If your institution enters registrar information into the Ares system via course loading, Ares allows you to create new courses using data from the CourseValidation table. Search for course records created by course loading using the Search Course Validation feature available in the Search Courses group. From your search results, select the record you want to use to create the new course. The new course is created using data from the chosen CourseValidation record.
The Search Course Validation feature conducts a search of the CourseValidation database table using your search criteria. When you select a record from search results and click the Add Course button, information from the CourseValidation record is transferred to a Course form and automatically saved as a new course. The course instructor and other course users are populated from CourseUserValidation table records containing a matching Registrar Course ID. If the CourseUserValidation table does not specify an instructor, or if an instructor is found but an existing user with a matching Library ID cannot be found, the Instructor field will be left blank. Similarly, if the specified semester is not found, the Semester field will be left blank. These blank fields will fail validation and display an x to alert you to the error. Courses cannot be created without this information, so you will need to correct these fields and manually save the course.
Creating a Course
To create a new course from a CourseValidation record:
- Perform a search for the CourseValidation record you want to use by entering your criteria in the Search Courses box and clicking Search Course Validation.
- From the search results list, select the record you want to use to create your course and click the Add Course button.
- The Course form for the new course opens and is populated with fields from the CourseValidation and CourseUserValidation tables.
- If there are no start and end dates in the course validation record, these fields are populated with the default start and end dates for the semester.
- If there are no missing fields the new course is automatically saved to the database.
- If the Instructor or Semester fields are blank, enter the necessary data into these fields.
- Manually save the course by clicking the Save icon.
When you add a course from CourseValidation, Ares checks for existing courses that match the course validation information (Registrar Course ID and Semester) to prevent you from inadvertently creating duplicate courses within the same semester. The Semester field is included to accommodate institutions that may reuse the same Register Course ID from term to term. If you attempt to create a duplicate course, a popup message will warn you and give you the option to continue (Yes/No). The body of the message includes the course number, registrar course ID, and semester of the existing course.