CASE STUDY
Notre Dame Has Scheduling Success with CourseLeaf
At a Glance
Institution Type: Four-Year Private
Enrollment: 13,800 students
SIS Integration: Ellucian Banner Integration
Challenge: Homegrown scheduling system; Time-consuming workarounds; Inequitable room allocation; Repeated Banner updates
CourseLeaf Solutions: CourseLeaf CLSS Academic Scheduling Software & Analytics
Rethinking Academic Scheduling
Like many colleges and universities, the University of Notre Dame had developed its own homegrown system to manage the master course schedule. While the system had served the institution for years, scheduling had become increasingly difficult as campus needs evolved.
Manual workarounds, limited scheduling flexibility, and challenges with room allocation were consuming valuable staff time and creating frustration across departments.
According to Rochelle Jones, Associate Registrar, the university recognized it was time for a new approach.
"The old system had been in place since 2011 and needed to be revamped."
Looking Beyond a Homegrown Solution
As Notre Dame evaluated new scheduling solutions, the university wanted to preserve the functionality that had worked well while eliminating the limitations of its legacy system.
One of the biggest challenges was the inability to manage multiple terms throughout the scheduling cycle.
"[Our homegrown system] would only manage one term at a time, and once you did the first couple of months of creation and sent it to Banner, all future changes were manual. Our school does so many changes all the time, adding new sections, changing enrollments, so having that flexibility from start to finish was really important to us," said Jones.
The university also wanted to improve room allocation, reduce manual effort, and give academic departments better tools to plan for future terms.
Building the Solution Together
As implementation discussions progressed, Notre Dame and CourseLeaf developed a collaborative partnership that extended beyond a traditional software deployment.
Notre Dame brought years of scheduling experience and a clear vision for how the solution should support its academic processes, while CourseLeaf contributed the technical expertise needed to bring that vision to life.
Reflecting on the implementation experience, Jones said,
"The CourseLeaf team has been awesome, very responsive. I can't say enough about how great they've been."
Giving Departments More Flexibility
With CourseLeaf CLSS in place, departments can make scheduling changes in real time while benefiting from improved visibility into scheduling data and future planning.
Jones believes one of the most valuable capabilities is CLSS Framer, which allows schedulers to compare multiple terms side by side.
"With CLSS, we anticipate the Framer and its ability to show you multiple terms in different years side by side will be a popular feature for our schedulers next year to predict how many sections they'll need when adjusting back to normal after COVID-19," said Jones.
The launch generated enthusiasm across campus, including among faculty already familiar with CourseLeaf.
"One faculty member had used CourseLeaf at a different institution and was very excited about using it again," recalled Jones.
Today, CLSS supports scheduling throughout the academic cycle rather than only during the initial schedule-building period, giving departments greater flexibility as changes occur.
More Time to Support Students
Beyond improving scheduling, CLSS has allowed the Registrar's Office to spend significantly less time managing administrative tasks.
The scheduling team now spends approximately 25 to 50 percent less time managing the class schedule each term.
According to Jones, that time savings has a direct impact on students.
"When students register, that's where we see the value, as we see our savings in time go into supporting students through registration."
The transition has also reduced demands on campus technology resources. Rather than maintaining and troubleshooting a custom scheduling system, the university's IT staff can focus on new initiatives while CourseLeaf supports the scheduling platform.
Supporting Continuous Improvement
Today, Notre Dame manages academic scheduling through a more flexible, collaborative process that supports multiple terms, streamlines workflow, and reduces manual effort.
By replacing a homegrown scheduling system with CourseLeaf CLSS, the university has improved operational efficiency while giving staff more time to focus on planning, supporting students, and continuously improving the scheduling experience.