Key dates for 2025-26:

January

• Teaching Availability Arrangements (TAA) applications open

February

• Schools start collecting 25-26 timetabling data 

March

• TAA deadline: 14th March

April 

• 5th April: Schools submit 25-26 timetabling data to the Faculty Scheduling Team
• The TAA panel convenes to review all TAA applications in HUMS

May

• The Faculty Scheduling Team start to schedule the 25-26 timetable
• Outcomes of TAA applications communicated to staff

June

• Timetable review meetings (optional) at subject/dept level to discuss timetabling before the general draft is released.

July

• HUMS draft timetable released to departments in early July
• Draft timetable review period begins whereby necessary updates can be made

August

• 1st August: University timetabling deadline to confirm timetables
• Course unit selection for returning students
• Personal timetables go live for staff and students
• Timetable changes can be submitted by teaching staff (subject to approval)

September

• Students allocated to seminar/tutorial groups
• Various reporting occurs on student numbers/room sizes
• Semester 1 starts

Please visit the Scheduling Operational Resources section on SharePoint to find the current Academic Calendar.

Activity Data details how a course is to run, i.e. the number of lectures, seminars or tutorials, the duration, and weeks these are to run; along with who is expected to teach it, and in what size and type of room. 

BLANK 2025-26 Activity Data capture sheets can be found on our SharePoint site.

NOTE for 25-26: The Faculty Scheduling Team have provided ‘cleaned’ Activity Data to Schools based on the current years' timetable.

Please use the S+ room suitability glossary to help decide what type of room is required for your activities.

Structure / Hierarchy in S+ (in order):

• Module - ‘Course Unit Code’. A Module is what links Campus Solutions to S+ and is where all the data for a Course Unit is held in S+. This is the top level in S+. Students enrolled on a Course Unit in CS integrate and are attached to the ‘Module’ in S+ overnight.
• Activity template - These define the rules / structure / relationship of how many activities a student should attend. All templates fall under the associated Course Unit Code, i.e. you can have multiple templates under one Course Unit. The relationship is determined by the Activity Data the School submits (see ‘1:One vs 1:Many Activities Explained’ section).
• Activity - These are what the School submits to the faculty under ‘Activity Data capture’. All activities sit under a template. Activities hold the front facing timetabling data, such as the staff due to teach the activity or the weeks and rooms the activity runs in along with the day and time it runs. The ‘Activity Template’ and ‘Module’ are extracted from the Activity Data submitted by Schools in March every year.

1:one vs 1:many activities explained

All activities are categorised as either a ‘1:one’ or a ‘1:many’ activity:

• 1:One
  An activity where all students attend, e.g. a lecture or a seminar where all students are together at the same time, in the same place. All 1:one activities have an auto-allocation feature so that when a student enrols on a course unit in CS, S+ will automatically allocate the student within 24 hours to all 1:one activities associated with that course unit. 1:one activities will always have a forward slash as the final character in the activity name, e.g. POLI10101/LECTURE_/
• 1:Many
  Activities where the students are distributed amongst a group of similar or repeat activities, e.g. seminars / tutorials where there is more than one group. There is no auto-allocation feature for 1:many activities. Instead, the student will need to be allocated manually using Enterprise Course Planner (ECP). 1:many activities will always have other characters (usually numbers) after the final forward slash, e.g. POLI10101/SEMINAR_/01, POLI10101/SEMINAR_/02

See fig.1 below for diagram on 1:one and 1:many activities.

Fig.1 

DUMMY activities explained

‘DUMMY’ activities are used to artificially transform a 1:one activity into a 1:many activity, e.g. if you want to prevent S+ from auto-allocating students to a 1:one activity. DUMMY activities usually exist as an empty activity - they are not scheduled and simply exist to hold students.

Here is an example of when a DUMMY activity may be used:

MUSC10101 is a course that has two lectures per week. A student can take one or both lectures depending on their study choices.

You could set the course up like this (as two 1:many activities)

• MUSC10101/LECTURE_/01 Trumpet
• MUSC10101/LECTURE_/02 Piano

But this would mean a student would have to go to one or the other (and you wouldn’t have the option to allocate them to both if needed).

The correct way to record this activity would be:

• MUSC10101/LECTURE_TRUMPET_/01
• MUSC10101/LECTURE_TRUMPET_/02 DUMMY
• MUSC10101/LECTURE_PIANO_/01
• MUSC10101/LECTURE_PIANO_/02 DUMMY

Having the course set up like this means students will be available to be allocated on both ‘TRUMPET’ and ‘PIANO’ classes. If a student happens to take both classes, they can be allocated to both. If a student only takes ‘TRUMPET’ they can be allocated to that class, and then the ‘DUMMY’ class for PIANO.

The use of DUMMY activities is rare but does occur in isolated areas.

What is a jointly taught activity?

A jointly taught activity occurs when more than one activity (usually two) is combined in S+. This happens when a Course Unit has multiple versions for different cohorts that are essentially the exact same thing but require a different course code. 

Here is an example of a jointly taught activity:

ECON10172/LECTURE_1_/, ECON20172/LECTURE_1_/.

