Maximizing Space Utilization through Electronic Event

Scheduling: A Case Study of Best Practices

Keith StilesBlue Ridge Community College

jk_stiles@blueridge.edu

Information About BRCC• Location: Flat Rock, NC• 128 acres, 13 buildings,

358,000 sq. ft.• Newest Building –

Technology Education and Development Center (2008)

• Fall Enrollment (2012): 2,270

• CE Enrollment: 25,143 (2011-12)

• 55% of students take at least one online course

Implementing an Event Management System

Pre-2008Scheduling with the

“Book”

2008Implementation of

Resource25

2009Consultant Brought

in to Correct Implementation

Issues

Summer 2010Migrated to fully-

hosted Resource25

Fall 2010 – Spring 2011

Implemented 25Live

April 1, 201125Live Go-Live

May 17, 2011First Live Calendar Feeds to Website

April 2012Implemented E-

Commerce

June 2013Implement Pricing

Module

History of Event Management• Scheduling was accomplished for years

via “The Book” which included special events, meetings, and classes.

• “The Book” was passed between areas to accomplish major scheduling tasks.

• “The Book” was at times “hijacked” in transit between areas to get events on an ever-increasingly heavy schedule.

Moving Into the Digital Age• Campus licensed Resource25 but it

largely went unused for 6 years• First implemented in 2008• Re-implemented to correct errors in

initial implementation in 2009• Migrated to fully-hosted R25 in summer

of 2010• Implemented 25Live in 2010-11

Advancing Into the Digital Age• Three Weeks of User

Training in March 2011– One Week Devoted to

Approver/Power User Training

– Two Weeks Devoted to Requester User Training

• 25Live goes “live” at BRCC on April 1, 2011

Complete Implementation

Train Power Users

Train Requesters

25Live Go Live

Revealing Campus Events• First live calendar feeds made

their appearance on the BRCC website on May 17, 2011

• Academic calendar converted to a live feed on July 29, 2011

• BRCC-TV calendar feed of daily programming goes live on June 23, 2011– Station schedule is uploaded

weekly to 25Live system using a CSV file, a PHP script, and Web Services

Revealing More Campus Events

• Campus Intranet, The Insider, was redesigned during the fall of 2011 and an Insider calendar feed went live on December 6, 2011.– Calendar feeds to each

standing and ad hoc committee’s web pages went live on October 31, 2011, but their release, along with a comprehensive committee meeting calendar was delayed until the release of the new Insider.

Maximizing Event Management• Implementation of E-Commerce for:

– Event Registration for Conferences– Selling Tickets for Upcoming Special Events– Student Self-Registering for Placement

Testing and Orientation– Event Registration and Payment for

Student-Sponsored or Student Organization Events

– Event Registration for Recruiting Events

Implementation – Some Best Practices• Plan before you build:

– Build an Implementation Team– Identify Key Stakeholders– Analyze and Clean Your Base Data– Determine the Needs of Campus

Stakeholders– Use Collaborative Data Building Techniques

Implementation – Some Best Practices• Building an Implementation Team

– Key Task: Ensure Implementation Membership Includes Decision-Makers from Across Campus Constituencies

• Garner the support of the Chief Academic Officer – this is integral support for success!

• Supplement Academic Representation with:– Major Events Representation– Information Technology Representation– Facilities Management/Physical Plant Representation– Institutional Research Representation

Implementation – Some Best Practices• Identify Key Stakeholders

– Academics– Continuing Education– Special Events– Athletics– Administrative Users– Facilities– Information Technology– Institutional Research/Effectiveness

Implementation – Some Best Practices• Start with Clean Base

Data– Avoid simply importing

your base data from prior applications

– Analyze facilities data carefully for problem areas

– Centralize data migration into one user if at all possible

Implementation – Some Best Practices• Survey Academic Areas to Assess Scheduling Needs

– What space features are needed to schedule effectively?– How do spaces need to be partitioned for scheduling?– What are highly specialized spaces that will need special

treatment?• Survey Event Schedulers to Assess Scheduling Needs

– What types of events do event schedulers book on a regular basis?

