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Scheduling periods |
  
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Scheduling periods |
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The aim of the first exercise is to place periods in an empty timetable and lock them to prevent the automated scheduling tool from moving them during a later optimisation run.
| 1. | Open the file demo.gpn and delete the current timetable via "Scheduling | Reset the timetable" |
| 2. | Unscheduled periods will now be displayed next to the timetable and can be placed in the timetable using drag & drop. |
Clicking on a period that you wish to schedule will display possible time slots in the timetable.
Fields which are highlighted green indicate that these would be good slots to place the period avoiding the risk of a clash.
The software also takes into consideration any additional settings you have made. For instance, Friday is not displayed as a possible day for the lesson 'Mus' for class 1a because teacher 'Callas' has been allocated a day off on Friday ("Master Data |Teachers | Time Requests").
Tip:
You can us the <Colour coding> button in the 'Time requests' window to specify the display colours for the different time requests. This is necessary if for example there are difficulties in distinguishing between red and green.
If you click on the <Settings> button and then check the box 'DragDrop: colours same as time requests' on the 'Layout 2' tab, the settings will also be used for manual scheduling in the timetable.
Lessons are automatically displayed and scheduled as single or double periods (or blocks) in accordance with settings made for double periods under lessons.
When there is more than one unscheduled period of a particular lesson, the individual periods will be displayed stacked. When there are more than three periods, the number of unscheduled periods will also be indicated.
You can determine the position of unscheduled periods yourself by simply grouping the stack around the desired position in the timetable. After right-clicking and selecting ' Re-group unsched. prds.' the stacks will be automatically repositioned.
Alternatively, you can schedule the periods from the lessons window. To do this, click on the relevant period in the 'Unsched Prds' column and use drag & drop to position it in the timetable.
Room allocation
Lesson cells highlighted purple indicate that it is possible to schedule the lesson without a conflict as far as class and teacher are concerned but that room availability (i.e. the room allocated to the lesson and all alternative rooms are not free) prevents the lesson being scheduled (see figure).
If you position a period on a purple cell, the lesson will be scheduled without a room being allocated. The room allocation of the lesson already scheduled in this position will not change. A short beep will be issued as an additional warning to indicate that the lesson has been scheduled without a room (please refer to chapter "Allocating rooms" for further details. )