registration in the 21st century

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REGISTRATION IN THE 21st CENTURY. CUMREC May 14, 2002 Kenneth L. Servis University of Southern California. Registration Background. Early computer systems used punch cards (1960’s) and optical scan (1970’s) IBM introduced Touch-Tone/voice response to CUMREC in 1969 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Copyright Kenneth L. Servis 2002. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permissionis granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided thatthis copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copyingis by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires writtenpermission from the author.

REGISTRATION IN THE 21st CENTURY

CUMREC

May 14, 2002

Kenneth L. Servis

University of Southern California

Registration Background

Early computer systems used punch cards (1960’s) and optical scan (1970’s)

IBM introduced Touch-Tone/voice response to CUMREC in 1969

BYU presented on Touch-Tone telephone registration at CUMREC in 1984

Touch-Tone Limitations

Select by section Sequential selection Entire schedule not available Section availability by trial Permission by trial No visualization

Web Based Registration

Option 1: Replicate Touch-Tone– step-by-step one course at a time

Option 2: Incorporate a Schedule Builder– incorporate calendaring– build entire schedule first– register all courses simultaneously– holistic approach

Student Focus Groups

Worked with Student Senate Groups included:

– students– programmers– Web developers

Developed desired feature list

Desired Features

Curriculum information– links to course descriptions and syllabi

Schedule Information– links to schedule of classes– day, time, location, instructor, seats available

Degree information– link to degree audit– courses completed/needed– major/minor requirements

Desired Features

Schedule Builder– include registered courses– working drafts saved– available 24/7– schedule by course, not section– time blocks honored– display output in calendar format

Conceptual Overview

SIS backend legacy system– on-line 8:30 am-10:00 pm M-F

Front end database server– on-line 24/7

Web Farm– manages communication between client and

server

Web Registration System Architecture

StudentInformation

System

PyramidDatabase Camel Web

Application Cluster

Microsoft ADO

USC Synchronization

Protocol

Data Flow

SIS pushes class data to database server– each active term updated at least once an hour

SIS pushes student enrollment data to database server in real-time– individual student data up to the minute

Timing Constraints

Schedule planning can occur 24/7– planning prior to registration appointment times

Registration changes can only occur 8:30 am - 10 pm M-F– enrollment cannot change outside these hours

Login

– https://camel.usc.edu/webreg/Login.asp System uses SSL security HTML Web Registration Instructions Flash Web Registration Tutorial

Login

Student enters student ID number Student enters 6 digit PIN (******) Display of holds and restrictions

– office phone no. and location Display of registration appointment time

Web Process Overview

Step1: Select courses to schedule Step 2: Build a schedule with selected

courses Step 3: Register for courses on the schedule

Web Screen Presentation

Top Frame: Displays department list, course list, class list or schedule

Middle Frame: Displays the “Course Bin,” courses selected for scheduling

Bottom Frame: Displays system responses and messages

Select Courses to Schedule

From Course List, click “ADD” by course name

From Section List: click “ADD” by section number

Build a Schedule

Step-by-step– Click “schedule” by section in course bin– If conflicts occur, course must be removed

from course bin and another selected– remove from schedule using “Unschedule”

Build a Schedule

Auto Schedule– With all courses in course bin click “Auto

Schedule”– View options– Select desired option, click “Make this my

Schedule”

Scheduler Builder

Problem: Take a list of courses with multiple sections, find the conflict-free schedules, return these in a visual format that can be used for registration

Commercial Solutions

Need optimizer software for a tree search Tried commercial software: OPL language Performance: 4 min, 300Mb RAM Revised version: 4 sec Better but not good enough

Solution Implemented

Limit solution search space Courses given priority order: A>B>C All solutions must have A, then B before C

if B does not conflict with A, then C if C does not conflict with selected A+B, etc.

Course Groups

Courses may have linked lectures, labs, discussions, and quizzes

Groups are allowed combinations of linked sections

For all courses, form allowed groups Eliminate groups with time conflicts with

time blocks

Build Schedules

Random pick group for course A, then random pick group for course B ( if okay, save), if not okay discard and pick another from group for course B. If okay, random pick group for course C, etc. Return, random pick new, different group for course A

After 100 successful schedules, stop

Tree Search

Random pick course from group A, then search each group for course B in order. For each group for course B, search in order for groups for course C. Then back to next B, etc.

Search Time

Search time Max = 10 sec. Search Solutions Max = 1000 All valid solutions may not be found.

Programming tools

Visual basic: VB SCRIPT Active Server Pages: ASP Component Object Modules: COM

– on server in PYTHON.

Register

Click “ Commit Changes”– system verifies availability and checks

permissions (holds, prereqs, etc.) Click “Proceed to Register”

– Changes made in SIS and database server updated

Communication Strategies

Information sessions for advisors Stealth launch, August 2001 with home

page quicklink Notification of availability to students

emailed October 2001 Comprehensive list of Frequently Asked

Questions

Communication Strategies (cont.)

December 2002 emailed all users to verify registered course list

Prior to end of drop/add notified those with course in schedule bin but not registered

April 2002, auto confirm all drop/add transactions real time by email

Future Plans

Final Exam schedule Links to Catalogue Course Description Link to Student Course Guide Multiple Term Planner

Acknowledgement

Thomas F. Hauck

Director of New Technology

Student Information Systems

University of Southern California

(213) 740-1992

hauck@usc.edu

Francisco Chang

System Analyst

Office of Academic Records and Registrar

University of Southern California

(213) 821-5514

fjc@usc.edu

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