ASTRA SUPPORT DOCUMENTS SERIES

Astra Schedule has an intuitive look and feel that will allow you to become familiar with its features quickly. Additionally, many facets of the user interface can be customized.

Technical Support

Toll free technical support is provided to all licensed users of Astra Schedule. Call (800) 878-5611 and ask for Astra Schedule Technical Support.

Technical Support is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Standard Time.

1.1 Astra Schedule Overview

To launch Astra Schedule, double-click on the Astra Schedule shortcut icon on your desktop.

Note: The Astra Schedule program files reside on your C:\ drive in a folder named "Ad Astra."

Key References Displayed in the Main User Interface Window

§ Mode Alerts: Indicates if you are in Production or Scenario Mode (text will be colored red if you are in Scenario Mode, black if you are Production Mode), located in the upper left hand corner, and at the bottom right of the main user interface window. Modes only affect academic scheduling. Event schedulers only work in Production Mode.

§ View Dates: The date range of Section and Event information you are viewing, located below the Event Cutoff Date in the top-center of the window.

§ Event Cutoff Date: The date before which users may schedule events (burgundy text), located in the top-right corner of the window. This is applies only to rooms affected by the Event Cutoff Data.

§ Active File: Indicates the Section, Event or Room file from which your data is currently source (e.g. SECT_MASTER, EVENTREC, ROOM_MASTER), located to the left of the “Group By” drop-down menu.

§ Terms: The Term(s) included in the date range that academic schedules are viewing, located in the bottom-left corner of the window, and on the tabs above the Sections grid (if more than one term is being viewed).

§ Records Count: Indicates how many Records are in the current grid view, located in the bottom-center of the window.

§ Level: Indicates the access level associated with your User account (e.g., system administrator), located in the bottom-right corner of the window.

§ Date and Time: The date and time as set-up in Windows, located in the bottom-right corner of the window.

1.2 The Tabs

The body of the main user interface window is a spreadsheet-like grid, consisting of three main tables (referred to as "tabs"):

The tabs, located at the top left corner of the window, allow you to navigate between the Section, Event and Room tables. Click on the tab corresponding to the table you wish to view. The selected tab and corresponding data will appear. A subset of tabs corresponding to specific campuses will allow you to view the Sections, Rooms, and Events associated with multiple campuses.

Records vs. Fields

When viewing the tabs, keep in mind that each row represents a database record, and each column represents a field in the database.

Color Codes

The records in the tabs are color-coded by status. These color-codes can be viewed and customized in the Color Options table accessible in the Database | Color Options drop-down menu.

Status Codes - Definitions

§ Requested: A section or event with a building and room which has been requested by a User without access; or, a building and room assignment has been passed forward by your SIS that Astra Schedule does not recognize.

§ Do Not Schedule: A section that has invalid Days Met, times, or dates; or a section that has been manually selected as "Do not Schedule."

§ Cross Listed: A section that meets in the same room at the same time as one or more other sections.

§ Overbooked: A section’s max enrollment is larger than the capacity of the room to which it is assigned.

§ Not Available (Room): A room that has already been scheduled for another event or section.

§ Tentative (Event): An event that does not have a building and room assigned to it; or, a scheduled event has been manually changed to tentative.

§ Should be checked out (Resource): A resource that has been requested for a particular time but has not yet been checked out.

§ Checked In & Out (Resource): A resource that has been checked in and out. It will return to available status on the following day.

1.3 Sort Feature

You may sort the active tab (table) by any column (field). Sorts may be performed on a single column.

1. Click on the gray column header (field name – in this example, “Title”). The data will then be sorted in ascending order by that column header (field) and a corresponding directional arrow appears beside the header.

2. Click on the same column header again. The data will be sorted in descending order by that column header and a corresponding directional arrow appears beside the header.

1.4 Grouping Feature

Click and drag a gray column header to the gray grouping area (which states “Drag a column header here to group by that column”) directly below the “Campus” tabs. This will group your data in the grid by the field that you have chosen (in this example, “Subject”).

2. Click the expand icon next to the desired group to view the individual records in that group (in this example, “Subject: AGBS”).

3. Dragging a second column to the grouping area will perform a secondary grouping of your data on the grid (in this example, “Course”).

4. You may continue adding as many groups as you need (e.g. “Section Number,” etc).

5. To clear all groupings and reset the data, simply drag all column headers back to the grid.

1.5 Find Feature

Click the down directional arrow beside any column header to display a list of all items in that column (in this example, “Subject”). You can use this list to filter the grid.

2. Select “(Custom...)” from the list to display the Custom Filter search dialog box.

3. Select the desired argument (e.g. “like,” “does not equal,” etc.) from the first drop-down menu. Enter the value by which you wish to filter in the field next to this drop-down menu.

4. Select “OK” and the grid will be filtered to show only the fields selected in the dialog box.

1.6 Using the Toolbars

The Upper Toolbar

The upper toolbar is located at the top of the main user interface window, directly below the Astra Schedule drop-down menus. The icons in the upper toolbar are shortcuts to often-used functions that may also be accessed through the drop-down menus.

The Lower Toolbar

1.7 Customizing Astra Schedule Views

Astra Schedule provides many tools that allow you to personalize the "look and feel" of the application.

Customizing the Upper Toolbar

The toolbar at the top of the Astra Schedule interface may be customized to include various buttons. Any tool that you access in Astra Schedule from the drop-down menus at the top of the user interface may be added to the toolbar as a button for easier access.

1. Click on any of the down-directional arrows in the upper toolbar to display a drop-down Add or Remove Buttons dialog box.

The Toolbars tab allows you to toggle on and off the default toolbars in Astra Schedule.

Clicking “New…” allows you to create and name your own new blank toolbar. After creating a new toolbar, it can be clicked, dragged, and dropped at the top of the main user interface window. Then, using the Commands tab in this dialog box, you can add new buttons to any existing or new toolbars.

3. The Commands tab displays a list of the various Astra Schedule drop-down menus on the left, and selecting one of them displays their individual menu items on the right.

To add one of those menu choices as a button on one of your toolbars, simply left click and hold an option on the right, drag the icon to the top of the main user interface window, and drop it in an existing toolbar.

The Options tab will allow you to set various display options to fine tune the way your Astra menu options are displayed.

Customizing the Database Layout Tool

The way the data in the active tab appears on your screen can be customized to meet your needs. Follow the steps below to use the Database Layout tool:

Click the Database Layout icon

in the upper toolbar (you may also select Database | Database Layout). The Database Layout dialog box will appear. Clicking on a field in either panel highlights the panel you wish to move.

2. Click the right (blue) directional arrow to move fields from the "Fields Not Displayed" panel to the "Fields Displayed" panel. Click the left directional arrow to move fields from the "Fields Displayed" panel to the "Fields Not Displayed" panel. To view your fields in a certain order, click and drag any field (up or down) to the desired position.

3. To edit a field’s display label, highlight the field and click the Edit

button. Make your desired edits and click “OK” to finish.

Customizing Your Column Widths

1. Place your mouse between the column headings on the grid until you see a double line with arrows pointing left and right.

Customizing Your Column Order

1. Place your mouse on the column heading of the column on the main screen you wish to move.

Choosing a Date Range or Term

Section data can be viewed by academic term. You may also choose to view only a portion of a term or multiple terms by setting a date range. Follow the steps below to choose a date range:

1. Click the Select a date range/term to view icon

in the upper toolbar (you may also select File | Select Dates). The Select Date Range to View dialog box will appear.

Customizing Grouping Options

The Section and Event tabs feature a “Group By” and a “Jump To” drop-down menu (to the right of the lower toolbar) that allows you to view your data in various ways. Grouping creates a second set of tabs (and possibly a third, if you select a two-tier group such as “Building/Room”) at the bottom of the main user interface window.

1. From the “Group By” drop-down menu, select the field(s) by which you wish to group the data (in this example, “Building”).

2. You should notice a second, and possibly a third, set of tabs at the bottom of the main user interface window (in this example, the Buildings from your database).

3. Select a value from the “Jump To” drop-down menu to go to a specific value set in your grouped data.

Your room inventory is the heart of the Astra Schedule application. Success with the application is contingent on the full and accurate configuration of this information.

Each schedulable space at your institution must have its own unique room record. You may configure partitioned rooms so that each part of the room that can be independently scheduled and has its own record.

1. In Astra Schedule in the main user interface window, click on the Rooms tab to access the Room File. The Rooms tab can be sorted, grouped, and filtered in the same manner as the Sections tab (as discussed in the previous chapter of this User’s Guide).

Click the New Record icon

on the lower toolbar. This will display a blank Edit Room Record dialog box. This dialog box will open with the Information tab automatically selected. The Information tab is located at the bottom of the dialog box.

You may enter any desired descriptive data in the Information tab of the Edit Room Record dialog, and (optionally) the remaining seven tabs.

2.1 The Information Tab

The Information tab, located at the bottom of the Edit Room Record dialog box, contains all general information about the selected room.

Enter values into the following fields: Building, Room, Campus, Description (optional), Square Feet (optional), Capacity, Max Capacity (the number that the system uses for scheduling), and Room Type.

Capacity and Max Capacity

The “Capacity” field of the room record refers to the actual number of people that can be scheduled into the room. The “Max Capacity” refers to the number of people who can fit into the room, sometimes referred to as the Fire Marshall’s max capacity. The Optimizer and the Available Rooms tool will only use the “Capacity” value for finding the appropriate room size. “Max Capacity” is for informational purposes only.

Example1: A computer lab that has 25 seats in it may have only 10 computers. The “Capacity” would be set to 10, while the “Max Capacity” would be set to 25.

Example2: A classroom only has 20 seats, although 30 seats could fit into the room. “Capacity” would be 20, “Max Capacity” would be 30.

To take a room out of scheduling consideration, check the box labeled “May not schedule this room.” Optionally, check the box labeled “Arranged section room.” The room will no longer show up in the room utilization grids and will only be a scheduling choice for sections marked as “Arranged” (also called TBA.) Selecting the “Do Not Optimize” box will allow this room to be ignored by the Optimizer tool when doing your bulk section scheduling.

Special Features

Add any special features to the room by clicking the New button

located just to the right of the "Room Special Features" portion of the window. This will display the Features dialog box.

Select the room feature you wish to add to the specified room from the drop-down list. If this feature allows quantities, select the correct number of features for the room. Click “OK.” That feature will now appear in the "Room Special Features" portion of the window.

These features are being pulled from your Features Inventory configured in Astra Schedule. To add or remove features to that inventory, go to the Configure drop-down menu on the main user interface window and select Room Feature List. The Room Special Feature List dialog box will appear.

To edit a room feature in the room record, highlight the feature you would like to edit and click on the Edit

icon. To delete room features, highlight the room feature that you would like to delete and click on the Delete

icon.

Regions

Regions are a user-defined grouping of rooms. Select the region(s) in which the room is to be included from the "Regions" portion of the window by checking the box next to the appropriate region(s).

2.2 The Configuration Tab

The Configuration tab of the Edit Room Information window allows you to link pictures to your room as well as establish multiple configurations for your room.

Configuration Information Tab

The Information tab of the Edit Room Information dialog box enables you to set up multiple configurations of a room. By doing so, when you schedule an event into this room you may choose which configuration to use, and a notification can be automatically e-mailed to someone to let them know how to set it up.

Every room will have a standard configuration. To add an additional configuration, click the New button

. The Edit Room Configuration dialog box will be displayed.

A new configuration name can be entered in the “Configuration” field, and a new “Room Type” selected. You may also browse to the appropriate room images to be stored for this configuration in the “Image” field(s). The Image Browser dialog box will be displayed; you may select from the list of files in the “Rooms” directory on the left, if applicable, or browse to the image. If you browse to the image, a copy of this image will be written to the “Rooms” directory and appear on the left of this window. For event scheduling, setup and teardown time may be added to the room configuration as well. The setup and teardown time will automatically be added to all event reservations made in that room.