This has a bearing on student enrolment because the allocating of students still needs to be carried out on the individual Course Unit Activity Templates. You need to be mindful that the overall size is made up from multiple Course Units which are often not equal in size. 

So, using the example: ECON10172/TUTORIAL_/01, ECON20172/TUTORIAL_/01 with an overall joint group size of 30, ECON10172 is top heavy with students so the maximum allocation size of this side of the jointly taught tutorial group would be 25, whereas ECON20172 would have a maximum allocation size of only 3 students per group. The percentage differs between each jointly taught unit.

What is a variant?

A variant is when the weeks of an activity have been separated, creating a variant set of weeks. This occurs when only a specific set of weeks must be scheduled differently to the main week pattern of the activity - this might be due to room or staff availability for specific weeks. Here is an example of a variant week pattern:

ECON10171/TUTORIAL_/09 <03-06>

ECON10171/TUTORIAL_/09 <09-11>

ECON10171/TUTORIAL_/09 has a usual week pattern of weeks 03-06 AND 09-11, but in the example above, the weeks have been split, creating a variant week pattern.

Course compatibility describes how you want course units to interact with each other and is key to ensure units do not clash. This information is usually extracted from programme structures and is used to create ‘student sets’, which Faculty Schedulers will use during the modelling process to ensure that there are no clashes for each student pathway. For more information and training see Timetabling Data Capture Guide.

BLANK 2024-25 Course compatibility data capture sheets can be found on SharePoint.

Course compatibility describes how you want course units to interact with each other and is key to ensure units do not clash. This information is usually extracted from programme structures and is used to create ‘student sets’, which Faculty Schedulers will use during the modelling process to ensure that there are no clashes for each student pathway. For more information and training see Timetabling Data Capture Guide.

Course Unit Options Generator

The Course Unit Options Generator is a tool that can be used to figure out the number of pathways a programme has.

NOTE: it is not recommended to overload your course compatibility data. You should consider what has to work in the timetable vs what you would like to work. E.g. core units have to work with each other, and core units have to work with options; but do options have to work with other options?

Staff are added to their activities via the Activity Data capture process every year. Any changes and updates to staffing after the Activity Data has been submitted are made manually by the Faculty Scheduling Team.

i.        Using placeholders if staff member is unknown

If the staff member is unknown at the point of Activity Data capture, then a placeholder can be used if desired, e.g. ’NEW GEOG STAFF 1’. These placeholders are useful when a department knows that there will be a future recruitment / replacement, but the name of the staff member is currently unknown. 

ii.      New staff integration from P&OD

Staff can only be added to activities in S+ once they have been processed by P&OD and filter into the system as staff; this can often mean a new member of staff takes a while to appear. In these instances, the FST will add a temporary placeholder name (’NEW STAFF – STAFF NAME’) and will update the placeholder name as soon as that person becomes visible in S+. 

iii.    Staffing updates (post-activity data capture)

Staffing information often changes over the course of the year and updates will need to be made to ensure the correct staff member can see their activities and can complete attendance monitoring. Any updates to staffing should be sent to: HUMS-Timetabling@manchester.ac.uk

On occasion, you may want to add something to a student or staff timetable that isn’t a taught course, e.g. a Course Unit fair.

Please get in touch with HUMS-timetabling@manchester.ac.uk to discuss.

All activities categorised as a ’LECTURE’ within S+ will automatically be scheduled to record with the podcast system. Academic staff can opt out of these recordings by contacting the Podcast Team. 

All information on podcasts can be found here: https://www.mypodcasts.manchester.ac.uk/

Other event types such as tutorials, seminars, practicals, etc., are not automatically recorded and need to be manually scheduled using the Podcast Scheduler tool if they need to be podcasted.

 In order to manually schedule an activity for podcast:

• The event needs to take place in a podcast-enabled location and be scheduled in the timetable.
• Bookings should be made at least 24 hours in advance; podcast recordings cannot be guaranteed if it is booked less than 24 hours in advance.
• Only members of staff can schedule recordings and only if they have not already been opted-out.

When a change to a LECTURE occurs, e.g. a room change, the podcast recording will transfer with the activity if there is 24 hours' notice between the change and the next scheduled activity. However, if there is not 24 hours' notice, the Podcast Tool will not have time to update and will not automatically record the lecture.

If a manually scheduled podcast activity is relocated, the original request should be cancelled and it should be re-booked, it will not automatically transfer.

For a systems process map for timetabling detailing the relationships and integration timings between Campus Solutions, S+ and SEAtS: Overall systems process map for timetabling

Once a student enrols onto a course in CS (before 7pm), it will take until the following morning for them to appear in S+ ready to be allocated to the relevant 1:many activities (seminars / tutorials).

Enterprise Course Planner (ECP) is the tool used by schools to allocate students to their groups. ECP access and training can be requested via timetabling@manchester.ac.uk.

