The primary operational setting for the Grader is designed for the Cal Poly Computer Science Department. The secondary operational settings for the Grader are the other departments in Cal Poly. Lastly, other operational settings may include other universities or educational institutions. The physical setting is a local machine connected to a central server. Users will authenticate through a system which will correctly identify them as either an instructor, a teacher's assistant, or a student. Students will be able to view and make prediction of their grades while instructors and teacher's assistants will be able to add or modify grades.

Prior to installing this new system, faculty members of the Cal Poly Computer Science Department have been using Microsoft Excel or other comparable spreadsheet tool to view and manage grades. They then may post grades on Blackboard or post them in some other way. Although these methods of managing grades are sufficient, they do not offer the robust functionality provided in the Grader.