Configuration Price Plans Tab

Whether you are creating a new configuration, or editing an existing configuration, the Price Plans tab allows you to establish room pricing for a room.

Selecting the Price Plans tab will display a list of the currently established pricing plans for your campus.

Double-clicking a pricing plan will display the Pricing Information dialog box.

You can enter in a pricing method and price; optionally, you can add a tax rate, gratuity, and minimum charge. Having a dollar amount associated with a price plan will ensure that any customers associated with that price plan will be charged the appropriate amount for using that room.

Configuration Notify Tab

You may use the Notify tab to set up notification and confirmation individuals for a room.

Select the person(s) that must confirm a room request from the “Confirmation Person” list. The Confirmation Person(s) must approve any request for the room you are configuring. You may select different individuals “For Events” and “For Sections.” The person(s) selected under these lists will receive all requests for the room via Astra Mail. Select the individual(s) by checking the box next to his/her name(s).

Select the person(s) that should be notified of any confirmed room assignments via Astra Mail in the “Notify by Astra Mail” list. You may select different individuals “For Events” and “For Sections.”

2.3 The Sharing/Partitioning Tab

The Sharing/Partitioning Tab allows you to specify a room in Astra Schedule as being sharable or partitioned. Astra Schedule defines “Sharable” as open labs or rooms where there is no standard conflict-checking. “Partitioned” refers to rooms that are subdivided with movable partitions; that is, rooms that can be used as one large meeting room or multiple meeting rooms.

1. In the Edit Room Information dialog box, click on the Sharing/Partitioning tab located at the bottom of the window.

2. If the selected room is sharable, check the box labeled “Room may be shared by different sections at the same time.”

Then, use the directional arrows to enter the maximum number of sections that may be scheduled into that room at the same time.

3. If the room is partitioned or is part of another room, check the box labeled “Room is part of another room or has partitions.”

Then, select the room(s) that conflict with or are "sub-rooms" of the main room in the "Room conflicts with these rooms" portion of the dialog box.

Example: a large room (100) has smaller "sub-rooms" (100A, 100B, and 100C). These "sub-rooms" can be scheduled together (100A-B, 100A-C, and 100B-C). Room 100 would conflict with all "sub-rooms", but only some "sub-rooms" (e.g. 100A and 100 A-B) would conflict with each other.

2.4 The Control Tab

The Control tab allows you to control room use by limiting scheduling access by day and/or time. These settings can only be used to limit existing User privileges, not to grant new privileges. For example, a room may be set up to only allow section scheduling during weekday mornings. If Users have access to schedule events into this room, they would then be restricted to scheduling events during the afternoons, evenings, and weekends.

1. In the Edit Room Information dialog box, click on the Control tab at the bottom of the window. The “Room Control” grid will appear.

Highlight the period of time for which you would like to define room control by clicking and dragging on the grid. The Select dialog box will appear.

3. Click the radio button next to the User provision that you would like to apply to the room. (You will notice that the color of the time block you selected will have changed to correspond with the selection you made.) Select “OK” to return to the main window.

4. Click the Users With No Request button if there are Users who cannot request this room. The Users Who May Not Request Events dialog box will appear. Check the box next to the names of those people who may not request this room for events or sections (all days/times.)

Clicking the Control by User Group button allows you to configure a room so that certain users have the same access on defined days/times. The Room Control by User Groups dialog box will appear. In this box, "Control Groups" can be created to define access privileges in this way.

Clicking on the New Group

icon located on the right side of the dialog box will generate an additional tab at the bottom of the dialog box. Rename "Group 1" and select all Users who are to be a part of this new group by clicking on the box beside each of their names.

Click and drag on the grid to highlight blocks of times and days for which you want to define this group’s scheduling access. The Select dialog box will appear. Select the appropriate radio button that defines what the specified group may or may not schedule or request. Click “OK” to make the User options effective.

To delete a group, click on the Delete Group icon

; to delete ALL groups, click on the Delete All Groups icon

2.5 The Blocking Tab

The Blocking tab allows you to block a room from use for multiple date ranges and/or set event scheduling rights beyond the Event Cutoff Date.

In the Edit Room Information dialog box, select the Blocking tab located at the bottom of the window.

2. Click the New button

at the top of the window. The Room Blocking dialog box will appear.

3. Enter the “Start” and “End” dates of the room block by clicking on the corresponding calendars and the “Start” and “End” times by clicking on the corresponding clocks.

4. In the Not Available section, use the radio buttons to specify if the room will be blocked from scheduling sections, events, or both. If the entire building will be blocked, check the box labeled “Block whole building.” Enter the reason for your blocking in the Reason section.

5. Clicking the “Affected Sections/Events” button will generate a report of all sections or events that are currently scheduled into that room during the blocked period.

6. Click “OK” to return to the Edit Room Information Room Blocking dialog box.

7. Check the box labeled “Event scheduling only allowed up to Event Cutoff Date” to limit event scheduling accordingly. The actual event cutoff date is set by your System Administrator in the Data Monitor.

2.6 The Details Tab

The Details tab in the Edit Room Information dialog box contains a list of 10 user-defined fields to use as a place to store additional information about the room that Astra Schedule doesn’t otherwise allow for. The labels and data entry types of these fields are configured by your System Administrator in the Data Monitor.

2.7 The Notes/History Tab

The Notes/History tab in the Edit Room Information dialog box will display information about changes made to the room record in Astra Schedule, including the user that made the change, which fields were changed, and the date and time these changes took place.

Additionally, this tab has a space for notes about the room to be manually entered.

2.8 The Services Tab

Services can be created (in Event Management | Resources/Services) to define tasks to be performed by certain individuals (such as room setup). These services can be individually associated with any given room, so that when that room is booked for an event, that service is automatically booked as well, and the appropriate notifications and tasks are sent.

To add services, while on the Services tab, select the New icon

. The Add Services dialog box will appear. This box contains a list of all previously-configured Services. The “Add Count” field allows you to associate more than one of each service to the room. Selecting a service and clicking “OK” will associate that service with the room.

Room Effective Date

If Room Effective Dates are enabled in the Data Monitor by your System Administrator, when you edit certain room attributes (such as changing room types, changing room control, adding a special feature, etc.) and click “OK,” the New Effective Date dialog box will appear.

Clicking the Effected Sections/Events button will display a report of all currently scheduled sections and events that would be affected by

Clicking the Modify Record button will make any room changes effective immediately.

By putting a date in the "Effective Date" field and clicking the New Record button, Astra Schedule will not recognize the room changes for sections or events that start before the effective date. These changes will affect the scheduling of all sections and events that start after the new effective date.

Clicking the New Record button will cause the room record to contain a new tab that corresponds to the new effective date. Clicking on the different tabs will show the state of the room record on each date.

To delete an effective date, click the Delete Effective Date button at the bottom of the Information tab in the room record.

Expiration Date

In the Edit Room Information dialog box, you may use the “Room Expiration Date” field at the bottom left of the box to set an expiration date on a room. Once a room "expires" it can no longer be scheduled for future sections or events starting after the expiration date. However, it remains in the system and can be seen in historical event and section data.

Section information encompasses the academic activity files loaded from your SIS which contain all necessary descriptive information on academic course sections.

3.1 Section Editing/Scheduling Flowchart

1. In Astra Schedule in the main user interface window, click on the Sections tab to access the Section File.

2. Double-click on the section you wish to edit. The Edit Section Information dialog box will appear.

3.2 The Summary Tab

The Summary tab of the Edit Section Information dialog box contains basic information about the section, such as location and instructor, as well as a list of scheduling preferences.

Please see the chart on the following page for a description of the fields in the upper portion of the dialog box:

Scheduling Preferences

The “Schedule Preferences” portion of the Summary Tab in the Edit Section Information dialog box contains scheduling preferences associated with the selected section.

Scheduling preferences can be altered at the section level, but the changes made do not roll forward to other terms or copy to other sections. If the section has already been scheduled, any changes made to the scheduling preferences in the Edit Section Information dialog box will only have an effect on future Optimizer runs.

Please see the “Configuring and Applying Scheduling Preferences” topic of this document (Chapter 4, section 1) for more information on scheduling preferences.

Instructors

The “Instructor” area of the Summary tab displays the instructor(s) associated with this class. Follow the steps below to add an instructor to a section:

1. Click on the Add Instructor button

next to the “Instructor” field. The Section Instructor dialog box will be displayed.

2. Select the Instructor drop-down list to see a list of all instructors from which to select. Optionally select the “Filter Instructor List by Department” checkbox to limit the list to only those instructors approved for the subject in question.

3. To view additional details about instructor availability, click the Edit icon

. This will display the Select Section Instructor form. This will display the list of instructors configured to teach that course. To get a list of all instructors, select the “Show All” checkbox.

Individual instructor’s schedules are shown on the right side of the window. You can toggle between the daily and weekly view of the instructor’s schedule. To choose an instructor for this class, highlight his/her name and click “OK” to return to the Section Instructor dialog box.

4. Choose whether the selected instructor is the Primary Instructor or an Adjunct Instructor using the checkboxes in the Section Instructor dialog box.

5. Optionally, using “Start Date/End Date” and “Start Time/End Time” in the Section Instructor dialog box, you may specify date and time ranges when the added instructor will teach that section.

3.3 The Resources/Services Tab

The Resources/Services tab of the Edit Section Information dialog box displays a list of all resources and services that may be associated with the class section. “Resources” are equipment that can be booked and moved into the room for that class (such as a TV/VCR cart). “Services” refer to an activity that can be associated to the class meeting, such as Room Setup (see “Services,” Chapter 2, section 7), or janitorial services. The creation and booking of resources and services are covered in the “Resources” portion of this User’s Guide (Chapter 9).

3.4 The History Tab

The History Tab of the Edit Section Information dialog box contains a list of changes that have been made to the section record, including the User who changed it, when the record was changed, and which fields were changed.

3.5 The Notes Tab

The Notes tab of the Edit Section Information dialog box allows you to enter in text notes about the section.

3.6 The Details Tab

The Details tab of the Edit Section Information dialog box contains User-defined fields. Some of these fields may be populated by your SIS at import. The blank fields can contain any information you wish to have associated with that section. The labels and data entry types of those fields can be configured by your System Administrator in Data Monitor.

The Details tab also contains Section Cluster and CrossListed tools that can be used to create section clusters and cross-lists for this section. For more information about these tools, see below.

3.7 Additional Meeting Information Area

At the bottom of the Edit Section Information dialog box, the “Additional Meeting Info.” area contains tools that allow you to enter additional pieces of information about the section.

The Crosslists Tool

A cross-listed section is a section that meets in the same room at the same time with one or more other sections. There are three main scenarios in which cross-lists are used:

· Different departments offer credit for the same class (e.g. 20th Century Art gives credit for both Art 550 and History 330).

· Different courses meet in the same room (e.g. Painting I and Painting III meet in the same studio at the same time).

· Different sections of the same course meet in the same room at the same time.

Cross-lists are generally imported from your SIS. However, they may also be manually created in Astra. To manually create a cross-list, follow the steps below:

In the Edit Section Information window, in the “Additional Meeting Info.” area, click the CrossListed icon

. This will display the Select what sections are cross listed together dialog box.

All sections are listed. Select all the sections you wish to cross-list by clicking the box next to the section, and click “OK.” Make sure the cross-list number field is populated with a number that is unique to this cross-list group. Astra Schedule will automatically generate a cross-list number that will identify those sections, using the import ID (if it exists). For those sections that do not have an import ID number, the default generated by Astra Schedule will be “Astra-,” and the number will need to be specified manually.

All sections that are cross-listed with the current section will be displayed in the “Additional Meeting Info.” area of the Section Edit Information dialog box.

Section Clusters

Section clusters are generally used to group meetings of a section that have irregular meeting times or dates. Assigning section clusters is helpful for two main reasons:

· To easily optimize the section clusters into the same room when bulk scheduling.

· To group sections together for easy reference in the Edit Section Information screen.

