Scheduling

In this chapter, we will learn several techniques for scheduling activities, as well as how to move, delete, and edit already scheduled cells.

Note: There are two scheduling modes: Planning mode and Changes mode. These represent two layers of the same schedule. In Planning mode, the first layer is created: the planned schedule that is intended to take place throughout the term. In Changes mode, daily ad hoc changes can be made to accommodate cancellations, sick leave, unplanned events, and other day-to-day adjustments. This chapter focuses on Planning mode.

Scheduling New Cells

A cell is a scheduled occurrence of an activity. This section describes the various methods of scheduling new cells.

How to schedule a single occurrence of an activity?

An occurrence of an activity on a specific day and time means that all of the activity's resources are booked for that time. A cell will appear in each of their schedules with the details of that activity.

To schedule a single occurrence of an activity, drag it (using the mouse) from the list of activities to the main schedule, then drop it at the desired time. Let's go through the exact steps:

1. Place the mouse cursor over the leftmost column in the activities list—the column that displays the activity's color. Notice how the mouse cursor changes to a hand cursor.
2. Press and hold the left mouse button. This begins the drag-and-drop operation. You will see the activity's cell appear beneath the mouse cursor.
3. Once the drag-and-drop operation begins, the main schedule window displays the conflict prediction stripes. These colored stripes indicate when the activity's resources are available (green), double-booked (yellow), or unavailable (red). This helps you determine where the activity can be dropped without causing any conflicts.
4. While still holding the mouse button, move the mouse cursor over the main schedule window. A cell will follow the cursor wherever you move it. When you are satisfied with the cell's position, release the mouse button. The activity will be scheduled, completing the drag-and-drop operation.

How to schedule a recurring activity?

Institutions that create schedules in which each date in the calendar can have different scheduled activities (as opposed to a generic weekly schedule that repeats every week) often use a per-activity recurrence pattern to define when each activity takes place. For example, an activity may occur from October 1st to December 31st, only on Mondays and Thursdays, from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM. By defining a recurrence pattern, an activity can be scheduled on many occurrences in a single operation.

The first step in defining a recurrence pattern is to select the activity in the list. The Properties pane will then display the activity's properties. Near the bottom, you will find an item named Recurrence Pattern. Expand it by clicking the small plus button to its left. The following fields will be displayed:

• Term – This field is useful only when a single file contains multiple terms. It specifies the term(s) to which the activity belongs.
• Weeks – Use this field to specify the weeks on which the activity is scheduled. You can select either generic weeks or calendar weeks by using the "Weeks" and "Calendar" tabs at the bottom of the popup window. To select multiple weeks in the "Calendar" tab, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking. If you use this field, you should also specify the Days of Week.
• Days – Use this field to specify the exact generic days or calendar dates on which the activity is scheduled. Switch between generic days and calendar dates using the "Days" and "Calendar" tabs at the bottom of the popup window. If you use this field, there is no need to specify Days of Week, since the dates are selected explicitly.
• Start Date and End Date – These fields can be used instead of Weeks or Days to define a range of calendar dates. If you specify a date range, you should also specify the Days of Week to indicate on which weekdays the activity occurs.
• Days of Week – Specifies the weekdays on which the activity is scheduled.
• Periods – If your time scale defines periods, use this field to specify the periods during which the activity is scheduled.
• Start Time and End Time – Specify the time and duration at which the activity will be scheduled for each occurrence throughout the recurrence pattern.

Note: Not all of these fields need to be filled in, as some of them are interchangeable (you can even disable the fields you do not use from the Institution pane's Properties page).

How to schedule the activity after defining the recurrence pattern?

Important: Filling in the above properties does not schedule the activity. To actually schedule it, click the Schedule by pattern link located at the bottom of the Recurrence Pattern section.

How to schedule all activities according to their recurrence patterns?

If you have multiple activities selected in the activities list, clicking the Schedule by pattern link schedules all selected activities, each according to its own recurrence pattern. To schedule the entire list in this way, first select all activities (either by selecting the first activity, then holding down Shift while selecting the last, or simply by pressing Ctrl+A), and then click Schedule by pattern.

How to schedule the same activity using multiple recurrence patterns?

Suppose you want to schedule the same activity over a period of three months, but on Mondays from 9:00 to 10:00 and on Tuesdays from 10:00 to 11:00. In this case, simply repeat the above process twice. First, define the recurrence pattern for Mondays, set the start and end times to 9:00 and 10:00, and click the "Schedule by pattern" link. Then change the recurrence pattern to Tuesdays, set the start and end times to 10:00 and 11:00, and click "Schedule by pattern" again.

