Course Rank

Building a course rank is the last step before building the master schedule.

The course rank file defines the order in which the system schedules courses into the master schedule. The rank is a value that a course is given according to how difficult it is to schedule. As the system fills the master schedule with courses during the build, it becomes more and more difficult to schedule each successive course. Therefore, the order in which the system schedules courses is important. The best course rank places the courses that are the most difficult to schedule at the beginning of the build process and saves the courses that are easiest to schedule for the end.

For example, singletons (courses that are offered only once per term) are scheduled before regular courses because they are more difficult to fit in a schedule. The system schedules prescheduled courses first, and then schedules singletons, doubletons, core sections, and electives.

Demand for a course (the number of student course requests) and constraints on a course affect course rank. The system initially builds the course rank based on constraints and other parameters that you defined.
It is important to keep the course rank file up-to-date as you build your schedule and adjust your courses, teachers, constraints, and other parameters.

The first time you build the course rank, the system creates a rank file. As you build your schedule and adjust parameters, such as courses, teachers, and constraints, the rank file needs to be updated. For more information, refer to  Build Course Rank.

Build Course Rank

When you initially build the course rank, the system displays the courses in the order the system has determined, based on the course definitions and constraints.
The system assigns a sequential number to each course to indicate its place in rank using numbers in increments of ten, such as 10, 20, 30. The smaller the number, the higher the course rank.

Use this numbering system to edit the ranks of courses and put courses between system-defined ranks. For example, you can re-rank a course to 11, 12, or 13 without affecting the ranks of the system-defined courses ranked at 10 and 20.

After building the course rank and making modifications, you may need to rebuild the course rank. Rebuilding the course rank overwrites any changes you have made to the rank file. Rebuild the course rank after you add or delete a course. If you rebuild the rank, you will lose any edits you made. Be sure to make note of those changes so that you can re-create them in the rebuilt course rank. To rebuild the course rank, refer to the Build Initial Course Rank section. To rebuild the rank without updating your manual changes, use the Update Rank function. For more information, refer to the Update Rank section.

Build Initial Course Rank

Use this function to set up an initial course rank or rebuild a course rank. This will overwrite any manual changes to the course rank.

1. Navigate to the PowerScheduler page.
2. Under Processing, choose Course Rank from the PowerScheduler menu. 
3. Click Build Rank. 
4. Click Submit.

Edit a Course Rank

After creating an initial rank file, you can modify, update, and rebuild it. These are the final steps before building the master schedule.

The system evaluates all factors that affect courses to determine the best course rank. After the system builds the course rank, you can make manual adjustments based on your own experience or special circumstances not reflected in the parameters and constraints you defined. The rank you manually give a course overrides the rank assigned by the system.

For example, the system calculates a course rank of 90 for Concert Band based on the constraints you entered for this course compared to the constraints you entered for other courses. Due to experience in dealing with the conflicts band members face when trying to schedule Concert Band, you decide to change the rank of this class. By changing the rank from 90 to 5, you force other courses to schedule around Concert Band, reducing the chance of conflicts.

You cannot change the rank of a course to be higher than a prescheduled course. Prescheduled courses are always the first courses scheduled.

1. Navigate to the PowerScheduler page.
2. Under Processing, choose Course Rank from the PowerScheduler menu. 

3. Use the following table to edit information in the fields:

   Field	Description
   Delete	Select the checkbox to delete this course from the course rank. Only delete a course from the course rank if it is not going to be scheduled.
   Sys Rank	The rank that the system determined for the course.
   Rank	The rank that the system determined for the course. The Sys Rank value is the same as the Rank value if the course rank has not been manually changed.
   Crs Num	The number of the course.
   Crs Name	The name of the course.
   Sections	The number of sections offered for the course.
   PPC	The number of periods per cycle for the course.
   Demand	The number of requests for the course.
   Crs Conflicts	The number of unique courses among students who are requesting a particular course. The course in that row is not included in the calculation.
   Stu Conflicts	The sum of all requests made by students who have requested the course.
   Constraints	This field contains a dot if any constraints have been associated with the course. It is blank if the course has no constraints.
   Comments	Enter any comments about why you are editing a particular course rank number.

4. Click Submit. 

Update Rank

Update the course rank after you do any of the following:

• Edit the number of sections of a course.
• Significantly change the number of student course requests.
• Add or delete constraints.

Updating the course rank recalculates the system rank and updates the course rank for courses that you have not adjusted.

To overwrite any manual changes and rebuild your entire course rank, rebuild the course rank. For more information, refer to the  Build Initial Course Rank section.

1. Navigate to the PowerScheduler page.
2. Under Processing, choose Course Rank from the PowerScheduler menu. 
3. Click Update Rank. 
4. Click Submit.