Using the Itinerary Wizard to build your Interview day automatically

The Thalamus Itinerary Wizard allows programs to create templates of itinerary days and to automatically pair interviewers and faculty in their interview itineraries.

Programs that participate in ERAS, the Itinerary Wizard is included complimentary.  For all other programs, to use the Itinerary Wizard, you will need to have purchased access to it when signing up for your account. To add the Itinerary Wizard to your account, contact sales@thalamusgme.com

Additionally, your program will need to have Applicants imported and scheduled for interview days. You will not be able to user the Itinerary Wizard without Applicants scheduled for an interview. 

If you have already begun drafting an Itinerary Wizard, the Itinerary List page will be displayed.  View the Navigating & Managing the Itinerary List user guide for additional information.

Please Note: The maximum number of participants in a Twilio video room (the software that powers Thalamus video chat) is fifty (50) concurrent users at a time. If you need a session, larger than this, we recommend using an alternative option for this particular video conference session (e.g. use Zoom for a large meeting, and then Thalamus for your remaining meetings).

Set Default Video Software

To set the default Virtual Meeting option to Thalamus Video, Zoom, Webex, or Teams, navigate to the Program Page to select and activate any integrated 3rd party video software. 

If you are integrating with Zoom, Webex, or Teams please view the Integrating Video Apps section

• Select the default Video Software:

Navigate Back to Itinerary List

Once an Itinerary Wizard has been started, you can navigate away from the Itinerary Wizard and the draft will be saved.  All drafts started and completed by you will be stored in the Itinerary List. 

Navigate to the Itinerary List at any point by selecting the "Back to Itinerary List" button in the upper right-hand corner of the Itinerary Wizard.  

You can edit and come back to any Itinerary Wizard drafted and/or completed. 

Begin Building Itinerary Wizard

1. Navigate to the Itinerary Wizard by selecting the "Interviews" tab and then "Itinerary Wizard".
2. The Welcome to the Itinerary Wizard Information page will display.  This page will provide additional information about the Itinerary Wizard as well a link directly to the help center. 
3. Click the "+Create Itinerary" button to begin a new Itinerary Wizard
   

Note: Once you begin an Itinerary Wizard, this page will no longer be visible.

If you have already begun drafting an Itinerary Wizard, the Itinerary List page will be displayed.  Please View the Navigating & Managing the Itinerary List User Guide for additional information.

Step 1 - Event Settings

1. To start building, choose your desired event date in the drop down box in Step 1
2. Step 2 will automatically be selected after selecting a date.  Select the On the intro page, scroll down to access the "Default Location". You can choose between two options:
   • Virtual Interview (Thalamus): Will generate links for the Thalamus Virtual Interview platform. 
   • Virtual Interview (Manual): If you plan to use a virtual interview platform other than Thalamus and enter links manually or complete OR if you plan to have an in-person event.
   • Virtual Interview (Zoom/Teams/Webex):  If you plan to connect a 3rd party API to Thalamus.
     • View Integrating Zoom into your Virtual Interview Day
     • View Integrating WebEx for your Virtual interview day
     • View Integrating Teams for your Virtual interview day
3. To Ignore Faculty Availability entered, click the checkbox. This will allow faculty to be scheduled even when they have marked themselves as unavailable. Visit our Setting Faculty Availability guide for instructions on setting faculty availability. 
4. Click "Create New Schedule" if this is the first time using the wizard. 
   

Step 2 - Applicant Groups (Optional)

1. Create Applicant Groups (Optional)
   • Applicants can only be added into 1 group at a time, but you can schedule multiple groups into one interview session. In this example, we have created 3 Applicant groups for 3 Resident Round Table sessions. 
2. Add your Group name into the Group Name Field. 
3. In the Applicants drop down box, choose your applicants for this group. 
4. To add a new group, select the "+" sign. 
5. To delete a group, select the red "x". 
6. You can also auto assign your Applicants to a group. Create your group names, and before selecting any Applicants, select "Auto Assign".
7. In the auto assign module, you can exclude certain Applicants from being assigned to a group. Then select "Assign". 
8. To Save this step, select "Save" or "Save and Continue". To skip this step, select "Skip this Step".

Step 3 - Interviewer Groups (Optional)

Similar to creating Applicant Groups, Interviewer Groups can also be assigned in order to easily schedule bulk interviewers to specific items events such as Tours, Lunches, and Breaks. 

1. Create Interviewer Groups (Optional)
   • Interviewers can only be added into 1 group at a time, but you can schedule multiple groups into one interview session. In this example, we have created 3 Applicant groups for 3 Resident Round Table sessions. 
2. Add your Group name into the Group Name Field. 
3. In the Interviewers drop down box, choose the interviewers for this group. 
4. To add a new group, select the "+" sign. 
5. To delete a group, select the red "x". 
6. You can also auto assign Interviewers to a group. Create your group names, and before selecting any Interviewers, select "Auto Assign".
7. In the auto assign module, you can exclude certain Interviewers from being assigned to a group. Then select "Assign".
8. To Save this step, select "Save" or "Save and Continue". To skip this step, select "Skip this Step".

