PowerScheduler Load
When to Load Only Student Schedules
Complete the PowerScheduler Load Process if you already have a master schedule and only need to load student schedules. It is relevant for schools that meet any of the following criteria:
- Built a master schedule manually
- Copied a previous year's master schedule
- Plan to copy a previous year's master schedule
The process of loading only student schedules includes preparing to load, loading, and committing schedules. This process assumes that you have entered student course requests but not done any other preparation for preparing to build a master schedule.
Because every situation is different, there is some flexibility as to which steps an individual school will need to perform. It is important to understand each step and know how to make adjustments when necessary. Do not perform a step if you are not sure that you should.
The load process includes the following steps:
Auto Scheduler Setup: Must be performed as the first step in the process. Use the Auto Scheduler Setup function to create a scheduling scenario. The scheduling scenario is the basic framework for your schedule before sections and students are added. The scenario includes the terms, periods, days, and courses for the schedule. It is strongly recommended to run the function at every school in the District, regardless of whether each school uses PowerScheduler.
Set Schedule Year: Must be performed as the second step in the process. Use the Set Schedule Year function to associate your scenario with the Years & Terms created using the Auto Scheduler Setup.
Copy Master Schedule: Must be performed as the third step in the process. Use the Copy Master Schedule function to copy the schedule from a previous school year. This function copies sections into the schedule, including all associated settings, such as expression, room, teacher, and term.
Parameters: The following required parameters are set up when using Auto Scheduler Setup: Catalogs, Days, Periods, and Years & Terms.
Load Constraints: Define load constraints, if appropriate.
New Courses: After creating courses, associate them to the course catalog on the live-side, then associate the courses to catalog in PowerScheduler.
Rooms: Create the appropriate rooms for the schedule. Rooms are associated with sections when copying the master schedule. However, you may still need to create them for the current scenario. The master schedule and rooms are directly related; if rooms are not valid, sections will not display in the master schedule.
Teacher Scheduling Preferences: Populate the required teacher scheduling fields, which are Schedule This Teacher and Maximum Consecutive Periods.
Student Scheduling Preferences: Populate the required student scheduling fields, which are Next School, Next Year Grade, and Schedule This Student.
Course Requests: It is necessary to setup new courses and student scheduling preferences before entering student course requests. Student course requests must be entered before loading.
Review Master Schedule: Review the Master Schedule and make any final manual modifications.
Load Validation: Once the schedule is complete and students have entered requests, validate the load. When validating, the PowerScheduler engine performs the load function without actually creating any student schedules. Review any errors or warnings in the Load Results Log.
Load: When a load validation does not return any errors, run a load.
Import Results: To view student schedules in PowerScheduler, it is necessary to import the results. If you are satisfied with the details in the Load Results Log, then import the results to transfer the data into PowerScheduler.
Reports: PowerScheduler includes a group of reports designed for analyzing data after loading.
Re-Load: If you need to make changes that affect student schedules, such as courses, sections, or load constraints, it is possible to run the load again. Re-loading changes all student schedules that were previously imported. To preserve changes, perform the reschedule process.
Manually Schedule: Though PowerScheduler strives to create ideal schedules, it may be necessary to make manual modifications. Re-loading after making manual modifications changes all student schedules. To preserve changes, perform the reschedule process.
Reschedule: To load schedules for a specific group of students, select the group of students and choose the Reschedule the selected [x] students option.
Commit the Schedule: Before committing the schedule, verify that there is a current backup of your PowerSchool data. Also, verify that the End-of-Year (EOY) process has not been performed. Then, commit the schedule for the next school year. It is possible to replace student schedules, sections, or both.