Required and Optional Event Data
The Schedule25 Optimizer will attempt to assign a location to every course section you make available to it – via an event search – that doesn't have a location assignment.
For best results, include only events without location assignments in your event search, which you can do by adding a "Missing Location Assignment" criterion to the search.
Each section you include in the event search must have, at minimum:
- Event Name
- Primary Organization*
- Dates and Times
- Expected and/or Registered Head Count*
Each section you include in the event search can also optionally have:
- Binding Relationships
- Location Feature Preferences
- Location Preferences
- Partition Preferences (Banner only)
*These elements are not technically required for the Schedule25 algorithm to run, but their absence may give you undesired results.
How Event Data Is Used By Schedule25
Primary Organization: The primary organization of a section limits the possible locations that can be assigned to it based on the ranked departmental partition preferences of the department the section is in. See Adding Organization (Department) Partition Preferences for more information.
Head Count: The head count of a section determines how large a location the section should be placed in. You decide whether to use expected or registered head count as part of setting up the Schedule25 run. If both have no value or a value of 0 (zero), Schedule25 uses your defined Default Enrollment value. A section's head count can be further tweaked by the Enrollment Adjuster value. For more information, see Editing Default Processing Settings.
Binding Location Relationships: If two or more sections have a binding location assignment relationship, Schedule25 will assign them the same location regardless of their dates and times. To be assigned, a location must meet all the requirements of both sections. Bound sections are created in one of these ways:
- By designating them as cross-listed or combined sections in the SIS
- By defining them as bound groups in the LYNX Interface
- By defining them as back-to-back groups in the LYNX Interface
- By creating a bound relationship among them using 25Live Pro related events functionality
Location Feature Preferences: Schedule25 treats any location feature preferences of a section as hard requirements that must be met for placement. It will place the section in a location only if the location has all the section's required features. (Note that this is more restrictive than location assignment in the 25Live Pro Event Form, where a location feature preference is just a preference and does not limit your location choices.)
Location/Partition Preferences: If a section prefers to be placed in a specific location and/or partition, Schedule25 will attempt to place it in that location or partition before it considers the partition preferences of the section's primary organization. However, in its attempt to place the section, it won't override any location feature preferences the section may have (as described above) or displace a location that is already assigned to another section or event.