Welcome to eSIS Master Timetable Builder (MTB) and

Simulation Training

Northwest Regional ESD

Trainer:

Kris McFarland

Training Guidelines

• Agenda and Corresponding Documentation– You are encouraged to add extra notes and

highlights to your eSIS documentation – Supplemental PowerPoint handouts provided

• Direct instruction versus hands-on time• This is not an introduction to eSIS; this is

not Pre-Scheduling training• Asking appropriate questions

Hierarchy Levels for the Resolution of Problems

• Carefully read your documentation

• Confer with your building/district colleagues

• Consult with your school district’s designated eSIS liaison or Help Desk

• District liaison contacts AAL

MAJOR GOAL in building a school’s Master Schedule: for as many students as

possible to receive all of their requested first-choice classes, with section class loads

being equally balanced

• Optimal placement of singleton and doubleton course sections to minimize conflicts

• FTE section allocation to insure adequate number of sections are offered to meet student demand

• Grade-level seat counts are equally distributed across all periods of the day– “Targets” in eSIS

Establishing a Balance between Scheduling Constraints/Restrictions and Achieving the Goal

(weighing & prioritizing all of the factors)

• Teaming

• Common Planning Time for Teams

• Individual Teacher’s Schedule– Certification

– Equalization of number of course preparations within the department

– Availability (part-time or shared teachers)

– Contractual Issues

• Classroom Usage and Availability

• Complexity of course formats (meeting day patterns)

• Scheduling preferences from the department

District and/or School Philosophy on Building the Master Schedule

• Key Question: do you build a schedule based on student needs and requests versus a schedule based on teacher requests, whims, and/or seniority???

• Key Question: are teaching assignments pre-determined (before schedule is built) or post-determined (after schedule is built)???

• Key Question: Is it time for a change in philosophy or direction???

3 Phases of Building a School’s Master Schedule Using eSIS

• Phase 1: Pre-Scheduling Activities– School Set-Up: # Semesters, # Terms, # Days, # Periods, Course Formats &

Lengths, Calendar Start/End Dates, Period Start/End Times, etc.– Homeroom Organization and Set-Up (i.e. Homeroom Maintenance)– Department Data Table– Staff Data Table (i.e. Staff Maintenance)– Room Data Table– *Course Data Table (i.e. Course Maintenance)– *Forecasting Activities (including Forecast Sheet Design and Data Clean-Up)– *Administrative Task: Section Allocation and FTE Balance

• Phase 2: Using the Master Timetable Builder (MTB)

• Phase 3: Simulation of Student Requests (loading individual student requests into the Master Schedule and the analysis of results)

– Note: Some schools (generally elementary level) do not enter student course requests and manually load students into class sections rather than running mass simulations

Prior to Creating the Master Timetable . . . . .

• It is necessary to have completed ALL of the pre-scheduling functions as outlined in the eSIS Pre-Scheduling Guide

• A checklist was provided on the last page of your eSIS Pre-Scheduling Guide and you were provided with the “Managing Pre-Scheduling Tasks Checklist”document to ensure required tables are in place and school set-up is complete before attempting to create a Master Schedule.

Review of Pre-Scheduling Steps• School Details

– Current Year Details (Important: make no changes to these fields until after year-end transition!!)

• Homeroom assignment method• Capping On/Off• Using alternates• # Semesters, # Terms, # Days, # Periods, # Tumbles• Specific Tumble Patterns

– Next Year Details: • # Semesters, # Terms, # Days, # Periods• Maximum classes per day/teacher

• School Schedule Start date & end date for year, each semester, and each term within a

semester (Important: cannot change any date once the date has passed)

Review of Pre-Scheduling Steps – cont’d

• Course Lengths and Formats– Lengths: 9 week, 12 week, 18 week, 36 week, etc– Formats: Full Year, Full Semester, Full Term,

Alternating Days (Year, Semester, Term)

• Course Start Dates for Each Course Length• Grades and Catchments• Period Start and End Times• Non-School Days • Reporting Periods (reference only; links with Teacher Assistant)

• School Departments• Rooms

Review of Pre-Scheduling Steps – cont’d• Staff Maintenance

– “Copy to Next Year” Function– Teaching Staff versus Non-Teaching Staff– Assigned Classroom Default– Timetabling Options (unavailability)