Step 4 - Group Events (Optional)

1. Create Group Events allows you to designate group activities during this itinerary day (Optional). These are activities that will occur during a set time for the day and include groups of applicants. 
2. Add your Event Name. You can choose from the drop down list of existing Event Names, or Add your own. 
3. Add the Event Start time and End time. 
4. Add your Groups of Applicants. You can select all Applicant groups or choose and individual group. 
5. Add your Faculty. You can add individual faculty or groups of faculty. Be aware that this will effect your faculty members ability to schedule interviews during this time. 
6. Add the Virtual Knock time. This will only be enabled if using Thalamus Video
7. To add a new event, select the "+" sign. 
8. To delete an event, select the red "x". 
9. To Save this step, select "Save" or "Save and Continue". To skip this step, select "Skip this Step".

Step 5 - Interviews

Create interview slots by the type of interview, how many each applicant should have, the length of the interview, how much time they should have between interviews, and how many minutes before the end of the session should an automatic virtual knock reminder be sent.

NOTE: The total number of the "How Many" fields for all Interview Types will be the total number of session each applicant will be assigned to. ie. If you have 1 Chair Interview, 1 Program Director Interview, and 4 Interviews then each applicant will be assigned a total of 6 individual interview sessions.

1. Choose the Interview Type. You can use an already created type from the drop down menu, or add a new type. 
2.  Choose the number of interviews of that type per applicant AND per interviewer in the "How Many" drop down box. Assigning the interviewers to each session will come in the next step
3. Choose the length of time in minutes for each interview in the "Length" drop down box.
4. Choose the amount of time between interviews in the "Time Between" drop down box.
5. Add the Virtual Knock time. This will only be enabled if using Thalamus Video Chat
6. To add a new interview slot, select the "+" sign. 
7. To delete an interview slot, select the red "x".
8. To Save this step, select "Save" or "Save and Continue". To skip this step, select "Skip this Step". 
   

Step 6 - Interviewer Types

Assign interviewers to the Interview Type you wish for them to be assigned to.  

1. Assign Faculty types will allow you to assign certain types of faculty to certain interview types. For Example, your Program Director can be assigned to your program director interview.
2. Add the faculty desired to each interview type (required) via the drop down box.  You can also add groups of interviewers to each interview type.
3. Auto assign faculty to each interview type if you do not want to do it manually.
4. To Save this step, select "Save" or "Save and Continue". To skip this step, select "Skip this Step". 
   

Step 7 - Preferences (Optional)

Interview preferences allow you to identify preferences in Faculty and Applicant pairings. 

1. Choose your Applicant from the drop down list.
2. Choose your rule:
   • "Avoid" will prevent the Applicant and Faculty from being paired.
   • Prefer" will prioritize the pairing of specific faculty and applicants. 
   • "Force" will force assign an applicant and interviewer
3. Choose your Faculty member. 
4. To add a new interview slot, select the "+" sign. 
5. To delete an interview slot, select the red "x". 
6. To Save this step, select "Save" or "Save and Continue". To skip this step, select "Skip this Step".

Step 8 - Finalize

Upon clicking Step 8 to finalize your itinerary, the Itinerary Wizard will automatically begin calculating your itinerary.  The Itinerary Wizard may take a up to ten minutes to finalize a solution.  If the itinerary is going to take more than 30 seconds to be created, a pop-up window will display to allow you to select the following actions: 

1. Terminate (or stop schedule): This will stop the Itinerary Wizard from running and completing the itinerary.  Any terminated itineraries will NOT BE DISCARD and be available in the Itinerary List and can be edited, completed, or discarded at any time.
   • To stop the itinerary, select "Terminate"
     
   • Click "Confirm" 
     
2. Continue in Background: By clicking this option, it will continue to run the Itinerary Wizard for that event while you continue to do other work or to start a new Itinerary for a different event.
   • When selecting Continue in Background, you will be immediately navigated to the Itinerary List page. 
   • View the Navigating & Managing the Itinerary List user guide for additional information on statues and managing itineraries.
     

Once the Itinerary loads in Step 8, the schedule built will be displayed.

1. You will be able to review any details about missing interviews if there are any in the "missing interviews" field.
   
2. You can then return to previous tabs to adjust your itinerary to address any missing interviews. For example, you may need to adjust the amount of time per interview, or adjust the number of interviews you have per applicant.
3. At the bottom of the screen, you have 3 choices:
   • Create & Publish Itineraries: This will create the itineraries in the Itinerary builder and publish them as viewable for applicants and faculty
   • Create itineraries: This will create itineraries in the Itinerary builder but will not publish them as viewable
   • Save as template: Allows you to save a template of your interview date for use on other dates. 
     
4. Once you have Selected to Create & Publish or Create itineraries, you will receive a confirmation screen that allows you to continue with additional wizards or view the itineraries in the itinerary builder. You can also access built itineraries by selecting the "Interviews" tab and then "Itinerary builder".

Continue editing or publish the created itinerary by navigating to the Itinerary Builder and viewing the Editing Event Sessions in the Itinerary Builder.