FAQ — higher education use cases

Frequently asked questions from higher-education institutions (business schools, engineering schools, art and design schools, universities, continuing-education centers). The answers apply across these institution types; for the domain specifics see Higher education specifics.

Multiple timetables, each user sees only their own

Q. How can several timetables be managed in parallel so that each user sees, in their calendar, only the lessons that concern them?

A. Three mechanisms work together:

• On the administrator side, several timetables can be published in parallel over the same weeks, with dynamic merging — included by default with a Premium account (see Multiple active timetables in parallel).
• By default, each user only sees the lessons that concern them — their class, their groups, or their own lessons for a teacher. Filters are applied automatically at login according to the user's role.
• To view another scope (another class, another teacher…), the user applies a filter manually, provided their role allows it. The visibility restrictions make it possible, for example, to prevent teachers from seeing their colleagues' timetables.

iCal synchronization after a timetable change

Q. When a lesson is changed in Omniscol, is the iCal feed updated automatically?

A. Yes, provided you use an iCal subscription link (not a static download). The subscription link is dynamic; the calendar application re-fetches the feed at regular intervals, with a delay ranging from a few minutes to several hours depending on the application and its configuration. The calendar application decides the refresh rate, not Omniscol.

See iCal and iCal — subscription and dynamic link.

Notification on every change

Q. Can a notification be sent for every timetable change?

A. No automatic notification on every change: the volume would be unmanageable for recipients. Current approach: publish changes in batches via a summary email sent to a selection of the affected users (Send email).

Room within a macro-type / room category

Q. How can you indicate that a course must take place in a particular room belonging to a macro-type — depending on whether you want to force a specific room or let the engine choose within the category?

A. Via classroom specializations, which are free-form fields:

• Create a specialization matching the macro-type (for example "WORKSHOP", "IT-ROOM", "CHEM-LAB").
• Assign this specialization to the rooms concerned.
• On the course, indicate the required specialization. Omniscol suggests the specialized rooms first and the solver picks one of those available.
• To force a specific room, indicate it directly (in addition to the specialization, or instead of it). The solver honors the forced room.

For bulk imports, you can indicate only the specialization; the solver takes care of the final assignment.

Checking room occupancy before generation

Q. Is there a report to check, before generation, whether the hours assigned to a room or to a room macro-type fit within the total available hours?

A. The Generation tab runs a preliminary diagnostic: capacity checks (number of lessons to place compared with the capacity of the time grid) and compatibility checks on classroom specializations. A warning is raised in case of over-allocation. The post-publication dashboard gives the actual detail (taking absences and substitutions into account).

Duration of each individual course at import

Q. In the import file, the "duration" column contains the total hours of an activity, which may combine several courses. Where should the individual duration of each course be indicated?

A. An import row corresponds to one course. The duration entered is that of this course, not of the module. For a module containing several courses of different durations, you therefore need one import row per course.

If the source aggregates ("Algebra = 30 h total"), you must break it down before importing — or use automatic distribution to split a volume of hours into individual courses.

Courses on certain weeks only

Q. How can you indicate that a course only takes place on certain specific weeks of the academic year?

A. It depends on the mode:

• In weekly mode, alternate weeks cover the case where a course only recurs one week out of N. For a course that only falls on a few specific weeks of the year, calendar mode is more appropriate.
• In calendar mode, each lesson is placed individually on its date: this is built in.
• At import, enter the date of each lesson in the dedicated column (format YYYY-MM-DD), or leave it empty for a lesson to be placed manually later.

Cross-class / cross-cohort courses

Q. How do you model courses where, in the same time slot and the same room, several groups of one class or of different classes take part, sometimes for different subjects, sometimes on different campuses?

A. Depending on the case:

• Several groups of the same class in the same slot, same subject, same teacher, same room — a single course assigned to a super-group. Fixed composition → class division if applicable. Evolving composition → group of groups, available on all accounts and all timetable types.
• Several different classes in the same slot, same subject, same teacher, same room — an alignment when the composition is fixed, or a group of groups (available on all accounts, all timetable types) when the grouping must remain flexible.
• Different subjects in the same slot and the same room (rare case) — two separate courses are needed. Each student sees, on their timetable, the subject of their own group.
• Across two sites (two classes in different locations sharing a course) — supported, provided the shared room or the videoconference is modeled correctly (see virtual sites).

Alternating instructors on the same time slot

Q. How can you indicate that two teachers alternate on the same time slot, the same day of the week, with the same class / subject / group — one teacher one week, the other the next?