• Homerooms• Fee Management

– Fee Codes

• Teams and Groups– “Copy to Next Year” Function

Review of Pre-Scheduling Steps – cont’d• Course Management: Course Maintenance (Next Year)

– “Copy to Next Year” Function (with course delete option)– Importing Courses from Standard Course Table– Host and Subordinate Courses (full-year courses & teams)– Short name– # Times for Credit– Credit Value– Grade Level– School Department– Course Length/Course Format– Max Class Size– Do Not Replace with Global Alternates– More Screen: Pre-requisites, Schedule Before, Schedule

Opposite, Set Explode & Set Create Schedule

Helpful eSIS Reports Relating to Your School’s Course Maintenance File (both current year and next year)

• Standard Course Verification Report (SYS266R)– Lists all the district’s standard courses from which you can select

to import• Course Description Verification Report (SCH420R)

– Landscape or Portrait Format (user choice)– Retrieves all Course Maintenance Data

• Course Credit Information Report (SCH410R)– Quick Review of Credit Values Assigned to Each Course– Insures credit values correct for Full-Year Hosts, Subordinates,

and Package Hosts• Course Descriptions Report (SCH421R)

– Sorted by Department (can easily verify if all courses are in correct Department)

– Displays Hosts with their assigned subordinates (can easily verify if all course information is accurate for Explode function)

• Option Sheet Course List Report (SCH590R)– Shows eSIS Option Number for each course

Review of Pre-Scheduling Steps – cont’d• Pre-Transition

– Do Pre-Transition (usually done at district level)– Pre-Transition List (manually maintained by schools)

• Option Sheets = Forecast Sheets– Forecast Sheet Design– Using eSIS Option Numbers and Course Numbers– Matched versus Global Alternates– Getting Accurate Spec Ed and ESL Placement data

• Option Entry Methods = Entering Forecast Data– Mass Entry of Courses (both current year & next year)– Option Sheet Entry (only place where eSIS Option Number

used)– Student Course Selection Screen (next year)– Individualized Course Plan

Review of Pre-Scheduling Steps – cont’d• Reports to Help Evaluate/Analyze Student Course Requests

– Option Verification Letter Report (SCH625R)• Allows parent to review student’s course selections• School can create their own message script; good PR

– Course Request Tally Report (STU610R)• Shows cumulative tallies of all requests• Can include Current Year Tallies for Comparison

– Course Request Tally by Grade Report (STU611R)• Remember: Grade Column shows Current Grade

– Student Course Requests Report (SCH305R)• Courses sorted by course number of by department showing name/grade of all

students who requested course, including if alternate choice

– Course Selections for Next Year Report (STU513R)• Lists all students (several sorts) showing requested classes

– Four or Less Course Selections Report (STU512R)• Important: Identifies students who have over or under forecasted• Set # credits to “greater than” full schedule value = over-forecasted• Set # credit to “less than” full-schedule value = under-forecasted

Review of Pre-Scheduling Steps – cont’d• Use of Course Request Tally Report

– 1st Run: for Scheduler’s Eyes Only• Look for any glaring data errors & discrepancies• Make sure all clean-up reports are run and errors have been corrected (i.e.

students with no forecasts, over or under forecasted)

– 2nd Run: Scheduler Meets with Principal• Any courses to be cancelled?? (Important: must move affected students to

alternate courses and must notify counselors of cancelled courses)• Any courses to be combined??• Make sure Special Ed and ESL placements and course substitutions have been

made• Student requests far exceed staffing?? – move them to alternates NOW!

– 3rd Run: Clean Accurate Data for Principal• The principal (and department heads) use this clean data to determine number of

sections for each course, reconciling and balancing the total FTE in the process. This is an administrative task and must be completed outside of eSIS. Once # sections determined, you are ready to begin using the Master Timetable Builder.

•

Master Timetable Builder Overview

The Master Timetable Builder (MTB) is an eSIS tool used

during the scheduling cycle to create a new master timetable

(or schedule) for the next school year.

Once the master schedule has been built, student course

requests are simulated against the master schedule.