Section clusters are typically imported from your SIS, but they can be created manually. Follow the steps below to manually create section clusters:

1. In the Edit Section Information window, in the “Additional Meeting Info.” area, click on the Section Cluster icon

2. A pop-up dialog box will ask if you want to CREATE multiple section clusters. If you just want to cluster already-existing sections together, click “No.” If you want to manually build section cluster records, click “Yes.”

a. If you selected “No,” then the Select what sections are clustered together dialog box will be displayed and show a list of all sections of that course. To cluster sections together, simply select the checkbox next to the section and click “OK.”

b. If you selected “Yes” to manually build your own section cluster pieces, then the Multiple Meetings dialog box will be displayed. A section cluster number will be automatically generated.

In the “Type of Meeting” section, use the radio button to select if the meeting type will be “Repeating” or “Irregular.”

If they are repeating meetings, fill out the dates, days of the week, and occurrence information in the “Repeating Meetings” section on the right side of the window.

If they are irregular meetings, pick the date and the start and end times of the first meeting and click the New Meeting icon. Continue creating as many meetings as necessary. As you create meetings, they are listed in the box at the bottom of the screen. To edit, delete, or add a new meetings, use the sidebar buttons.

3. When you have created all the meetings, click on the Create Meetings button.

Section clusters will be listed in the “Additional Meeting Info.” area of the Edit Section Information dialog box.

Exceptions

If you have a section that will not meet in its standard meeting pattern on one or multiple days, you can set “exceptions” to accommodate those circumstances.

Existing exceptions are listed in the “Additional Meeting Info.” area of the Edit Section Information dialog box. Follow the steps below to create new exceptions:

In the Edit Section Information window, in the “Additional Meeting Info.” area, click on the Exceptions icon

at the bottom of the section record. This will display the Select Section Exception Date dialog box.

2. Select the appropriate day of the week you wish to set your exception and click “OK”. This will display Select Exceptions dialog box.

3. Select the checkbox next to every date for which you wish to set an exception and click “OK.”

4. Repeat the previous steps if there are exceptions that fall on a different day of the week.

The exception days will be listed in the “Additional Meeting Info.” area of the Edit Section Information dialog box.

To edit the exception record, double-click on the exception “Additional Meeting Info.” area of the Edit Section Information dialog box. This will display the Exception dialog box.

Click the Assign Room button to use the Available Rooms tool to select a room. The Available Rooms tool is further explained in The Available Rooms tool topic of this document (Chapter 6).

Additional Rooms

1. In the Edit Section Information window, in the “Additional Meeting Info.” area, click the Additional Room icon

located next to the building and room fields or near the bottom of the screen. This will display the Add Room window.

Use the available rooms tool to select a room. The available rooms tool is further explained in the Available Rooms tool topic of this document.

3.8 Holidays

The Holidays menu option allows you to designate holidays in Astra Schedule during which you can restrict the schedule of events and/or sections. Holidays must be set for each campus by your System Administrator in the Astra Schedule Data Monitor. The name and date for holidays are entered, as well as whether to Allow Sections… and or Allow Events… to be scheduled during the holiday. A date that is defined as a holiday will automatically “un-schedule” any sections that are scheduled for that date. This is not indicated in the section record; the room into which the section is scheduled is automatically “freed up.”

To view holiday information, in Astra Schedule, select File / View Holidays. The Holidays dialog box will appear. The Hide Past Holidays button will display holidays that have already occurred in the calendar year.

3.9 Creating a Section Record

2. Click the New button in the lower toolbar. The Select Subject and Course dialog box will appear.

The Edit Section Infor-mation dialog box will appear. Use the drop-down menus to select the Start Date/End Date; Start Time/End Time Days Met; Meeting Type; Term; Max Enrollment and Enrollment.

5. In the Schedule Preferences area, you may select the Apply Default Preferences button to apply default subject, course or instructor preferences from the default preferences table. Alternately, you may double-click on each of the headings for “RoomType,” “Feature,” “Region,” “Building,” and “Building/Room,” to access drop-down options for each.

6. In the Instructor area, click the New button to select from a list of available instructors.

7. In the Optimizer Options area, check the appropriate scheduling considerations (“Do Not Schedule,” “Arranged section,” and/or “Do Not Optimize”).

3.10 Editing an Existing Section

2. Double-click on the section record you wish to edit. The Edit Section Information dialog box will appear. (See previous page for details of this dialog box.)

Academic scheduling with Astra Schedule is an extremely streamlined process. The scheduling process is outlined in sequential order in the list below:

4.1 Preferences Overview

Before scheduling can begin, scheduling preferences must be defined. Scheduling preferences define preferred or required room types, features, regions, buildings and rooms for sections, instructors, subjects or meeting types. However, not all preferences can be set at every level. Please refer to the chart below for a listing of levels and preferences.

4.2 Preferences Flowchart

4.3 Understanding Preferences

User-defined scheduling preferences allow important subjective factors to influence room selection. They are central to section scheduling.

Weighting

Weights on preferences define the strength of a preference for (or desire to avoid) an attribute. Weights are used in the Optimizer as part of the calculation that determines the best room(s) available.

All scheduling preferences except Room Type allow weights from -10 to 10. Room Type only allows weights from 1 to 10 because any Room Types not selected are automatically not considered (and therefore do not need to be avoided).

Higher weights (or in the case of the negative weights, lower) mean stronger preferences. A “10” weight means that the selection is ideal. A “5” is half as desirable as a “10.” A “-10” means that the selection will never be considered. Weights from “9” to “1” are considered, but avoided.

Selecting “limit search to list” on Region, Building, and Building and Room preferences will prompt Astra Schedule to only consider the selected attributes. If you select Room Features with quantities (e.g., computers), you must also select the desired number of that feature. If the number selected is required (as a minimum), then put the weight for that feature at “10” and check the “Minimum Quantity Required?” box.

Room Type

The Room Type is the actual configuration of the room. Room Types should be specific enough to handle the majority of sections/events without having to request Room Features, and general enough to typically encompass several rooms. Room Type preferences correspond to Room Types defined in the room file and weights (importance) may be set from “1” to “10.”

What room is used for	How to define its room type	Example
Single, specific purpose	Strictly	Microbiology lab
Variety of sections/events	Generally	Lecture hall, conference room

Room Features

Room features are special room attributes that are a permanent part of the room, such as projection screens, whiteboards, wheelchair access, or special A/V equipment. Only those features that are important in room selection should be defined and selected. Weights can be set from “-10” (avoid) to “10” (strongly prefer). For features that allow quantities, select a desired number of that feature. If this number is required (a minimum) enter a weight of "10" and check the "Minimum Quantity Required?" box.

Regions

A region is a user-defined block of rooms and buildings on your campus that may overlap two or more buildings. Each room in your room table can be assigned to one region or to several regions. Ideally, regions should be set up to define preferred groups of rooms or to limit User access to a group of rooms, not to divide the campus into several "mini" campuses or departmental "turf." Weights can be set from “-10” (avoid) to “10” (strongly prefer).

· Departmental Region - If different departments prefer certain parts of your campus

· Scheduling Region - If certain parts of your campus are used for certain types of activities (e.g. event region, course region)

· Geographic Region - If your campus is divided into logical geographic locations (e.g. North, South)

Building

Certain preferred buildings may be requested. Weights can be set from “-10” (avoid) to “10” (strongly prefer).

Room

Certain preferred rooms may be requested. Weights can be set from “-10” (avoid) to “10” (strongly prefer).

4.4 Configuring and Applying Your Scheduling Preferences

In order to minimize data entry, preferences should be entered into the default preference tables at the most general level possible. More specific settings can take precedence over more general settings. When preferences are applied by your System Administrator, the areas of preferences can be set to: Apply Only if Blank, Replace All, Replace All (Except Limit to List), and Append to Others.

How are Scheduling Preferences Inherited?

The following table illustrates what an example lecture section of ENGL 101 taught by Joe Smith will inherit given certain scheduling preference settings in the default tables, and applying them in the preferred order:

How Often Do I Configure My Scheduling Preferences?

Default preference tables are system-level tables that only have to be set up once (not every academic term.) They may be modified or added to at any time as preferences change. Keep in mind that you may also modify the default order of applying scheduling preferences.

Configuring Preferences at the Meeting Type level

Meeting Type preferences should be used if the majority of course sections of a particular Meeting Type (e.g. lecture) are to be scheduled into the same Room Type (e.g. lecture-auditorium, lecture-table / chair, lecture-tablet / armchair, etc.).

1. In the main user interface window, select Configure | Meeting Type Preferences. The Meeting Types dialog box will appear.

Select the New button or highlight a meeting type and select the Edit button. A second Meeting Type dialog box will appear.

3. Click once in the "Room Type Preferences" box. The Room Type Selection dialog box will appear.

4. Select up to ten preferred Room Types and assign a ranking from “1” to “10.”

Configuring Preferences at the Subject Level

Subject preferences should be used if the majority of the course sections offered by certain subjects are to have the same Region(s) and/or Building(s) preferences.

1. In the main user interface window, select Configure | Subject Preferences. The Subject Defaults dialog box will appear.

2. Click the New button if entering a new subject, or scroll and highlight an existing subject in the list and select the Edit button. A second Subject Defaults dialog box will appear.

Click once in the "Building" field. The Selection of Building Preferences dialog box will appear.

4. Select up to 10 preferred buildings and give each selection a ranking from “-10” to “10.”

5. Check the box labeled “Limit Search to List” to limit the search parameters to only the preferences selected. For example, if buildings A, B and C are selected as preferred Buildings and the “Limit Search to List box” is checked, the Optimizer will only search for an available room in buildings A, B and C. If an available room is not found in one of those buildings, the section(s) will remain unscheduled.

6. Click once in the "Region" box. The Selection of Regions Preferences dialog box will appear.

7. Select up to ten preferred Regions and give each selection a ranking from “-10” to “10.”

8. Check the box labeled “Limit Search to List” to limit the search parameters to only the preferences selected. For example, if regions X, Y and Z are selected as preferred Regions and the Limit Search to List box is checked, the Optimizer will only search for an available room in regions X, Y and Z. If an available room is not found in one of those regions, the section(s) will remain unscheduled.

Configuring Preferences at the Course Level

Course preferences should be used if the sections of certain courses have preferences that are not adequately reflected in Meeting Type or Subject preferences. Room Type(s), Room Feature(s), Region(s), Building(s) and Room(s) can be requested at the Course level.

1. In the main user interface window, select Configure | Course Preferences. The Course Information dialog box will appear.

2. Click the New button, or highlight a course and select the Edit button. The Edit Course Information dialog box will appear.

4. If editing the preferences for a course, double-click on a Meeting Type or select the “New” button to create a new Meeting Type. The Course Preferences by Meeting Type dialog box will appear.

5. Select up to ten preferences for each category and assign each selection a ranking from “-10” to “10.”

6. Check the box labeled “Limit Search to List” (if it appears) to limit the search parameters to only the preferences selected.

9. After making changes to a Course Preference record, you may set an effective date for the changes to take place (if your System Administrator has enabled course effective dates). If course effective dates are enabled, the New Effective Date window will pop up when you click “OK” on the Course Information screen.

10. Clicking the Modify Record button will make any changes effective immediately and will affect all sections editing and application of Course Level preferences. By putting a date in the “Effective Date” box and clicking the New Record button, Astra Schedule will not recognize the changes until the effective date. The changes will only affect section editing and default preferences for sections that start after the effective date.

11. Putting a new effective date on a course will generate another tab at the bottom of the Course Information screen. Clicking on the different tabs will show you the configuration of the course information on the different dates. To delete an effective date, click the Delete Effective Date button.

12. Use the “Course Expiration Date” field if you wish for a course record to "expire." After the expiration date, an expired course will no longer be seen in the course drop-down list when editing sections. However, it will remain in the system attached to historical section data in old terms.

Configuring Preferences at the Instructor Level

Instructor preferences should be used if the majority of the course sections taught by certain instructors are to be taught in the same building(s) and/or room(s).

