FET Manual Del Usuario

8/3/2019 FET Manual Del Usuario

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FET Manual

Version 0.7clast modified 12.06.2009

FET written by Liviu Lalescuhttp://www.lalescu.ro/liviu/

Manual written by Volker Dirrhttp://www.timetabling.de/

FET Homepagehttp://www.lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/

Table of contents

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0000088767565640000034c0000008676696577000003d4000000246c756d69000003f8000000146d6561730000040c00000024746563

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12735247422049454336313936362d322e31000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000Preamble Features Installing FET Using FET

File DataBasic setting Institution name & comments Days per week &

Periods per day *Teachers, subjects, activity tags &rooms Years, groups and subgroups

Activities Prearrangement Add an activity Add a fortnightlyactivity Add a team teaching activityConstraints Weights of constraints Basic compulsory time

and room constraints Not available teachers, studentsor rooms & breaks Min n days between a set ofactivities max & min periods per day max days perweek Gaps Max hours continuously students earlyactivity ends day 2 activities are consecutive 2activities are ordered Min gaps (hours) between a setof activities Working in an hourly interval max days perweek preferred time(s) Same starting time Not

overlapping Home room(s) Preferred room(s)


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BuildingsStatistics

TimetableGenerating a timetableView a timetableBefore releasing a timetableHow to change a running timetable?

Before changing a running timetableChanging a running timetable

Teachers' Free PeriodsPrint timetablesPrint multiple tables on a single page

2 table on a single sheet by css2, 4 or 8 table on a single sheet by your printer driver

Style the html files with cssCommentsSelectorsColoursHide ElementsValidate the css file

SettingsHelpTable of contents

Preamble

FET is free software for automatically scheduling the timetable of a school,high-school or university. It uses a fast and efficient timetabling algorithm. Itis free software, open source, licensed under GNU/GPL. Get the latest newsand version from the official FET homepage (http://www.lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/).

This is a small manual with hopefully a lot of useful examples.

Important definitions are marked blue.

Useful hints are marked green.

Critical warnings are marked red.

Wise examples are marked yellow.

Liviu Lalescu (http://www.lalescu.ro/liviu/) started his project at the end of

year 2002 as he was working on his diploma. He got his examination incomputer programming (software specialization) in June 2003. FET had avery large palette of constraints, but sadly the evolutionary algorithm wasonly able to solve easy timetables. Even great efforts during the followingyears in research the genetic algorithm was never good enough to solvecomplex timetables. In summer 2007 the big breakthrough was done. A newheuristic algorithm (based on recursive swapping of activities) was able tosolve difficult timetables in a few minutes.

Table of

contents

Features

There are a lot of nice features. FET is able to automatically care about allgroups (classes/courses/students), has a very large palette of constraintsand of course nice styleable xhtml timetables.
http://www.lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/http://www.lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/


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Time constraints (misc) Basic compulsory time constraints Break (allteachers+all students not


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available)Time constraints (teachers) A

teacher is not availableMax days per week for ateacher Max gaps perweek for a teacher Maxgaps per week for allteachers Max gaps perday for a teacher Maxgaps per day for allteachers Max hours dailyfor a teacher Max hoursdaily for all teachers Minhours daily for a teacherMin hours daily for allteachers Max hourscontinuously for ateacher Max hourscontinuously for allteachers A teacher worksin an hourly interval maxdays per week Allteachers works in anhourly interval max daysper week

Time constraints (students) Astudents set is notavailable Max gaps perweek for a students setMax gaps per week forall students A students

set begins early Allstudents begin early Maxhours daily for a studentsset Max hours daily forall students Min hoursdaily for a students setMin hours daily for allstudents Max hourscontinuously for astudents set Max hourscontinuously for all

studentsTime constraints (activities)

An activity has apreferred starting timeAn activity has a set ofpreferred time slots A setof activities has a set ofpreferred time slots A setof subactivities has a setof preferred time slotsAn activity has a set of

preferred starting timesA set of activities has aset of preferred startingtimes A set ofsubactivities has a set ofpreferred starting timesMin n days between aset of activities Anactivity ends students

day A set of activities endsstudents day A set ofactivities has same startingtime (day+hour) A set ofactivities has same startingday (any hours) A set ofactivities has same startinghour (any days) 2 activitiesare ordered 2 activities areconsecutive A set of activitiesare not overlapping Min gaps(hours) between a set ofactivities

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Spaceconstraints(misc) BasiccompulsoryspaceconstraintsSpaceconstraints(rooms) Aroom is notavailable

Space constraints (teachers) Ateacher has a home room Ateacher has a set of homerooms Max building changesper day for a teacher Maxbuilding changes per day for allteachers Max building changesper week for a teacher Maxbuilding changes per week forall teachers Min gaps betweenbuilding changes for a teacherMin gaps between buildingchanges for all teachersSpace constraints (students) Aset of students has a homeroom A set of students has aset of home rooms Maxbuilding changes per day for aset of students Max buildingchanges per day for all

students Max building changesper week for a set of studentsMax building changes per weekfor all students Min gapsbetween building changes for aset of students Min gapsbetween building changes forall studentsSpace constraints (subjects) Asubject has a preferred room Asubject has a set of preferred

roomsSpace constraints (subjectsand activity tags) A subject +an activity tag have apreferred room A subject + anactivity tag have a set ofpreferred roomsSpace constraints (activities)An activity has a preferredroom An activity has a set ofpreferred rooms


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Table of contents


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0f6d6000100000000d32d48502020000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

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solution. Basic setting Institution name & commentsTable of contents Table of contentsInstitution name and comments are optional data.

