What is Departmental R25?

Resource 25 (commonly referred to as “R25”) is one of the family of software systems utilized by the Scheduling Unit of the Office of Classroom Management to schedule academic courses and special events in the 300 general purpose classrooms on the Twin Cities campuses.

At the direction of the Provost on on May 31, 2006, R25 was implemented as the enterprise-level scheduling system for all departmental classrooms, effective for Fall semester, 2006.

The Office of Classroom Management (OCM) provides R25 software to the university community for departmental classroom scheduling. This gives users the benefits of using this proven product for departmental classroom scheduling, while preserving the department’s autonomy and control over those rooms.

This initiative covers all departmental classrooms (departmental classrooms are designated in the University Space System as Use Code 120) See link to Department Classroom List under R25 Info. R25 is also available for scheduling other departmental spaces (i.e, labs, conference rooms, , studios) and/or resources (i.e., laptops, AV carts, or even SimMan in the IERC).

What are the Benefits of Using R25?

Departmental R25 users enjoy the benefits of the system's on-line interface with PeopleSoft which eliminates the need for the department to "double-enter" scheduling data. It also expedites the flow of important course scheduling information to systems, staff and students, and prevents double-booking of department space.

A dedicated Departmental Web Viewer visually displays room activity in graphic or tabular form, and allows for a quick search of a room or lab's availability. The Departmental Web Viewer also displays departmental room photos, equipment, features and departmental scheduler contact information for each room in the system. The Web Viewer website is maintained by OCM using R25 data supplied by the respective departments.

Participating departments and colleges also gain the added value of ready access to OCM Scheduling Unit staff for consultation.

A number of reports are available to participating departments for their rooms, providing department chairs and schedulers with important information about room usage that can be used in both current scheduling and in future planning. The R25 team has developed  instructions on using R25 to generate reports ranging from space utilization to daily operational calendars. Reporting instructions are available under R25 user support on the Scheduling page. 

While this initiative is focused on departmental classrooms, other rooms or equipment can also be scheduled by R25.

What is the Status of the Departmental R25 Rollout?

R25 is now the designated enterprise-level software tool for scheduling all department classrooms on the Twin Cities Campus. The R25 rollout began in 2003 with a successful pilot program with departments from AHC, General College, CLA and the College of Education. R25 was fully implemented by Fall semester 2006, and the number of participants has grown to 73 departments in 13 colleges with 204 users in the system. Both Mac and PC users are fully supported.  

What User Support is Provided by OCM?

OCM funds Resource 25 software licenses for all Twin Cities campus users.

OCM’s R25 team works  with  departments , providing initial user training as well as ongoing user support.

 The implementation process for any department begins with  the  identification of spaces to be scheduled, the features of those spaces, and any resources that a department will need to schedule.

The OCM R25 team enters and maintains the departmental room characteristics data base within the existing R25 structure with information supplied by the departments. New users  are provided with hands-on training in a computer lab with follow up to make sure the system is working for them on the job. OCM maintains the Departmental Classroom Webviewer site using departmentally provided information.

Regular user group meetings  provide an opportunity to both be updated on changes and a place to share information with the R25 community.

What’s Next for R25?

The R25 team is now expanding rollout of  R25 beyond departmental classrooms. At the request of departments, colleges and users, additional spaces, such as labs, are being supported  in R25 and are included in the departmental classroom system (even if they are other types of instructional space).

Also, OCM has started to rollout “Event R25” to non-academic scheulers for various other venues on campus. Please contact R25-Support@umn.edu for further  information about using R25.

What are the Steps to Getting Started in R25?

• Identify the person(s) in the department who will use R25 to schedule your space (often this person is the academic scheduling coordinator).
• Complete the R25 Access Form(s) and have it signed by department head (note: this form requires a brief description of the department’s current business process). Fax completed R25AR form to R25 Support at 612-626-1778.
• Complete Departmental Classroom Form(s) with information on all departmental classrooms to be scheduled using R25 (i.e. location, seating type, seating capacity, A/V equipment present, etc.) as part of the data preparation process. Email (R25-Support@umn.edu) or fax (612/626-1778) completed form(s) to R25 Support.