The results are then analyzed to determine whether or not

changes are required to the master schedule before another

simulation is run.

The Master Timetable Builder (MTB) may be used in the following ways:

• To automatically create the Master Schedule based entirely on student requests

• To complete the building of the Master Schedule after required constraints have been added

• To enter a manually-created Master Schedule

Basic Sequence of Steps in Using the Master Timetable Builder

• Step 1: Explode Any Courses set to “Explode Before Simulation” (if required: seldom used by clients)

• Step 2: Delete old MTB Sessions from previous year

(not applicable first year using eSIS)

• Step 3: Create a new MTB Session – Define “session” or “version”– Any time you create a new session/version, 6 Data Tables are created:

• Course Section Allocation Table• Targets Tables (by each grade level)• Conflict Matrix Table• Course Availability Table• Teacher Availability table• Room Availability Table

• Step 4: “Refresh” the Session whenever necessaryUpdates Session/Version with any new data since version was created or was

last refreshed (i.e. changes in student course requests, Staff Maintenance, Room Maintenance, and/or Course Maintenance tables)

This step repeated as often as necessary as the schedule is being built.

• Step 5: Use the Course Section Allocation Table to view number

of sections auto-created for each course. Based on the Principal’s directive and his/her section allocation plan, either add or delete sections in “Course Section Detail” screen as required– Remember: when you add/delete sections, you need to re-adjust “maximum

seats” to at least equal “optimal seats” in the Course Section Detail screen. This re-adjustment can be done now or can be done later after all sections

have been adjusted.

• Step 6: Combine course sections where necessary (Parent/Child) • Can only combine sections of same format

• Maximum seats for “Parent” must include seats for “Child”

• Step 7: Schedule (“X”) individual locked-in course sections– Includes:

• High school trimester hosts (1/2, 2/3, 1/3 semester combos)

• Team Package Host or Elective Wheel Package Host (and all subordinates); when students traveling together

• zero period and after-school/night sections– Remember to make courses “available” and to add some targets

• Sections that must be a specific S T D P– Don’t forget to include all necessary sections for office aides, teacher aides,

library aides, early release, late arrival, study hall, etc.

– For those schools who have manually built their entire Master Schedule, by definition all data would be entered during this step because all periods have already been determined

• Step 8: Recommend you make copy of current version as a “benchmark” (i.e back-up copy)

Step 9: Add “constraints” to specific course sections (teachers, rooms, specific S or T or D)– Do not “schedule” (X) these sections; allow builder to schedule in

sequential order (“go get in line and wait”)

– Run “Timetable Constraints Report” to verify all constraints have been added

• Step 10: Run the “Schedule Remaining Sections” Function– Important: Before running this function, remember to adjust Max

Sec/Period in Course Section Allocation Table for those courses with multiple sections that exceed number periods in day

– After running this function, ignore the “Messages from Scheduler” and go directly to the MTB Start Screen to see how many sections are still unscheduled.

• Step 11 (Optional) Mass Update of Targets– must consider a variety of factors – ask for assistance– After viewing the number of sections still unscheduled, do a mass update

of targets (10% or 15%) and run another “Schedule Remaining Sections” function

– When done, look at MTB Start Screen to see how many sections are still unscheduled

• Step 12: Resolve Unscheduled sections– Go to Course Sections Allocation table and select “Unscheduled”– First, check “maximum sections per period” and make any necessary

adjustments (then use “X” to try and schedule any courses you just adjusted)

– Next, going one course at a time, go to Section Detail screen for each course and use the Conflict Summary button at bottom of screen to resolve the problem for each unscheduled section

• Double-click on “Weight” for pop-up data window

– Then use “X” to schedule each section after identifying problem– All Sections must be scheduled before continuing

• Step 13: Adjust Maximum Seats (if not already done in Step #5) – Scroll through Course Section Details screens and verify Maximum Seats

at least equals (or exceeds) Optimum Seats

– Increase maximum seats where ever necessary

– Remember: For any combined courses, “Parent” sections must contain enough seats for “Child” sections

• Step 14: Run and review MTB reports of choice– *Class Master Report

– *Timetable Constraints Repor7

– Department Head Report

– Teacher Timetable Report (if any teacher names were used)