– What reporting needs to event schedulers have?– How do event schedulers categorize their events?

Implementation – Some Best Practices

• Ensure open lines of communication between all users of the event management system

• Actively solicit input from potential and current users of the system

• Utilize customization opportunities within the software – 25Live has granted our campus huge customization opportunities

Project Manager

Event Management

Academic Stakeholders

Implementation – Some Best Practices• Choose your User Authentication System early in the

process – easier to implement Active Directory or other schemas up front rather than later

• Analyze how requests for space need to be approved

• Solicit a list of space approvers by area prior to building any security groups or settings

• Encourage use of back-up approval choices to deal with illness, vacations, and the like

Implementation – Some Best Practices• Plan security groups and

settings before building within event management system

• Build security groups around scheduling needs

• Separate the System Administrator’s account from his/her Personal Account

Implementation – Some Best Practices• User Training

– Think holistically about what users need to know before the system goes live

– Plan comprehensive training and offer multiple sessions to provide opportunities for all potential new users

– Train users with their new accounts in your TEST instance

Scheduling Our Facilities

• Classrooms (75)• Labs (55)• 850 seat

Conference Hall• Two auditoriums• Conference Rooms

(8)• Other Schedulable

Facilities (21)

What Events Are Scheduled

Classes

Curriculum

Continuing Education

Promotable Events

Concerts

Conferences

And many more . . .

Internal Events

Meetings

Faculty/Staff Training

And many more . . .

What Else Gets Scheduled?• Locations (academic and special events

spaces)• Human Resources (custodial staff,

security, I.T. Technician, Media Technicians)

• Event-related Resources (tables, chairs, etc.)

Dealing with Scheduling PoliciesOr the Lack of… • Competition for Finite Space Between

Curriculum and Continuing Education Courses Created Significant Points of Friction

• Special Events Scheduling Jumped in Front of Curriculum and CE Scheduling at Times

• Lack of Clear Procedures and a Policy Created a Chaotic Scheduling Process

Writing a Scheduling Policy

• Meetings with stakeholders• Sketching scheduling processes in Curriculum,

Continuing Education, and Special EventsFall 2009

• Prepared written draft of scheduling policy• Meetings among stakeholders to review and

make revisions to the policy document

Early Spring 2010

• Agreement among stakeholders to support the new scheduling policy

• Scheduling policy implemented for use starting with Fall 2010 term

Mid-Spring 2010

Scheduling Policy Specifications

Curriculum Scheduling

Continuing Education Scheduling

Special Events

Scheduling

Typical Fall Term Academic Scheduling Procedure

Curriculum Planning Spreadsheets to

Academic Divisions (by January 15th)

Division Chairs Review Planning Spreadsheets

and Make Changes (January 15-31)

Curriculum Spreadsheets Due Back

(January 31st)

VP’s Office Reviews and Builds Section in Datatel

Colleague

Batch Upload of Initial Fall Schedule to 25Live Report Building in 25Live

Schedule Proofs Returned to Divisions

(February 19th)

Changes/Additions by Divisions (Deadline – 1st

Week of March)

Transactional Mode Turned on in 25Live

VP’s Office Reviews/Modifies/Adds

Sections in Datatel Colleague

New Reports Generated and Provided to Divisions

(by March 15th)

Changes Closed Until End of Early Registration

After Early Registration, Changes and Addition of Sections Processed with

Appropriate Documentation

Fall Academic Scheduling Process

Complete

Curriculum Class Scheduling

Typical Fall Term Continuing Education Scheduling Procedure

CE Section Planning (January – March 14th)

CE Section Building Begins in Datatel

Colleague (March 15th)

CE Section Building, Editing, and Scheduling

(March 15 – last Friday in May at 9 AM)

CE Spreadsheet and Box Ad Builds

(first week of June)

Spreadsheets and Box Ads Due

(one week after section building closes)

Final Proofing of CE Schedule

(third week of June)

CE Fall Scheduling Process Complete

Continuing Education Scheduling

Typical Events Scheduling Procedure• Scheduling in Special Events Locations (e.g.,

Conference Hall, Auditoria, etc.) is done year round as requests are made.