In the main user interface window, select Configure | Instructor Preferences. The Instructor Information dialog box will be displayed. Clicking the Filter button

will show only those instructors that do not have preferences assigned.

2. Click the New button or highlight an instructor and select the Edit button. The Instructor Information dialog box will appear.

On the Preferences and Departments tab, enter or edit any necessary information about the instructor and optionally enter the specific campus and departments appropriate for the instructor.

4. Checking the box labeled “No Conflict Checking” will cause the system to exclude this instructor in the Double Booked Instructor report (discussed later in the Reports topic of this document), and will leave this instructor off of the Instructor Grid.

5. For each preference area (RoomType, Features, Regions, Building, or Building and Room) select up to ten preferences for each category and assign each selection a ranking from “-10” to “10.”

6. Check the box labeled “Limit Search to List” (if it appears) to limit the search parameters to only the preferences selected.

On the Instructor Type and Availability tab you can highlight and display the times of day and days of the week this instructor prefers to teach. Clicking the Clone Availability button will allow you to clone this instructor’s availability to other instructors.

On the Courses Authorized to Instruct tab, you can specify which courses this instructor is authorized to teach. This will only affect functionality if you are manually adding instructors to classes in Astra Schedule. If you are importing your instructor assignments from your SIS, this option will not affect you.

The Dates Unavailable button will allow you to specify dates for which this instructor is not available to teach. This will only affect functionality if you are manually adding instructors to classes in Astra. If you are importing your instructor assignments from your SIS, this option will not affect you.

After making changes to an instructor record, you may set an effective date for the changes to take place if your System Administrator has enabled Instructor Effective dates. If Instructor Effective dates are enabled, the New Effective Date window will pop up after you have clicked “OK” on the Instructor Information screen.

Clicking the Modify Record button will make any changes effective immediately and will affect section editing and application of default instructor preferences. By entering a date into the "Effective Date" field and clicking the New Record button, Astra Schedule will not recognize the changes until the effective date. The changes will only affect section editing and default preferences for sections that start after the effective date. Putting a new Effective Date on an instructor will generate another tab at the bottom of the Instructor Information screen. Clicking on the different tabs will show you the configuration of the instructor information on the different dates. To delete an effective date, click the Delete Effective Date button.

Use the “Instructor Expiration Date” field if you wish for an instructor record to "expire." After the expiration date, an expired instructor will no longer be seen in the Instructor drop-down list when editing sections. However, s/he will remain in the system attached to historical section data in old terms.

Configuring Preferences at the Section Level

Section-level preferences should only be used if specific section(s) must have preferences that differ significantly from the previously listed default settings. This method of configuring preferences is the most time-consuming and will not roll over to the next term. Ad Astra recommends using the default preferences, particularly Meeting Type and Subject preferences, whenever possible.

Preferences can be modified section-by-section from the Edit Section Information dialog box.

1. In the main user interface window, from the Section tab, double-click on a section record. The Edit Section Information dialog box will appear.

2. Double-click on any of the five “Schedule Preference” boxes to access preference information.

4.5 Applying Scheduling Preferences

4.6 Scheduling Priorities

Users select rooms for sections based on subjective and objective criteria. Astra Schedule enables you to define and modify the trade-offs between your institution’s subjective and objective scheduling priorities. Scheduling priorities include Seat Fill Efficiency and the five subjective user-defined preferences: Room Type(s), Room Feature(s), Region(s), Building(s) and Room(s).

What is considered when placing sections?

Course sections that are "open scheduled" (not pre-assigned) in Astra Schedule are placed using "Seat Fill" and "Schedule Preference" considerations:

Consideration

Definition

Seat Fill

The ratio of course section maximum enrollment to room seating capacity.

Schedule Preferences

More subjective scheduling considerations, including preferred:

· Room Type(s)

· Room Feature(s)

· Region (s)

· Building(s)

· Room(s)

Percentage Decisions

The following table shows examples of how to set your scheduling priority percentages:

If. . .	Then. . .
Filling seats in every room is your institution’s main priority	Increase the Seat Fill percentage so that it is greater than the Preferences percentage
Placing sections into preferred buildings and/or rooms is your institution’s priority	Increase the Preferences percentage so that it is greater than the Seat Fill percentage

Scheduling priorities can be set for each User with access to the Optimizer. These settings affect all Optimizer runs for that User, but may be modified between Optimizer runs. Follow the steps below to set your scheduling priorities:

Click Configure | Scheduling Priorities. The Schedule Options dialog box will appear.

2. Slide the button in the “Fill” field to the left (lower) or right (higher) to select the percentage you would like to place on Seat Fill optimization when running the Optimizer.

3. Slide the button in the “Preferences” field left (lower) or right (higher) to select the percentage you would like to place on subjective scheduling preferences when running the Optimizer. If you have placed any percentage on Preferences, you may also individually weight the five Preferences: Room Type, Room Features, Regions, Buildings and Rooms. Their individual settings reflect a percentage of the total Preferences percentage.

4. Adjust the “Underbook Percentage.” (Underbook Percentage allows you to choose a percentage of seats to leave unfilled when scheduling rooms with the Optimizer. Example: Setting the Underbook Percentage at 20% would not allow the Optimizer to place a class of 16 in a room with less than 20 seats.)

5. Click the Example button to test your preferences by creating fictional section(s) and viewing possible scheduling placements and costs (see the Glossary at the end of this document for definition) using the scheduling options you have selected. Return to the Scheduling Options dialog box to see the effect of the scheduling options on placement.

5.1 Bulk Scheduling Overview

The Optimizer is the bulk-scheduling tool for placing sections into classrooms. It provides a platform for testing different "what-if" scheduling scenarios. It can be used when section scheduling is done centrally (one person runs the Optimizer, even though many Users may set preferences for the sections being scheduled) or in a decentralized scheduling environment (many people bulk schedule their sections into their classrooms).

Bulk Scheduling Flowchart

5.2 Understanding the Optimizer

How does the Optimizer help me?

The Optimizer makes the scheduling process faster, and allows you to find the most efficient way to use your space. By running the Optimizer on different section/room combinations, you may test the impact of enrollment growth, remodeling unneeded space, building a new building, or taking a building off-line for a term.

By adjusting scheduling priorities, you may test the trade-offs between different scheduling objectives and create several schedules.

Using scenario schedules allows you to test various changes and scheduling experimentation.

Running the Optimizer on your production data will update your production date with new room assignments. See the Running the Optimizer and Scenario Modeling topics of this document for further explanation.

The Algorithm

The Optimizer’s algorithm is designed to place sections into the most appropriate available rooms in order to create the best possible schedule. "Appropriateness" is defined by the Users of Astra Schedule and the relative importance they place on the inputs to the Optimizer’s algorithm.

How can I modify the Algorithm?

You may modify the relative importance of the default (system-wide) scheduling preferences by changing the default order in which Astra Schedule applies those preferences. Your Astra Schedule administrator can change that order at any time.

You may also modify the "rules" of the assignment algorithm to affect the trade-off between Seat Fill and Preferences. You may also define hard ("Limit Search to List") or soft (open scheduled) preferences.

How does the Optimizer affect the source file?

Astra Schedule preserves the content from the source section file by scheduling into a new "result" section file. The new section file receives all of the data from the source section file to which the User has access and all of the room assignments from the most recent Optimizer run. (You may also opt to run the Optimizer against the production schedule and without saving to a new file.)

Optimizer Objectives

2. Optimize the number of sections that are scheduled into rooms that fit their Room Type, Feature and location preferences.

3. Optimize the maximum enrollment of each section to the capacity of the room into which it is placed.

Common Problems Contributing to Unscheduled Meetings

5.3 Running the Optimizer

Before You Start

Optimizer Preview

You have the option to test the Optimizer before you make an actual run. Follow the steps below to complete the Optimizer Preview:

1. Select Assignment | Optimizer Preview. The Optimizer Preview dialog box will appear.

Check the box labeled “Keep existing building & room assignments” if you would like to keep existing room assignments for previously scheduled or pre-assigned sections.

3. Check the box labeled “Preprocess hard constraints” to schedule sections with must-have preferences (typically, those marked as "Limit Search to List") first.

4. Check the box labeled “Preprocess back to back instructors” if you wish to schedule instructors teaching sections back-to-back in the same room or building. If you have checked this box, you may specify the maximum number of minutes between back-to-back sections.

5. Select if you wish your sections to be based on the “Max Enrollment” or the actual “Enrollment” using the radio buttons.

6. Select the type of report you would like: Cluster Information, Sections Impossible to Schedule, Section Conflicts, Available Rooms, or Scheduling Information.

7. Select any restrictions to be placed on this Optimizer Preview. (For example, you might choose a single Region or Term to be scheduled.)

8. Click the Options button to adjust the schedule options as previously discussed in the Setting Your Scheduling Priorities section (Chapter 4, section 6). Click “OK” to return to the Optimizer Preview window.

9. Click Run. Astra Schedule will execute the optimizer preview. Choose the report destination and options (if printing.) Click “OK”.

5.3 Running the Optimizer

Select the Optimizer Tool icon

from the upper toolbar. The Bulk Scheduler Options dialog box will appear.

2. Check the box labeled “Results to new scenario table” and name the new result table if you would like the results saved to a new file.

3. Check the box labeled “Keep existing building and room assignments” if you would like to keep existing room assignments for previously scheduled or pre-assigned sections.

4. Check the box labeled “Preprocess hard constraints” to schedule sections with must-have preferences (typically, those marked as "Limit Search to List") first.

6. Check the box labeled “Preprocess back to back instructors” if you wish to schedule instructors teaching sections back-to-back in the same room or building.

7. Select a campus in the restrictions area to populate all possible restrictions. Choose “Select All” or specific options to define the scope of the optimization. (For example, you might choose a single region or term to be scheduled.)

8. Click the Options button to adjust the schedule options as previously discussed in the Setting Your Scheduling Priorities section (Chapter 4, section 6).

9. Click “OK” to run the Optimizer. The Bulk Schedule Results dialog box will appear. Click the Reports button if you would like to get report information about this Optimizer run. The Schedule Results dialog box will appear.

b. Sections Impossible to Schedule: A list of sections considered impossible to schedule

To view your results report at a later time, browse to the folder you specified and double-click on the file. Along with reports, you may also view optimizer run details from the Bulk Schedule Results dialog box by clicking the Detail button. This will display the Scheduling Results window.

This box contains the basic information contained in the Bulk Schedule Results window as well as details on enrollment to seat percentage, a breakdown of scheduled sections with preferences, and information on scheduling information broken down by class length.

The Optimizer Results Report

After every Optimizer run, an Optimizer Results Report will appear. The report details the following:

Result	What it means
Total Number of Meetings	This count represents the number of meeting records that Astra Schedule attempted to process. Note: If a section has an unconventional meeting pattern, (e.g. MW at 9 am, F at 10 am), that section can have several meeting records.
Meetings Scheduled	The number of meeting records that Astra Schedule successfully placed.
Meetings Unscheduled	The number of meeting records that Astra Schedule was unable to place. Note: It is important to remember that the results of an Optimizer run depend greatly on the preferences of the sections being scheduled.
Unscheduled – Impossible to Place	The subset of unscheduled meeting records that Astra Schedule could not place. An "impossible to place" meeting is one that contains constraints (pre-assignments and preferences) that are impossible to meet. For example, assume your campus has three auditorium rooms with seating capacities of 250, 500 and 600, respectively. A section meeting requesting an auditorium with 700 seats is "impossible to schedule."
Unscheduled – Conflicting Meeting(s)	Unscheduled meeting records that Astra Schedule could have placed except for time conflicts with other meetings. In this situation, too many meetings want the same room(s) and the same time.
Search Extended for Meeting(s)	The room search for meetings that initially fall in the "Unscheduled-Conflicting Meeting(s)" category is expanded. This allows Astra Schedule to consider more than the default number (top 50) of rooms to place a meeting.
Number of Meetings Tried Swapping	Astra Schedule tries to "swap" room assignments to increase the number of scheduled meetings.
Number of Swapings that Worked	Any meetings that were successfully swapped (placed by backtracking) are included in this count.

