Per the campus Classroom Scheduling policy, “departments are expected to schedule an equal share of early morning and late afternoon classes throughout the day. To achieve this 1/7th, or approximately 14% of a department’s classes should be scheduled at each of the six prime time hours: 8:50, 9:55, 11:00, 12:05, 1:20, and 2:25. The remaining 1/7th should be scheduled using a combination of the 7:45, 3:30, and 4:35 class hours. Sections in excess of the distribution of class hours guidelines will receive a lower assignment priority.”

The Overscheduled Times by Subject report in SIS computes whether a subject is overscheduled at any prime time blocks. Curricular Services staff in the Office of the Registrar use this report to deprioritize General Assignment (GA) classroom requests for a subject’s classes at the overscheduled time(s). Departmental curricular representatives can use this report during Initial Call to adjust the distribution of their classes across times of day to avoid having GA requests receive lower assignment priority. Lower assignment priority can result in assignments in non-preferred buildings and/or without requested room characteristics, or in some cases can result in no classroom assignment at all, especially at the most popular class times.

The Overscheduled Times by Subject report is used only as part of Initial Call for fall and spring terms. The report is not used during Final Call or after the schedule of classes is released, since the mass process of initial GA assignments has already been completed at these points in time. The report is also not used during Summer Call, since standard class times are not applicable in summer term.

Some departments that are the sole occupant of their building have been given permission from Curricular Services to pre-assign GA classrooms in their home building during Initial Call. These pre-assignments are considered requests and are not guaranteed. Pre-assignments can be overridden by Curricular Services as needed, including when a subject is overscheduled at a specific time. All departments, especially those using GA classrooms, are encouraged to make use of the Overscheduled Times by Subject report to ensure adequate time spreading.

Step 5

You may wish to re-run the report at various points throughout Initial Call. As you adjust your scheduled classes and add new class sections, times that your subject is or is not overscheduled may change.

Technical Details

Key aspects of the report should be considered to accurately interpret the results.

• As noted above, the report relies on calculated fields in SIS, with data updated every 10 minutes during Initial Call. The data thus are not real-time, but a recurring process is scheduled to update the data regularly.
• Combined class sections are included in calculations only for the primary subject.
• Subjects with 10 or fewer class sections in the report are excluded from consideration. This is because when numbers are small, minor variations can cause large shifts in percentage calculations.
• The scope of the Classroom Scheduling policy specifies that “space classified as a ‘classroom’ is subject to the scheduling policies contained herein.“ As such, the only classes considered in the report are those requesting or scheduled in rooms that the Space Management Office of Facilities Planning & Management has designated as a classroom (facility use code 110) and categorized as a classroom (subuse code 1104), seminar room (subuse code 1102), lecture hall (subuse code 1106), or collaborative learning space (subuse code 1108). Not included are other types of spaces that may be used for classes, such as conference rooms, assembly halls/performance spaces, or instructional laboratories; the facility IDs OFF CAMPUS and ONLINE are also excluded.
• All classes requesting/pre-assigned to a GA classroom or assigned to a non-GA classroom (i.e., any classroom, seminar room, or lecture hall) are considered by the report. Thus, classes assigned to locally controlled spaces officially classified as classrooms are expected to comply with time-spreading expectations. This is because the Classroom Scheduling policy applies to all such classes, even though the deprioritization of assignments only applies to GA requests. Assignments in locally controlled spaces will not be adjusted by Curricular Services even if a subject is overscheduled at a prime time, but GA requests/pre-assignments may be adjusted.
• Classes that span multiple time blocks, including those scheduled at non-standard times, are considered in the report through proportional calculations. For example, a class that spans the 8:50 and 9:55 blocks would be considered as meeting during both blocks, distributing portions of the total class time based on the number of minutes that the class meets during each block.