Creating a Schedule 

The following applies to time-dependent courses.

Use

When you create or plan a course, you can define its time schedule. The time schedule you select determines the exact timetable for each day of the course.

There are two options:

·        You can copy the schedule of the course type where available.

·        You can create your own schedule for the course, which you can base on either a predefined schedule pattern, a schedule without a pattern, or a user-defined schedule.

When you change courses, you can also change the course schedule. Note that changing the schedule may cause problems with resource reservations. The resources you require for the new times might already be reserved elsewhere.

Procedure for Copying a Schedule

1.       Check whether a schedule has been assigned to the course or course type that can be used as a reference from which to copy. For this purpose, you can use the functions  display and  change under Schedule. These functions let you adjust the schedule where necessary.

If the course type does not have a schedule, the dialog box Create User-Defined Schedule appears where you can create your own schedule. For more information on creating a schedule, see below.

2.       Only relevant when you Create a Course with Resources: On the data screen under Schedule, select one or both of the following indicators:

§         a.  Period containing no days off

...

Period containing no days off

If you select this indicator, the schedule for the course is positioned so that no days off or public holidays fall during the period. It is of course possible that the system cannot find a suitable date for the event as a result of this specification.

§         c.   Include start day

Include start day

If you select this indicator, the system proposes a course that starts on the day specified in your schedule where relevant.

3.       If you want to copy the schedule of the course type (without changing it), under Schedule choose  Copy. The Select Schedule Model dialog box appears displaying all of the subtypes of the Schedule Model infotype that have been created, such as main schedule, alternative schedule.

4.       Select the schedule you want and choose .

If you decide to create your own schedule instead, in this dialog box do not choose , choose  Create. The further procedure is described below.

Procedure for Creating a Schedule

On the Change Course or Create Course data screen, under Schedule choose  Create. The Create User-Defined Schedule dialog box appears.

Choose one of the three tab pages, which are described in detail below:

·        Schedule with pattern

·        Schedule without pattern

·        User-defined schedule

Schedule with pattern

On this tab page, you can use a predefined schedule pattern to create your own schedule.

1.       Choose the possible entries help under Schedule. The Time Schedule dialog box appears with a list of all the schedule models defined including details of name, day number, start and end times.

The schedule patterns that are available in the input help here are created in Customizing for SAP Learning Solution or in Current Settings under Define Time Schedule.

2.       Select the schedule pattern of your choice and choose .

3.       Under Start day, either select a specific day of the week if you want the course to begin on a certain day, or select undefined.

4.       If the course schedule is to be repeated several times, choose Multiple (occurrences).Enter the number of recurrences in the Number field and specify at what intervals the dates should recur in either weeks or months in the At intervals of field. If you want the schedule repeated on a monthly basis, you can select 1^st , 2^nd, 3^rd or last under start day.

Under Schedule, you select the two-day schedule pattern. This schedule consists of a time block 9:00 - 17:00 for each day of the course. Select Monday as the start day. You specify that the selected schedule is to recur four times at intervals of one month. Finally, you specify that the course should always begin on the last Monday of the month.

5.       Choose Enter.

The system calculates the duration of the course based on your specifications and displays this under duration in days and duration in hours. The following values are output for our example:

Duration: 8 Days    64 hours

6.       Choose .

Schedule without pattern

On this tab page, you can create your own schedule in which you only specify the start day and the duration.

·        Specify the duration of the course in days and hours.

·        Under Start day, enter a specific day of the week. Otherwise, the start day is undefined.

·        Choose .

User-defined schedule

On this tab page, you can create a user-defined schedule in which you specify the start day and where relevant recurrence specifications. Instead of using the predefined day schedules of a schedule pattern, you can define your own day schedules containing different day segments. These day schedules are repeated on a weekly or monthly basis depending on what you specify under Multiple occurrences (if you select this option).

1.       Enter a day number.

2.       Use the possible entries help to select a day segment for the day number you entered.

These day segments consisting of up to three time blocks are created in Customizing for Training Management or in Current Settings under Define Time Schedule.

3.       To display the individual time blocks of the day schedule, press Enter. The course duration in days and hours is refreshed below the list.

4.       Repeat this procedure to specify each day of the schedule.

5.       Choose . You return to the data screen.

Result

You have created a schedule. On the data screen you can check and, if necessary, change the schedule by choosing  Display and  Change under Schedule.

The day data displayed when you choose  Display may change when you plan courses or create courses with resources once resources have been reserved and dates finalized.

See also:

Creating a Course (with Resources)