What strategies are important in developing an academic scheduling policy?
First, caution should be exercised in the assignment of activity and room ownership. To that end, a reasonable and equitable standard for the coding of activities and room is essential so as to combat the common tendency to keep activities and rooms out of the “general pool.” The committee should understand the nature of the activities and rooms that are controlled by departmental groups. A lecture room with maps on the wall or a cabinet full of a department’s supplies is still a lecture room that should be used by the campus as a whole. Secondly, focus the efforts of the policy and the committee that enforces it on your institution’s constraints. This is the idea behind usage standards (see, “What are the key components of an academic scheduling policy?”). Focusing on the average utilization of space during the entire scheduling week is a much lower impact exercise than focusing on the time and space “bottlenecks” (see, Capacity Management Whitepaper). Finally, concentrate on equippin
