FAQ
Q: Does "timetable around" timetable around the Periods set by Lines already on the grid? Or does it treat new years lines as being the same as the year already on the grid?
Q: If I have year-long courses and semester courses in my dataset, do I need to make them 2 unit courses and 1 unit courses respectively, to be correctly defined?
Q: How long should you allow "improve" to run to get the best results? At what point can we call the "improve" stuck?
Q: Is it possible to include a negative penalty to increase the likelihood of say afternoon doubles for PE?
Entering a negative penalty in
Grid > Master grid > Weights > Spreads > Afternoon doubles will encourage afternoon doubles. Refer to:
E10 - Weights
Q: Where do I pin staff?
In
Grid > Master grid, select the
Staffing icon from the Actionbar on the right hand side of the screen > select
Staffing > Select the
pin icon > Stipulate your
Selection > Select
Pin. A pale blue message box will temporarily pop up in the left bottom corner of the screen to indicate the staff that was pinned. Utilise the 'Pin Staffing' functions to ensure that changes to staffing are restricted to the classes you want to change.
For example to resolve a clash with an *HIS class you may: 1. Pin all Staffing 2. Unpin classes using Wildcards (eg 8HIS*, 7HIS*). Note – Pinning of Staffing is cleared if you leave and re-enter the Master Grid. Ensure you have done the pin/unpin before each Improve with Staff Swaps. Refer to: E10 - Tips for solving timetabling clashes and spread issues
Q: Can you explain the weighting I need to input for a 2 week cycle to mirror each week?
This only applies to timetables with a 2-week cycle. 2 week symmetry is encouraged to allow part-timers to get the same day off. Go to
Grid > Master grid > Weights > Spreads > Two week symmetry, increase the penalty score if you are not getting a class's lessons in the same periods each week, which will encourage timetables to look the same from week to week, across your timetable cycle.
Refer to: E10 - Weights
Q: How do I manually change a teacher in the Master grid?
Right click on a class, select F4 / Change teacher from the popup. Another pop up will appear where you can select a 'New teacher' from a drop down field containing all the teachers available in that class's teacher set. Hit Ok to change the assigned teacher for the class. You also have the option to select 'No-one', which will remove the current assigned teacher and assign None to the class.