Schedule25 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

SCHEDULE25

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Question Answer

How can I run Schedule25 (new Schedule25 user)?

Obtain permission from Sue Eck to run Schedule25
Person requesting access to Schedule25 is responsible for the following:

Obtain UNIX account for Schedule25 machines; contact User Liason Office
Modify your .cshrc file to include the following environment variables:

setenv SCHEDULE25_DIR ~/s25
setenv S25_RETURN_SITE=HAYES-B
Create Schedule25 subdirectory (e.g. mkdir ~/s25)

Contact your Schedule25 administrator to:

Create .netrc file
Create link to s25mvsmn.com (e.g. ln -s /apps/sched25/s25mvsmn.com s25mvsmn.com)

What input files (campus profile datasets) are used?
(See Installation and Setup Schedule25/Model25/25E manual chapter 3.)

ctrl.dat
File that defines the position for each required field and other options in the Schedule25 class descriptor dataset.
phys.dat
File of valid physical features that a room may contain.
part.dat
File of valid zones or room groupings (partitions) that might be preferred by a department.
depts.dat
File of valid departments. Contains department's location preferences and physical feature requirements (if any).
rooms.dat
File of valid rooms.

Where can I get the original Schedule25 input files to run Schedule25?
(Schedule25 files maintained by the Scheduling Office are stored on the IBM Mainframe. FTP to ubmvs.cc.buffalo.edu)

Control File (Called ctrl.dat in Schedule25 manuals)
adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.ctrl
Physical Features (Called phys.dat in Schedule25 manuals)
adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.phys
Campus Partitions (Called part.dat in Schedule25 manuals)
adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.part
Departments/Sponsors (Called depts.dat in Schedule25 manuals)
adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.dept
Rooms/Spaces (Called rooms.dat in Schedule25 manuals)
adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.rooms

Where can I get the output files that are produced by Schedule25?
(Schedule25 writes the output to a /s25 subdirectory underneath the user's home directory (e.g. ~/amtaylor/s25). Once the files are put back to the IBM Mainframe, you can FTP to ubmvs.cc.buffalo.edu

sortdp.dat
adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.sortdp

If I make a change to MEETING-V, do I have to update S25-SECTION-V with an assignment code of ASM?
OR Which courses are brought down from CRS-SECTION-V to S25-SECTION-V? No, the SCH-25-CODE of "ASM" is assigned automatically to any preassigned courses in centrally scheduled space. Before running Schedule 25, you must extract the course information using the IBM Schedule 25 Batch Submit Screen "Extract Course Info to Schedule 25 Crs" (RJXCRS25). This function filters out those courses in CRS-SECTION-V which need not be included in S25-SECTION-V and adds the SCH-25-CODE.

Courses that are filtered out include:

Courses flagged as deleted.
Courses with a force capacity of zero
Cross listee courses only (cross list owner records are not filtered out)
Courses where the times, rooms, or days are arranged
Courses which have been pre-assigned into departmental space
The remaining courses either have no pre-assignment or have been pre-assigned into centrally scheduled space. Function RJXCRS25 then assigns each of these courses either a SCH-25-CODE of "NSM" indicating that the course needs a room, or "ASM" indicating that it is pre-assigned. The "ASM" code will alert Schedule 25 to reserve the room for that particular day and time. The NSM code tells Schedule 25 which courses to schedule.

I am in the process of updating departmental clustering strategy for a department. Why can't I delete a clustering strategy where the partition no longer exists? The partition must exist in order for any departmental clustering strategy to be modified. Therefore, in order to delete a clustering strategy, make sure you remove the clustering strategy first, before deleting the actual partition.
If the partition no longer exists, you will need to recreate that partition with some dummy information describing the partition. Once the partition exists, you can then go ahead and delete your clustering strategy for the desired department. Then you can go back and delete the bogus partition.

What input file (class descriptor dataset) is used?
(See Installation and Setup Schedule25/Model25/25E manual chapter 3.)

datain.dat
File contains the class descriptor records. Contains preassigned courses and courses that need a room.

What output files are produced?
(See Installation and Setup Schedule25/Model25/25E manual chapter 3.)

Errors.dat
File of all incorrectly formatted class descriptor dataset records.
Losers.dat
File of classes that could not be placed due to competing requests for the same kind of room on the same days and times.
Notposs.dat
File of classes that were impossible to place due to the nature of the request or where all possibilities were blocked by preassignments.
Sortdp.dat
File of class descriptor records of classes that were preassigned or successfully assigned by Schedule25, sorted by department. This is the file we use to update the IBM Course master.
Sortrm.dat
File of class descriptor records of classes that were preassigned or successfully assigned by Schedule25, sorted by room.
sortrm.pl
File of class descriptor records of classes that were preassigned or successfully assigned by Schedule25, sorted by room. It includes all "P" (physical features) and "L" (location (partition) preferences). Recommended file for loading Schedule25 re sults into 25E.
summary.dat
File of the performance summary data from the most recent Schedule25 run.

