. -- Astra Schedule iCop, WebEx Online Session

Tuesday, November 15
9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. -- Event Scheduling 101, Peters Hall 145
2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. -- Building Your Class Schedule (interactive session), Bruininks 312

Wednesday, November 16
9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. -- Scheduling Update Live, CSOM 2-233
2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. -- Scheduling Update Live, Borlaug 365

Thursday, November 17
2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. -- Scheduling Update Live, Peik Gym G55

Friday, November 18
9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. -- CCS Advanced Topics, Bruininks 512A

Roll forward for fall and spring semesters

Class data entered into CCS rolls forward from the same term in the previous year (e.g., fall 2016 to fall 2017) as a convenience to schedulers. We will roll forward the fall 2017 (1179) and spring 2018 (1183) semesters on Thursday, October 20. This happens two weeks prior to CCS Open Initial Build begins to allow for data clean up behind the scenes.

As a reminder, classes with the following criteria will not roll forward:
  • Topics classes
  • Cancelled sections
  • Tentative sections
  • Classes with zero enrollment for the last 2 like terms (excluding directed studies and research)

Fall final exam rooms are limited

Please continue to notify Scheduling if a course section will not require a general purpose classroom during finals week. Use “Fall 2016 Final Exam” for the subject line, and include the course and section number(s) in the body.

Space is very tight on campus and any chance we have to release a classroom to be used by another exam is appreciated.

Reminder: OCM only schedules final exams for classes that meet in general purpose classrooms. Final exams for classes that meet in departmental space need to be scheduled within the department.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

De-combining classes change

Previously, whenever a CCS user de-combined a class, the meeting pattern(s), instructor(s), and classroom were deleted for all sections of the combined section ID. A new system modification now allows such classes to retain their meeting pattern(s) and instructor(s) as follows:
  • The classroom assignment will still be removed for the section that is de-combined. 
  • Any classes still left in the combined section table will keep the classroom. 
  • If all classes are deleted from the combined section, the classroom is released. 
If you have any questions about combined sections, please reference the Collaborative Class Scheduling (CCS) combined sections UPK documentation, or contact ASR Training & Support at 612-625-2803, srhelp@umn.edu.

Do you need a classroom for that final exam?

Fall 2016 final exam room scheduling is underway. If you have not done so yet, please email ocmsched@umn.edu with any class sections that do not require a classroom during finals week. Use “Fall 2016 Final Exam” for the subject line, and include the course and section number(s) in the body.

Space is very tight on campus and any chance we have to release a classroom to be used by another exam is appreciated.

Reminder: OCM only schedules final exams for classes that meet in general purpose classrooms. Final exams for classes that meet in departmental space need to be scheduled within the department.

Search for online classes by Mode of Instruction

In an effort to reduce confusion on how to search for online classes, the "Online course" course attribute has been removed from the both the course and class searches. Effective immediately, users should use instruction mode "Completely Online" in the Class Search to search for online classes.
In CCS, users will notice that the ONL course attribute is now view only. The instruction mode will appear on all classes that have been approved in ECAS to be taught online. It will not be a modifiable field. CCS users should use the instruction mode of “CO” (Completely Online) to indicate a class that will be taught online. 
In the Course Catalog Search, the text "online sections may be available" will display in the results if the course has the ONL course attribute, but “Online course” is no longer a search option. 
In the Class Search, the "Online course" course attribute is no longer a searchable field and it will not display in the results. Users should use the instruction mode "Completely Online" to search for online classes.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Astra Schedule offline for planned maintenance 10/5-10/10/2016

Astra Schedule will be offline for scheduled maintenance starting on Wednesday, October 5th at 5:00 p.m. through Monday, October 10th at 7:00 a.m. All Astra users will use the link ‘z.umn.edu/astra’ to access the software after the maintenance is complete on Monday, October 10th.

Activity report listings of all scheduled classes and events held from October 6-9, 2016 are available for reference while Astra Schedule is offline. View scheduled room activity.

How you can prepare:

  • The new link z.umn.edu/astra can be used right away.
  • Delete all old Astra bookmarks in your web browser.
  • Create a new Astra bookmark for z.umn.edu/astra.
  • If your department has links to Astra on their webpage, update them to point to z.umn.edu/astra.
  • If your department distributes activity calendars by URL or by embedding in your website, notify ocmsoftwarehelp@umn.edu to obtain a new URL for your calendar.
  • Submit all your room requests for the week prior to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 5th.


You may see up-to-date status on the outage on the OIT System Status site. If you have questions, please contact ocmsoftwarehelp@umn.edu.