Installing FET

TODO: requirements TODO: same like readme. (really write it twice? Maybeshort the readme and write long version here?) TODO: command line usingFET

Tabl

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Using FET

Even FET is a tidy Qt-application, you should read this manual carefully,because it includes many hints and warnings how to use it correct.

Table of

contents

File

Of course it's possible to open and save a file.

FET doesn't have a option to print in this menu. The timetables will bewritten into the results directory after a timetable is generated. Please readchapter Print timetables if you want to know how to print a timetable.

Save your dataset regularly. Especially if you add or modify constraints. FETdoesn't have a undo option right now. Sometimes it's very difficult to undothe last modification. Also if FET didn't find a solution after several hoursyou maybe want to undo but already forgot last changes.

The saved dataset contain only the Basic settings, Activities andConstraints. It doesn't include the generated timetable solution. You need todo Timetable Save data+timetable as ... if you want to save thegenerated timetable. The generated timetable is also saved by default intothe results directory if you use Timetable Generate multible variants.

Table of contents

Data

The data contain the Basic settings, Activities and Constraints. It doesn'tinclude the generated timetable

The institution name will be printed as caption to all small timetables (butyou can still style and hide it easily later). Comments will be printed at thebeginning of the timetables (before table of content).

Use the comment to write about problems, latest added constraint, missing

constraint or constraints that should be modified. Don't forget to updateregularly the comments. An old comment is as bad as a missing or wrongcomment.

Table ofcontents

Days per week & Periods per day


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Most schools just need days from Monday to Friday.

This terms are printed into the timetable head. Use short cuts to get smallertables. (MON instead of Monday, TUE ...).

A Period is a distance in time.


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e31000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 1stPeriodThe periods are printed into the2nd Period timetable. So use short cutsto get 3th Period smaller timetables.

You can use any 4th Period phrase asperiod name.5th Period 6th Period

You have to care about that every period has the same distance (is as

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Period 1 Period 2 Period 3Period 4 Period 5 Period 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

08.05 08.5008.50 09.3510.00 10.45

10.50 11.3511.50 12.3512.35 13.20

08.0508.5010.0010.5011.5012.35

long as every otherperiod), because FET take

always duration 1 perperiod.

(Except if you add a period thatalways get special activities or abreak. In example 4 a period09.35-10.00 can be added andthis period always get theconstraint break. But that is onlya cosmetic intrusion.)

So by this example anactivity with duration 1 take 45minutes and an activity withduration 2 take 90 minutes.

Activities can not get non-integer duration like 1.5.

Your institution has activities with 90minutes duration on Monday,Wednesday and Friday but only 60minutes duration on Tuesday and

Thursday. Make periods that take 30minutes. So activities that take 60minutes must get duration 2 andactivities that take 90

minutes must get duration 3.

If FET cannot find a solution youshould think about increasing thenumber of periods or thenumber of days. If FET is able tosolve your dataset easily and youdon't know other constraints to addyou should maybe think aboutdecreasing number of periods ornumber of days. But you

should rethink about allconstraints again! (Especially Notavailable teachers, students orrooms constraints.)

Table ofcontents

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*Teachers, subjects, activity tags & rooms

Add teachers, subject, activity tags, rooms and buildings. Also these names

are printed into the timetable. So use short cuts to get smaller timetables.

An activity tag is an optional information to an activity.

Activity tags are for example lecture (reading), exercise or laboratory. If

activities with duration 2 must start in odd periods (1st, 3th, 5th, ...) the

activity tag might be odd. If some activities must (or should) be instructed

only in the morning the activity tag might be morning.

Before using activity tags please read whole chapter Constraints and verycarefully section preferred time(s).

Think twice before using activity tags. I recommend to use activity tags onlyto set constraints. First of all try to set constraints without a activity tags,because it will be easier.

You don't need to add home rooms. Normally every group (class or teacher)has it's own home room. There will never be a room conflict if every grouphas it's own room. Add only rooms that could have a conflict (arts room,gym, science lab, ...) or if you have more groups than rooms.

Every room has capacity 1. So only one activity can be placed per room. Ifyou have a huge gym (that maybe can be separated into 3 parts bycurtains), then enter 3 rooms for the gym.

