Tutorial

How to use the Bidding System in CAESAR

Quick How-To Guide:

This slide deck provides a quick step-by-step tutorial (including screen shots) for using the bidding system: Law Bidding Tutorial.

Detailed Information:

CAESAR menu options
View Bids

After placing and saving your bids, select this option to view them. You will see the bids that you have saved. It is recommended that you always select this option after you have submitted or modified your bids to confirm your actions.

Submit/Change Bids

This is the where you will build your list of desired classes and assign point values to your bids. This page will display your name, your student Wildcard ID (called the EmplID), your year in school, and the number of points you have to spend.

Select a class by using the drop down list appearing under Law Class Bids / Class Nbr.  In the box labeled New Bid, assign the number of points you wish to bid for that class. To add a bid for another class, click on the “+” sign, select a new class from the drop down list, and assign points to that class bid. You may bid up to ten classes.  You may click the Course Bidding History or Instructor Bidding History link to check bid history for a particular class after you select a class and before you assign points for that bid.

You will note that your point balance changes as you allocate points to your bids.

To delete a class from your bid list, click the “-“ sign for that class.

Be sure to select the “Save” button at the bottom of the page.  We recommend doing this after each bid. To cancel any changes that you make in a session, select the “Clear Changes” button at the bottom of the page.

Be sure to View Bids to confirm your bids appear as you planned.

General Principles

  • Entering Your Bids: 
    • You will differentiate your class preferences by assigning point values to each bid you place.  The system will try to resolve the bid with the highest value first, and therefore each bid must have a distinct and different number of points assigned.
  • Bid Changes and Modifications: 
    • You may change or modify your bids at will during Round 1 and Round 2.  You may cancel any successful bid or waitlist position at any time during Round 2 or Last Chance to recover the points.
  • Co-Requisites:
    • If a class has a co-requisite, you must bid at least one more points for the co-requisite class than the class that requires it.
  • Time Conflicts:
    • You may bid for classes that have a time conflict, however, the system is designed to consider the class with the higher number of points first and, if you are successful, deny the class with the fewer number of points because of the time conflict.  If you are denied a class because of a time conflict, you will see the message TIME.
  • Multiple Section Courses:
    • You may bid multiple sections of the same course.  The system will place you in the section with the highest bid, if it can, and deny placement in lower bid sections.  If you are denied a class because you were admitted to another section of the same course, you will see the message “SEC.”
    • If the highest bid is denied, the system may place you on the waitlist for that section and resolve one of the lower bids to GOOD.
  • Maximum Number of Bids and Credits:
    • You may submit bids for up to 10 classes.  The bidding system will stop placing you in classes or on waitlists when doing so would give you more than 17 semester hours of credit, which is the maximum number of enrolled credits allowed in the semester. If you are denied a class because you have exceeded the 17 credit limit, you will see the message “CRED”.
  • Bid v. Cost Values: 
    • A successful bid in either round will cost you either one point (if the class does not fill) or, if the class does fill, the lowest number of points successfully bid for that class, regardless of the number of points that you bid.  For example, if you bid 500 points and the lowest successful bid is 100 points, you will only be charged 100 points.
  • Waitlist Positions: 
    • Waitlist positions cost the number of points you bid on the class (regardless of the cost of a seat in the class to the last successful bidder).   If you are assigned to a waitlist, you will see the message SIZE along with your waitlist position number when you view your bids at the end of each Round.
    • If you cancel a waitlist position after Round 1, you recapture the points, but lose your position on the waitlist.  You may re-bid the class in Round 2, but your position will be farther down the waitlist than those students on the waitlist from Round 1.  Once on a waitlist from Round 1, you will not be superseded by a higher point bid in Round 2.
Bidding Results

After Rounds 1 and 2, we will process your bids to results. The results will be displayed on this page.

This page displays the points you bid for each class as well as the actual cost of the class. If you were unsuccessful in securing a seat, this page will tell you why. If your bid placed you on a waitlist, your position on the waitlist will be indicated by the number shown under Status.

Cancelling bids

This page is also where you can cancel a bid that would place you in a class (Status "A" and Reason GOOD) or on a waitlist (Status "###" and Reason SIZE) and recapture the points that were spent. You will use this page during the Last Chance period to recapture points, if that is what you want to do.

To cancel GOOD or SIZE bid, check “cancel.”  When you do, a “confirm” check box will appear.  You must check this box as well, then save your action.  This additional step is designed to help you avoid inadvertent cancellations.  Cancelling a bid cannot be undone.  Once you check the boxes under CANCEL and CONFIRM and click save, the bid is irrevocably lost and we cannot guarantee you will be able to enroll in that class should you later change your mind.