Scheduling System > About the scheduling system

About the scheduling system

NOTE: If you are interested in integrating with the scheduling system, contact your Surpass Customer Success Manager.

Scheduler is an advanced scheduling and eligibility management system that helps centres organise test sessions, allocate resources, and manage test centre room availability.

This article explains what the scheduling system is and what the benefits of integrating with it are.

In this section

Integrating with the scheduling system

Scheduler is designed to automate and optimise complex timetabling needs using a combination of constraint-based logic and powerful optimisation algorithms.

The Scheduler API ensures accurate and efficient data exchange between Scheduler, the Surpass Platform, and other platforms, such as scheduling portals. This combination allows you to leverage Scheduler’s scheduling system capabilities for Surpass tests via your own scheduling portal or similar external service.

NOTE: Integrating with Scheduler for use as a scheduling system for Surpass tests does not require full use of Scheduler's extensive functionality. Therefore, this documentation only covers the requirements necessary to set up a basic test scheduling capacity and eligibility management integration between the Surpass Platform, Scheduler, and another service.

The Scheduler methods/endpoints not currently in use include being able to create, update, and delete test centres, rooms and modules.

Scheduler Entities

Before integrating with Scheduler, it is beneficial to have an understanding of how its entities all relate to each other. The core Scheduler entities are:

Terminology

Scheduler has its own standard terminology. The following table details how these terms correlate with Surpass terminology:

Surpass	Scheduler
ID	OptimeIndex
Reference	ID
Name	Description
Client	Department
Region	Site
Test Centre	Building
Test	Event
Candidate	Student
Test Booking	Enrolment

Also note:

Candidates have their own reference in Scheduler, as ‘Students’. However, if candidates require a log in to the Scheduler scheduling portal, you can create a ‘User’ account with the user type ‘Student’ and associate it with the ‘Student’ reference.
Users in Scheduler can be either candidate user accounts or staff members, defined by the userType property.
Modules are a container for tests (events) and candidates, and are a Scheduler-specific concept.