Adding Organization (Department) Partition Preferences

Organization Partition Preferences Description

Schedule25 uses the primary organization of each event in your event search results for a particular run to determine which organizations (departments), and their associated data, should be included in the run. As part of that data, each organization should contain that organization's partition preferences.

The most important role each section's primary organization plays during Schedule25 processing is to determine not only where the section can be placed, but where it prefers to be placed based on the partition preferences of its primary organization. To accomplish this, you must first select and rank the partition preferences of each organization using the Organization Details view in 25Live. Every active partition you create is available in the list of options. For each organization, you can create and rank up to four partition preference groups, each including one or more partitions,

Setting partition preferences in the 25Live Administration UtilityImage: Setting partition preferences in the 25Live Organization Details view.

How Organization Partition Preferences Are Used by Schedule25

When Schedule25 attempts to place a section, it first looks at the department listed as the section's Primary Organization and attempts to place the section in a location in that organization's first partition preference group. If no locations are available there, either because they have already been assigned to other sections or don't meet the space/headcount requirements of the section, Schedule25 attempts to place the section in a location in the organization's second partition preference group, and so on.

Based on the partition preferences in the example above, Schedule25 would first attempt to place a section in this department in the Highland Science Center and, if it can't be placed there, in the Lehmann Law and Justice Center. Only if no locations are available in those partitions would it attempt to place the section in the Baker Classroom Complex, Business Administration Quad, or Davis Arts Center. The class would never be placed in the University Sports Complex.

This process has two primary implications:

  • Multiple partitions within the same preference group are treated identically, so if two partitions are in the first partition preference group of a department, Schedule25 makes no distinction between them when deciding where to place a section in that department.
  • Sections can't be assigned to a location whose partition is not in the list of preferences. If a department doesn't have a given partition in any of its preference groups, Schedule25 can't consider the locations in that partition when attempting to place that department's sections. The only exception to this is if a section has a specific location preference.
Best Practice: "Last Choice" Preferences

Because Schedule25 can't normally place a section in a location that's not in any of its department's partition preferences, it's wise to use the #3 and/or #4 priority partition preference groups as "last choice" placement options, and include them in all partitions where a department would prefer not to have its sections placed, but would accept if there were no other option. (After all, it's better to have a bad classroom than no classroom at all.) A department's sections would only be placed in these "last choice" locations if there are no locations available in the #1 or #2 priority partition preference group.