The E*Value Scheduling Optimizer (EVOS) is a tool designed by Advanced Informatics to integrate into the suite of applications known as E*Value. EVOS will be operated by the Office of Student Affairs and will serve as its enrollment management tool by assigning students to their clinical curriculum including Advanced Studies, Core Clinical Experiences and Flexible Experiences. All students regardless for matriculation year will preference sites and/or courses and receive an assignment via the online module.

Yes; you will access EVOS similar to Evaluations—via an e-mail invitation; you will also be able to access the module from within the E*Value application by clicking on the Schedule Optimizer button on the top menu.

The School of Medicine has a requirement that a minimum number of preferences must be entered by each student in order to run the application.

Some schools use the N+1 rule, which automatically assigns students “Any Site, Any Course, Any Time Frame” as their last preference. Students entering fewer preferences in an attempt to give the optimizer fewer ways of satisfying them would be at a disadvantage, as their (rule-generated) preferences would include every assignment, whereas another student with more (manual) preferences would have more specific assignments preferences than the “gaming” student.

EVOS utilizes a linear algebraic scoring algorithm that creates a schedule yielding the best overall cumulative score. Sequential lottery systems do not create a ‘best’ schedule because their sequential nature blocks better options later in the process. E*Value has done several side-by-side comparisons and the sequential lottery system could not come close to matching the results of the optimized schedule.

Students will be given access to the preference screens under the Scheduling menu. There is also an Availability Report menu item that some clients give to their students that will allow students to see where and when there is availability for which courses, but this entirely at the discretion of the client.

Student Affairs will manage Individual Scheduling Requests utilizing an application built into the E*Value software. The process will allow students to enter their schedule change requests directly into the E*Value interface, then the SA Administrator will have the option to manage the request by Accepting, Rejecting or putting the request on a Wait List.