The Mass Requests screen is used to mass add course requests to a group of students, mass drop course requests from a group of students, or replace a course request (drop and add a course request) for a group of students in one process. You can search for students using a variety of search criteria, such as students who were enrolled in a specific course during the previous school year.
Course requests can also be mass added to students using Automatic Course Requests.
Be sure the school year selected at the top-right corner of the screen is the year that you are scheduling requests, i.e. the next school year.
For help using the Mass Requests screen prior to version 12.0.41, see Mass Requests (Prior to 12.0.41).
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Mass Requests.
The Mass Requests screen is displayed, with the Add tab opened by default.
2. In the Request(s) to Add pull-down, select one or multiple courses.
Alternatively, click the Choose link.
In the pop-up window, click the Subject and Course.
After clicking the course in the pop-up window, the course will be selected in the Request(s) to Add pull-down.
The Request(s) to Add pull-down is a select-multiple; selecting a course using the Choose link will add the course selection to the pull-down, along with any other previously selected courses.
3. If desired, select up to three alternate requests in the Alternate Request(s) to Add pull-downs. These selections will display in the Alternate Course 1, Alternate Course 2, and Alternate Course 3 fields on the Student Requests screen.
If using a version of Focus prior to 12.0.71, the legacy "Elective Priority" field may display. Enter an Elective Priority, if applicable. Entering a 1 ensures the elective is scheduled at the same level as core courses. Electives with a 2 or higher will only be scheduled if the course with an elective priority of 1 is not scheduled. Leaving the elective priority blank indicates the course is a core or non-elective course, but if this is left blank, then alternative requests will not be looked at.
4. Select the Inclusion check box if all the students you will select from the search criteria need to be scheduled into an inclusion section as well as the primary section of the course.
When the students are scheduled, the system will look for sections that were set up with an inclusion section in Courses & Sections, and will only schedule the students into the section that has an inclusion section attached. If there are no inclusion sections attached to primary sections, the students will not be scheduled into the course.
Be careful that you only select the students in the list that need both the inclusion section and the primary section of the course. You will need to do a separate search and mass request for students who do not need inclusion.
5. Select Schedule First if the Scheduler should attempt to schedule this request first before all other requests not marked as Schedule First.
6. Select Do Not Schedule if the Scheduler should not schedule this course request.
When this option is enabled, the course request will have the "Don't Schedule" option enabled on the Student Requests screen.
7. If applicable, select teacher and period restrictions in the With and Without Teacher and Period pull-downs. One or multiple options may be selected in each pull-down.
Restrictions can only be set if sections have already been created for the new school year.
8. At the bottom of the screen, enter search criteria to locate the group of students. For example, to search for students scheduled into English 1 last year, click More Search Options.
9. In the pull-down, click the category, such as Scheduling.
10. In the list of fields, click the desired field, such as Scheduled into Course(s).
To quickly find a field to search by, enter the field name in the Search text box at the top of the More Search Options pull-down. Click the desired field in the search results.
11. Once the search field is added, set the search criteria. In this example, the search will look for students scheduled into English 1 last year.
12. Continue adding additional search criteria as needed.
If you have a spreadsheet that includes student IDs, the student IDs can be copied from the spreadsheet and pasted into the Student Search field.
For more information about searching for students, including searching using student groups, saving a student search, and more, see Searching for Students.
13. Once the course request information and the student search information has been added, click Search.
14. Select each student in the search results that the course request(s) will be added to, or select the check box in the column header to select all students in the list.
15. Click Submit Request to add the request(s) to the selected students.
A green check mark and confirmation message will display for a few seconds, indicating the course requests have been added to the selected students.
If you are dropping a course request for students and also adding a course request to the same students, the Replace functionality can be used. See Replacing a Course Request for a Group of Students.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Mass Requests.
2. Click the Drop tab.
3. Select the Request(s) to Drop. One or multiple courses can be selected.
Alternatively, click the Choose link.
