Strategic Scheduling SummaryCabrillo College

Presented by:

Benjamin Davis, Software Implementation Consultant, Ad Astra Information Systems

Introduction

• This PowerPoint will serve as a summary of the critical findings of our scheduling analysis.

• It includes highlighted sections of standard Astra Schedule reports run on Cabrillo’s data. These slides will emphasize key data elements that benchmark Cabrillo’s current standings and call attention to areas for improvement.

• We conclude with strategies to use these reports to build and monitor policy around more efficient scheduling.

Objectives

• To guide your institution towards more efficient and effective academic scheduling policies and practices

• Two-part learning exercise:

– Capacity Analysis• Strategy 1 – Spread class offerings out during the primetime week

• Strategy 2 – Reduce unused seats in rooms by scheduling classes into appropriately sized rooms

– Course Offerings Analysis• Strategy 3 – Minimize class offerings that use non-standard meeting

patterns

• Strategy 4 – Evenly utilize prime hours by subject/department

• Strategy 5 – Reduce the offering of unnecessary sections

Strategic Approach

1. Drill down from high-level metrics to granular, measurable success drivers for each course offered and room used

2. Benchmark granular success drivers

3. Understand relevant institutional goals and priorities (enrollment growth, cost savings, student outcomes, etc.)

4. Identify and quantify opportunities

5. Select strategies that best meet institution's goals and culture

6. Implement and refine policy supporting strategies

Area Business Problem Metric

Growth Capacity

How much can we grow?

How quickly can we grow?

When will we run out of space?

•Space Utilization

•Seat Fill Rates

•Standard Week

•Enrollment Ratio

Space Bottlenecks

Where are the problem areas?

How do we build policy that is

relevant?

What kind of space to

build/renovate?

•Prime Time Utilization

•% of Sections Scheduled in

Prime Time

•Utilization by Room Type

•On-Grid Meeting Patterns

Course/Student Demand

Analysis

Are we efficient with our course

offerings?•Reduction Candidates

•Low Enrollment Courses

Strategic Study Metrics

Capacity AnalysisIntroduction

Key Concepts

• Capacity – the maximum enrollment that can be supported in the current room inventory without compromising quality

• Efficiency – the extent to which space, course offerings and faculty are allocated to effectively align with student and institutional needs

Strategies

• Strategy 1 – Spread class offerings out during the primetime week, and over the entire scheduling week

• Strategy 2 – Reduce unused seats in rooms by scheduling classes into appropriately sized rooms

Average Utilization does not reflect capacity or inform space management

Space Bottleneck Concept

Room TypeCampus “A”

Primetime Util.

Campus “B” Primetime Util.

Classrooms (2) 50% 50%

Science Lab (1) 50% 10%

Tech Auditorium (1) 50% 90%

Average Util. 50% 50%

Key Parameters Used

• Term used in Analysis:

– Fall 2014 (September 2 to December 20)

– 15 full weeks

• Campus used: Cabrillo College

• Standard Week Definition:

– 8:00 am – 10:00 pm, Monday – Friday

– Total Hours: 70

• Prime Time Definition:

– 9:00 am – 2:00 pm, Monday – Thursday

– Total Hours: 20

Capacity AnalysisStrategy 1: Spread Class Offerings during the Primetime Week

Identify your Bottlenecks in PrimetimePercent of Rooms in Use by Day and Time for Selected Room Type

Identify Primetime

Identify Bottlenecks

(>80% utilization)

Report Parameters

Policy should

only impact

Primetime

and

Bottlenecks

Determine Primetime UtilizationSpace Utilization by Room Type and Size with Primetime

Look for Room

Type/Room Size

Combination Bottlenecks

Prime Ratio –

Monitors spread

balancing over

week

Use Data to

Create Spread

Policy•Monitor with

Reporting

•Prime Ratio

•% of Offerings In/Out

Primetime

•Prioritize Activities in

Optimization

Bottleneck Level

Report Parameters

Capacity AnalysisStrategy 2: Reduce Empty Seats in Rooms by Scheduling Classes

into Appropriately Sized Rooms

Determine Seat Fill UtilizationSpace Utilization by Room Type and Size with Seat Fill

Report Parameters

Additional capacity

exists where seat fill

based on actual

enrollment is low

Use Data to

Create Seat Fill

Policy•Enforce with Optimizer

•Monitor with

Reporting

Capacity AnalysisOpportunities

• Consider use of underutilized rooms during primetime. Although the Smart Classroom Room Type is the highest utilized, there are a number of Classroom room types at varying levels of utilization across the 70-hour standard week and the 20-hour primetime. Equitable scheduling across all Classrooms will help alleviate bottlenecks felt in specific high-demand rooms.

• Improve seat fill. Even at bottlenecked times of day, many Classroom room types have a significant percentage of seats left unfilled. Better matching of section capacities to actual enrollments will aid in scheduling appropriately-sized rooms to sections.

Course Offerings AnalysisIntroduction

Key Concepts

• On-Grid Meeting Patterns –the standard grid of times to offer lecture-style courses

• Enrollment Ratio – the ratio of enrolled students to seats offered in a given course

Strategies

• Strategy 3 – Minimize class offerings that use non-standard meeting patterns

• Strategy 4 – Evenly utilize prime hours by subject/department

• Strategy 5 – Reduce the offering of unnecessary sections

Course Offerings AnalysisStrategy 3: Minimize Class Offerings that Use Non-Standard

Meeting Patterns

Scheduling “On Grid”Meeting Patterns in UseAll Meeting Patterns in Use

Sorted by Most Frequently

Used

Use Data to Create

Meeting Pattern Policy•Enforce with Optimizer

•Monitor with Reporting

Top on-grid

meeting patterns

Conflicting (off-

grid) patterns

during primetime

Course Offerings AnalysisStrategy 4: Evenly utilize prime hours by subject/department

Identify Subjects with Greatest Primetime Preference

Prime Time Usage RatioAll Subjects, sorted

alphabetically

% of sections

scheduled during

primetime

Use Data to

Encourage Evenly-

Spread Scheduling by

Subject/Department•Enforce with Optimizer

•Monitor with Reporting

Subject # Sections % Prime Subject # Sections % Prime

SPED 12 100% PS 10 79%

PHILO 16 98% GEOG 5 77%

SOC 13 92% ECON 7 75%

ADAPT 20 89% BUS 8 73%

READ 5 84% KIN 96 72%

JOURN 5 80% DMCP 27 69%

ESL 4 79% PHYS 23 68%

Top Subjects offering 3+ sections with highest Prime RatioIn Classroom - Smart Rooms

Course Offerings AnalysisStrategy 5: Reduce the Offering of Unnecessary Sections

Determine Low Course DemandLow Enrollment Course Analysis For Selected Term

Number of Sections OfferedTotal Empty Seats

Across all Sections

Shows enough Empty Seats

to Cut one Section

Identifies Courses with

<10 Enrollment and

<50% Enrollment Ratio

Review Trends

Analyze action

candidates for impact

on degree completion

Potential Reduction CandidatesLow Enrollment Course Analysis For Selected Term

Course ## Secs

Current

Avg.

Enroll

Avg. Max.

Enroll

Excess

Seats

# Secs to

Reduce

ADAPT 93 11 21.73 315 76 2

ANTHR 2 6 28.67 264 92 2

ART 80SB 8 0.75 65 59 7

ART 80SC 7 0.29 152 150 6

BIO 201 15 22.33 464 129 4

BIO 80SB 7 0.71 63 58 6

CG 51 19 23.68 615 165 5

CG 52 2 0.00 60 60 2

ENGL 100 19 24.68 551 82 2

ENGL 100L 25 15.60 671 281 10

ENGL 1A 26 24.77 754 110 3

ENGL 255 10 12.60 290 164 5

KIN 27A 9 16.33 385 238 5

KIN 27B 9 2.56 385 362 8

KIN 37B 7 4.43 280 249 6

KIN 50A 4 12.75 154 103 2

Enrollment Ratio

(enrollment fill)

Report Parameters

On-Grid Class?

Offered in Primetime?

Use Data to Create Class

Cancellation/Primetime Policy•Monitor with Reporting

Low Demand SectionsLow Enrollment Ratio Sections by Subject For Selected Term

Low Demand SectionsLow Enrollment Ratio Sections by Subject For Selected Term

*Crosslist Enrollments and Max Enrollments were use where applicable

Course (Sec#)Act.

Enroll

Max.

Enroll

Enroll

Ratio

(%)

Course (Sec#)Act.

Enroll

Max.

Enroll

Enroll

Ratio

(%)

ACCT 151A (84375) 23 43 54% ART 51L (84498) 11 60 18%

ACCT 151A (84379) 14 30 47% KIN 43B (85305) 5 32 45%

ACCT 54A (86219) 10 43 23% KIN 43B (85306) 8 32 27%

AP 9A (84454) 12 26 46% MATH 12 (85438) 21 36 58%

ART 31A (84472) 6 25 24% MATH 12 (85442) 22 39 56%

ART 31B (86593) 6 25 24% MATH 12 (85447) 21 39 54%

ART 50L (84491) 143 250 57% SPED 210 (85832) 6 25 24%

ART 50L (84492) 61 150 41% SPED 210 (85833) 5 25 20%

ART 50L (84493) 29 100 29% SPED 210 (85834) 8 25 32%

ART 50L (84495) 0 30 0% SPED 210 (85835) 13 25 52%

ART 51L (84496) 10 200 5% TA 27 (85853) 3 30 10%

ART 51L (84497) 16 100 16% TA 29 (85859) 5 30 17%

Course Offerings AnalysisOpportunities

• Reduce scheduling conflicts during primetime. Cabrillo has numerous conflicting meeting patterns in Classroom room types during primetime, which impacts student and faculty scheduling conflicts, as well as room scheduling conflicts.

• Revise enrollment capacities to better align with expected enrollments, to aid in efficient scheduling to appropriately sized rooms.

• Scrutinize undersubscribed courses. Focus on courses with multiple section offerings and excess seat count greater than an entire section capacity to potentially reduce, and better align with student need.

Strategies to EvaluateCapacity Bottleneck Strategies:

• Optimize Rooms – enact the suggested scheduling preferences as recommended by Ad Astra

• Prime Ratio – maximize the use of rooms during primetime hours, and throughout the scheduling week

Course Offering Efficiency Strategies:

• Meeting Patterns – consistent meeting patterns support ideal utilization of rooms, and minimize faculty and student conflicts

• Evaluate Reduction Candidates for degree requirement impact

• Select Reduction and Elimination Candidates to remove or rotate out of the schedule

Action Plan

What We’ve Done

• Installed and Configured Astra Schedule 7.5

• Reviewed Strategic Scheduling Summary

• Consolidated the various “Smart Room” Room Types into one Room Type

• Started using Astra Schedule 7.5 for scheduling Events

Next Steps

• 6 month goals– Utilize optimizer to place

sections with space “turned-off”

• 1 year goals– Continued Enrollment

Growth

Solutions that FitProfessional Services

Strategic Checkup-Capacity Analysis

-Course Offerings Analysis

-Performance in Key Areas

-Academic Scheduling Policy Recommendations

Platinum AnalyticsCourse Need Analysis

-Historical Trend Analysis

-Student Specific Degree Program Analysis

-Student Course Planner*

Astra Schedule-Academic Scheduling and

Optimization

-Event Management

-Resource Management

Workflow

-Analysis and Utilization Reporting

-Enterprise Calendaring

Capacity and Financial Modeling

Schedule Development Consulting

Policy Development and Enforcement

Advanced Product UseSchedule

DevelopmentSandbox

Simulated Registration

Timetabling

Faculty Modeling*