• Confirm School Options.
• Always Blank out the SMS Table to begin for the new year.  
• If your district already has Course Requests in place for the next school year - DO NOT SELECT the Blank out the SSS Table option. 
• If you are about to begin scheduling and want to start adding Course Requests for the next school year, Select Blank out the SSS Table.
  Step Two - Several Options:
  Once the SMS Table has been cleared, the school can build an all new master schedule or copy the current year's masters schedule.  Typically, elementary, middle schools, and smaller high schools copy the current year's master schedule and apply the updates. 

• There relatively few changes to the overall master schedule.
• Updates are primarily needed for changes in teachers, prep periods, room changes, etc. 

In this scenario, after Blanking out the SMS Table, select the following configurations to Copy current Master schedule (MST) to the new SMS table. Note: in the prior process, the management of the the Course Requests Table was already determined.
If a new master schedule will be created for the next year, the SMS Table was created in Step One and is ready for scheduling.

• B1 If using an Academic Plan, Course Requests can be imported with "one" click! 
• B2 Mass Add or Change Course Requests allows for mass assigning one or more Course Requests or a Course Request Packet by Grade Level or a KEEP/SKIP query statement. 
• B3 Student Course Requests can be manually added to students on the Course Requests/Schedule page. 
• Course request can be imported from a spreadsheet using the Import Data into Aeries functionality.  This should only be performed once.  Afterwards, use one of the above options for additional changes and/or updates.

Class Links (MST.CL) is a tool that can be used to "link" classes (sections) together.  If students are scheduled into a specific set of classes, the sections can be grouped together by assigning the same class link value to each section. The scheduler honors the Class Links configurations when the mass scheduling process is run.  Students placed in one section, will automatically be scheduled into any corresponding linked sections.  In addition, Class Links are honored when scheduling on the Classes or Course Requests pages.  

• High School example:  If a student is scheduled P5 in Am Gov with a specific teacher and is required to have a specific teacher for P5 Econ, both sections can be linked with the same value to ensure the rotation.  Class Links can also be used for high schools using unique course numbers for each term, for example: 
  •  Sem1 Alg1 = 1001 & Sem2 Alg1 = 1002 
  •  Sem1 Alg1 = 1001A  & Sem2 Alg1 = 1001B
• Middle School example:  If students are assigned to a specific team of teachers, their sections can be linked with the same value to ensure the rotation.
  • P1 Math7-Smith
  • P2 English7-Jones
  • P3 History7-Hernandez
  • P4 Science7 -Garcia
  • P5 Social Studies-Wilson.   
• Elementary School example:  If student rotations are monitored, add Class Links to the rotations (see Middle School example).  If student assignments are pre-determined, place the students in the primary class (manually assign to self-contained teacher) and lock their schedules. Then, make a BACKUP.  Run the scheduler and the remaining Course Requests (identified courses in the rotations) will be automatically populated based on the corresponding Class Link value.
• Numbering plan for the Class Links:  Schools determine the class link value to use in MST.CL.  If linking two sections, Sem1 and Sem2, consider using Sem1 section number as the Class Link value in both sections.  If linking multiple sections together, create a numbering plan that that will help to with monitoring the classes.
• When a section is selected on the Course Requests, the linked sections will be automatically added.  
• When a class (section) is selected in Edit Mode on the Classes page, the linked classes (sections) will be automatically added when clicking the Schedule button.

Team and Course Groups is another option for linking sections to ensure rotations.  For Team and Course Groups, field values are created for the Team (MST.TM) and the Course Group (MST.CG) fields.  After updating the Code Table for MST, these values will also become available in the Scheduling Master Schedule (SMS.TM) and (SMS.CG) dropdowns.  The scheduler honors the Team and Course Groups configurations when the mass scheduling process is run. 

• Create Teams for teachers who are grouped together (see below).
• Create Course Groups to represent the multiple rotations that teachers are assigned.
• Each team must have a unique Team (MST.TM - SMS.TM) value.

