Generating time tickets

Owned by Stephanie Davis
Last updated: Sept 23, 2024
4 min read

Time ticketing involves assigning a registration roll-in time for students based on their earned credits.  Graduate-level students roll in on the first and second days of priority registration. Undergraduate students begin on the third day.  Law School generally rolls in two weeks after everyone else. Consortium students are allowed to register after all GR and UG student roll-in times have passed. All non-special students will have a time ticket, but only special populations of students will have registration PINs.

Time ticketing is managed on the SFARGTC Banner form. Set up time tickets using the SFRCTRL table dump from the previous term (see Request and Configure Table Dumps - SFRRSTS, SFRRFCR, SFRCTRL).

The goal is to try to divide the number of students registering as evenly as possible over the allotted roll-in times based on students' earned credit ranges.

 

** Beginning in 2024, summer SFRCTRL time tickets will mirror the spring setup.**

Distributing students across roll in times

  • Run the Cognos report TU Groups > Registrar > Registrar Reports > [Templates] > time_ticket_config

    • This report has three prompts:

      • Current Registered Term – the current term

      • Student level – UG or GR (PR and M are rolled into the GR population automatically)

      • Minimum Group Size – this will be an educated guess

    • This part is a bit of a guessing game/trial and error.  For instance, if there are two days of GR registration with 9 roll in times per day (hourly, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm), then the report needs to be rerun adjusting the minimum group size until the report returns 18 distinct roll in times. 

    • Continue rerunning the report, adjusting the minimum group size, until you have the desired number of roll in groups.

      • The number of groups can be calculated by multiplying the number of days allocated for priority registration by the number of roll in times per day (9).

      • Be sure to take zero (0) credit students into account. The generated Cognos report only displays students with earned credits greater than zero. The number of zero-credit students per level can be found on the 2nd tab of the report output.

    • Sometimes groupings can be manually updated to achieve the desired number of roll in times.

      • For example, if roll in time #1 has 100 students and roll in time #2 has 5 students, you can manually adjust roll in time #1 to equal 105, and time #2 to equal zero (0).

      • Do this if you are only one or two roll in times off the target number.

    • This process needs to be completed for 2 groups – GR and UG students.

Merge roll in time information

Build SFRCTRL table upload

  • Use the roll-in document created above to create the SFRCTRL table upload for the upcoming term(s).

    • Roll in times should be coded in military time.

    • Each roll in time will have two records:

      • The first record will be from the start time and date until 11:59 pm (2359) the same day.

      • The second record will be from midnight (0000) the next day until 11:59 pm on the very last web registration date.

        • Midnight records can encompass all roll in times for the previous day in one row.

    • A catch-all 0 PIN must be created for 11:59 on the very last registration date or none of the other PINs will function properly.

    • Create a unique PIN for each day of priority registration. These PINs may be used if Banner coding or some other error is preventing a student from registering after their allotted time ticket has opened.

When setting up registration for an upcoming fall term

  • An FTF registration PIN must be built for June 1st. The June 1 PIN will be assigned to incoming students (N student types) as part of the Slate-to-Banner feed when the student deposits. This population will be given an Advisor registration hold at the same time. The hold will prevent students from registering before their initial appointment with Academic Advising. Advisors will be responsible for end-dating the holds, allowing students to register.

  • Honors Weekend students will be coded with PINs depending on which event they attend.

    • Check with IT and Undergraduate Admissions to ensure that programmatic application of these PINs is working as expected.

      • Admissions must create special event codes in Slate and Banner.

      • PINs should be applied as part of the Slate-to-Banner feed.

When setting up registration for an upcoming spring term:

  • Create a Spring Scholar registration PIN based on a date obtained from Undergraduate Admissions.

    • Spring Scholars should also receive the Advising registration hold that will prevent students from registering before their initial appointment with Academic Advising

  • Spring semester registration periods will have a full day devoted to zero hour PINs. These PINs will be randomly assigned to all current, fall-registered students who do not yet have any earned credits (fall FTFs).

    • NOTE: Beginning in 202130 AP and IB credits no longer count toward a student’s earned credits for the purpose of time-ticketing. This was enacted in an effort to be more equitable for students whose high schools did not offer these programs.

  • Beginning in 2024, summer roll in logic will mirror that spring’s logic.

    • Make sure all summer PINs (athlete, zero-hour, etc.) match the students' spring PIN coding.

Upload SFRCTRL to Banner

Once SFRCTRL has been completely updated for the configured term(s), return to IT for upload into Banner.

  • Run a Time Ticket Report to check for errors. https://tulaneu.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/REGISTRAR/pages/129237011