How to get the timetable file to 100%. This article is intended for Admin. (Read time: less than 2 minutes).
We’ve recently updated our top menu navigation (July/August 2024). We’re currently updating our user guides to reflect these changes, so thank you for your patience while we work on this. The new menu is user-friendly, so you shouldn’t experience significant disruption. If you need help locating specific items in the new menu however, watch our quick videos for admin users here, and for teachers here.
Last updated: 06/07/2022
The key to getting your file 100% is providing the solver with as much flexibility as you possibly can. This checklist gives an overview of the actions that can help you to achieve this.
Timetable troubleshooting checklist
- Clone your timetable. This is best practice so that you don't lose any data on your original file.
- Clear the lessons from the grid. (Do this in Screen 7 Construction). (We are not referring to the grid in screen 2 Grid here).
- Fill in teacher sets as extensively as you can. (Screen 4, Teacher Sets).
- Find any teaching groups that have been manually assigned to teachers who don’t necessarily need to teach them and unpin the teaching group (Screen 6, Teacher).
- Only assign specialist rooms to classes that absolutely need it (e.g Woodwork, Home Ec etc) and in the case of Science subjects, only assign labs to doubles or individual lessons that actually need a lab, not for all lessons of the teaching group (Screen 5, Class Data).
- Avoid giving teachers preferred rooms if it isn’t necessary (Screen 3, Teacher Data).
- Make use of room pools.
- Do not put individual teacher time restrictions in place unless absolutely necessary. Restrictions can severely hinder a timetable, particularly if a teacher with restrictions teaches lessons in blocks as this has the knock-on effect of tying up every other teacher involved with the same restriction (Screen 3, Teacher data).
- Where possible, keep as many classes in core as you can, because blocked classes are much more difficult to timetable. The more in core, the more likely you are to get to 100%.
- Check the demand on each room (Screen 5, Class Data) and Use the Exclude Rooms feature as a diagnostic tool. (Screen 7, Construction).
- Use the The feasibility checker as a diagnostic tool, (Screen 7, Construction).
Click here for the in depth article on the topic.
Click here for an article on checking your timetable feasibility.
If you still have questions, please visit our knowledge base at support.vsware.ie. You can contact our support team via email at support@vsware.ie, via the chat bubble when you are logged into your VSware account or via phone on 01-5549628. Support hours are Mon - Fri, 08:30 - 18:00.