That's all. Notice that the recurrence pattern itself does not schedule anything. The activity is scheduled only when you click the Schedule by pattern link. Once the activity has been scheduled, changing the recurrence pattern does not affect any of its already scheduled cells.

Note: If you need to preserve multiple recurrence patterns as part of the activity (so that they are saved and remembered by the software), you must create a duplicate of the activity (using copy and paste), because each activity stores only the last recurrence pattern that was entered. Each duplicate activity can therefore store a different recurrence pattern.

How to reschedule an activity using a different recurrence pattern?

To reschedule an activity, first remove its existing scheduled cells. To do this, right-click the Properties pane and select Delete Cells from the popup menu. Then define the new recurrence pattern and click the Schedule by pattern link to schedule the activity according to the new pattern.

How to schedule a one-time activity?

There is a convenient way to both create and schedule a new activity in a single operation, which we have not covered so far. This is especially useful for scheduling one-time activities (activities with a single occurrence), because the activity does not need to be created in advance in the activities list, as is normally done for planned activities. Instead, it is created on the fly and scheduled immediately.

To create and schedule a new activity in this way, first select an empty time range in a resource's schedule. This will be the time range in which the new activity is scheduled. Once you do this, the Properties pane will display the properties of a New Cell.

All you need to do now is select a course in the Properties pane.

Selecting a course creates a new activity involving two resources: the resource whose schedule is currently displayed and the course you selected. The activity is immediately scheduled in the selected time range and automatically added to the activities list.

The new activity's properties are then displayed in the Properties pane, where you can continue filling in the activity's other resources and properties—for example, by selecting an instructor and a room.

To edit the start or end time of the newly created cell, click the cell to switch from the activity's properties to the cell's properties, and then edit the Start Time or End Time property.

How to quickly open the schedule of an activity's resource?

Instead of using the navigation pane (at the top of the main schedule) to choose which resource's schedule is displayed, there is another way that is especially convenient while scheduling activities. Simply double-click a resource's name in the activities list. That resource's schedule will immediately be displayed in the main schedule.

Note: If you double-click a column in the activities list that does not contain a resource, but instead contains a textual property of the activity or statistical information (such as the Scheduled column), the activity's schedule will be displayed instead.

Working with Scheduled Cells

This section describes how to move, duplicate, resize and delete scheduled cells.

How to move a cell?

Moving a cell is also accomplished using drag and drop. However, unlike scheduling a new activity, the cell must first be selected.

1. Select the cell by clicking it.
2. Once the cell is selected, a small tab will appear in its upper-left corner. To move the cell, place the mouse cursor over this tab. When the cursor changes to a hand cursor, you can begin dragging the cell.
3. Press and hold the left mouse button to begin the drag-and-drop operation. The schedule will display the colored conflict prediction stripes, just as it does when dragging an activity.
4. Move the mouse cursor to the desired time and release the mouse button to complete the operation.

How to duplicate a cell?

Just as you can move a cell using drag and drop, you can also duplicate it. To do this, drag the cell using the right mouse button. The original cell will remain in its current position, while a new cell, which is a duplicate of the original, will follow the mouse cursor during the drag operation.

Tip: You can speed up the process of scheduling the same activity on multiple occurrences by using this technique. The first time you schedule an activity, you drag it from the Activities pane. After that, however, you no longer need to return to the Activities pane each time you want to schedule another occurrence. Instead, simply duplicate one of the activity's existing cells by dragging it with the right mouse button. This saves you from having to move the mouse back and forth to the Activities pane.

How to change the duration of a cell?

There are two ways to change the duration of an already scheduled cell:

1. Select the cell and edit its Start Time or End Time property in the Properties pane.
2. Use drag-and-drop: select the cell, place the mouse cursor over one of the cell's top or bottom time markers, hold down the Shift key, and drag it up or down. This will stretch or shrink the cell accordingly.

How to delete cells?

Deleting cells is straightforward: whatever is selected is what will be deleted. Once you have selected the cell or cells you want to remove, press the Delete key on the keyboard or click the X button on the left toolbar. The selected cells will be deleted. If necessary, you can always restore it using the Undo command.

You can also delete only part of a cell. The time markers displayed next to the selected cell allow you to adjust the selected time range. If you drag the top marker downward or the bottom marker upward, only a portion of the cell will remain selected. Pressing the Delete key at that point deletes only the selected portion, leaving the rest of the cell unchanged.

How to modify the resources of a cell?

