It Takes Three to Tango:It Takes Three to Tango:Business, Application,Business, Application, and ITand IT

Come Together for Class SchedulingCome Together for Class Schedulingat Princeton University at Princeton University

David EthertonPrinceton University

“It takes two to tango”Certain activities cannot be performed alone—such as quarreling, making love, and dancing the tango.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.

“Never assume one child is always the victim and the other the aggressor. Remember, no matter how

things appear, it takes two to tango. If you look closely enough ... you will see how the victim subtly

provokes the aggressor into attacking.”

ATTRIBUTION: Ron Taffel (20th century), U.S. writer, psychologist. Why Parents Disagree, ch. 13 (1994).

Goals for the SessionGoals for the Session

That you find value being here

Discover keys or clues to personal success

Provide some entertainment value

Not overuse the metaphor/analogy

Survive to root Yankees to victory

Three to tango? A new paradigm?Three to tango? A new paradigm?

Al Pacino, Gabrielle Anwar

Arnold Swartzenegger, Tia Carrere

Chris O’Donnell (not shown)

Tom Arnold (not shown)

Setting the Stage: Setting the Stage: the business of classroom schedulingthe business of classroom scheduling

Typical each semester (fall, spring)– ~7000 students– <300 classrooms– ~2300 class sections– Final exam scheduling

Scheduling Process– Courses/classes brought forward and updated– Departments make changes and request

spaces, features, preferred teaching locations– Scheduler does pre-assigns, combined

sections, runs batch scheduling– Transactional changes at start of semester

entrada – the entrance

Setting the Stage:Setting the Stage: the dance of the applications the dance of the applications

PeopleSoft Student Information System (HRSAv8)– Course Information System (CIS)– Student Course Online Registration Engine

(SCORE) CollegeNet R25/S25/vCal Interface

– Event and Meeting Scheduling– Classroom Scheduling– PSSAR25 vCal Interface– (400+ R25 customers, 70 PSSA, 150+ other)

Infosilem Final Exam Scheduling– Feeds R25

• Course sessions created in PeopleSoft CIS with requirements from Departments entered directly

• Pre-assigns, priority assigns, pre-bookings, auto-scheduling, over-rides, final bookings

• Classroom scheduling batch to match classes to classrooms based on departmental preference, needs, capacities

• R25 shared venues are updated automatically, allowing event and meeting scheduling

• Transactional processing as changes are made, new sessions are added, sessions removed

Setting the Stage:Setting the Stage: more on the Class Scheduling process more on the Class Scheduling process

GIS

Archibus

R25 WebViewer

CIS

PSoft Course Information System

R25

S25

ClassroomAssignments

EventRequests

Setting the Stage:Setting the Stage: applications and technologies applications and technologies

SQR Web-based

Web

Client-Server

Infosilem Web-based

Setting the Stage:Setting the Stage: the technical environment the technical environment

Multiple instances of PSSAv8 (web) and R25v3.2 (client server)– devl, qa, test, prod

Development and Production application servers and database servers

Oracle DBMS v8.1.7 moving to v9 Campus-wide standard client machines

– Running Windows 2000 (moving to XP)– Tested prior to updated and imaged with

controlled software releases Structured problem reporting and

migration

Preparing the DancersPreparing the Dancers……the traditional approachthe traditional approach

Business environment Business processes Reporting requirements “the system just needs

to work” Information “it isn’t giving the right

info” Functional

enhancements

Technical environment System interfaces SQR, RDM, data

structures Testing, testing, testing Data Trouble-shooting, fault

isolation, fixes Application

development

abrazo – to embrace

functional technical

GAP

Preparing the DancersPreparing the Dancers… … a different stylea different style

functional technical

application environmentfunction and features

data preparationsystem enhancementssecurity administration

customization/reportinguser training/testing

problem triage (bizapptech)

application

caminada – to walk

application

functional technical

corrida – to run

The new TangoThe new Tango

Dancer #1 - The Business SpecialistDancer #1 - The Business Specialist - Registrar’s Office Class Scheduler - Registrar’s Office Class Scheduler

Well understood business policies, processes, practices

“GIGO” from Dept’l users, no how to catch it

Step-wise processing

Counts and Checks

arrastre – to drag

Dancer #2 – The Technical Specialist Dancer #2 – The Technical Specialist - - OIT PSS Technical SupportOIT PSS Technical Support

Testing instances and full-cycle testing

Trouble reporting and structured migration

Documention Patches and Fixes and

Knowledgebase Vendor technical

support with Webex

firulete – an embellishment

Dancer #3 – The Application SpecialistDancer #3 – The Application Specialist - - USUS R25 ManagerUSUS R25 Manager

Prototyping/testing instances

Testing suites and scenarios

Nation-wide User community

Functional users leveraged across campus-wide use

llevada – to carry

Test Suite for R25v3.2

R25 Application Environment (section 2)

R25 Technical Framework (section 1)

R25 Administration (section 3)

Events and Meetings Scheduling

Functions (section 5)

Classroom Scheduling Functions(section 6)

Verify Converted Data (section 7)

Reporting (section 8)

WebViewer (section 9)

R25 Data Directories (section 4)

AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

Office of the Registrar- Jessica Gamble (jessica@princeton.edu)

OIT AIS PSS- Thembi Takirumbudde- Devaki Wagle (dwagle@princeton.edu)

USUS- David Etherton (etherton@princeton.edu

) CollegeNet

- Heidi VanDerVoorn (heidiv@collegenet.com)

parada – a stop

Questions, Answers, Discussion?Questions, Answers, Discussion?

salida – exit, go out

Who wins the prize?Who wins the prize?

I am the number of “the Rocket” I now wear that same number with

NY Yankees I am the number of the “Ryan

Express” Guess a number between 1-50 15