5.4 Scenario Modeling

Scenario vs. Production Mode

From the point at which your data is imported into Astra Schedule, your schedule is in production mode. As an Astra Schedule User, you share the same production schedule with all other Astra Schedule users on your system. If you have access to the Optimizer, you also have the ability to create personal scenario schedules. Scenario schedules are different combinations of section files and room files, or the same combinations with different Scheduling Priority settings.

You may update the production schedule with a scenario schedule at any time. Assignments made in your scenario schedule are only "official" when they are updated back to the production schedule. Until that time, any scenario schedule you create is strictly a mock schedule.

Creating a New Scenario File

When running the Optimizer, it is recommended that you automatically put the results into a scenario file. You may also create a scenario file without running the Optimizer by selecting File | Switch to Scenario Modeling Mode. If you do not have any other scenarios created, this will display the New Scenario File dialog box. After entering a file name and clicking “OK,” a new scenario file will be created. When you are in a scenario file, the main Astra interface window will display several visible cues to remind you that you are in scenario mode (e.g. “Scenario Mode” will be displayed in red at the bottom of the main interface window, etc.).

Deleting Unwanted Scenario Tables

Often there may be several Users with access to the Optimizer, all of whom may run the Optimizer several times to create many scenario schedules. There are several tables created with each scenario schedule, and Astra Schedule gives you the option to delete all tables associated with a scenario schedule.

1. Be sure that you are in Scenario Mode. In the main user interface window, select File | Delete File from the drop-down menu. The Select Scenario File to Delete dialog box will appear.

2. Highlight the file you wish to delete and click “OK.” Click “Yes” to confirm that you wish to delete the file.

Switching Back to Production Mode

To leave your scenario file and begin working in Production mode again, choose File | Switch to Production Mode.

Update to Production

If you have a scenario file that you have configured and would like it to become your production data, select File | Update Production in the main user interface window. This will replace your existing production data with the data entered in your scenario file.

If the date range included during optimization includes multiple terms, you will be prompted to select the term you wish to update.

5.5 Unscheduled Sections

Locating Unscheduled Sections

1. In the main user interface window, on the lower toolbar, select Group By | Status, then, from the Jump To menu, select the blank menu item. The Sections tab will display only unscheduled sections.

2. Click the Search icon in the upper toolbar while in the Section tab. The Search dialog box will appear. Click the Unscheduled Sections button. The Section tab will be filtered to show only those sections that were not scheduled (for the active Group By tab).

Placing Unscheduled Sections Using the Optimizer

The Optimizer can place previously-unscheduled sections in either Scenario or Production mode. Follow the steps below to place unscheduled sections using the Optimizer:

2. Select the Optimizer

icon from the upper toolbar. The Bulk Scheduler Options dialog box will appear.

3. Check the box labeled “Keep Existing Building and Room Assignments” box to schedule unplaced sections only, while maintaining existing building and room reservations.

4. Click “OK”. When the run is complete, the Bulk Schedule Results dialog box will appear.

6.1 The Available Rooms Tool

The Available Rooms tool will search to find a room on your campus that meets the User-defined preferences for a section. Use the Available Rooms tool when:

Using the Available Rooms Tool

Follow the steps below to place an unscheduled section using the Available Rooms tool:

Double-click on the section. The Edit Section Information dialog box will appear.

3. Click the Assign Available Rooms button

next to the “Building” and “Room” fields in the upper right area of the window.

4. The Available Rooms dialog box will appear. The “Available” field (column) will be yellow for rooms that are available for the times and days selected for this section.

5. Click on the row of the room into which you would like to place the Section. The entire row will be highlighted.

6. If your User access is configured to accommodate tiered scheduling, you may click the Expand button to open your selection of rooms to those in tiers 2 – 5.

7. If you have previously created a filter while viewing the daily or weekly room grids, that filter can be applied here using the Filter dropdown menu.

8. To find available rooms based on actual Enrollment or Max Enrollment, select the appropriate radio button.

9. Click Select. Clicking this button will automatically schedule the section into the room you have selected.

The Conflict Tool

Optionally, click the Clock icon

to view the Conflict Tool. Selecting this option will display a new Available Rooms dialog box. The Conflict Tool shows section conflicts by time for all of the days that the section meets.

2. Mouse over the bars on the right to get more information on the sections and events that are causing the conflict.

3. Select a room on the left and click on the Weekly View tab to get a weekly picture of the conflicts in that one room.

4. Click the Change Day Time button to view conflicts for different days and times than the current section.

5. Selecting a room that has a conflict on the left and then right-clicking on it gives you the option to see available meetings and conflicting sections.

If you select “Conflicts”, the Conflicts window will appear. This window contains a list of each conflicting section. To jump to that section’s Edit Section Information box, highlight it, and click the Jump To button. You may then drop or move the conflicting assignment (if you have the required access rights).

If you select “Available Meetings,” the Available Days window will appear containing a list of all individual section meetings from the section you are trying to schedule and show whether that room is available each day.

The exam module optimizes space for a user-defined exam curriculum and timetable. To setup and use the Exam Scheduling tools, access to BOTH Astra Schedule and the Data Monitor is required. The following documentation will walk you through the steps required in both applications to fully enable, configure, and schedule exams.

7.1 Enabling Exams

1. In Data Monitor, from the System Setup drop-down menu, select Enable Exams. The Exam Registration dialog box will appear.

2. Check the box labeled “Exam Tool Enabled,” select the correct scheduling option for your campus, and click “OK.”

7.2 Creating the Exam Term

In Data Monitor, from the Term Setup drop-down menu, select “Terms…”. The Term Information dialog box will appear. Double-click on the term for which you want to set up an exam period. This will display a second Term Information dialog box.

Enter the “Start Date” and “End Date” for the exam period, if they are not already defined. (It is best if the exam period immediately follows the end date of the term.)

3. Click “OK” to save any changes, and then close the Term Information dialog box.

7.3 Configuring Exam Preferences

1. In Astra Schedule, from the Configure drop-down menu, select Course Preferences. The Course Information dialog box will appear.

2. Click on a tab at the bottom of the window to see all courses for that subject, or select the subject from the Select Subject drop- down menu.

Double-click on the course for which you wish to add an exam. The Course Information dialog box will appear.

4. In the “Meeting Types” pane, double-click on the meeting type for which you are setting up the exam. The Course Preferences by Meeting Type dialog box will appear.

5. Select the Exam tab. Check the box labeled “Has Exam” to indicate that this course includes an exam.

· “Exam in same room”: Check this box if you want to schedule the exam into the same room that the section occupied that term.

· “Use same meeting preferences”: Check this box to use the same preferences for the exam as were used for the section that term. If you do not check this box, you may indicate the preferences for the exam in the “Exam Meeting Default Preferences” area of this window (these do roll forward from term to term).

· “Requires 2 X enrollment seats”: Check this box if the exam requires a room double the size of the section’s Maximum Enrollment (to allow for empty seats between students).

7. Click “OK” in the Course Preferences by Meeting Type dialog box and in the Course Information dialog box to save your changes.

7.4 Defining the Exam Timetable

1. In Data Monitor, from the Term Setup drop-down menu, select Create Exam Table. The Create Exam Table dialog box will appear.

2. Select a term for which to create the exam table from the drop-down box. The table below will populate with the meeting pattern of each course during the chosen term that will have an exam. You will use this table to input your meeting pattern-to-exam time conversion information.

Optionally, you may roll forward a conversion that was created for a previous term by choosing the previous term from the Roll forward conversions from this term drop-down menu and proceed to step 4.

3. Double-click on the first meeting pattern row. The Exam Date & Time dialog box will appear. Enter the exam start and end times and date for the corresponding meeting pattern and click “OK” to return to the Create Exam Table dialog box. Repeat these steps for each meeting pattern listed in the table.

4. In the Create Exam table dialog box, click the Create Exams button. This will create the exam sections in Astra Schedule.

5. Close and then re-open Astra Schedule and select the Exam tab to view the exam records.

7.5 Optimizing Exams

1. In Astra Schedule, click on the Optimizer icon

to display the Bulk Scheduler Options dialog box.

Move the radio button from “Sections” to “Exams” to optimize only exams.

3. Indicate the term whose exams you wish to optimize by checking the appropriate box(es) in the “Terms” pane.

Optionally, write the results to a scenario file or continue to configure the optimizer as you would for scheduling sections.

8.1 Event Scheduling Overview

Astra Schedule allows for easy ad hoc event scheduling, allowing the User to integrate customer management, equipment reservations, accounting, attendance, and event messaging. This chapter will provide information regarding the setup of event-related tables as well as event creation.

The Event Wizard

The Event Wizard is a powerful, yet easy-to-use tool for ad hoc event scheduling. It enables you to schedule a room for single-day, repeating, or irregular/multiple-day events. Easy-to-view grids and pick lists make room selection simple. Event management features allow you to manage resource bookings, send email and Astra Mail notifications, and bill for events.

8.2 Event Scheduling Flowchart

8.3 Pricing Plans

Price plans are distinct pricing levels that allow an institution to charge different rates to different kinds of customers. Much of the information in the other event tables will be based on price plans. Pricing can be based on a percentage of another price plan and are campus-specific. Pricing Plan tables are used to set a standard price plan from which other plans can be based.

1. Select Event Management | Pricing Plans. The initial Pricing Plans dialog box will appear.

2. Select the appropriate campus tab on the bottom of the dialog box and click the New or Edit button. The Pricing Plan Information dialog box will appear.

4. If this price plan is based on another price plan, check the box labeled “Pricing based on % of another plan.” Check the appropriate box if the money associated with this price plan is used only for internal accounting.

8.4 Resources and Services

A resource is any equipment that may be used for sections or events and can be moved from one place to another. Services and fees may also be set up as resources. The resource set up and configuration that can be done in this menu item is explained in the Understanding Resources section (Chapter 9, section one) of this document.

Additionally, Astra Schedule allows you to define services to be performed by certain members of your staff (such as equipment setup or room setup) that can be automatically associated with a resource or room. Services can also be “checked out” with events (such as parking attendants or post-event janitorial service).

Resource Trouble Tickets

Resources may be taken off-line for a certain period of time during which they cannot be checked out. When a resource is taken off-line, a “trouble ticket” can be created that gives more detailed information. Creating and reviewing trouble tickets is further explained in the Managing Resources section (Chapter 11, section one) of this document.

8.5 Event Types

Event Type tables contain User-defined Event Type names. Event Types are used for grouping events, primarily for reporting purposes. This table should be populated after you have entered the price plan information.

1. Select Event Management | Event Types. The Select Event Type dialog box will appear.

2. Select the appropriate campus tab and Event Type group and click the New button, or highlight an Event Type and click the Edit button. The Event Type Information dialog box will appear.

3. Select an “Event Type Group” from the drop-down menu, or type in a new one in the “Event Type” field.

4. Enter the “Event Type” name and select the security level. Private and semi-private security levels will prevent viewing by some Users. If you are using the web client and wish to route event requests by event type, select the Astra user(s) you wish to receive the requests for this Event Type in the “Notification” pane.

8.6 Customer Types

Customer Types are user-defined groups of customers, typically used to group customers for reporting purposes and to link the group to a price plan. The Customer Type table contains the names of the various Customer Types your institution may have (i.e. students, church organization, faculty/staff, etc.). It also lists the price plan to which each customer price plan will be assigned. This table should be populated after you have entered the price plan information.

8.7 Selecting Customers

Events in Astra Schedule are tied to Customers. Customers may be set up for outside business and groups or you may choose to set up your internal departments as well. Every customer is associated with a Customer Price Plan, which allows you to easily group your customers, as well as provide a structure for which you are going to charge them for room and resource use.

