PowerScheduler Load 0% Loaded

[bacdoan]

When I do the Load, the result showed that there is 0% of students loaded even though the load is completedly successfully. I don't see any errors that are shown on the report. However, i see a long list that includes all of the students and it says "Warning Student with too few requests". I did go back and check and students requests and they did make enough requests. What should I do?

Thank you

[ItsOnlyDoug · Accepted solution]

You can ignore most warning...Once you run the Load you have to IMPORT that load:

Click on the (Q) and there will be an option to Import. The load could be perfect, but if you don't import it it won't show any kids in classes.

[ItsOnlyDoug · Accepted solution]

You can ignore most warning...Once you run the Load you have to IMPORT that load:

Click on the (Q) and there will be an option to Import. The load could be perfect, but if you don't import it it won't show any kids in classes.

[bacdoan]

Thank you Doug. I realized the issue was that i only ran the load validation without build and import.

Also, do you happen to know how to solve the issue after I run a few build and load, all the sections I create from Course Preference are just removed. And because of that, when i run the next build and load, it shows 0% scheduled

[ItsOnlyDoug · Accepted solution]

The Build uses the scheduling engine to determine where courses will best fit in your schedule. If you are manually building sections without the engine and then run a build the engine isn't looking at what you built on your own...So, if you then import a build it will overwrite anything you built on your own.

If you want to keep the sections you've built manually, you can select the option in that section to Lock it...Then when you run the build, choose USE LOCKED MASTER RECORDS:

[bacdoan]

Thank you so much for your help. I see what you mean. Also, just want to clarify that Under Course Preference, I create the number of sections for each course without checking the box of where the section will be scheduled for (I left the period check box blank). And then I run the Build and check on the box of Use locked master records. Is this a correct way to do?

[ItsOnlyDoug]

Building the schedule is a complicated beast, and without looking at your setup directly it's hard for me to answer everything 100% accurately...but, in PowerScheduler, the Course Preferences pages is what the Scheduling Engine uses to determine where to put a section. 

So, for example, if I have an 8 period day and I want 1 section of ELA to run at anytime between periods 1 and 4 I would have my screen set like this:

The engine will then determine where to best place that 1 section based on student requests and teacher availability.

Now, if you have that same class and you know you only want it to run 1st period then I would manually create the section using the SECTIONS tab. In in the sections tab, select Locked Section.

As I said, it's hard for me to answer everything about scheduling accurately because every school is different. We let the scheduling engine build our schedule and then move sections as needed after the fact. To do this, we set up all of our teaching assignments, course preferences, teacher and course constraints, etc. Lastly, if you are using the scheduling engine it is vital that you make sure your Course Rank is built.

[bacdoan]

That’s great. That is super helpful to me. I have been learning and researching on how to work on Powerscheduler for the past few days and honestly it was challenging sometimes. But thanks to your comments I feel more understanding about the process. I will try to clean up the course preference tomorrow (it’s night time here in my country) and hopefully it will work 🙂

[bacdoan]

Hi Doug, could you please help me with this issue:

I ran a Build, and the result log said that Students loaded: 68%. So I created 1 more section for some courses to create more flexibility. And then I ran another Build. It showed Students loaded: 70%. I import this Build. However, when I checked on each section under Course Preference, I noticed that the box "Locked section" and " Expression" were checked. I did not check them myself. I was wondering if the sections are locked that way, then there are very few differences that can be made if I run another Build. Is that correct? And do I have to manually uncheck all the boxes of the Locked Section to build the schedule from scratch after I update the sections numbers and teacher assignments?

Thank you,

[JeffG9]

Doug is correct that running a Build is a complicated process and it is difficult to help without access to your PowerScheduler environment.

When you go to PowerScheduler>Courses>Click on Course you will see multiple tabs. The Preferences tab is where you configure the Build and Load preferences, and the Section tab is where you can see Sections of the course that PS has built. I mention this because you write that you checked the section under Course Preferences and there aren't any sections there.

Any sections you manually create will be wiped out after running/importing a Build unless you are using Locked Records/Sections--but another way to do the same thing is to use a Pre-Schedule Build Constraint and tell PowerScheduler exactly where to build a section. You can see one I have created in Screenshot 2. 

[ItsOnlyDoug]

Every time you make a change to your course setting before running a build you should also update your course rank...Update, not build. This will then adjust your course rank in terms of how the scheduler process the new build. 

Another thing to consider is that usually that 68% or 70% load that you see in the Load Queue generally refers to the percentage of students who are fully scheduled. Which means you could a bunch of students that you may only need to make minor tweaks too. After you run a load and IMPORT that load you should take a look at the following reports:

Non Scheduled Course Requests

Percent Schedule by Student

The non scheduled course requests can point you in the direction of a course that doesn't fit where it's been place. And the Percent schedule by student report can tell you if there is a specific grade level or group of kids that is having a problem getting all of their courses. 

As for adjusting locked sections en masse you can do that by going to the functions menu and selected Update Selections.

This page works like DDE/DDA. So you would need to select the ScheduleSections table. Isolate your current build ID. Isolate any locked sections you want to change and then Modify ONLY the LockedSection field...It's a check box so find the LockedSections that are = 1 and if (and only if) you want them unlocked, Modify that field by changing it to 0.

[mstiffler]

Hi Doug, what if it starts to do a build and then gets stuck on a class and won't build anything? total run time was .42 seconds and 4% of the courses were built. 

[ItsOnlyDoug]

Usually when you start loading you'll get a little higher than that so my process is this:

1. Check Teaching Assignments -make sure the teacher that is connected to the course that failed is set up correctly.

2. Check the Course settings (particularly the room) if you have a course that can only run 6th period in room 200 and the course setting has a department that can't be in room 200 the build will fail.

3. Course Rank - Course Rank - Course Rank

Take a look at which course failed and see where it is in the rank...If you are failing at 4% it's probably pretty high so one of the other issues mentioned is causing a problem.