Scheduling Groups is best used to support "Academies", "Houses", assigning a constant homeroom teacher for a student's tenure, etc.  For Scheduling Groups, field values are created for the Master Schedule Scheduling Groups (MST.SG) field.  After updating the Code Table for MST, the values will also become available in the Scheduling Master Schedule Scheduling Groups (SMS.SG) and Student Demographics Scheduling Groups (STU.SG) dropdowns.  The scheduler honors the Scheduling Group configurations when the mass scheduling process is run. 

• The Scheduling Group value is entered on the Demographics (STU.SG)  page.

• The Scheduling Group value is entered on the Master Schedule Section(s).
• For example, students are assigned a group and the group is associated with specific sections (see below).

• Scheduling Groups is an excellent tool for schools offering an advisory class, where the teacher remains the same throughout student enrollment.
  • The Scheduling Group is assigned on the Demographics (STU.SG) page. The value will rollover each year.
  • The section is assigned a Scheduling Group (SMS.SG or MST.SG).
  • For example:  Scheduling Group values can be alpha/numeric.  When a cohort graduates, the Scheduling Group values associated with the cohort can be massed assigned to the incoming 9th graders by importing the values into the Demographics page using a spreadsheet. 
    • BR = Brown
    • KO = Koel
    • MA = Martinez
    • RY = Ryan

• Prior to running the scheduler, run the Scheduling Master Schedule Report (C8) to review the master schedule build. 
  • Secondary Schools - run by Period
  • Elementary Schools - run by Course
• Determine Scheduling Options.
• To run the scheduler, click Schedule All Students.
• Review the results.
• After reviewing the results, determine next steps.
• Make a Backup first. 

• Print the Scheduling Reject Analysis Listing Report (D7) to determine the conflict issues.
• Classes full?  What is the max value (MST.MX) on the sections?
• Does the course or sections have a grade level restriction?
• Are all the "singletons" and/or "doubletons" being offered during the same periods?
• Invalid Class? Are the course numbers on the course requests the course numbers on the master schedule?
• Review the Scheduling Master Schedule Report (C8), does every section have an assigned Teacher, Class Calendar and Flex Period?
• If using Class Links or Team and Course Groups are the configurations accurate?
• If using Scheduling Groups are the configurations accurate?
• Does the schedule have enough sections to meet the number of students?
• Should any changes be made to a students Course Requests?  For example, should some students take a different elective?

If any changes are made to the Master Schedule, Make a Backup with each change so that if the change worsens the scheduling results, the prior Master Schedule version can be restored. 

Options to try:

• Select the Lock Scheduled Students option to ensure that the students who have a complete schedule do not change during future scheduling run.
• Select the Ignore Class Maximums option.  Run the scheduler.  The scheduler tries to schedule students and complete schedules.  Identify where the class size is over the established maximum.  Perhaps another class needs to be offered during the period?
• Consider changing preps to accommodate class availability shortages during specific periods.
• Run the Scheduling Class Load Averages Report (D6) and select the Display Only Totals option.  This overview show scheduled counts by period by grade.  After viewing, more sections may need to be added to a specific period to accommodate students.
• Run the Scheduling Class Load Averages Report (D6) and select Terms to print.  The results will display details of classes and scheduling counts.

Continue running the schedule until the students scheduled percentage is acceptable.  

• Lock Scheduled Students. 
•  Print the Scheduling Reject Analysis Listing Report (D7) to identify the students that may need to be hand scheduled.  
• Print the Students with Incomplete Schedules (Flex) to ensure students have been fully scheduled in mandated periods.
• Hand scheduling and Course Requests changes are made on the Course Request page.  
• Continue until scheduling issues have been addressed.

• The Scheduling Master Schedule (SMS) becomes the Master Schedule (MST).  
• The Course Requests (SSS) become Classes (SEC).

The Student Locator Cards Report (F12) can be run with various options to support student schedule distribution.  The Student Class Schedule for All Students prints student schedules in alphabetical order.