It takes a lot to put together a schedule of classes—from coordinating faculty schedules to determining what courses are needed. This is why the Office of the Registrar works hard to give units as much time as possible to edit a term’s schedule build.
Best practice—for everyone—is to have an accurate schedule of classes completed in time for room scheduling.
A schedule build occurs in stages. We’ve listed here the major periods that make up the build process. Specific dates are shared with schedulers when the distributed schedule is released for editing.
Each schedule begins with a copy of the most recent like term (fall gets copied to fall, spring to spring.) For IU Indianapolis, this process occurs in the second month of the term.
The Office of the Registrar takes a few weeks to make important preliminary edits to this copy before releasing the distributed schedule to departments.
The schedule opens for full editing by departments. Departments typically have five months of full edit access.
Full edit access ends when room scheduling begins. During this time, no edits to the schedule are allowed.
Learn more about room schedulingAfter initial room assignments have been made, the schedule is reopened for limited editing access. During this period, changes which affect day and time or add additional sections may be prohibited or put into a tentative status pending room availability. Many other fields also become restricted during this period. Changes must be coordinated with the Office of the Registrar.
The schedule is published online so students can prepare for registration. At this time, edits to certain values may be prohibited or cautioned. For example, course attribute changes now may affect a student’s degree progress.
Once enrollment begins for a term, changes to the schedule of classes become very difficult to accommodate for both students and administrators.
For example, after a student has enrolled in an online course, changing to an in-person instruction mode could cause major difficulty for their schedule.
Administratively, adjustments during this period require the Office of the Registrar to process complex changes, communicate with affected students, revisit classroom assignments, and coordinate with the bursar and Office of Student Financial Services on financial adjustments.
Please be judicious in any changes to your schedule after enrollment begins.