1. Select Event Management | Customers. The Select Customer dialog box will appear.

2. Select the customer for which you wish to arrange a price plan and click the Edit icon, or click the New icon. The Customer Information dialog box will appear.

3. Enter or edit the necessary information for the customer. Click the Campuses button to select the campuses to which this customer may have access.

To manually disable a customer, check the “Customer Disabled” box. (Note: You will not be able to schedule events for a disabled customer if your system administrator configures Astra Schedule to reject disabled customers. If disabled customers are allowed to schedule events, Astra Schedule will issue a warning that the customer has been disabled before the event is scheduled.)

5. Select a “Customer Price Plan” from the drop-down menu to assign the appropriate customer price plan.

6. Select the “Billing Term” drop-down menu to select the customer’s payment term. This relates to when a customer’s ledger entries are available to invoice (15, 30, 45, or 60 days). Invoicing is described in detail in the Accounting section (Chapter 12, section one) of this document.

Click the Contacts tab to enter contacts for the customer. Click New or highlight an existing contact; this will display the Contact Information window.

8. Enter the appropriate information associated with the contact. Entering an email address will allow Astra Schedule to send email notifications to this contact. Additionally, if an email address is entered, the Web Profile button becomes enabled. This button displays the Web Profile Information window.

The Web Profile Information window allows you set up web client access for this contact. A web user name and password may be entered and a web user role may be attached. (Note: Web profiles are configured by your System Administrator in the Data Monitor. Only those web roles that are view-only are available for contacts) Campus, building, and region restrictions may be placed on this contact’s user access by selecting the checkbox next to every Campus, Building, or Region to which this user has access. Click “OK” to save and exit the Web Profile Information window.

10. The Details tab on the Contact Information window allows you enter values into the user-defined contact fields. Clicking “OK” will return you to the Contacts tab of the Customer Information window.

12.

If your System Administrator enables Insurance or Contract information for customers, you will see an Insurance and Contract tab at the bottom of the Customer Information window.

13. Click on the Insurance tab to enter information for a customer. Enter the insurance company name, phone number, and policy number, if appropriate. Enter an expiration date. Additional notes can be added in the “Notes” field. (Note: Your System Administrator can configure Astra Schedule to warn you when scheduling an event for a customer with an expired policy, or reject the event for that customer.)

14. Click on the Contracts tab to enter contract information for the customer. Enter the contract title, phone number, and contract number, if appropriate. Enter an expiration date. Additional notes can be added in the “Notes” field. (Note: Your System Administrator can configure Astra Schedule to warn you when scheduling an event for a customer with an expired contract, or reject the event for that customer.)

15. The Details tab allows you to enter information into the user-defined fields for the Customer.

8.8 Notification List

This Notification List table contains the names of those contacts requiring notification via email when specific resources and/or rooms are booked. After this table is populated, notifications can be sent by email.

1. Select Event Management| Notification List. The Notification List dialog box will appear.

2. Select the appropriate campus and click New or Edit. The Notification Information dialog box will appear.

Enter the contact’s name, title, email address, phone number and fax number. To add this notification individual to more than one campus, select the appropriate campuses (if applicable).

8.9 Finding an Event

The Find Event tool will allow a User to get a list of all events meeting certain criteria, and allow the User to easily jump to an individual event record.

1. Select Event Management | Find Event. The Find Events dialog box will appear.

2. Enter any text you wish to search for, and optionally filter on Campus, Building, Customer, Contact, Event Title, or Event Type. Click Find and the Event Search Results dialog box will open.

8.10 Creating an Event

The Event Wizard makes it easy for you to create any kind of event, whether it is a single event or one with many meetings occurring at different times on many dates.

Select the Event Wizard icon

in the upper toolbar. The Create Event Meetings dialog box will appear.

2. Name the meeting (optional) and set the expected attendance number (optional).

· Single/Multiple: one meeting, or many meetings with the same start and end times occurring on random dates.

· Recurring: many meetings with the same start and end time following a given pattern.

c. Click the Setup and Teardown Times button to add notes to all meetings, attach setup and teardown times to all meetings, or attach setup and teardown notes to all meetings.

d. Click the days in the calendar on which your meeting(s) will occur. The selected days will be highlighted in blue.

c. Click the Setup and Teardown Times button to add notes to all meetings, attach setup and teardown times to all meetings, or attach setup and teardown notes to all meetings.

Once you have created all your meetings, you may filter the list of rooms to choose from by using the Limit Search by: drop- down menus.

6. Enter in a Building, Room Type, Region, or Capacity in the filter boxes and click Next

The Select Rooms for Meetings window will appear. It will contain a list of all rooms that met your filter criteria on the previous screen. If you did not set a filter, the window will contain a list of all rooms on campus.

8. Click on the room grid to select rooms for your meetings. You may select one or more rooms for each meeting (column). To select a room, match the Room row with the appropriate Meeting column.

9. Optionally, using the Filter button

or the Filter drop-down menu allows you to filter the Room list that is appearing on the screen. A filter can be saved using the Filter drop-down menu and then reloaded the next time you access the window.

10. Using the Zoom buttons

allows you to shrink the information in the meeting headers and show more meeting columns on the screen at one time.

11. The Meeting Order drop-down menu will allow you to put the meeting columns in the order in which you created them on the previous screen, or in the order of the meeting occurrence.

13. Enter the Event Name, Event Type, Customer Name, Contact Name, Price Plan and Security Level. Using the New button allows you to add a new Event Type, Customer, or Contact. The Find Contact button allows you to search a list of all contacts from any customer.

14. If you wish to assign resources to any meeting, click Resources. (Note: Booking resources is discussed in further detail in the Booking Resources with Events topic [Chapter 10, section one] in this document.)

15. If desired, click the Details button to see a printable version of the meeting information. Click the Finish button to create your event. (Note: If you check the box labeled Open event on completion, the event record will immediately open on your screen when Astra Schedule has finished creating your event.)

8.11 Using the Daily Room Grid

You may also schedule a single-day or recurring event from within the Daily Room Grid. Follow the steps below to schedule an event from within the Daily Room Grid:

Click the Daily Room Grid icon

in the upper toolbar. The Select Date window will appear; click the date you wish to select and click “OK”. The Daily Room Grid window will appear.

2. Click and drag to select the appropriate time blocks on the right side of the grid that correspond with your chosen room (row) on the left side of the grid.

Select the Create Event button to display the Create Event dialog box. The date, times, and location of the event are populated by default.

4. Enter the Event Name, Event Type, Customer Name, Contact Name, Customer Price Plan and Security Level. Using the New buttons allows you to add a new Event Type, Customer, or Contact. The Find Contact button will allow you to search a list of all contacts from any customer.

5. If you are creating a recurring event, click on the Recurring tab to display additional event options. Change the “End Date” value to the last meeting of the event. Select the days of the week and the occurrence pattern for the event.

To confirm that the room is available for all recurring meetings, click the Preview Availability button.

6. If you wish to assign resources to any meeting, click the Resources button. Otherwise, click Finish to create your event.

8.12 Cloning an Event

If you have a previously created event that you wish to duplicate or clone, you may do so using the Clone Event button

on the lower toolbar of the Events tab. This will copy all of the event meetings on the same dates or copy the same meeting pattern to an event in the future. Follow the steps below to clone an event:

In the Events tab of the main user interface window, navigate to the event you wish to edit. Highlight the event you wish to clone by selecting the event record and click the Clone Event button. The Clone Event(s) dialog box will appear.

3. Select the “New Start Date” for your event from the drop-down calendar. If you choose a different start date, the meeting pattern will remain the same, using the new dates.

4. If you want to clone the resource assignments as well, check the “Clone Resources” box.

5. Click the Clone button. Astra Schedule will add the cloned event to the Events list.

8.13 Combining Events

It is possible to combine two or more separate events into one event, with the condition that the events are associated with the same customer. You may do this by using the Combine Events button

on the lower toolbar of the Events tab. Follow the steps below to combine two or more separate events into one event:

1. In the Events tab of the main user interface window, select and highlight the events you wish to combine by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on each event record. Click the Combine Events button. The Combine Events dialog box will appear.

2. Enter the new Event Name, Event Type, Pricing Group, and Scheduler that you wish to be associated with this event.

3. Click the Combine button. Astra Schedule will add the new combined event to the Events list.

8.14 Editing an Existing Event

Finding and Opening an Event Record

After an event has been created, it can easily be changed and edited. To find a previously- created event, you can use the Find Event tool discussed earlier in this chapter. The corresponding event(s) will be displayed in the Event Search Results window.

The list of events that are displayed on the Events tab can be filtered to only show events that occur on or after a certain date by using the Event Display Date button. After locating the event on the Events tab, prior to opening it, the separate event meetings associated with that event can be previewed by clicking on the drop-down arrow in the ID column.

1. Navigate to the event you wish to edit in the Events tab and double click the record. The Event Information dialog box will be displayed.

2. The lower half of the event record is split into several tabs: Summary, Meetings, Details, History / Notes, Costs, Resources / Services, Summary Print. To set the default tab that appears when you open an event record you can select it from the Select Default Tab drop-down menu.

4. Select a new event type by selecting the Browse button next to the “Event Type” field.

5. The contact can be changed by using the Browse button, or the contact record can be edited by clicking the Edit button next to the “Contact” field.

6. To change the status of the event (Scheduled, Canceled, Requested, etc.) select the new status using the “Status” drop-down menu.

7. To edit the attendance, change the number in the “Est. Attendance” field.

The Summary Tab

The Summary tab in the Event Record contains detailed information about the event meetings, customers, and contacts associated with the event. The lower part of the Summary tab will allow you to edit various parts of the event, depending on what you have selected.

1. Navigate to an event on the Events tab and double click on it to open. This will bring up the Event Information dialog box.

2. If it is not already selected, click on the Summary tab at the bottom of the window.

3. To display all of the meetings associated with this event, expand the “Meetings” tree by clicking on the Expand button

4. Click on the Expand button

next to the Meeting Name to get detailed information about that meeting.

5. With the Meeting Name highlighted, you may edit the times, dates, and setup or teardown information for that meeting in the lower part of the Event Information window.

a. Selecting “Room Information” in the Meeting Name summary tree displays the room in which the meeting is scheduled, and will allow you to edit the price being charged for that room for this event (if any).

b. Selecting “Room/Setup Teardown” in the Meeting Name summary tree allows you to edit the setup and teardown times associated with the event, as well as add separate setup and teardown notes for this meeting.

c. Selecting “Attendees” in the Meeting Name summary tree will display a list of meeting attendees for the event. This attendees list may be edited by clicking the Edit button. (Event attendance is covered in more detail in the Event Attendance topic later in this chapter.)

d. Selecting “Notes” from the Meeting Name summary tree will display any notes associated with the meeting and allow you to add to or edit them.

e. Selecting “Resources” from the Meeting Name summary tree will display any resources that have been requested for the meeting. Resources may be added, edited, or deleted by using the New, Edit, or Delete buttons. Adding and editing resources for events is covered in more detail in the Booking Resources (Chapter 10, section one) topic of this document.

f. Selecting “Services” from the Meeting Name summary tree will display any services associated with the meeting. To add new services, select the New button. This will display the Add Services dialog box where you may enter those services you wish to associate with the meeting.

g. Selecting “Alarms” from the Meeting Name summary tree will display any alarms that have been set for the event. An alarm is an Astra Mail sent to the inbox of the User who created the alarm. To a set a new alarm, select the New button and enter the time and day for the alarm in the Edit Alarm dialog box.

h. Selecting “Details” from the Meeting Name summary tree will display a list of User- defined fields for event meetings. The titles and entry types of these fields are fully customizable and are determined by your System Administrator. These fields can be used to hold any piece of information you feel necessary and that is not already accounted for in the meeting record.

