Auto-fill for Course waiting list

1 Description

Up to now, there is still no easy-to-handle process for the management of a Course waiting list:
There isn't any "Auto fill" option, on the other hand the administrator isn't notified on waiting list candidates that are to be made a member after another one has left (or been deleted from) the Course. The notification (if it works at all) only notifies on a new membership without reference to the waiting list situation.

There are three issues in detail (in increasing complexity as I believe):

1. Notification on waiting list changes, i.e., new applications for Course membership that are put onto the waiting list, and users leaving the waiting list.
2. "Auto fill" option (like the one that aleady had been available some versions ago), i.e. an option for the administrator that allows to automatically fill up available places according to the users' dates of application.
3. Automatically administered waiting list, i.e., in case users leave the waiting list, those still waiting move up automatically according to their dates of application.

2 Additional Information

• Idea / concept: Suittenpointner, Florian [suittenpointner]
• Interest in funding: (please indicate if you are interested/able to fund this feature)
• Maintainer: Stefan Meyer, Leifos GmbH
• Implementation of the feature is done by Leifos 
• Testcases by: (please add your name if you want to create the testcases for this feature)

3 Discussion

Hansjörg Lauener, 01. Dez 2009: An institution at University of Bern needed the feature Waiting List Group, so we found funding at Bern for this feature. For this institution, the actual behaviour is excellent - they don`t need the possibility: "Waiting list member advance to member", because: "In der Tat ist es in diversen Veranstaltungen so, dass die Professoren nur eine gewisse Anzahl von BA-Studierenden aufnehmen. Mit anderen Worten, ich muss jeweils einzeln kontrollieren, wer im BA ist und nachdem die Maximalzahl der BA-Studierenden erreicht ist, dürfen keine Studierenden automatisch nachrücken. - Manchmal gibt es auch andere Kriterien, weshalb jemand manuell aufgenommen werden soll anstelle der automatischen Aufnahme, aber die obenstehende ist die wichtigste. Weiter ist es auch so, dass manche im BA immatrikulierte Studierende bereits MA studieren, was das System nicht erkennen kann."
 
So for us it is necessary to have the actual behaviour in future. Please inform me (lauener at ilub.unibe.ch) - if you implement this - we`d like to test the possibilities and give feedback. Thanks.

Florian Fehring, 21 Dec 2012: FH Bielefeld is currently developing an plugin "Buchungssystem für Selbstlernkurse" the issue 2 "Auto fill" option will be part of this. Concept is to give the possibility of automaticaly outrunning memberships on courses and groups. (like an "book borrowing system for libraries")

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe], August 17, 2015: We highly appreciate this feature and schedule it for 5.1 if

• The Waiting List/Autofill options will be transformed into a radio group "No Waiting List", "Waiting List without Autofill", "Waiting List with Autofill"
• The new events being raised are used.
• The feature is implemented for sessions and groups as well.
• If the autofill feature is activated and users are on the waiting list and free places are available, the user should be put into the course/group/...

Suittenpointner, Florian [suittenpointner], Dec 17, 2015:
We discovered some questionable effects of this feature in connection with approval-restricted self-registration for courses:
By automatically moving up from the waiting list ...

• an approval by the course administrator that should be necessary to join the course is bypassed.
• even users on the membership application list of are "overtaken":
   
  • Course has 1 free place and approval-restricted self-registration
  • 2 users make application for membership, both get on the application list (not on the waiting list because by now no one has become course member, so the free place is still free)
  • User 1 is accepted by the course admin and becomes course member; however, user 2 is not on the waiting list now but remains in the application list
  • now that the course is already full, some user 3 registers and gets on the waiting list; by now, there is a waiting list and an application list in parallel
  • Finally, user 1 is removed from the course
  • Result:
    User 3 moves up from the waiting list, user 2 remains on the application list.

• Is it a behaviour that makes sense?
• If no: Is this simply to be considered a case of non-preventable misconfiguration as there are many more possible ones?

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe], Jan 04, 2016: We can only prevent such a mis-configuration by extending the language variable for the auto-fill feature. We do not see a chance to prevent such mis-configurations technically. Jörg will improve the language entries for courses and groups.

4 Implementation

, 18 Aug 2015: This feature has been implemented for courses, groups and sessions. The unsubscribe event is still missing in trunk, so only a toggled "auto-fill" setting will currently trigger the process.

, 08 Jan 2016: Implementation has been completed for 5.1. Wording has been enhanced according to the JF decision.

Test Cases

Test cases completed at 26.07.2015 by Suittenpointner, Florian [suittenpointner]

• C6489: Automatisches Auffüllen in Kurs-Einstellungen aktivieren und deaktivieren
• C6490: Automatisches Auffüllen in Kurs über Mitgliederverwaltung auslösen
• C6491: Automatisches Auffüllen in Kurs durch selbständigen Kursaustritt auslösen
• C6492: Automatisches Auffüllen in Kurs durch Benutzerlöschung auslösen

Approval

Approved at 15/08/28 by Bromberger, Norbert [bromberger].