NORTHnav lets your advisees schedule advising appointments with you directly. Instead of trading emails to find a time, you set your availability at the start of each semester and your advisees pick a slot that works for both of you.

NORTHnav also handles the details that usually take the most time. It sends confirmation and reminder messages by email and text, and it syncs with your Outlook calendar so students cannot book over your existing commitments.

This page covers getting set up in NORTHnav, syncing your calendar, setting your availability, and tracking attendance. For guidance on the advising session itself, including DegreeWorks, the course catalog, academic maps, IRVM, and registration, see the Faculty Advising Handbook (MSUN sign-in required).

Using NORTHnav for advising scheduling is optional. If you want to cut down on scheduling email and give your advisees an easier way to reach you, this is the tool for it.

On this page

Before You Start

Account access. When your NORTHnav account is set up, you will receive an email notice from Enrollment Management. If you did not receive that notice, or you run into trouble logging in, email navsupport@msun.edu and we will get it sorted.

Your advisee list. Everything on this page depends on your assigned advisees already appearing in NORTHnav. The Registrar's Office assigns advisors at admission. In programs with more than one faculty advisor, assignment rotates among them. Students can request a change of advisor through the Change of Major form.

If your advisee list looks empty or wrong, email registrar@msun.edu. Recently changed assignments can take up to 24 hours to appear.

Time required. Syncing your calendar (steps one and two) is a one-time setup. Setting your availability (step three) is something you will do at the start of each semester.

Browser, not the app. The Navigate Student app is for students. As a faculty advisor, you will use NORTHnav in your web browser.

Step One: Sync Your Outlook Calendar

This is a one-time setup, and it is worth doing first. Once your calendars are synced, appointments students book in NORTHnav appear on your Outlook calendar, and commitments already on your Outlook calendar block students from booking over them.

Two things to understand before you start:

  • Availability has to be created in NORTHnav. Marking a block of time as free in Outlook does not make it bookable. Outlook can only take time away, not add it.
  • Both existing and newly added Outlook events are read by NORTHnav, using each event’s Show As status, explained in Step Two.

Students also cannot schedule during their own class times, so you do not need to work around their schedules manually.

To sync your calendar:

  1. Log in to NORTHnav in your browser. Along the left edge of the screen you will see a vertical toolbar of icons. Click the calendar icon.
  2. Look to the upper right of the calendar screen for the Settings and Sync link. Click it.
  3. Click Setup Sync.
  4. Choose Microsoft Office 365 (Latest Version).
  5. You will be redirected to sign in at login.microsoftonline.com. Sign in with your MSUN credentials and grant calendar permission when prompted.
  6. You will land back on the calendar settings page. Confirm your sync information now displays there.

Step Two: How Your Outlook Settings Affect Availability

This section prevents the most common complaint about NORTHnav, which is that it seems to take over your calendar. It does not. What it does is read the Show As status on your Outlook events.

How Show As works

Every Outlook event has a Show As status. NORTHnav reads it to decide whether you are bookable during that time.

  • The default for a new Outlook event is Busy.
  • Busy, Tentative, Working Elsewhere, and Out of Office all block student booking.
  • Free reads as available, but only if you also have NORTHnav availability set for that window. Free does not create availability on its own.

A worked example. Say you set NORTHnav availability for Tuesdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. You receive and accept an invite from a coworker on Tuesday from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., set to Busy by default. Students will see 1:00 to 2:00 and 3:00 to 4:00 as bookable, and the 2:00 hour will not appear. If you later change that meeting to Free, the 2:00 hour opens up for booking.

The nosync category

There is a common situation Show As alone cannot handle. You want to hold time on your Outlook calendar for NORTHnav student appointments, so colleagues looking at your calendar see you as unavailable, but you still want students to be able to book that time in NORTHnav.

Marking the block Busy would block students. Marking it Free would tell colleagues you are open. The nosync category solves this. Any Outlook event assigned to a category named nosync is ignored by NORTHnav entirely, so the time stays bookable for students while appearing committed to everyone else.

To create the nosync category:

  1. Go to your Outlook calendar view.
  2. Click New Event.
  3. Click Categorize.
  4. Choose New Category.
  5. Name it exactly nosync, all lowercase, no spaces.
  6. Pick a color so it is easy to spot on your calendar.
  7. Save.