What are some reasons that a course may end up in the losers file?

Competition (10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.)
Department profile is too restrictive (If most losers are from the same department, good indicator that department profile is too restrictive.)
Code additional partition preferences.
Make fourth partition all rooms
Try to remove some of the departmental physical characteristics, if you can.
Code blank P and L records.
Too many room black outs

What are some reasons that a course may end up in the not possible file?

Competing for preassigned classrooms.
Illogical request
Enrollment too high for existing classrooms.
Enrollment too low; especially, if using the Minimum Required Seats. (Ours is set to 55%)

What do I do if two departments (e.g. Physics and Chemistry), have the same partition preference, but I want first department to have first chance at getting these rooms? Create a dummy partition that contains no rooms in it.

Physics
Partition 1 Good Rooms

Chemistry
Partition 1 Dummy
Partition 2 Good Rooms

What is the algorithm that SCHEDULE25 uses to seat courses? Four Step Algorithm:

Preassignments get seated first.
Courses that have P & L cards assigned to them are seated next (See SCHEDULE25 User's Guide 3-19) "Schedule25... will not place a class in a room that does not have the required [physical] characteristics "(SCHEDULE25 User's Guide 2-3)
Courses with departmental preferences (e.g. clustering strategy (Partitions), or physical requirements) are then seated "SCHEDULE25 places classes only in partitions requested by the sponsoring department, unless there is an L record..."(SCHEDULE25 Us er's Guide 2-4)
Note: "Departments ... with no location preference or physical features requirements do not need a profile." (SCHEDULE25 User's Guide 2-6) "A blank P record will... SCHEDULE25 ignores the physical requirements in the department's profile when scheduling the class."

Courses with a preference priority are seated. Preference priority is used after all other criteria (department's clustering strategy and/or physical requirements, or P & L cards) have been evaluated to break a tie between competing courses (higher n umber wins).

What are some questions I should ask if seating assignment doesn't look right? For example, MGA 301 F2A (026624) got seated into a large Knox 20 lecture hall, and SOC 206 MUT (014993) got seated in Knox 110 which is a smaller classroom?

Was the course(s) preassigned?
Did the force capacity change?
Were P & L cards used for this course?
Check partition information (clustering strategy).
Check preference priorities on affected courses.

Are all the physical characteristics ('P' cards) for a course (specific registration number) required in order for a course to be seated in that room. For example, say we code rooms with two distinct physical characteristics: one for technology equipped classrooms, and the other for technology deliverable classrooms. Can you code a course so that the first preference is to seat it in a technology equipped classroom, otherwise, if none are available seat it in a technology deliverable classroom? P cards are a series of "ands", not "ors".

What environment variables are used? The following environment variables are used by Schedule25. Some of these variables are set in an environment script called: /ublocal/s25/s25_init

SCHEDULE25_DIR
Where data files & output files reside; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. ~/s25)
SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR
Where scripts and executables are located; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. /apps/sched25)
S25_PRINT_SITE_P
Where portrait files will print; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. comxerox)
S25_PRINT_SITE_L
Where landscape files will print; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. lcomxerox)
S25_RETURN_SITE
Set return site on print outs; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. STAFF)
RUNS25
Set to SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR in runs25.com script (e.g. /apps/sched25)
COMDIR
Set to SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR in runs25.com script (e.g. /apps/sched25)
RUN_FILE
Set to SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR in s25 (e.g. /apps/sched25)
EXEDIR
Set to SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR in runs25.com script (e.g. /apps/sched25)
DATDIR
Set to SCHEDULE25_ DIR in runs25.com script (e.g. ~/s25)

What SCHEDULE25 command files do I need to know about? The following command files are used by Schedule25:

s25
Defines the path to the directory containing the runs25.com file
Running this file is optional (we do); minimally it sets the SCHEDULE25_DIR and SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR; written in Bourne shell.
runs25.com
Defines directory locations, filenames, executes on-line programs s25menu, termtype.com, and s25main.
Edit this file for customizing what files to use; written in Bourne shell (#!/bin/sh).
s25batch.com
Replaces runs25.com for running Schedule25 in batch mode.
s25main
Automatic Room Assignment program (binary format).
s25menu
On-line menu program (binary format).