• Scheduling of Special Events that use classroom or lab locations are scheduled after each term’s Academic and Continuing Education Schedules are set.

• Special Events take second or third seat behind Academic and Continuing Education Scheduling in classrooms and labs.

Managing Special Events

Higher Education & Space Utilization Analysis• “Allocating space on campus is an ongoing challenge. Institutions

continually assign new and existing space in an attempt to meet pressing program needs and priorities. Undertaking a comprehensive space planning effort allows the institution to rightsize both academic and nonacademic space allotments. Reconciling industry benchmarks and institutional standards with the perceived needs of individual program providers results in a justifiable standard for assigning space.”

Michael S. Rudden. (2008). “Ten Reasons Why Colleges and Institutions Undertake Campus Master Planning (And How to Align Your Campus Planning Effort to Best Address Them). Planning for Higher Education 36 (4), 33-41.

The Accountability Trend“We believe that improved accountability is vital to ensuring the success of all the other reforms we propose.” (Final Report of the Commission on the Future of U.S. Higher Education)

– Transparency of Information– Measurable Standards of Accountability– Accountability as a Driving Factor in Innovation– Need for Operational Intelligence

Decision-Making with Real Data• Discussions around academic space have

often been based on anecdotal data instead of quantifiable data.

• “As institutions continue to review cost-containment issues, become further inundated with compliance mandates, and refine accountability standardsand performance expectations, their need for more meaningful space information is critical (Watt, 2007, pg. 5).

The Role of Institutional Research/Effectiveness“Institutional researchers can assist administrators in overcoming technical and institutional barriers to most effectively use space information and assist them in managing their complex enterprises” (Watt, 2007).

– Access to and Understanding of System-Wide Data– Statistical Knowledge and Data Modeling Expertise– Ability to Present Complex Data in Understandable

and Useful Formats for Campus Decision-Makers

Comprehensive Space Planning

Facilities Planning, Academic Scheduling, and

Space Use Analysis

Facilities Management

Software System

Student Information System (e.g., Banner,

Colleague, Peoplesoft)

Series 25 Software- 25Live

- Schedule25- X25

Integrative Planning• Having a robust facilities management software

system, Series25, and a fully implemented student information system opens up a world of sophistication for higher level data analysis that can be used to examine campus data holistically and integrate that data into true planning activities.

• Reliability of reporting is enhanced when the multiple systems are fully communicating with each other.

Tools Available for Data Analysis with Series25 Products• X25 Data Analysis provides:

– Summary Statistics– Three Groups of Analytical Data

• Scheduling Effectiveness• Inventory Fitness• Utilization

– Filtered Data Sets

Types of Analyses of Space Data – Using Standard 25Live Reports• Space Utilization

Summaries by Space

• Time Spreads by Department

• Comparison of Term to Term Data

Data Extraction and Space ModelingAnalysis of Current Space Issues• Analyze the effectiveness of your

daily scheduling prior to registration (look at MWF and TR scheduling patterns across the day).

• Extract data from your event management system or from filtered data sets if you use X25 and complete statistical analyses using SAS, SPSS, or other software (e.g., regression analyses, analysis of variance, and others) for the purpose of determining benchmarks and ranges of variance for space analyses.

Modeling of Future Space Needs• Modeling future building

configurations using space and scheduling data to arrive at more efficient configurations of academic space.

• Creating multi-year projection models for decision-makers concerning likely future academic space needs especially concerning classrooms and labs coupled with analyses of current scheduling practices.

Final Thoughts• “What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You” (Coburn, 2007,

pg. 107).

• Any successful event management system implementation requires a data first approach.

• Involve all stakeholders in discussions of setup, maintenance, and policy-making.

• Take the time to analyze space usage based on real data instead of anecdotal evidence.

Questions?