Save the date for the next SRhelp workshop

CCS schedulers are invited to join the Academic Support Resources Training and Support team for a CCS user review workshop. We will revisit some of the CCS processes that changed as part of the upgrade and have plenty of time for questions.

Tuesday September 29
1-2 p.m., Fraser Hall, room B20*
No registration required

*Please note: Fraser Hall B20 is not a handicap accessible room.

Key contact list update

In late July we conducted our comprehensive annual Key Contact review.  72% of our Key Contacts responded within 5 business days! Thank you for your timely responses and help in keeping our records up to date.

For those Key Contacts who’ve not had a chance you respond yet, you still can. If you can no longer find the documents, contact Nancy Killian at killi008@umn.edu.

Room assignment changes are possible if changing a meeting pattern or enrollment capacity

If making changes to a class meeting pattern or enrollment capacity after a classroom has already been assigned, class schedulers will notice that the classroom assignment does not immediately drop from the meeting pattern's Facility ID display. Rather, the Office of Classroom Management monitors changes to meeting patterns and enrollment capacities to make sure that classrooms do not double book or exceed the maximum capacity following a change. Classes needing a General Purpose Classroom reassignment will receive one. Schedulers can be proactive by checking the room calendars and capacities in Astra Schedule prior to making these changes in CCS.

Where to find training resources

As we head into the fall semester, you may find yourself completing tasks (such as placing a class into a departmental classroom or cancelling a section) for which the process changed during the upgrade. Upgrade-related training materials are posted online for your reference. You'll find guides to Astra Schedule, Faculty Center, Collaborative Class Scheduling, and more.

Also, remember to use the UPK for support while working in PeopleSoft Campus Solutions. If you've not used the UPK before, get started with this great tool by checking out the UPK quick start guide.

Updating the Student Advisor page

Because students may have advisers from multiple departments, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when updating the Student Advisor page to ensure you don’t overwrite other departments’ adviser data.

First, remember that ALL adviser updates require a new effective date row be added to the top portion of the page.

Before proceeding with updates to the lower portion of the page, consider whether you are replacing an adviser with a new one or if you are adding an additional adviser.

• If REPLACING an adviser, you may simply overwrite the old adviser with the new one in the lower portion of the page. 
• If ADDING an adviser to the list of existing advisers, you must add a row in the lower section of the page for the additional adviser, leaving the earlier adviser rows intact. 

For more information click on the Help link in PeopleSoft and navigate to the Student Records > Student Advisor section to review UPK topics on the Student Advisor page.

Entering instructors on multiple meeting pattern classes in CCS

CCS schedulers should take care when entering instructors for multiple meeting pattern classes. Incomplete entry of instructors can result in some pitfalls to grade roster access and the students' academic schedules on MyU.

When scheduling classes with multiple meeting patterns, make sure to have an instructor with Grade Approve access entered onto each of the meeting patterns. This ensures that instructors with grading responsibilities have access to their grade rosters when it comes time to enter the grades.

When using an Instructor Role of Primary Instructor in CCS, be sure to enter a Primary Instructor for each meeting pattern of multiple meeting patterns classes. Doing so ensures that all meeting patterns are correctly displayed for the enrolled students on their academic schedules in MyU.

Changes to scheduling completely online classes

Students and others using the Class Search may wish to search for only those classes offered in a completely online format. The manner in which class schedulers set up completely online classes, so that they are searchable on this criterion, has changed slightly.

Beginning no later than the spring 2016 schedule, CCS schedulers should enter the following information on UM CCS Maintain Schedule of Classes Basic Data tab when scheduling a completely online class:

     Location: OFFCAMPUS

     Instruction Mode: CO (Completely Online)

     Course Attribute: ONL (Online)

Those using the Class Search will then be able to search for completely online class offerings by selecting “Online Class” as the Course Attribute, or “Completely Online” as the Mode of Instruction.

Below is an example of what this set up looks like in CCS: