Timetabling

Some changes to the timetable are harder to accommodate than others. Building on the review process used successfully last year, we have identified specific types of change where further discussion is required before data is input into CMIS, to achieve the best outcome.

To help manage these changes a new ‘flag’ has been added to the Admin View tab of Form 2 - ‘Potential Complex Change’.

This flag will automatically appear (in the Admin View only) when specific change categories are selected by the course lead when completing Form 2. These categories align with guidance from last year as to what changes may require further review and/or consultation with SMTT.

The Test & Learn Team will check all flagged courses to establish whether they require discussion with SMTT or whether local areas can continue with planned changes in line with good timetabling practices and use of the tools described in the next section.

If there is no ‘Potential Complex Change’ flag, please feel free to update CMIS for this course as suits your workload.

The three outcomes of the Test & Learn Team assessment for a course automatically flagged are:

1. The flag is removed – this will occur when it is not a complex change or is roomed in spaces that do not require consultation.
2. The flag changes to ‘Proceed with best practice’ – local areas should continue with their planned changes using the Course Clash app and Heatmap tools (described below)
3. The flag remains until SMTT have concluded discussions with the relevant School staff after a referral by Test & Learn. The flag will then be updated to

The automatic flags are there to act as guidance for Professional Services staff and do not require any additional effort on your part. If the Test & Learn Team refer a flagged course for SMTT consultation, SMTT will contact you directly to discuss further. However, if you are considering complex changes and wish to discuss this in advance, you can contact the Test & Learn Ambassadors in the first instance.

Download Complex Changes Process Map

Yes, you can change the names in that column so that the staff member you require to view and edit the data can access it. To do this, click ‘Edit in Grid View’. This will allow you to update the names. Be advised that if you remove your own name from this field, then you will no longer see the course in your dataset. For more information, please see the relevant user guide. You can also change the name of ‘Course Lead/Convener’ field if required.  

You will only see courses you are ‘assigned’. Form 2 assigns permissions to see courses based on the persons assigned in the fields ‘Course Lead/Convenor’ and ‘Professional Services Contact’. Therefore, if at any time you or another user removed your name from these fields, then your permissions to review this course will also have been removed. If your name was removed in error, please contact your local timetabler to rectify this.  

Form 2 assigns permissions for courses based on the persons assigned in the fields ‘Course Lead/Convenor’ and ‘Professional Services Contact’. Therefore, if at any time you need to transfer permissions to another academic, such as the Senior Academic Contact, to complete the form, then you should update the person in the field ‘Course Lead/Convenor’ for it appear in their own Form 2 course list.   

You can either use your cursor to drag these to make the bigger or if you hover your cursor over the heading it will give you the full title.  

We recommend only downloading the data once you’re fully satisfied that all the data is complete in the Forms (as you may miss some information otherwise!). To do this, click “Export” and then “Export to CSV” – this will create a local copy of the data for your records and internal reporting.   

Certain columns, such as, ‘New/Returning, Preferred Delivery Details’, ‘Change to Lecturer’, ‘Change in Size’ etc, may not contain data depending on the course.

These field are completed by the Course Lead / Convener and will be pulled into the admin view. You will only need to update these columns if requested by the Course Lead / Convener. If some of the columns do not contain information once a course’s Form 2 has been completed, it is likely that these fields were not required to be complete. For example, the ‘New/Returning (Preferred Delivery Details)’ field is only completed if the course did not run in session 24/25. Please see guidance for more information on the data input via Form 2.  

Yes, when editing in grid view there is no need to save as your changes will be automatically updated. When you have updated a value, you can click off the field and the new value should be saved.  

Once the courses have been completed to reflect any required changes (this is indicated when a course has the value ‘Details Confirmed’ in field ‘Tick to confirm details’), you will need to update CMIS with any agreed changes and update course requirements within timetables and room bookings to advise that a room is required, and that the requirements are confirmed. The ‘Admin View’ tab on Form 2 has built in tracking columns to allow you to keep note of when these tasks have been completed.