Question

Can I drop my room assignments for a whole term?

Answer

Sometimes dropping all room assignments from term is necessary to schedule rooms efficiently or even just to scenario model what it might look like to schedule your room differently! Dropping them individually is a hassle, so we’ve spelled out a way to use the Room Optimizer to do it in a reasonably quick fashion. By creating an Infeasible Optimizer Run, you’ll be able to publish a sandbox with all valid meeting patterns having no room assignment, therefore dropping all room assignments that have been made previously.

1. Create an Infeasible Preference Set.

1. Navigate to Academics > Scheduling Preferences.
2. Create a New Preference Set.
3. Name it “Infeasible Preference Set”.
4. Click Add to create a new rule.
   • Leave the Campus, Meeting Type, Subject, Course, and Instructor fields as Any.
   • Click the Buildings tab and click Add. Select a building from the dropdown list. Change the mode to Required.
   • Click the Rooms tab and click Add. Select a room that is not in the building originally selected. Change the mode to Required.
5. Save the Preference Set.
   Your preference set should look like the one below:
   
   

   

2. Run and publish an Infeasible Optimizer Run to Drop Rooms

1. Navigate to Academics and select "Scheduling Sandboxes".
2. Click New – Room Optimization.
3. Name it “Drop Room Assignments”.
4. Select the term you wish to drop the room assignments for.
5. Select the Infeasible Preference Set in the Preference Set dropdown.
6. Do not check Keep Existing Room Assignments.
7. At the bottom left side of the screen, select the campus(es), subject(s). and/or meeting type(s) you would like to drop room assignments for, if applicable.
8. Click Save in the top right corner. Save means run!
9. Once the optimizer is complete, click the name to view your results. All results should be infeasible.
10. Click Prepare to Publish. Click Yes to continue with publishing after the conflict check.
    
    

    

Once it is complete, navigate to Academics > Sections to verify your sections no longer have room assignments.