On a Mac, Categorize may not appear in your toolbar by default. Click the three dots in the toolbar, choose Categorize, then Manage Categories. From there you can drag Categorize into the toolbar so it is available going forward.

Step Three: Set Up Your Availability

This is where you tell NORTHnav when you are available to meet with advisees. Set this up at the start of each semester.

If you have not synced your Outlook calendar yet, start with Step One. Your availability will not be accurate until your calendar is synced.

A note on your homepage. NORTHnav opens to Staff Home by default, which is where the My Availability tab lives. If you have switched to Professor Home at some point, use the dropdown attached to the word Staff at the top of the page to switch back.

To add availability:

  1. From your Staff Home page, click the My Availability tab.
  2. Click Actions, then Add Time.
  3. Select the days of the week and the time window you are available. If your schedule differs from day to day, you will need to create separate availabilities rather than one combined entry. For example, if you are free Tuesdays from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. but Thursdays only from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., that is two separate availabilities.
  4. Under "How long is this availability active?", select the current semester, the one your meetings will be held in. Advising for next semester's registration happens during the current semester, so choose the semester you are in, not the one your advisees are registering for.
    • Do not select Forever. It keeps you bookable through summer and every term after, whether or not you are available.
    • A Range of Dates option is available for special circumstances. If you use it, make sure your dates cover the advising window for the term.
  5. Check the box for "Add this availability to your personal availability link?"
  6. Select your appointment types. Faculty should select both Appointments and Campaigns.
    • Appointments lets advisees find you through the student scheduler or your personal scheduling link.
    • Campaigns lets Enrollment Management include you in the advising campaigns it runs each term, so your advisees can book with you through them.
    • Drop-ins is how you offer open office hours through NORTHnav. Students do not book a drop-in time ahead; they simply come during the window you set. Drop-in times are listed separately from bookable appointment times, so students can tell the difference. If you use this, set the Location to where you will actually be, whether that is your office, a lab, or a classroom.
  7. Select your meeting type: In-Person, Phone, or Virtual. If you select more than one, the student chooses at booking.
  8. Select your Care Unit, Location, and Service.
    • Care Unit: Academic Faculty
    • Location: the building where you will meet with students, usually the building your office is in. If you hold group advising in a computer lab, choose that building instead.
    • Service: select every service you are willing to offer. Each service has a set appointment length, so you do not need to choose one.
      • Academic Advising (30 minutes)
      • General Check In (30 minutes)
      • Career/Grad School Planning (30 minutes)
      • Graduation Application (30 minutes)
      • Withdraw (30 minutes)
      • Transfer Paperwork (15 minutes)

    Who can book you depends on the service. For five of the six services, students can book with you only if you are on their Success Team, meaning you are their advisor or one of their instructors this term. Transfer Paperwork is open to any student, because transfer students sometimes need a faculty signature to confirm a course match, even from faculty outside their program.

  9. Leave the URL / Phone Number field blank. Anything you enter here appears at the top of every confirmation email regardless of meeting type, which confuses students booking in-person appointments.
  10. Use Special Instructions for Students to tell students exactly where to find you. Your Location is only the building, so this is the only place students will see your room. Include your room number and how to find it, for example: "Cowan Hall, Room 305. Third floor, east end past the elevator." If you meet virtually, add your meeting link here. This text appears at the top of the confirmation email as long as the URL / Phone Number field above is blank.
  11. Max number of participants defaults to one. Increase it if you hold group advising sessions, such as in a computer lab where several advisees register at the same time. Choose the lab's building as your Location and put the room in Special Instructions.

Creating additional availabilities

Once you have one availability set up, you can copy it rather than rebuilding from scratch. This is how you carry your setup into a new semester, and it is also useful when you want the same setup on different days.

  1. Go to the My Availability tab.
  2. Check the box next to the existing availability you want to copy.
  3. Click Actions, then Copy Time.
  4. Adjust the days or times as needed. When copying into a new semester, select that semester under "How long is this availability active?" Save.

Your personal availability link

Each faculty member has a unique scheduling link, found on the My Availability tab. When an advisee uses it, the Care Unit and Location fill in automatically. The student picks the Service if more than one is available, then chooses a day, time, and meeting type.

Good places to share it: your email signature, your syllabus, a QR code on your office door, or your course site in the LMS. Sharing your scheduling link with advisees at the start of the semester is already recommended practice in the Faculty Advising Handbook.