What is the order of execution of the Schedule25 files? s25mvsmn.com executes s25 executes runs25.com executes s25main and s25menu

Last Modified by Diane Keddie on December 08, 1999

Question	Answer
How can I run Schedule25 (new Schedule25 user)?	Obtain permission from Sue Eck to run Schedule25 Person requesting access to Schedule25 is responsible for the following: Obtain UNIX account for Schedule25 machines; contact User Liason Office Modify your .cshrc file to include the following environment variables: setenv SCHEDULE25_DIR ~/s25 setenv S25_RETURN_SITE=HAYES-B Create Schedule25 subdirectory (e.g. mkdir ~/s25) Contact your Schedule25 administrator to: Create .netrc file Create link to s25mvsmn.com (e.g. ln -s /apps/sched25/s25mvsmn.com s25mvsmn.com)
What input files (campus profile datasets) are used? (See Installation and Setup Schedule25/Model25/25E manual chapter 3.)	ctrl.dat File that defines the position for each required field and other options in the Schedule25 class descriptor dataset. phys.dat File of valid physical features that a room may contain. part.dat File of valid zones or room groupings (partitions) that might be preferred by a department. depts.dat File of valid departments. Contains department's location preferences and physical feature requirements (if any). rooms.dat File of valid rooms.
Where can I get the original Schedule25 input files to run Schedule25? (Schedule25 files maintained by the Scheduling Office are stored on the IBM Mainframe. FTP to ubmvs.cc.buffalo.edu)	Control File (Called ctrl.dat in Schedule25 manuals) adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.ctrl Physical Features (Called phys.dat in Schedule25 manuals) adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.phys Campus Partitions (Called part.dat in Schedule25 manuals) adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.part Departments/Sponsors (Called depts.dat in Schedule25 manuals) adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.dept Rooms/Spaces (Called rooms.dat in Schedule25 manuals) adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.rooms
Where can I get the output files that are produced by Schedule25? (Schedule25 writes the output to a /s25 subdirectory underneath the user's home directory (e.g. ~/amtaylor/s25). Once the files are put back to the IBM Mainframe, you can FTP to ubmvs.cc.buffalo.edu	sortdp.dat adccrsp.prod.s25.unix.sortdp
If I make a change to MEETING-V, do I have to update S25-SECTION-V with an assignment code of ASM? OR Which courses are brought down from CRS-SECTION-V to S25-SECTION-V?	No, the SCH-25-CODE of "ASM" is assigned automatically to any preassigned courses in centrally scheduled space. Before running Schedule 25, you must extract the course information using the IBM Schedule 25 Batch Submit Screen "Extract Course Info to Schedule 25 Crs" (RJXCRS25). This function filters out those courses in CRS-SECTION-V which need not be included in S25-SECTION-V and adds the SCH-25-CODE. Courses that are filtered out include: Courses flagged as deleted. Courses with a force capacity of zero Cross listee courses only (cross list owner records are not filtered out) Courses where the times, rooms, or days are arranged Courses which have been pre-assigned into departmental space The remaining courses either have no pre-assignment or have been pre-assigned into centrally scheduled space. Function RJXCRS25 then assigns each of these courses either a SCH-25-CODE of "NSM" indicating that the course needs a room, or "ASM" indicating that it is pre-assigned. The "ASM" code will alert Schedule 25 to reserve the room for that particular day and time. The NSM code tells Schedule 25 which courses to schedule.
I am in the process of updating departmental clustering strategy for a department. Why can't I delete a clustering strategy where the partition no longer exists?	The partition must exist in order for any departmental clustering strategy to be modified. Therefore, in order to delete a clustering strategy, make sure you remove the clustering strategy first, before deleting the actual partition. If the partition no longer exists, you will need to recreate that partition with some dummy information describing the partition. Once the partition exists, you can then go ahead and delete your clustering strategy for the desired department. Then you can go back and delete the bogus partition.
What input file (class descriptor dataset) is used? (See Installation and Setup Schedule25/Model25/25E manual chapter 3.)	datain.dat File contains the class descriptor records. Contains preassigned courses and courses that need a room.
What output files are produced? (See Installation and Setup Schedule25/Model25/25E manual chapter 3.)	Errors.dat File of all incorrectly formatted class descriptor dataset records. Losers.dat File of classes that could not be placed due to competing requests for the same kind of room on the same days and times. Notposs.dat File of classes that were impossible to place due to the nature of the request or where all possibilities were blocked by preassignments. Sortdp.dat File of class descriptor records of classes that were preassigned or successfully assigned by Schedule25, sorted by department. This is the file we use to update the IBM Course master. Sortrm.dat File of class descriptor records of classes that were preassigned or successfully assigned by Schedule25, sorted by room. sortrm.pl File of class descriptor records of classes that were preassigned or successfully assigned by Schedule25, sorted by room. It includes all "P" (physical features) and "L" (location (partition) preferences). Recommended file for loading Schedule25 re sults into 25E. summary.dat File of the performance summary data from the most recent Schedule25 run.
