Who We Are:

Facilities Planning and Scheduling is a new unit that took over academic course scheduling for the Spring 2010 semester and non-course event scheduling in December 2009.

The mission of Facilities Planning and Scheduling is to help facilitate a better learning experience for students and a desirable teaching environment for faculty through the focused use of general purpose classrooms.

Facilities Planning and Scheduling will utilize a scheduling software program, Schedule 25, to schedule general purpose classrooms every semester. Schedule 25 optimizes course placement by finding a classroom which closely matches the maximum enrollment of the course, in a building listed by the department as a preferred building, and with the room features that have been requested.

• Goals of new unit – based on feedback and focus groups from deans, faculty and departmental schedule preparers:
  

  o Match technology requests, accessibility requests, and room feature requests with teaching pedagogy
  

  o Provide quick and reliable customer service to department staff and faculty
  

  o Streamline processes and increase flexibility
  

  o View classroom use in real time
  

  o Increase General Education Courses on both campuses
  

  o Meet state requirements for utilization
  

What We’ve Done:

Facilities Planning and Scheduling has scheduled all academic courses in need of general purpose classrooms for Spring 2010, Summer 2010, and Fall 2010, by means of Schedule 25. The Scheduling unit has also developed a scheduling process time-line for the Spring 2011 and Summer 2011 semesters.

Other accomplishments include:

• Transitioned from paper SLIs and the eSLI to Microsoft Excel Schedule Listing Index (Excel SLIs) that can be submitted via SharePoint (a secure server) online
  

  o Can see date completed and also provide comments
  

• Developed Microsoft Word forms that can be submitted via SharePoint online, through email, or by fax
  

  o No more “Pit Stop”
  

  o No more hand written forms (new forms can be typed up and saved on computer)
  

• Established WebViewer, which allows WVU employees to see a real-time general purpose classroom schedule and what rooms are available at what time. This can be very helpful for departmental schedulers to find an available meeting pattern for a new section or facilities personnel that need to schedule maintenance.
  

  o Non-course events can also be requested through WebViewer
  

• Converted the whole process online – eliminating paper SLIs, paper forms that had to be hand written to be submitted, and introduced SharePoint, Excel SLIs, and forms that can be submitted electronically.
  

• Established more transparency – ability for SLI coordinators to see when changes are completed and we communicate with them when there are problems.
  

  o i.e. don’t just put it back in the “Pit Stop” without notifying the schedulers that there are issues
  

• Finalized the complete use of Schedule 25 allows us to plan for buildings going offline or capacity changes. We can run scenarios to observe scheduling impact before it actually happens.
  

  o Ran a scenario for possible downtown building to be renovated and the scheduling side-effects it would create.
  

• Decentralized schedulers into Banner – gives departments more control and responsibility while handling their own schedule.
  

  o Piloted the program with English, Extended Learning, and Business and Economics courses – very successful thus far.
  

  o Further implemented with 6 additional decentralized schedulers for the Spring 2011/Summer 2011 schedule (process starts this summer)
  

• Created a website that provides an explanation of the scheduling process, Microsoft Word forms, reference materials (including POT information, building codes, WVU Curriculum Matrix, technology descriptions, etc.), FAQs, and Tips and Tricks.
  

• Added more General Education Courses to the Evansdale
  

• Provided scheduling process training for all departmental schedulers for SharePoint and WebViewer.
  

  o Including optional refresher trainings and Q&A sessions every year for all interested departmental schedulers
  

• Provided consistently more GECs (traditionally offered downtown) on the Evansdale campus. Up to this point, 4514 students have taken advantage of the Evansdale GECs – saving resources such as PRT and bus maintenance and increasing student satisfaction.
  

Where We’re Going:

• Include Regional Campuses (Potomac State and WV Tech) into the WVU Main Campus scheduling process
  
• Absorb the entire WVU Event Scheduling process – includes non-general purpose classroom spaces (LSB Lobby, Woodburn Circle, Practice Fields, etc.)
  
• Decentralize the scheduling process and allow departments to enter their own schedule information into Banner. This will allow departments to specialize; in their own courses, leaving less room for communication errors.
  
• Use of X25, part of the Series 25 software, to track utilization rates across campuses, buildings, time of day, etc. This will help spot areas that need improvement or potential renovation candidates.
  
• Continue efforts to offer more General Education Courses on both campuses
  
• Continue process improvements to meet original goals and make the process better