Track Attendance

Before you begin. Information you enter into NORTHnav about a student becomes part of that student's official record and may be reviewed by the student. Write case notes with that in mind.

Marking a student attended

  1. Click the Appointments tab on your homepage.
  2. Under Reporting, find Recent Appointments.
  3. Check the student's name, click Actions, then Add Appointment Summary.
  4. Details auto-populate on the left, including the option to mark the student Attended.
  5. In the Appointment Summary field, add a brief note on what you covered, such as "Discussed registration for next semester." Keep your detailed advising notes in DegreeWorks.
  6. Click Save this Report.

Marking a student absent

Click Actions, then Mark No-Show.

Know what this does before you click it. Marking a no-show sends the student an email encouraging them to reschedule. If the appointment was booked through an advising campaign, it also returns the student to that campaign's reminder list. This is not a silent status change.

Documenting a drop-in

If you meet with an advisee outside a scheduled appointment, such as during office hours or an unplanned visit, you can still record it.

  1. Go to the student's profile.
  2. Click Report on Appointment.
  3. Adjust the Date of Visit and Meeting Time to when the meeting actually happened. Both fields default to the moment you create the record, not the moment you met.

Two things to expect: this creates a backdated appointment that syncs to your Outlook calendar, and the student receives no email for a drop-in Appointment Summary Report.

DegreeWorks

Record detailed advising notes in DegreeWorks rather than NORTHnav. For guidance on DegreeWorks notes and advising practice, see the Faculty Advising Handbook (MSUN sign-in required).

What You See on a Student Profile

A student profile in NORTHnav collects information from across campus in one view. Here is what is most useful to you as an advisor.

Student Summary. Ds and Fs, repeated courses, withdrawn courses, earned credits and the ratio of earned to attempted credits, and cumulative GPA.

Overview. GID, classification, most recent term, and majors and minors.

Categories. Attributes and affinity groups.

Links. DegreeWorks is reachable directly from here and links to the student's profile.

Student Info. Preferred contact information pulled from Banner. Email addresses and phone numbers are click-to-contact.

Success Team. The instructors, advisors, and assigned staff connected to this student. This is also where students are told to look when they need to find out who their advisor is, so you and your advisees are seeing the same list.

Holds. You can see the type of hold a student has, which DegreeWorks does not show you. Hold prefixes indicate the campus that placed them: HV for Havre, BZ for Bozeman, BL for Billings, and GF for Great Falls.

Options list. The Options list on the right side of a student's profile is where you message the student, add a note, and report on an appointment to document a drop-in visit. You may see other options, such as scheduling an appointment for the student. You are not expected to use them. The options you see depend on your NORTHnav role.

Early Alerts. You may see references to Early Alerts in NORTHnav. Early Alerts are managed by Student Support Services. For questions about alerts, email navsupport@msun.edu.

Adding a note

Notes in NORTHnav are separate from DegreeWorks. Keep academic advising notes, such as course plans and degree progress, in DegreeWorks. Use NORTHnav notes for non-academic information that could help other faculty and staff support the student, such as a referral to another office.

Example: "Student asked about paying for summer courses. Referred to Financial Aid."

Write every note assuming the student will read it. NORTHnav includes an option to share notes with students, and all notes become part of the student's official record. Keep notes factual and brief, avoid personal details that are not needed for the referral, and write only what you would be comfortable explaining to the student directly or in a formal review.

Common Problems

My advisee list is empty or wrong.
Email registrar@msun.edu. Recent assignment changes can take up to 24 hours to appear.

My confirmation emails show a link that does not apply.
The URL / Phone Number field on your availability puts its contents at the top of every confirmation email, no matter the meeting type. Clear that field and move the information into Special Instructions for Students instead.

A student says they cannot find a time with me.
Check three things. First, your Outlook Show As status for that window, since Busy, Tentative, Working Elsewhere, and Out of Office all block booking. Second, whether your availability is set for the current semester. If you used A Range of Dates, make sure the dates cover the time the student is trying to book. Third, timing. Students can book up to 30 days ahead and need at least 2 hours of notice, so a time later today or more than a month out will not appear.

Who to Contact

NORTHnav questions, access, and technical problems. navsupport@msun.edu

Advising process, forms, and academic questions. See the Faculty Advising Handbook (MSUN sign-in required), or contact the Registrar's Office.