Students can be allocated to their seminars / tutorials in the following ways:

i. Random allocations (via ECP)

If students can go into any available seminar / tutorial group, ECP can be used to allocate students randomly. This is a quick method to allocate students. 

ii. Specific allocations (via ECP)

If students need to be in specific groups, ECP can also be used to assign individual students to specific groups as necessary. Using this method is also useful when swapping groups for individual students if they have requested to move.

iii. Specific allocation (via spreadsheet upload)

If students need to be in specific groups, a spreadsheet can be used for the allocation of students. This method is especially useful and quick if you have a lot of students that need to be assigned to specific groups. Get in touch with timetabling@manchester.ac.uk to discuss this method and to receive the required spreadsheet. 

It is vital that activities where students need to attend specific groups are completed before any random allocations take place (if possible). This is to reduce the risk of clashing a student. Courses with fewer 1:many activities should be prioritised over courses with more 1:many activities, e.g. a course which has only two seminar groups available for students to pick from should be allocated to before a course that has ten available groups. This is because the number of available pathways diminishes with the fewer groups available.

Once the timetable is published, a Timetable Change Request Form should be completed if a change to the timetable is required; this can be for any reason, from staff illness to a redesign of how the unit is taught. Depending on the type of request, authorisation for the change may be sought from the Vice Dean. The timetable publication date is 4th August 2025. Changes before this date can be sent directly to the Faculty Scheduling Team to action.

C&P teams should submit any change requests via https://timetools.manchester.ac.uk/  

Once the draft timetable is produced (and before room allocations are published), the FST will run reports on staff travel times between back-to-back teaching. Where possible, the FST will ensure that all back-to-back teaching occurs in rooms that are less than 10 minutes walking distance from each other.

With regards to student travel time, the FST is more limited in what can practicably be achieved. However, consideration will be given to known core activities to ensure they do not sit back-to-back with other core units.

Student DASS requirements where known should be recorded during the data capture period, focussing primarily on returning students and core activity at levels 2 and 3. 

For new DASS students and/or any changes to a student's DASS requirements, C&P/PGR Teams can make amendments during the draft timetable review period or, once the timetable is published, via the Timetable Change Request process.

All staff and students are expected to check their Publish timetable on a regular basis and should therefore be aware of room changes almost immediately.

When the FST are made aware of any room changes, they will email the relevant School C&P Team and associated academic (as per the allocated staff member on S+) to let them know of the change and include any information about alternative arrangements. It is the responsibility of the academic or the C&P teams to contact the students as necessary.

There are a number of reports available to Schools via Report Manager and Power BI:

Report Manager: Home - Report Manager (manchester.ac.uk)

Report Manager is accessed via Enterprise, but you don’t need S+ access. Anyone needing access to Enterprise should contact timetabling@manchester.ac.uk.

Reports that are available on Report Manager:

Attendance Lists (Report Manager):

Course Unit - List of Students by Activity
A list of all the activities for a specific course unit, and the students allocated to each one. Includes student name, SPOT ID and email address.

Student Email Addresses by Course Unit
A list of all students registered on a course unit, with their email addresses.

Student Signatures by Activity
A list of all students attending an activity, with space for them to sign their names.

Student Signatures by Course Unit
A list of all students registered on a course unit, with space for them to sign their names.

Students by Programme for a Course Unit
A list of all students registered on a course unit, grouped by their programme and year of study.

Data Health Checks (Report Manager):

Activities without Suitabilities or Preset Rooms
Produces a list of all activities where no room has been pre-selected AND there are no location suitabilities set against the activity.

Activity Templates and Activities
List of Activity Templates and associated Activities

Double Booked Locations
Reports instances where locations have been booked for two or more activities at the same time.

Double Booked Staff
Reports instances where a staff member is attached to two or more activities at the same time.

Double Booked Students
Reports instances where students are attached to two or more activities at the same time.

Scheduled Activities with no Students attached
A list of all activities belonging to the School which are scheduled but have no students attached to them.

Unallocated Student Sets
Report shows all the activity templates where one or more students have not been allocated to activities.

Timetable Grids (Report Manager):

Course Unit Timetable
Course Unit timetable for a single week, with one column per day.

Location Timetable
Room timetable for a single week, with one column per day.

Staff Timetable
Staff timetable for a single week, with one column per day.

Student Timetable
Student timetable for a single week, with one column per day.

Power BI Reports: Power BI (Navigate to ‘Timetable Reports’)

For access to these reports, email timetabling@manchester.ac.uk.

Reports that are available on Power BI: 

• Activity list
• Class lists
• Course unit timetables
• Room timetables
• Student timetables
• Unallocated students

Resource Booker can be accessed here: Resource Booker (manchester.ac.uk).

Resource Booker should be used to book rooms for ad-hoc meetings.

• Resource Booker should not be used for taught activity, e.g. missed seminars or lectures.
• Resource Booker should not be used to reserve rooms for future timetable activity changes.

There are nominated key academic stakeholders responsible for aspects of timetabling in HUMS. Academic Ambassadors connect the Faculty Scheduling Team and School Curriculum & Programmes / PGR Services Teams to the academic community.

The FST will share regular updates with the Academic Ambassadors and will liaise with them when sharing the draft timetable. More info on the roles and responsibilities of Academic Ambassadors can be found here: Academic Ambassador Network.

An up-to-date list of current Academic Ambassadors can be found here (access may need to be requested) - Academic Ambassadors.