Tartan Scheduler
Tutorial

Fall 2006


In this document I will illustrate, with prose and pictures, how to use the Tartan scheduler. The skills you glean from practicing will help you when you actually register (not only for the upcoming semester, but throughout your stay at CMU).

I suggest you read and follow along by duplicating my commands. So start the Tartan Scheduler now. Your screen should now display

   

Click the Get Started button and then fill it in the form as required. You can choose any username you want (although using your Andrew Username is probably best. Click Next>> From now on I'm going to focus on just the part of the screen that is relevant. You will see something like

   

At this point the human interface is wedged. Click Log out in the upper-right hand corner. Then, at the original login screen, log back in.

Let's assume that I want to build a "typical" schedule with the following courses.

We start by typing all the first five course numbers into the system (there are only five boxes).

   

When we press Add, Tartan shows us these courses and allows us to add the remaining two courses.

   

When we press Add again, Tartan show us all these courses.

   

I have no clue why/how it reorders these numbers (note this is a beta version). At this point click My Schedule and Tartan will show us a schedule matrix with one combination of these courses. Your screen should now display

   

Tartan automatically chooses, by default, the first section letter for each course, and its corresponding lecture, which is why Section A appears in so many places. We are going to select manually the actual sections that we must (or want to) register for. Eventually we will eliminate all day/time conflicts. First, though, let's look around at the representation of all the information

The schedule already includes the correct section for 15-128 (there is only one, Section A). All SCS majors taking 15-200 must take Lecture 1 (which correseponds to sections A, B, or C). So, we can keep the default choice of Section A; we can choose a different section later, if a day/time conflict arises.

Almost all CS majors will take 21-127, and they must take Lecture 2 (which corresponds to sections F, G, H, or I). So, let's click show sections under 21-127 and scroll it. Your screen should now display

   

Of Sections F-I, G has no conflict, so we select it. Wait a bit and the schedule will update. Your screen should now display

   

Click hide sections under 21-127 and scroll it. Your screen should now display

   

Now, let's choose a 21-241 course. So, let's click show sections under 21-241 and scroll it. Your screen should now display

   

We have no restrictions for this course, and Section A runs into the lunch hour, so let's click Section B (remember, there is no lecture, the course meets just in sections). Wait a bit and the schedule will update; then let's click hide sections under 21-241. Your screen should now display

   

We still need to schedule 76-101 and 91-101, both of which conflict with a course we must schedule at those times (there is just one 33-111 lecture, and CS majors must take Lecture 1 for 15-200). We are scheduling these course last because they have lots of meeting times: we should be able to schedule these courses in existing gaps. Let's schedule 76-101 first: click show sections under 76-101 and scroll it. Your screen should now display

   

Now We need to choose a section for 76-101 (this course, like 21-241, meets in sections only, without a lecture). We really should look at the document that describes the differences among these sections, but let's just schedule one independent of topics. Note that Section B fills a gap between 33-11 and 15-200, so lets fill this empty block by selecting Section B. Wait a bit and the schedule will update; then let's click hide sections under 76-101. Your screen should now display

   

Finally, let's now choose a 99-101/102/103 course (99-10X). Although the content is the same, 99-101/102 is taught on PCs and 99-103 is taught on Macs. You can take any course, but I suggest that you if you have a computer (most of you do) you take the course corresponding to your machine; the one exception is if you cannot fit such a section into your schedule. Let's assume we want to work on PCs, so we'll add look at 99-101 (if there were no options here, we could remove it and add 99-102 instead). Click show sections under 99-101 and scroll it. Your screen should now display.

   

So, we need to choose a section for 99-10X (this course, like 21-241, meets in sections only, without a lecture). We want to choose a Section that ends in a 1 (that is the mini that meets during the 1st half of the fall semster). We can either schedule lots of classes in a block by eliminating lunch (not suggested) or schedule something right between 21-241 and 21-127 (or even something later, which starts running up against dinner time). It looks like 99-101 F1 fits nicely into the MW schedule, at 1:30, so let's choose it. Wait a bit and the schedule will update; then let's click hide sections under 99-101. Your screen should now display

   

So, this is our "final" schedule. Friday looks like MW (except 99-101 doesn't meet on Friday). Of course, you might want to be thinking when building your schedule: when is my first and last class of the day; do I want/have have gaps between classes (for lunch, studying) or do I want all my classes scheduled in one block; etc. There are all sorts of criteria you can apply while searching for the best schedule. And if you make a mistake, you can just back up and correct it.

One thing to not worry much about is getting from one class to the next; CMU is compact, and the academic buildings even more so: most academic buildings are in one quad. You'll see the same building abbreviations occuring over and over: WEH (Wean Hall), DH (Dougherty Hall), PH (Porter Hall), BH (Baker Hall). Most student can get from class in one building to a class in the next in under 5 minutes. Hint: If your professor is not ending class on time, and/or you are having problems getting to your next class, email him/her a polite note; you can always cc a copy to me, which might make the professor pay a bit more attention; this trick works in many situations.

It is a good idea to write down this information. In fact, the Pulse Scheduler remembers this information for you. When you return to browse its web site, click My Schedule in the leftmost column, and it should load your schedule in the state you last left it. So it is easy to explore your schedule and make changes in the future.

Before I remove the "hold" on your registration, you will have to send me your schedule. The easiest way to do so is to reenter this information in the Pulse scheduler and remember the URL shown at the top of its page. You should copy down (or bookmark) that URL so that you can enter it in the Schedule Planning form easily.

Finally, you must remember that when you go onto OLR to enter your schedule to actually register, you might find that certain courses in your "final" schedule are full, and that you will have to choose alternative Lectures/Sections or even alternative courses. I suggest having a Tartan/Pulse Schedule screen open while you are actually registering, to help you deal with problems like these, if they arise.

Finally, you should use CIO (Course Information Online) WHILE you are registering using OLR. By using the "Available Course Sections" link, you can see which sections have reservations for CS, students, and what size waiting lists are. Important: if a course has a waiting list, but still has open CS reservations, you can register for it directly without being placed on its waiting list. Try the "Get In" button on CIO.