Why do you need a clean and comprehensive Master Scheduler?

While pumpkin spice season consists of hot lattes and cozy sweaters, the master schedule season is a time of excitement and anxiety. It is exciting as you have new students starting their academic journey with you. Plus returning students get to choose their course requests for their next step toward graduation.  

The anxiety, however, stems from being anxious about solving this giant puzzle. You need to put the puzzle pieces together in order to allow as many students to get their chosen courses. To ensure no students get left behind or left with second best. The anxiety starts to grow when more information is being thrown onto the board and becomes messier. It makes it harder to see clearer. Then you add in more students and consider more course requests and all you see are the conflicts on the board. You have trouble moving pieces around without triggering even more conflicts and alas you think to yourself, will I ever get through this? You wish you had a cleaner board but is it even possible for a master scheduler? 

The answer is YES. You are looking at the future of scheduling, here at Orchestra. 

Orchestra can provide you with a clean master schedule board

Timetabling is already a tedious task as is it, and working on a cluttered board just makes matters worst. Orchestra provides a clean master schedule board that allows you to see all the details you need without the clutter. Working on a clean board helps you gain clarity and just eases the scheduling process. 

On top of that, our master scheduler system is equipped with comprehensive tools to step up your scheduling game. After receiving course requests, all you have to do is assign students and our automatic generator will have your master schedule ready in a matter of minutes!

Orchestra’s master scheduler board features

Easily load course requests 

This function allows you to configure courses that will be available to students to submit course requests via the Student Portal. In Quickschools, students can submit their own course requests, or the administrator can add course requests on behalf of students. You can also use a mix of both. If you have an SIS that already stores your course requests for you, you can simply import these course requests into Orchestra. Orchestra complements your SIS harmoniously.

Assign Students to Sections without conflicts

Once you’ve built your Schedule Board and loaded course requests, it’s time to assign students to sections based on their requests accordingly. Orchestra can help you do this seamlessly. Adjustments can be made to your Schedule Board anytime if you would like to test out several versions before finalizing it. 

Our master scheduler software allows you to create save points. This way you will be able to come back to a version of your schedule that works best for you and work your way from there. Sometimes we like to experiment with different scenarios, right? On top of that, our master scheduler being 100% cloud-based allows you to make progress on your schedule board anytime, anywhere. 

Drag and Drop function for your board

A key aspect of Orchestra is our interactive interface, where we also offer a Drag and Drop function. You are able to just drag the sections and move them across the periods and drop where they fit best. Drag and drop courses can be done easily on your master schedule. The system calculates the ideal number of sections per course based on target section sizes and the number of course requests. 

Highlighted class conflicts

When it comes to class loading and making adjustments, all you have to do is click ‘Run’. Our algorithm will assign students to sections. Conflicts are automatically highlighted so you can immediately resolve them. There is no need to manually check if there are any conflicts on your schedule. This will save you time and a headache. 

With Orchestra, you will be able to help students take the classes they love whilst avoiding class conflicts. We hope this article has helped you gain some insight on how a clean master scheduler can make things easier. Don’t just take our word for it though. Sign up today and feel the seamless experience for yourselves like other schools have!