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Thursday, August 18, 2016

Auto-enroll from wait list reminders

Auto-enroll from wait list ends running for each term/session on a date specified per campus. For the fall 2016 regular session, the last wait list run for the Twin Cities campus will be in the late evening, September 6. Staff from other system campuses may check with their Office of the Registrar to confirm auto-enroll end dates for their campus.

Following the last run, those classes which still have wait lists will typically have an Enrollment Status of “Closed”. A common question is, how do you fill any seats that may subsequently open due to enrolled students dropping the class? You have two options to consider.

Option 1:


Give students a permission number to override a closed class using the Closed Class checkbox on the Class Permissions page. This options allows you to give permission to wait listed students, when appropriate. To assist in determining which students to provide permission, the wait list will be available for your reference until the end of drop/add period.

Option 2:


On the Enrollment Control tab uncheck the Auto Enroll from Wait List checkbox, which changes the Enrollment Status to “Open” and allows any student to register for the remaining seat(s).

Each department can decide which option is best for their situation.


CCS roll forward date for fall 2017 and spring 2018 is October 20

The Twin Cities’ Collaborative Class Scheduling (CCS) roll forward for fall 2017 and spring 2018 classes takes place October 20. Scheduling changes made by class schedulers prior to October 20 to fall 2016 or spring 2017 will roll forward to fall 2017 and spring 2018, respectively. For this reason, Twin Cities’ schedulers may want to give some thought to updating their spring 2017 classes. For instance, if a spring 2017 class is changing from lecture only to lecture/lab, make that change prior to October 20. That way, it will roll forward and you won’t need to make the same change for spring 2018.

Identifying classes with students on wait lists

Looking for a quick way to identify which of your classes have students on wait lists so you can manage the list? Use the Class Schedule Summary report to pull up a list of classes, then click the icon to export it to Excel (in the upper right corner of the first page). From there, sort largest to smallest on the Wait List Total column to bring all of the classes with students on wait list to the top of the report. Use your findings to more quickly manage wait lists on the UM Manage Wait lists page. (Thanks to Stacey Grimes for sharing this tip!)

Updates to ECAS functionality

Improvements have recently been made to the Electronic Course Authorization System (ECAS) with several more planned in the coming weeks. As of August 7, the ECAS update page has the following changes:

  • ECAS will auto-save each time you click out of a field.
  • Users will no longer be timed out of the system.
  • There is a new character countdown on fields that have character limits.
  • Some fields are hidden out of the way until you select to open them.
  • Validation errors will now show in real time (instead of after your work is submitted).
  • The "Save Changes for Later Action" button was retired as you no longer need to manually save.

We’ll be sure to keep ECAS users informed as other ECAS updates are rolled out to the system.

Revised text of email message sent from auto enroll from wait list

The email sent to students from the auto enroll from wait list process has been revised for clarity. When the auto enroll from wait list process runs to fill an open seat, students who remain on the wait list (because there isn’t yet enough room for them) will now get the following message:

Dear [First name],

You could not be enrolled in [SUBJ #### SEC COURSE NAME]. Seat(s) in the class opened but you could not be enrolled because other students ahead of you on the wait list were enrolled. You are still on the wait list for this class and we will continue to attempt to enroll you (you will receive a notification for each attempt). You may remove yourself from the wait list at any time in your registration shopping cart in MyU.

A wait list FAQ is available at http://z.umn.edu/waitlistfaq
Special instructions for Rochester students are available at http://z.umn.edu/rowaitlist

The following is a system-generated, technical description that may be helpful with troubleshooting if you require assistance: Already wait listed and class 31200 full. (14640, 164) - Requested enrollment add was not processed.  Already on Wait List and class enrollment limit has been reached.

We expect this positive change for students will also benefit those who’ve answered many questions about the previous email version.