• Step 15: (Optional) Re-sequence section numbers– Usually not done, but user’s choice

– Can also be done later after final Master Schedule is complete

– Re-sequencing does not affect any “exploding host courses” scenarios (full-year hosts, teamed package hosts, or elective wheel package hosts)

• Step 16: Create “Course Section Maintenance” File– MTB Start-Up Screen > File > Create Course Section Maintenance– Verify the MTB Session/Version number– Your MTB Session is copied over to create this file – You will be asked “do you wish to include the Explode Schedule

function at this time? . . .” Select: No– 3 Sequential Phases: Analyzing > Deleting > Creating

• Step 17: Set-Up “Teaching Teams” utility only if you are using this feature to scatter students within a team of teachers– See separate eSIS “Teaching Teams” documentation

• Step 18: Ready to Start the Simulation Process– loading of student requests into your Master Schedule

Course Maintenance vs Course Section Maintenance• Course Maintenance = eSIS table/screen containing specific data for

each course (short name, credit, department, format, length, etc.)

• Course Section Maintenance = eSIS table/screen showing the one and only Master Schedule for a school at any given time– Remember, within the MTB, one can create several MTB “versions” (or

hypothetical schedules) . . . but any specific MTB version must first be converted (copied over) to Course Section Maintenance (the Master Schedule file) before any student simulations can occur.

– If any subsequent adjustments are made to a MTB version (or if you wish to use an entirely different MTB version), a new Course Section Maintenance file (Master Schedule) must be created. Whenever this happens, the existing Course Section Maintenance records are purged before the new records are created. In short, there is only one Course Section Maintenance file (ie the Master Schedule) at any given time.

– Course Section Maintenance screen looks quite different from the MTB’s Section Detail screen . . . . . but both hold the exact same data; only the visual display is different.

Simulation Set-Up Screen• School Year

– auto defaults to next school year

– if simulations are run after year-end transition, then need to change year to current year

• Only Grades– if left blank, the default is ALL grades

• Capping Required– defaults to “Yes” (classes will be capped at maximum class size);

recommended

– If “No” – classes are able to overload without restriction

• Sim Only Incomplete– If “Yes” – only students with incomplete schedules will be

simulated• If “Exclude Alternates” checkbox is enabled, students who have a complete

schedule because alternates were substituted for primary classes will also be re-simulated

– If “No” – all students will be simulated

Simulation Set-Up Screen – cont’d• Remove Blocking

– normally set to “Yes”– if “Yes” – unschedules all scheduled courses (i.e. all courses will

be re-simulated)– if “No” – only the remaining unscheduled courses will be

simulated

• Scheduling Options– Required First (do not use: not applicable)– Screen Order (if Option Sheet fast entry was only method used,

courses are simulated in order of entry)– Use Alternates (matched/global alternates can be substituted if

primary course cannot be scheduled)– Overload Percent Allowed (% is applied to each maximum size)

• Note: Capping Required must be “Yes” to stop overload at new %

– Place Sections Randomly (not recommended)

• Keep Details = No

Simulation Set-Up Screen – cont’d

Important: prior to starting any simulation, make sure no

other staff members are accessing the Course Section

Maintenance (next year) files or the Student Course

Selections (next year) screen

Analyzing Simulation Results

• Run “Enrollment Summary by Section” Report– Make a note on top of Page 1 as to your Simulation Percentages– Scan left-hand margin for courses which have higher than

expected % of unscheduled students– Scan for # requests higher than total maximum seats– Scan “seats used” column to review distribution and balance of

students in multiple sections

• Remember when viewing the Simulation Results screen that “Unsuccessful Students” is the same as “Incomplete Students”

Analyzing Simulation Results – cont’dAfter analyzing your simulation results:

1. Make necessary changes in your MTB

2. Create new Course Section Maintenance File

- Old CSM file is purged

- All students automatically unscheduled

3. Adjust Teaching Teams set-up only if the MTB

changes affected any of the teamed sections

4. Re-simulate all students (i.e. run another simulation)

5. Run “Enrollment Summary by Section” report again and

analyze the results

Repeat the above 5 steps until you are ready to accept

the final version of the Master Schedule

(i.e. will not be making any more STDP changes)

