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Corequisites

The Scheduling Optimizer provides a Course Link Class Loader (CL) rule to define course A as a corequisite to Course B; i.e. students should be assigned to a section of course A which ends before or in the same term as any section of course B to which they are also assigned. Because this rule is not available in Schedule Pro, some special setup steps are required to enable its use in the combined Schedule Pro/Scheduling Optimizer environment. These setup steps reassign an unused Schedule Pro Course Link CL rule number to the corequisite rule (Scheduling Optimizer extended rule number 01).

Contents of this page:

Procedure Summary - the quick summary of the procedure to setup the corequisite rule

Procedure Details - the detailed description of the same procedure

corequisite Rule Use Details

Procedure Summary

This procedure sets up the corequisite rule. This section shows the summary of this procedure. If you want a more detailed description of each step, go to the Procedure Details below.

	Choose a standard Course Link CL rule to reassign. This document assumes you choose Schedule Pro’s CL rule 20 – "Add request A if student requested B", a rule not implemented in the Scheduling Optimizer.
	Disable the selected rule in Schedule Pro. In the Scheduler Simulations atom, use the CL Rules tab/Rules button/Course-Course Link Category to set "Observe/Ignore" to "I – Ignore" for rule 20, then use the Main tab to set the Class Loader "Rules to Observe" field to "U – Custom…" .
	Change the description associated with the reassigned rule number. Replace the SASIxp Table entry containing the rule’s description by running the following CHANGE Query: <CHANGE> ATBL TableType Code CodeDesc = 'Assign A ending <= B end term' IF TableType = 'LLL' AND Code \|- '020' To enter this Query in SASIxp’s Query atom, select the above command text (starting AFTER <CHANGE>), select "copy" from the Edit menu, position the cursor in the Query atom’s command area (clear it first), then select "Paste" from SASIxp’s Edit menu. Select CHANGE for the Query type.
	Provide the Scheduling Optimizer with a parameter record assigning the corequisite rule to CL rule 20. The Scheduling Optimizer nstallation files include a file named "xparms.spi" containing the required record. Copy this file to the target Schedule Pro data folder (e.g. c:\sasixp\schedpro\schd9991).

Once the above setup steps are done, you can assign the corequisite rule to Course Links in the same way as for standard Schedule Pro rules, selecting it by its description from the list of available rules. The reassigned rule will have no effect in Schedule Pro, but will be observed in the Scheduling Optimizer. The Scheduling Optimizer displays a message near the top of its Run Log confirming that the rule reassignment is in effect.

Read the Corequisite Rule Use Details below.

Procedure Details

This procedure sets up the corequisite rule. This section describes the steps of the procedure summarized above in more detail.

Choose a standard Course Link CL rule to reassign.

Select a Schedule Pro Course Link loader rule number you do not use. Unless you have a reason to choose a different rule, use rule number 20 – "Add request A if student requested B". This rule is not implemented in the Scheduling Optimizer and is the rule number used in provided support materials. The following sections assume you are reassigning rule 20. Make the appropriate adjustments if you use a different rule.

Disable the reassigned rule in Schedule Pro.

In the Scheduler Simulations atom do the following steps for each defined simulation:

Select the CL Rules tab.
Click the Rules button on this tab. The Class Loader Rules to Observe/Ignore window appears.
Click in the Category textbox and select Course-Course Link Rules from the popup list that appears.
In line 20 (assuming rule 20 is the one you are reassigning), click in the Observe/Ignore column and select "I – Do not" from the resulting popup list. Click the Close button. A message may appear reminding you to also click on the Save button on the main form.

Select the Main tab. In the Class Loader section, click in the Rules to Observe field and select "U – Custom…" from the popup list that appears.
If you intend to use Schedule Pro’s Course Balancer (not necessary if you are using the Scheduling Optimizer), do the steps analogous to 1) to 5) above to set rule 20 to "Do not" in the CB Rules tab and set Class Balancer Rules to Observe to "Custom…" on the Main tab.
Click Save and Close to store the changes.

Change the description associated with the reassigned rule number.

Open the Query atom and run a CHANGE Query to replace the description associated with the CLR rule number being reassigned.

Enter the following text into the Query command space.
Note: You can do this by selecting the text, selecting "copy" from the Edit menu, positioning the cursor in the Query atom’s command area (clear it first), then selecting "Paste" from SASIxp’s Edit menu.

ATBL TableType Code CodeDesc = 'Assign A ending <= B end term' IF TableType = 'LLL' AND Code |- '020'

Select CHANGE as the Query type. The Query atom should appear as follows.

Click the "Do" button to launch the Query and click OK in the following message box to confirm you wish to do the mass change. When the process is complete, Query displays an informational message in the lower left of the SASIxp desktop indicating that one record has been changed.

Notes

	If you have selected a rule other rule 20 to reassign, change Code \|- ‘020’ in the above CHANGE Query to 099 where 99 is the rule number you are reassigning.
	Be VERY careful that you have correctly entered the CHANGE Query before you run it. You can verify that the correct table record is selected by running a DISPLAY Query with the Code and CodeDesc fields of ATBL selected and the same selection criteria. As with other mass change operations, it is strongly advised that you prepare a database backup before launching the CHANGE Query.

Provide the Scheduling Optimizer with a parameter record assigning the corequisite rule to CL rule 20.

The Scheduling Optimizer installation materials include a text file named "xparms.spi" containing the required record. Copy this file to the target Schedule Pro data folder (e.g. c:\sasixp\schedpro\schd9991).

This file can be viewed in notepad. It includes the following line, which instructs the Scheduling Optimizer to reassign Course Link CL rule 20 to the corequisite rule (Scheduling Optimizer extended rule number 01):

Notes

	If you are reassigning a rule other than rule 20, use notepad to change the reassigned rule number from 20 to the 2-digit rule number you are using. If you do this, carefully verify that the two rule numbers in this line stay in their original column positions.
	If you copied the xparms.spi file from a CD, you may need to uncheck the “read only” property associated with the file before you can save any changes you make to it with the editor.

This completes setup of the corequisite rule. Read the corequisite Rule Use Details below.

Corequisite Rule Use Details

Assign the corequisite rule to Course Links.

From the Course Atom, use the Course Links/Class Loader Rules windows to link courses and define applicable loader rules, accessing the extended rule now referenced by the reassigned Schedule Pro rule in the same manner as other loader rules.

Verify that the Scheduling Optimizer has the rule reassignment in effect.

Once the corequisite rule has been successfully set up, the Scheduling Optimizer’s Run Log displays a message indicating that the specified Schedule Pro rule number is reassigned by the corequisite rule (Scheduling Optimizer extended rule number 01).

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