News about the Scheduling Optimizer for SASIxp Scheduling - February 2004

Let's get ready for a new scheduling year!

This edition of the Tabby Newsletter discusses items of interest during the early part of the scheduling process:

Install the new Scheduling Optimizer Version 6.0!

The new Scheduling Optimizer version 6.0 software, released in January 2004, is now available for download. This version replaces every earlier version of the Scheduling Optimizer. If you are a licensed Optimizer user, you will receive this update on CD from Pearson Digital Learning. To start using the latest Optimizer version immediately, go to:
www.tabbysoft.com/downloads/software.htm

If you do not currently use the Scheduling Optimizer, you may request a free evaluation copy of the software at:
www.tabbysoft.com/downloads/software.htm

The download and CD both include full user documentation on installing the software. You can also find the installation instructions on our web site:
www.tabbysoft.com/support/install_desktop.htm for a first time install
www.tabbysoft.com/support/install_updates.htm to install an update

Scheduling Optimizer v6.0 is compatible with SASIxp 6.0 as well as earlier SASIxp versions. This version also adds the capability to enhance report performance by detecting and taking advantage of features in the latest Microsoft XML version, if installed on your system (see below for information on upgrading your MSXML version).

What's new in this version

New application features include support for periods numbered from 0 in SASIxp, grid style free teacher and room reports, onscreen parameters for filtering data in some reports and the ability to select "printer friendly" versions of multiple page reports to allow easy selection of all report data. For more information on new features, go to:
www.tabbysoft.com/whats_new.htm

The latest Scheduling Optimizer software version and documentation is always available for download at the Tabbysoft web site:
www.tabbysoft.com/downloads/

Upgrade your MSXML version

To view reports generated by the Scheduling Optimizer, you need Internet Explorer 5.5 or later and a free XML parser component from Microsoft. If you are running Internet Explorer 6.0 or later or if you are running Windows XP, you will have at least MSXML version 3.0. This will allow you to view Scheduling Optimizer reports in your browser, but upgrading to MSXML 4.0 or later significantly enhances report performance. You can obtain the latest MSXML version from our website.

Go to the following link and follow the easy instructions to either install directly over the web or to download a zipped set of installation files to install offline:
www.tabbysoft.com/xml4/

Update your SASIxp setup

Follow these easy steps to update your SASIxp environment for using the Scheduling Optimizer in the new 2004-5 scheduling year.

1) Adjust your sasixp.ini file.

The procedure for installing Scheduling Optimizer on the SASIxp desktop includes adding a line to the sasixp.ini file in the SASIxp directory defining the location of the folder containing simulation files for your school and year. Refer to Installing the Scheduling Optimizer in the user documentation or go to the Tabbysoft web site:
www.tabbysoft.com/support/install_desktop.htm

If your school number is 789, this line might have been defined similar to the following for scheduling year 2003-04:

SchedProData = SCHEDPRO\SCHD7893  ; simulation directory

Before you begin to work with files for the 2004-05 year, use Notepad to change the “3” (representing 2003-04) in the above line to a “4”. If you are installing Scheduling Optimizer for the first time, use Notepad to add this entire line to the sasixp.ini file after the “HomePathWindows” line.

In either case, the result is a line in the sasixp.ini file similar to the following (substitute your school number in place of “789”):

SchedProData = SCHEDPRO\SCHD7894 ; simulation directory

2) Reinstall Scheduling Optimizer atoms on the SASIxp desktop.

If you update the Scheduling Optimizer program file, the Scheduling Optimizer external atom on the SASIxp desktop may no longer work. Avoid this problem by dragging the Scheduling Optimizer icon to the “Trash” on the SASIxp desktop and repeating the steps to install Scheduling Optimizer as an external SASIxp atom. Refer to Installing the Scheduling Optimizer in the user documentation or go to the Tabbysoft web site:
www.tabbysoft.com/support/install_desktop.htm

Once you have run a simulation using Scheduling Optimizer, you will also need to “trash” the icon for Scheduling Optimizer reports and again install an external atom pointing to the simsumry.htm file in the target simulation directory. Remember to use the directory for the 2004-05 year, the one defined above in the sasixp.ini file.

Setup department codes for reports in SQL Server and Oracle installations

Some options of the Scheduling Optimizer Master Schedule Grid reports display and sort by department codes. These report versions rely on reading the department codes defined for courses in the ACRS database table. Currently Scheduling Optimizer is able to read the ACRS file only from dBASE IV files. If you are running SASIxp with a Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle database, you must run an extra setup procedure to enable the use of departments. This setup must be run (or rerun) at the beginning of a new scheduling year to generate files belonging to the correct scheduling year.

The procedure consists of two steps:

1) Use the Xpodbc.exe utility installed with SASIxp to export the ACRS table from your SQL Server or Oracle database to dBASE IV files.

2) Copy or move the exported dBASE IV files to the DATAFILE folder.

A document describing this procedure in detail is available on the Tabbysoft web site:
www.tabbysoft.com/support/sqlorcl_dept.htm

Analyze initial course requests with the Request Conflict Pairs and Tally reports

Once student course requests are entered, you can use the Request Conflict Pairs (the Optimizer's compact version of the traditional conflict matrix) and Tally reports to analyze the data even if no master schedule is defined. To allow the Optimizer to run, however, you do need to make sure that one valid section of any course is provided in its input, either by manually adding the section in the Scheduling Sections atom or generating it from the Schedule Pro Builder. In either case, make sure the section you create is valid for the Optimizer (or it will be discarded and the simulation will not run).

1) Be sure to provide a nonzero section limit ("Max" field in Scheduling Sections, "Max Size" in the course atom Schedule Pro tab). Optimizer discards sections with zero limits.

2) If you add the section manually, remember to provide a section number in the "Sec #" field on the Schedule Pro page in Scheduling Sections. Enter "1" for the first (or only) section.

As with any Optimizer simulation, run the Run Schedule Simulation atom (Schedule Pro folder) to prepare the simulation data, then run the Scheduling Optimizer. When the Optimizer run completes, start the reports in your browser as normal and select the Request Conflict Pairs or Tally reports from the report start page, simsumry.htm (other reports are also generated, but these have no meaningful content without a master schedule).

Some new features are available in the Request Conflict Pairs and Tally report groups.

- Both report groups now allow you to filter the courses to display by maximum enrollment. By default, only courses with an enrollment of 40 students or less are included. To include more or less courses, enter a different maximum enrollment number in the onscreen "Max enrollment" field and click the Start button.

- These reports are displayed onscreen in multiple framed pages. You can now click the new "Printer friendly version" button to generate a page with the entire currently selected report. This facilitates printing directly from the browser or copying report data to your word processor for printing. To read more about printing the Optimizer reports, go to:
www.tabbysoft.com/reports/print.htm

- The Request Conflict Pairs reports now show the total enrollment (in parentheses) in addition to the number of students requesting both the "paired" course and the primary course in the data cells. For consistency, the primary course enrollments are now also shown in parentheses.

You can find detailed descriptions of all the Optimizer reports in the system documentation and on our website at:
www.tabbysoft.com/reports

Test drive the latest report features

You can use your browser to access an online demonstration of the latest version of the Optimizer reports using a demo database. Go to:
www.tabbysoft.com/reports/demo.htm

Contact us

We like to hear how the Scheduling Optimizer is working for you and your suggestions for improving the product. You can reach us by email (info@tabbysoft.com) or by filling out our Feedback form on the Tabbysoft web site:
www.tabbysoft.com/feedback.htm