A. This is an instructor alternation, not co-teaching in the strict sense (which implies two teachers simultaneously on the same lesson). Two implementations depending on the cadence:

• Regular alternation in weekly mode — use alternate weeks with a different teacher on each week.
• Alternation on specific dates in calendar mode — create one course per lesson with the corresponding teacher. More verbose but more flexible: each lesson can be adjusted individually.

One-off co-teaching (visiting professor)

Q. How can you indicate that, for one or a few lessons only, a visiting professor co-teaches a course with the main teacher?

A. In calendar mode, create the ordinary lessons with the main teacher only, then for the lessons where the visiting professor takes part, add them as a co-teacher on the specific lesson. Each teacher is credited in their own statistics.

Videoconference link per course

Q. Can the videoconference link only be attached to a whole class, or can it be attached to a specific course or lesson?

A. A videoconference link can be defined at three levels: on the class (it then applies by default to all its lessons), on a specific course, or on an individual lesson in calendar mode. This suits hybrid sessions where only some courses are delivered remotely. See Videoconference links per course.

Students repeating a year and off-track students

Q. How do you manage a student who must attend a subject from another year (repeating a year, catch-up, fuori corso, etc.)?

A. A student can be assigned to several classes simultaneously, and restricted to certain groups of a class. Four typical cases:

1. Another entire class + a specific group of a third one — assign to both and pick the group.
2. Several groups of another class without the whole class — assign directly to the groups.
3. A single subject from another class via a specific group — create a dedicated group in the other class and assign the student to that group only.
4. Off-track student retaking an isolated subject — same logic with a dedicated group.

SIS ID as unique identifier

Q. Can the student or teacher identifier coming from our SIS be used as the unique identifier in Omniscol, to avoid confusion between people with the same name?

A. Yes, via the Registration number / external identifier field on the user record — that is exactly what it is for. Fill it in at import and Omniscol will use it as the identification key. Particularly useful for two-way synchronizations with your SIS (see synchronization with external systems for Aurion / Auriga or Omniscol API for a custom integration).

Several email addresses per user

Q. Can two email addresses be imported for the same teacher (institutional and personal)?

A. Not in the current interface: one main email address per user. If a second address must be kept for information purposes, use the Comment field of the user record. This field is not used as a sending address.

Learners, students, participants — which entity?

Q. Our reference model distinguishes learner (general term), student (initial education), participant (continuing education). How do these nuances map?

A. All map to the Omniscol student entity (role student). The distinction between initial and continuing education is handled by an optional attribute on the record (SIS registration number, status), not by separate entities.

Instructors: permanent, adjunct, expert, visiting

Q. Our reference model distinguishes permanent teacher (permanent contract, distributed time), adjunct instructor (one-off contract), expert (occasional external provider), visiting professor (invited academic). Do they all correspond to the same Omniscol entity?

A. Yes, all map to the teacher entity (role teacher). The per-teacher "external / adjunct" marker that distinguishes them from permanent staff is a Premium option (see external teacher); without Premium, the four profiles remain a single teacher entity, without a dedicated marker.

The "course leader" and "program director" roles are business roles internal to your institution. Omniscol does not model them as such, but can represent them through the custom roles.

Programs, curricula, study tracks

Q. Our offering is organized into programs (PGE, MBA, MSc, PhD, etc.), management courses (UE / EC / ECUE), teaching activities (sessions). How does this map into Omniscol?

A. Recommended mapping:

For hierarchical nomenclatures (UE → EC → ECUE), a naming convention on subjects ("UE3-EC2-ECUE1 Linear algebra") or the use of subject groups can represent the grouping.

Mobility, exchanges, double degrees

Q. How do you manage incoming and outgoing mobility (academic exchanges, double degrees, free movers, study abroad)?

A. On the timetable side, these learners are ordinary students assigned to specific classes. The administrative management (agreements, credits, ECTS, status) belongs to the institution's SIS; Omniscol focuses on the question of "who attends which course, when, where".

Configuration recommendations for higher education

For a higher-education account, consider:

• Premium account: calendar mode, calendar availability and multiple active timetables are included by default, as is MCP (connecting a compatible AI assistant). Complement as needed with the contractual options: custom roles, snapshots, real-time collaboration. (Groups of groups, by contrast, are available on all accounts.)
• Calendar mode for most timetables (individually dated lessons, instructors varying from session to session).
• Multiple active timetables in parallel per program (one timetable per master's program, merged dynamically when courses are shared).
• Groups of groups for evolving cross-program groupings (multi-track common core).
• Multi-room for exams split across several lecture halls or for broadcast lectures.
• Custom roles to model course or program leaders with permissions targeted to their scope.
• SIS integration (synchronization with external systems for Aurion / Auriga, or Omniscol API for a custom integration) to synchronize learners.
• OIDC / SSO with the institution's identity provider (Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, Keycloak, etc.).