Suppose an activity is scheduled on multiple occurrences throughout the term with instructor A. However, on one particular occurrence, the activity needs to be taught by instructor B. In this case, you can change the instructor for that particular cell without affecting the other occurrences of the activity.

Simply select the cell, then edit the "Instructor" property in the Properties pane. Only the selected cell will be updated; all other cells of the activity will remain unchanged.

How to work with all of an activity's cells throughout the term?

When you need to reschedule an activity that has many occurrences throughout the term, you do not have to modify each cell individually. There is a much quicker way to move, delete, or edit all of the activity's cells at once.

If you remember, the navigation pane contains a button called Only Scheduled Days. When you click this button while viewing a resource's schedule, the program automatically displays only the days on which that resource has scheduled activities.

Also remember that double-clicking a cell selects all the cells belonging to the same activity. Since the schedule is now showing all of the resource's scheduled days, double-clicking one of the activity's cells will select all of that activity's occurrences throughout the term.

Once all of the cells are selected, you can move them using drag-and-drop, delete them or edit their properties. Any changes you make will be applied to all of the selected cells.

Tip: You can also right-click one of the selected cells and choose Switch to → Activity. This changes the view to display only the selected activity's cells, hiding all other activities and showing only the dates on which that activity is scheduled.

Availability of Resources

For various reasons, a resource may not always be available for scheduling. For example, an instructor may have a day off on a particular weekday, or a room may be reserved for an extracurricular activity at certain times. When this information is known in advance, it can be entered into the program so that activities cannot be scheduled when one or more of their resources are unavailable.

How to enter the times when a resource is unavailable

The times when a resource is unavailable are defined by blocking the corresponding cells. No activity can be scheduled in a blocked cell without creating a conflict.

To block cells, select the desired time range, then either choose "Edit → Block" from the main menu, click the Block button on the left toolbar, or press the Plus (+) key on the keyboard.

You can also add a note to a blocked cell in the Properties pane.

How to check which resources are available at a particular time

If you need to know which resources are available at a particular time, first select the desired time range in the main schedule, then click the Availability button above the resource list. The program will display a colored stripe next to each resource, indicating whether it is available (green), busy (yellow), or unavailable (red).

Tip: If you select multiple time ranges (using Ctrl+Click), the program calculates the availability for all of them simultaneously. Resources marked with a green stripe are available during all of the selected time ranges.

To hide the availability stripes, click the Availability button again.

How to check which activities can be scheduled at a particular time?

Similar to checking which resources are available at the selected time range, you can also check the availability of activities. Click the Availability button above the activities list, and the program will display a colored stripe next to each activity, indicating whether it can be scheduled in the selected time range without causing any conflicts. A green stripe means that all of the activity's resources are available. A yellow stripe indicates that at least one required resource is busy, while a red stripe indicates that at least one required resource is blocked. If the activity is already scheduled at the selected time, a blue stripe is displayed.

How to check which other cells can be moved into an empty cell?

If you need to know which of the visible scheduled cells can be moved into an empty time range, first select the empty time range. Then move the mouse cursor over the tab in the top-left corner of the empty cell. The cursor will change to a hand.

Now press and hold the mouse button. Colored stripes will appear on the left side of each scheduled cell. A green stripe indicates that the cell can be moved into the selected empty time range without causing any conflicts, while a yellow stripe indicates that moving the cell there would cause a conflict.

Statistical Information

By now, you have probably noticed the column named Scheduled (sometimes displayed as Sched because the column is narrow) at the left side of the activities list. This column shows the total number of scheduled hours (or periods) for each activity. There are several aspects of this column that we would now like to explain.

How can I see the total scheduled quantities for resources?

Just as you can see the scheduled quantity for activities, the program can also display scheduled quantities for resources. To enable this, open the Institution pane's Properties page and enable the Scheduled property for the relevant resource type. For example, to display scheduled quantities for instructors, enable the Scheduled property under Instructor.

Once enabled, the list of instructors will include a Scheduled column showing the total scheduled quantity for each instructor (either in hours or in periods).

Note: The scheduled quantities will also be displayed in all popup lists of instructors throughout the program.

Does the Scheduled column sum up quantity per week or per term?

By default, the Scheduled column displays the total per week, but it can also be configured to display totals per day or per term. To change this, open the Institution pane's Properties page, click the Scheduled property, and edit its Time Range field (located below the list).

When Day or Week is selected, the quantities are calculated only for the days or weeks that are currently visible on the screen (as selected in the navigation pane). Each time you navigate to a different day or week, the values in the Scheduled column are updated accordingly.

The next chapter: Conflicts.