An Additional Optional All-School Simulation Against Your New Master Schedule

Caution: from this point forward, you will never create a new Course Section Maintenance File

• Optional: If you want to hand-schedule individual students into specific sections (i.e. Spec Ed, ESL, etc.) versus manual manipulation by counselors at later time– On a student’s Individual Course Selection screen, type-over current course section

number with desired section number and do individual simulation, but do not be concerned with resulting visual schedule (complete or incomplete), as you will be re-simulating all students again

– Run one more all school simulation to lock-in these hand-scheduled sections during the simulation

• Sim Only Incomplete = No• Remove Blocking = Yes• Capping On = Yes

– Any simulations run after this point will continue to lock-in these hand-scheduled sections

.

Subsequent Simulations for Incompletes Only• REMEMBER: do NOT create a new Course Section

Maintenance File• Optional: Run additional simulation for “Incomplete

Students” only by increasing maximum seats (check with principal)

– Capping Required = Yes – Sim Only Incomplete = Yes– Remove Blocking = Yes– Scheduling Options - Overload Percent Allowed: 10% or 15%

• Optional: Run additional simulation for those few “Incomplete Students” that may have requested a subordinate course instead of the full-year host– Important: Must perform Step #1 of the Explode Process before

running this simulation• See upcoming slide of “The Explode Process”

– Capping Required: Yes (optional to use 10% - 15% increase)– Sim Only Incomplete = Yes– Remove Blocking: Yes

Subsequent Simulations for Incompletes Only

• Optional: Run additional simulation using alternate substitutions– Capping Required: Yes (optional to use 10% - 15% increase) – Sim Only Incomplete = Yes– Remove Blocking: Yes– Scheduling Options: Check “Use Alternates” box

– This would be your final simulation• Any remaining “Incomplete” students will now be handed-off

to counselors for manual resolution of problems.• Before handing-off to counselors to resolve any remaining

problems/conflicts, you need to perform the two steps of the Explode Function

The Explode Process (2 Steps)• Step #1: Initiate “Explode Schedule” function

– Note: Step #1 may have already been performed earlier during your simulations of incomplete students. If so, you can go directly to Step #2 or you may simply repeat Step #1 again to insure all subordinate sections have been created

– School > Scheduling Utilities > Course Explodes > Explode Schedule

• Automatically creates subordinate sections for all host courses with Create Schedule = Yes in Course Maintenance (i.e. copies down S T D P, Max Seats, Teacher, Room to corresponding subordinate sections)

– Select “Edit Explode” to determine if any subordinate sections are missing or inaccurate

• allows access to “Problems with Exploding Courses” window)• generally no problems

The Explode Process (2 Steps)• Step #2: Initiate “Explode After Simulation” function

– Note: Some schools wait and do Step #2 until right before counselors return to clean-up student schedules.

• If the school chooses to do this step in late summer after year-end transition has taken place, make sure you set the Explode screen to “Current Year” instead of “Next Year”

– School > Scheduling Utilities > Course Explodes > After Simulation

• This function automatically moves students from every full-year host course (or team/wheel package) into the corresponding subordinate sections (which were created in Step #1)

• Counselors can now move around semester subordinates of full-year classes! Prior to this final step, subordinates were “locked” together.

– After this function is run, you should no longer see any full-year host course numbers on an individual student’s Courses screen showing Sem = 0. Instead, you will now see the subordinate course numbers appearing with Sem = 1, 2, or 3

Resolving Student Conflicts• It is now time to allow counselors access to student

schedules for clean-up:– Run “Students Missing Sections” Report

• Will list students who have unscheduled courses (“incompletes”)• Can sort of Student/Grade or by Course

– Run “Enrollment Summary by Section” Report • Each counselor’s copy of the curent Master Schedule

– Run “Free Period Analysis” Report• This report will include same students identified on “Students Missing

Sections” report, but will also include students who have all classes scheduled, but who still have “holes” in their schedule because they did not forecast enough classes for a full schedule. Make sure counselors know how to use both reports in tandem.

– In addition to using the above reports, counselors will also use the “Conflict Detail” button on Student Courses Screen to help them with schedule clean-up