Selecting “To Do” from the Meeting Name summary tree will bring up a list of tasks assigned to various Users regarding this meeting. These tasks will be sent to a particular User’s Message Center. To create a new “To Do,” click the New button. This will display the To Do dialog box. Select the User who is to receive the “To Do,” a description of the task, and the text for the body of the message.

j. Selecting “History” from the Meeting Name summary tree will display a list of changes made to this event meeting, including the User that made the change, which field was changed, and the old and new value of that field.

6. Expanding the “Customer” tree in the Meetings summary tree will list some specific information about the customer associated with this event.

7. Expanding the “Contact” tree in the Meetings summary tree will list some specific information about the contact associated with this event.

The Meetings Tab

The Meetings tab in the Event Record lists the individual meetings associated with the event. This tab allows you to view event information, edit event information, delete meetings, create meetings, set alarms, and add resources.

Navigate to an event on the Events tab and double click it to open. This will display the Event Information dialog box. Select the Meetings tab.

To cancel every meeting (the entire event), use the Status drop-down menu to select “Canceled”. To cancel only selected meetings, first highlight the individual meeting(s) by clicking on the gray arrow box on the left hand side of each meeting row

. Holding the CTRL key will allow you to multi-select meetings. Once you have selected the appropriate meeting(s), select “Canceled” from

3. To create a new meeting, select the New button

. The Create Event Meetings dialog box will be displayed. This can be used to add meetings to the current event. Utilizing this feature is similar to using the Event Wizard tool, which is documented in the Creating an Event topic (section ten) of this chapter.

To edit an individual meeting, highlight the desired meeting and click the edit

. Button. The Event Meeting dialog box will be displayed.

The Summary tab of this window enables you to edit the meeting date and time, setup date and time, and teardown date and time. The Room Times tab provides you basic information about the room scheduled for this meeting and allows you to select a new room, edit the room setup and teardown times, and change pricing information. The associated Notes tab allows you to enter notes about the meeting or room.

The Details tab allows you to enter information into the meeting User-defined fields. If a User-defined field has been configured as a hyperlink, you may create or edit the hyperlink by selecting the “Edit Link” button. The User Field Definition dialog box will be displayed; type in the desired URL and then click “OK.” In the Event Information dialog box, click the hyperlink label to test the link; if it is configured as desired, click “OK” to save the link. Hyperlink’s defined for an event will be displayed on the event detail displayed on the web client as well.

The Resources/Services tab allows you to add or edit resources and/or services attached to this meeting. More information on scheduling resources with events can be found in the Booking Resources (Chapter 10, section one) topic of this document. The History tab displays a history of all changes made to this meeting.

5. To edit multiple meetings at the same time, highlight multiple meetings on the Meetings tab (using the CTRL button) and click the Edit button. The Edit Multiple Meetings dialog box will be displayed. Here you may globally change dates, times, attendance, status, and notes. All of the fields marked in red indicate that making a change to the value will be applied to all the selected meetings. After a value has been changed, the background of that field will change to yellow to indicate that a change has been made.

Selecting the Available Rooms button

will display the list of available rooms. This tool allows you to select a new room for the meetings.

Selecting the Drop Room button

will drop the room from the selected meetings. If you don’t select a new room, these meetings will be left marked as “Tentative” rather than “Scheduled.”

6. To delete a meeting, you must first change its status to “Canceled” in the Event Information dialog box. Then, to delete it from the Meetings tab, click the Delete button

7. Highlighting a meeting and clicking the Alarm button

will display the Send Alarm dialog box.

Select the Edit button to set a reminder alarm for that meeting at a specified date and time. The alarm itself is an Astra mail that will be sent only to the Astra User that created the alarm.

8. Selecting the Resource button

allows you to schedule resources with your event meetings. The process of using the resource scheduling tool is discussed in the Booking Resources (Chapter 10, section one) topic of this document.

The Details Tab

The Details tab of the Event Information dialog box contains User-defined fields for events. These field names and data entry types are determined by the System Administrator. These fields are designed to hold any data that you wish to attach to an event that the default installation didn’t initially allow space for.

If a User-defined field has been configured as a hyperlink, you may create or edit the hyperlink by selecting the “Edit Link” button. The User Field Definition dialog box will be displayed; type in the desired URL and then click “OK.” In the Event Information dialog box, click the hyperlink label to test the link; if it is configured as desired, click “OK” to save the link. Hyperlink’s defined for an event will be displayed on the event detail displayed on the web client as well.

The Security drop-down menu allows you pick a new security level for the event. An event with a “Public” security level can be viewed by all Users. The details of a “Semi-Private” event will only be viewable by a User with Semi-Private or Private access (as designated in their User account). The details of a “Private” event will only be viewable by a User with Private access.

The History / Notes Tab

The upper portion of the History/Notes tab contains a history of the changes made to the event record including what field was changed, what the original value was, what the new value is, who changed the record, and when the record was changed.

The bottom portion of the History/Notes tab contains an area where notes can be entered corresponding to the event.

The Costs Tab

The Costs tab contains a list of costs associated with the event. Once an event has been scheduled, if additional costs need to be added, the event status must be changed from “Scheduled” to “Requested.” Once the status has been changed, select the New icon to create a new ledger entry for the event. The New Ledger Entry dialog box will be displayed. Input the amount, specify if the amount is a debit or credit and the type of entry, and add a description, if desired. If the amount is a credit, check the box labeled “Apply to Invoice,” and then click “OK” to return to the event record. Select the ReSend Confirmation button to send an updated notification to the event requestor.

The Resources / Services Tab

The Resources tab contains a list of the resources associated with a meeting including information on the category, group, and name of the resource, as well as the amount requested, the amount confirmed, and setup and teardown time associated with the event. Resources and services can be added to an event without changing the status of the event record.

Detailed information on how to request resources with events can be found in the Booking Resources (Chapter 10, section one) topic of this document.

The Summary Print Tab

The Summary Print tab allows you to select meetings to be included in a printable, savable, e-mail-capable event summary that will include various details about the event meeting. To include a meeting in the summary, expand the “Meetings” tree and check the box next to the appropriate meetings. To run the summary, click the Print button at the bottom of the window.

The format of the summary is in the format of the “Event Confirmation” message. It is completely customizable using a form editing tool provided with Astra Schedule. Detailed information on how to edit the appearance of the Summary form can be found in the Template Editor topic in the Messaging (Chapter 13) of this document.

8.15 Event Attendance

The event attendance features of Astra Schedule allow you to track who is attending individual event meetings, associate waiting lists (for meetings that are full), and view an attendee’s attendance history. There are two places to edit and track attendee management: on the Event Record and in the Event Management / Attendee Management drop-down menu.

Attendee Management on an Event Record

Follow the steps below to use the Attendee Management features on an event record:

1. Navigate to an event on the Events tab and double click it to open. This will display the Event Information dialog box. Select the Summary tab.

Expand the “Meetings” tree and then expand the tree for the individual meeting for which you wish to edit the attendance and select the “Attendees” option. This will display an Attendees field in the bottom of the window which will display all current attendees of that event.

3. To edit the list of attendees click the Edit button. The Event Attendees dialog box will be displayed.

4. The list of “Possible Attendees” is displayed on the right-hand side of the box. Use the Group By drop-down menu to assist in finding particular attendees.

5. To associate an attendee with the event meeting, highlight the attendee name on the right and click the left arrow button. This will add the person to the list of “Attendees.”

6. To remove an attendee from a meeting, highlight their name in the “Attendees” field and click on the right arrow button.

7. If you attempt to add more attendees to the meeting than you have allowed for in the expected attendance (set during the time of event creation), you will be prompted to add the person to the “Waiting List.”

8. To add a new person to list of “Possible Attendees” click the New button. The Attendee Information dialog box will be displayed.

The Info tab allows you to enter basic information about the attendee, including name, address, and e-mail.

The Details tab allows you to enter information into the ten User-defined fields for the attendee record. The titles and formats of these fields are configured by your System Administrator.

The Event History tab contains a list of all of the event meetings that this person has attended.

9. After completing the attendee record, click “OK” to return to the Event Attendees dialog box.

10. To edit the record of an existing “Possible Attendee,” highlight the name and click the Edit button.

11. To remove a person from the “Possible Attendee” list, highlight the name and click the Delete button.

Attendee Management in the Event Management Drop-down Menu

Follow the steps below to use the Attendee Management features in the Event Management drop-down menu.

1. From the Event Management drop-down menu, select Attendee Management. The Event Attendee Management dialog box will be displayed.

2. Using the Meeting Filter drop-down menu, the list of meetings can be filtered to show overbooked meetings, meetings with waiting lists, overbooked meetings with waiting lists, or all upcoming meetings.

3. Once you find the meeting you wish to edit, highlight it and click the edit button. The Event Attendees dialog box will be displayed. Here you can add and remove attendees associated with a meeting, create waiting lists, and create new possible attendees. To navigate this dialog box, please refer to the section above.

Sending Microsoft Outlook Meeting Requests to Attendees

If the Microsoft Outlook integration feature has been configured and turned on by your System Administrator, you can have Astra Schedule automatically create an Outlook meeting request to be sent to the attendees for your event.

To utilize this option, select the “Send Meeting Request” icon

in the Attendees portion of the Summary tab of the Event Information dialog box. Attendees will then receive a meeting request in their Microsoft Outlook calendars.

8.16 Requesting an Event

Depending on User security, some Astra Schedule Users will have "Request Only" access when it comes to creating events. Other Users may schedule events, but are limited to certain rooms. They may request rooms that they are not allowed to schedule. User security is set up by the System Administrator in the Data Monitor. Requested events must be confirmed by schedulers on campus with appropriate access.

Using the Event Wizard

Events are requested with the Event Wizard in the same manner in which they are created (see section one of this chapter). However, if you do not have access to schedule a particular event, your room grid will only give you the option to “Request” rooms. After

completing the process, the event will appear as a different color of record in the Events tab on the main screen (the default color for "Requested" events is yellow).

Using the Daily Room Grid

An event cannot be requested via the Daily Room Grid. Events may only be scheduled from that grid by Users with full scheduling access.

How Astra Schedule "Handles" Requested Events

A requested event will show up on the daily and weekly room grids as "Requested." However, a “Requested” event does not block the room. Until the event is "Scheduled" by a User with appropriate access, another User with scheduling access may schedule another event in that room, or another User with request-only access may request the same room at the same time.

8.17 Scheduling a Requested Event

Once an event has been requested, it can be scheduled in two different ways: by changing the status in the Status dialog box of the Event Record (if you have appropriate User access), or by the confirmation person of the requested room in the Message Center.

Changing the Status in the Event Record

Follow the steps below to schedule a requested event by changing its status in the Event Record (if you have appropriate User access):

1. To find a requested event in the Events tab on the main interface window, it is easiest to filter on event status by clicking on the Group By drop-down menu (in the lower toolbar) and selecting Event Status. The click on the Jump To drop-down menu and select Scheduled. This will filter out all events except for those marked “Requested.”

2. Double-click on the record of the event you wish to schedule; the Event Information dialog box will be displayed. If it is not already selected, select the Summary tab.

3. To schedule all of the meetings in the event, change the status of the meeting in the Status drop-down menu from "Requested" to "Scheduled."

4. If you wish to only schedule certain meetings associated with the event, and leave the rest as “Requested,” select the Meetings tab, hold down the CTRL key and click on the far left side of each meeting record to select only those meetings you wish to schedule. After selecting the meetings, change the status of the meeting in the Status drop-down menu from "Requested" to "Scheduled." This will only schedule the selected meetings.

Scheduling/Confirming an Event with the Message Center

A User that is configured by the System Administrator as the confirmation person on an individual room can schedule requested events in that room via Astra Mail. Follow the steps below to confirm a requested event with Astra Mail:

1. A User must be configured as a confirmation person on a room before they can confirm requested events in it via Astra Mail. To assign a confirmation person, double-click on the room record in the Rooms tab of the main user interface window, then select the Configuration tab in the Edit Room Information dialog box and click the Edit button. A second Edit Room Information dialog box will be displayed. On the Notify tab, use the “People to Notify” trees to select the Astra User that is to be the confirmation person of that room. Once configured as the confirmation person, that Astra User will receive any event requests made for that room in their Astra Mail Message Center.