What are some reasons that a course may end up in the losers file?	Competition (10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) Department profile is too restrictive (If most losers are from the same department, good indicator that department profile is too restrictive.) Code additional partition preferences. Make fourth partition all rooms Try to remove some of the departmental physical characteristics, if you can. Code blank P and L records. Too many room black outs
What are some reasons that a course may end up in the not possible file?	Competing for preassigned classrooms. Illogical request Enrollment too high for existing classrooms. Enrollment too low; especially, if using the Minimum Required Seats. (Ours is set to 55%)
What do I do if two departments (e.g. Physics and Chemistry), have the same partition preference, but I want first department to have first chance at getting these rooms?	Create a dummy partition that contains no rooms in it. Physics Partition 1 Good Rooms Chemistry Partition 1 Dummy Partition 2 Good Rooms
What is the algorithm that SCHEDULE25 uses to seat courses?	Four Step Algorithm: Preassignments get seated first. Courses that have P & L cards assigned to them are seated next (See SCHEDULE25 User's Guide 3-19) "Schedule25... will not place a class in a room that does not have the required [physical] characteristics "(SCHEDULE25 User's Guide 2-3) Courses with departmental preferences (e.g. clustering strategy (Partitions), or physical requirements) are then seated "SCHEDULE25 places classes only in partitions requested by the sponsoring department, unless there is an L record..."(SCHEDULE25 Us er's Guide 2-4) Note: "Departments ... with no location preference or physical features requirements do not need a profile." (SCHEDULE25 User's Guide 2-6) "A blank P record will... SCHEDULE25 ignores the physical requirements in the department's profile when scheduling the class." Courses with a preference priority are seated. Preference priority is used after all other criteria (department's clustering strategy and/or physical requirements, or P & L cards) have been evaluated to break a tie between competing courses (higher n umber wins).
What are some questions I should ask if seating assignment doesn't look right? For example, MGA 301 F2A (026624) got seated into a large Knox 20 lecture hall, and SOC 206 MUT (014993) got seated in Knox 110 which is a smaller classroom?	Was the course(s) preassigned? Did the force capacity change? Were P & L cards used for this course? Check partition information (clustering strategy). Check preference priorities on affected courses.
Are all the physical characteristics ('P' cards) for a course (specific registration number) required in order for a course to be seated in that room. For example, say we code rooms with two distinct physical characteristics: one for technology equipped classrooms, and the other for technology deliverable classrooms. Can you code a course so that the first preference is to seat it in a technology equipped classroom, otherwise, if none are available seat it in a technology deliverable classroom?	P cards are a series of "ands", not "ors".
What environment variables are used?	The following environment variables are used by Schedule25. Some of these variables are set in an environment script called: /ublocal/s25/s25_init SCHEDULE25_DIR Where data files & output files reside; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. ~/s25) SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR Where scripts and executables are located; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. /apps/sched25) S25_PRINT_SITE_P Where portrait files will print; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. comxerox) S25_PRINT_SITE_L Where landscape files will print; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. lcomxerox) S25_RETURN_SITE Set return site on print outs; sourced in /ublocal/s25/s25_init (e.g. STAFF) RUNS25 Set to SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR in runs25.com script (e.g. /apps/sched25) COMDIR Set to SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR in runs25.com script (e.g. /apps/sched25) RUN_FILE Set to SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR in s25 (e.g. /apps/sched25) EXEDIR Set to SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR in runs25.com script (e.g. /apps/sched25) DATDIR Set to SCHEDULE25_ DIR in runs25.com script (e.g. ~/s25)
What SCHEDULE25 command files do I need to know about?	The following command files are used by Schedule25: s25 Defines the path to the directory containing the runs25.com file Running this file is optional (we do); minimally it sets the SCHEDULE25_DIR and SCHEDULE25_BIN_DIR; written in Bourne shell. runs25.com Defines directory locations, filenames, executes on-line programs s25menu, termtype.com, and s25main. Edit this file for customizing what files to use; written in Bourne shell (#!/bin/sh). s25batch.com Replaces runs25.com for running Schedule25 in batch mode. s25main Automatic Room Assignment program (binary format). s25menu On-line menu program (binary format).
What is the order of execution of the Schedule25 files?	s25mvsmn.com executes s25 executes runs25.com executes s25main and s25menu