In the pop-up window, click the Subject and Course.
After clicking the course in the pop-up window, the course will be selected in the Request(s) to Drop pull-down.
The Request(s) to Drop pull-down is a select-multiple; selecting a course using the Choose link will add the course selection to the pull-down, along with any other previously selected courses.
4. At the bottom of the screen, enter search criteria to locate the group of students. For example, to search for students with a course request for Eng 2, click More Search Options.
5. In the pull-down, click the category, such as Scheduling.
6. In the list of fields, click the desired field, such as Requested Course(s).
To quickly find a field to search by, enter the field name in the Search text box at the top of the More Search Options pull-down. Click the desired field in the search results.
7. Once the search field is added, set the search criteria. In this example, the search will look for students with a course request for Eng 2.
8. Continue adding additional search criteria as needed.
For more information about searching for students, including searching using student groups, saving a student search, and more, see Searching for Students.
9. Once the course request information and the student search information has been added, click Search.
10. Select each student in the search results that the course request(s) will be dropped from, or select the check box in the column header to select all students in the list.
11. Click Submit Request to drop the request(s) from the selected students.
A green check mark and confirmation message will display for a few seconds, indicating the course requests have been dropped from the selected students.
When a course request needs to be dropped from a group of students and replaced with a different course request, the Replace tab can be used to complete this all in one process.
1. In the Scheduling menu, click Mass Requests.
2. Click the Replace tab.
3. In the Request to Drop pull-down, select the course request that will be dropped.
4. In the Request(s) to Add pull-down, select the course request(s) to add. One or multiple courses can be selected.
Alternatively, click the Choose link next to Request to Drop or Request(s) to Add.
In the pop-up window, click the Subject and Course.
After clicking the course in the pop-up window, the course will be selected in the Request to Drop or Request(s) to Add pull-down.
The Request to Drop pull-down is a select one; selecting a course using the Choose link will replace any course already selected in the pull-down. The Request(s) to Add pull-down is a select multiple; selecting a course using the Choose link will add the course selection to the pull-down, along with any other previously selected courses.
5. If desired, select up to three alternate requests in the Alternate Request(s) to Add pull-downs. These selections will display in the Alternate Course 1, Alternate Course 2, and Alternate Course 3 fields on the Student Requests screen.
If using a version of Focus prior to 12.0.71, the legacy "Elective Priority" field may display. Enter an Elective Priority, if applicable. Entering a 1 ensures the elective is scheduled at the same level as core courses. Electives with a 2 or higher will only be scheduled if the course with an elective priority of 1 is not scheduled. Leaving the elective priority blank indicates the course is a core or non-elective course, but if this is left blank, then alternative requests will not be looked at.
6. Select the Inclusion check box if all the students you will select from the search criteria need to be scheduled into an inclusion section as well as the primary section of the requested course.
When the students are scheduled, the system will look for sections that were set up with an inclusion section in Courses & Sections, and will only schedule the students into the section that has an inclusion section attached. If there are no inclusion sections attached to primary sections, the students will not be scheduled into the course.
Be careful that you only select the students in the list that need both the inclusion section and the primary section of the course. You will need to do a separate search and mass request for students who do not need inclusion.
7. Select Schedule First if the Scheduler should attempt to schedule this request first before all other requests not marked as Schedule First."
8. Select Do Not Schedule if the Scheduler should not schedule this course request.
When this option is enabled, the course request will have the "Don't Schedule" option enabled on the Student Requests screen.
9. If applicable, select teacher and period restrictions in the With and Without Teacher and Period pull-downs. One or multiple options may be selected in each pull-down.
Restrictions can only be set if sections have already been created for the new school year.
10. Once the course request information has been added, click Search.
11. Select each student in the search results who will have the course request dropped and replaced, or select the check box in the column header to select all students in the list.
12. Click Submit Request to drop and replace the course request.
A green check mark and confirmation message will display for a few seconds, indicating the course requests have been replaced for the selected students.