2. To confirm an event request, the confirmation person should check his/her Message Center by clicking on the Messages drop-down menu and selecting Communication Center. The User’s message Inbox will be displayed.

3. If an event has been requested in one of the User’s rooms, an Event Confirmation Request message will appear in his/her Inbox. Double-clicking that message will display the Confirm Requests dialog box.

To confirm or decline the event request, click the appropriate check box. If the event is declined, clicking on the

button will allow the user to enter a reason why the event request was declined.

5. If a request was made for multiple rooms, every room can quickly be confirmed or declined by using the Confirm All button or the Decline All button.

6. Once the event has been confirmed or declined, it will appear in the Events tab of the main user interface window with its respective status.

8.18 Scheduling a Rejected Event

If you are scheduling an event for a customer that has been disabled, has expired insurance information, or has an expired contract, your System Administrator may configure Astra Schedule to warn you of the customer’s status; that is, to reject the event. Once an event has been rejected, a selected Astra Schedule User may manually schedule the rejected event(s). See the Customer Information section earlier in this chapter for more information on disabling a customer or attaching contract and insurance information.

If the event you are scheduling was rejected due to a customer being disabled or due to expired insurance or contract information, the event will appear on the Events tab in the main user interface with a status of “Rejected.” Double-clicking the record will display the Event Information window. The status will appear as "Rejected" and there will be a message scrolling at the bottom of the screen warning that this customer has been disabled.

One User may be designated by your System Administrator to be allowed to schedule rejected events. That User can click on the Status drop-down menu of the Event Information window and change the status from "Rejected" to "Scheduled. " This will schedule the event.

9.1 Resources and Services Overview

Within Astra Schedule, resource management is defined as the process of reserving and tracking supplementary equipment and supplies. The following chapter explains how your resource inventory works with Astra Schedule, how you may book resources, and how to manage those resources.

Whether your institution has a large inventory of resources, or just a few TV/VCR carts, those resources are valuable. Astra Schedule provides a system by which your institution’s resources may be booked and tracked by a variety of means, such as serial numbers and bar codes.

Resources and services that are configured in Astra Schedule are campus-specific, so that resources and services available on one campus may be different from another. The resource inventory is a hierarchical catalog of supplementary equipment and services that may be booked in Astra Schedule.

Resource Definitions

Resource	A Resource is a distinct User-defined equipment or service description. Resources can be configured such that quantities and/or serial numbers can be tracked (e.g. Sony 27" TV).
Category	A Category is the most general level in the Resource Inventory hierarchy (e.g. audio/visual equipment).
Group	A Group is a division of a Category (e.g. TVs).
Collection	A Collection is a User-defined group of Resources that are commonly booked as a unit (e.g. TV/VCR carts).
Menu	Like a Collection, a Menu is a User-defined group of food resources that are commonly booked as a unit.
Pool	A Pool is a User-defined group of Collections stored in the same location (e.g. Room 103 TV/VCR carts).
Services	An Service is an activity to be performed related to a resource or room, or and activity that can be associated with an event (e.g. post-event janitorial service).

9.2 Configuring Resources and Services

Configuring a Consumable Resource

Your Resource Inventory may include consumable items – those that, once used, are eliminated from the inventory and must be replaced (e.g. light bulbs). Follow the steps below to set up a Consumable Resource:

1. In the main user interface window, select Event Management | Resources/Services. The Resources and Services dialog box will appear. Select the Category and Group under which the Resource should be organized.

Once you have highlighted the appropriate group, click the New button. The Resource Information dialog box will be displayed.

Alternately, if you want to create a new Category, highlight “Resources” in the Resources and Services dialog box and click the New button. Or, if you wish to create a new Group, highlight the category to which it belongs and click the New button.

3. On the Resource tab, in the “Description” field, enter a description of the Resource.

5. Enter the “Quantity Owned” and the “Minimum Quantity.” Note: The minimum quantity is entered only so that you may remind yourself and your staff of the point at which a reorder is needed.

6. Optionally, enter a storage location for the resource (“Storage Building” and “Room”).

7. If this Resource should not be checked out, check the box labeled “May not select as a resource.” Note: Not allowing the Resource to be checked out is the appropriate option when that resource is part of a collection, menu, or pool, and should not be checked out separately.

8. Click the Pricing Plans tab and select a pricing plan, if necessary. The Pricing Plans tab contains previously-created pricing plans (as described in the Price Plans section of the Event Scheduling topic [Chapter 8, section 3] in this document). To edit a price plan, highlight it, and click the Edit button. The Resource Pricing Information dialog box will be displayed.

Enter the appropriate pricing information and click “OK.”

9. Click the Notes tab to enter in general notes about the menu or notes specific to setup and teardown.

10. Click the Details tab to enter information into the Resource User-defined fields. The titles and data types of these fields can be configured by your System Administrator.

11. Click the Services tab to view a list of Services that have already been configured on the corresponding campus of this resource. To automatically associate a service with this resource every time it is checked out, check the box next to the service name. For example, if you are setting up a piece of equipment as a resource, you could create and attach a “Setup Service” to your resource, so whoever is in charge of setting up your resources could get notified if this particular resource was booked.

12. Click the Description tab to view any images or text descriptions of your resource. Here you may attach pictures to your resources. The default directory for your image files is set up in the Data Monitor by your System Administrator. You may browse to the appropriate resource images to be stored for this resource in the “Image” field(s). The Image Browser dialog box will be displayed; you may select from the list of files in the “Resources” directory on the left, if applicable, or browse to the image. If you browse to the image, a copy of this image will be written to the “Resources” directory and appear on the left of this window.

13. Click the History tab to track changes that have been made to this record.

14. Click the Restrictions tab to configure this resource so that it is not allowed to be scheduled into certain rooms on campus (by default, a resource can be booked in any room).

Configuring a Resource for Which Quantity Will Not Be Tracked

There may be resources in your inventory where it is not important to track quantities owned (e.g. personnel or menu items). Follow the steps below to set up a resource for which you do not wish to track its quantity:

1. In the main user interface window, select Event Management | Resources/Services. The Resources and Services dialog box will appear. Select the group under which the resource should be organized.

2. Once you have highlighted the group, click the New button. The Resource Information dialog box will be displayed.

Alternately, if you want to create a new Category, highlight “Resources” in the Resources and Services dialog box and click the New button. If creating a new Group, highlight the Category to which it belongs and click the New button.

3. On the Resource tab, in the “Description” field, enter a description of the Resource.

Icon	Rollover Hint	Use it to...
	Select date range to view	Select a term and/or date range of data to view. You may choose to view one term at a time OR a date range that encompasses one or more terms.
	Switch to Scenario Modeling Mode	Switches between production (live) data and scenario (practice) modes.
	Standard Reports	Configure, preview, and print standard reports.
	Exit the application	Exit the Astra Schedule application (Alt + F4 may also be used).
	Message Center	Compose, view, and send messages through Astra Schedule.
	Set Event Display Cutoff Date	Configure the date before which users may schedule events.
	Preferences On	Activate a filter that will allow you to view only those sections without preferences.
	Turn Preferences Off	Deactivate the "Filter Preferences On" feature.
	Edit Record	Edit the selected database record.
	Database Layout	Define which fields are visible in the active tab.
	Daily Room Grid	View the daily room grid and view all of the room bookings in the entire system for one day (F6 may also be used).
	Weekly Room Grid	View the weekly room grid and view all of the room bookings in the entire system for one day (F5 may also be used).
	Monthly Events	View a calendar of all events and related resource notifications for an entire month.
	Instructor Grid	A view of a selected faculty member’s schedule for one week.
	Event Wizard	Create a new event using the Event Wizard (F7 may also be used).
	Run Optimizer	Configure and run the Optimizer/Bulk Scheduler (F9 may also be used).
	Resources	Display the resources grid view of resource inventory and bookings.

Icon	Rollover Hint	Use it to...
	Go to First Row	Go to the first record in the active tab.
	Previous Row	Go to the previous record in the active tab.
	Next Row	Go to the next record in the active tab.
	Go to Last Row	Go to the last record in the active tab.
	Remove Sort	Clear sorts from all columns in the active tab.
	Export Grid	Export data being displayed in the grid to a spreadsheet (e.g. Excel) file.
	Print Grid	Print the visible data in the active tab.
	Add Section	Create a new record in the active tab.
	Delete Section	Delete the highlighted record in the active tab.
	Refresh Grid	Refresh the data in the active tab.
	Clone Event (Event tab only)	Easily create a new event with the same properties as an existing one.
	Combine Event (Event tab only)	Combine multiple events into one record.

Field/Icon	What it means/What it does
Subject	Subject code of the selected section.
Course	Course number of the selected section.
Section Num.	Section number or code of the selected section.
Title	Title of the course for the selected section.
Meeting type	Meeting type associated with the selected section.
Campus	Campus on which the selected section meets.
Max enrollment	Maximum capacity of a section. This number is used by the scheduling tools to find an "appropriate" room for the section.
Enrollment	Actual number of students enrolled in the section.
Start date/End date	Date range for the section.
Start time/End time	Time of day during which the section meets.
Days Met	Days of the week on which the section meets. Note: Clicking on the drop-down arrow by each day gives the option to have the class meet on only the odd or even class days.
Term	Term during which the selected section meets.
Sub Term	Date range within or overlapping a term.
Building	Building in which the section meets.
Room	Room in which the section meets.
Status	Scheduling status of the section.
Section Cluster in Same Room	When checked, the optimizer will attempt to schedule all section clusters associated with the selected section in the same room.
Do Not Schedule	When checked, this section will not be scheduled during any Optimizer run or through the Available Rooms tool.
Arranged Section	If this box is checked, this section was imported without times or dates (commonly referred to as TBA).
Do Not Optimize	If this box is checked, this section will not be scheduled during any Optimizer run.
Select a different course (located next to the “Subject” field)	Allows you to replace current campus, subject, course, or title information.
Show course info	Displays course fee, whether or not this section has prerequisites, whether this section is a graduation requirement, and whether it is pass/fail. This information is configured in the Configure/Course Preferences drop-down menu.
Standard date/time (located next to the “Start Time” field)	Allows you to schedule a class during pre-established standard times of the week. These standard times are set up in the Data Monitor by your System Administrator.
Available Room tool (located next to the “Building” and “Room” fields)	Allows you to schedule the section into an available room (that meets preference criteria).
Drop Room	Drops the current room assignment on the section.
Additional Room	Allows you to book an additional room for the section.
Apply Default Preferences to Sections	Will allow you place scheduling preferences set at the system level on this individual section. Scheduling preferences are discussed in greater detail later in this User’s Guide.

		Scheduling Preferences
		Room Type	Room Features	Regions	Building	Building and Room
Default Tables	Course ENGL 101 (Set to Replace All)	Blank	Whiteboard	Blank	LA	Blank
	Subject "ENGL" (Set to Apply only if Blank)	N/A*	N/A*	English, Liberal Arts	CC	N/A*
	Meeting Type "Lecture" (Set to Apply only if Blank)	Tablet Armchair, Table/Chair	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*
	Instructor "Smith, Joe" (Set to Append)	Blank**	US Maps	Blank**	Blank**	LA 101, LA 105
Section Inherits	ENGL 101 Lecture taught by Joe Smith	Tablet Armchair, Table/Chair	Whiteboard; US Maps	English, Liberal Arts	LA	LA 101, LA 105

Problem	Repercussion	Solution
High number of pre-assignments	Greatly limits the optimization capabilities of Astra Schedule	Only request specific Rooms / Buildings / Regions when necessary
High number of requests for room Features	Higher number of "impossible to place" meetings	Only request specific room Features when necessary
Incomplete or incorrect information in the Room Type, Room Features, or Region (when applicable) fields and preferences	Impossible for Astra Schedule to know how to properly place each meeting	Run the Optimizer only when your room information and preferences are complete