You don't need to add buildings. Add only buildings if you want to use a

buildings constraint (like Max building changes per day or Min gaps betweenbuilding changes.)

If you need to add different buildings you also need to care about globalclear room names. If you have room name 123 in building A, then you can'tname a room 123 in building B too. So i recommend to include the buildingname into the room name. For example room 123 in building A should getthe name A-123.


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Chemistry and Physics. Now check the subgroups to see what happen. Themost important is to see that you get the groups 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D,10Biology, 10Chemestry and 10Physics by this. (So in this example the first4 groups are classes and the last 3 are courses. To FET they are just groups.It doesn't know the duration of the groups (at this moment).

Be careful if you have a (nearly) 100% filled timetable. These activities arenecessarily scheduled simultaneously if pupils of these activities have nounused period in their timetable. So if you do the activity planing you haveto be sure that the timetable is solvable. In this example the duration of acourse is 4+1+2=7. So it's impossible that all physics activities areinstructed by the same teacher because physics has total duration2+2+4=8. But if physics in the physics course is instructed by a differentteacher then in the other courses, then this courses are possible.


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It doesn't matter in this example if the physics course get only biologyduration 1. FET is able to care about that, even the duration is differentbetween the courses.

Your can add a second set of courses by using category 3.

You can add a third set of courses by manually doing the same like divideyear automatically by selecting categories, but it's a little bit tricky. In somecases you don't need to add a new category (read next hint).

The students have different religions in the sameclasses. So they have religion in courses. If thereis only one subject, then it the easiest (and ifpupils have no unused period in their table it isthe only possible solution) to scheduled all at thesame time. There are several possibilities to do it(compare Add an activity and constraint A set ofactivities has same starting time (day+hour)). Inmost cases you just add the subject religion. It'sclear if the religion is christian, jewish, muslim or

philosophy, because you can see this by theteachers name.

Think about needed categories first. The firstcategory should always be the class. The secondand third category should be the categories withthe longest total duration. Other categories mustbe done manually or by the hint simultaneousactivities.

Maybe you know that (by accident) no students is in Group 10A and 10Bioat the same time. You can delete the corresponding subgroups. You maybeget better timetables by this. But you need to do it only if pupils haveunused periods in their timetable. Be careful! This also mean you (maybe)cannot put a students with group 10Bio into 10A later. You maybe get newstudents (because parents moved house). So I highly don't recommend this!

Example 3: High School

TODO TODO

Example 4: University

TODO TODOTabl

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e ofcontents

Activities

An activity contain normally a subject, a student set, a teacher and aduration. It can also contain activity tags, more student sets or more

teachers. It can be splitted into several (sub)-activities. Also pseudoactivities are possible. (They don't have any teacher or student)

Table ofcontents

Prearrangement

Before adding activities you need to do a planning. Currently FET doesn'thelp you with this. So you already need to think about all activities

(teachers, students and rooms): Think about students: Has every studentthe correct number of activities, subjects and duration? Think aboutteachers: Has every teacher the correct number of activities, subject,duration and students? (Is the teacher allowed to teach that subject and/oryear?) Think about activities: Is it possible that activities of courses aresimultaneously? (Think about teachers and rooms!) Is it possible also withactivities that should be simultanous because of other reasons? Think aboutrooms: If you will use room constraints than care in your lesson planningabout as less room chanhes as possible, because it will be easier togenerate a timetable. Also think about unwritten rules like this:


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Give a teacher as many activities with the same group as possible, becausegenerating the timetable will be easier and also most teacher will like that(because they can swap activities without any problem themselves, theydon't need to learn new names, ...).Maybe give a teacher as many activities in the same year (because he cancompare students better; he don't need to prepare so much different hoursand so he can spend more time on prepare his lessons; he can maybe savesome meetings; ...) But be carefull sometimes this is a bad rule. Forexample maybe in the last year must be done final examination in a shorttime. So maybe the teacher has no time to do all that test in such a shorttime.

Students keep a teacher 2 (or 3 years). Example: A class get in year 5 and 6the same math teacher, but that class get an other math teacher in year 7and 8 and so one.

Tabl

e ofcontents

Add an activity

Subject geography is only instructed 1 period per week. Add the teacher,the group, the subject and press add current activity.

Subject art is instructed 2 periods per week. Both periods must beconsecutive. Add the teacher, the group, the subject, increase duration upto 2 and add the activity.

Subject English is instructed 4 periods per week. But of course this periodsshould not be consecutive. All 4 periods must be at different days. Add theteacher, the group, the subject, split this activity into 4 activities per week,modify weight up to 100 and add the activities.

Subject physics is instructed 2 periods per week. It doesn't matter if bothperiods are on the same day or not. Add the teacher, the group, the subject,split this activity into 2 sub activities per week, maybe modify weight under100% and add the activities.

Subject sport is instructed 3 periods per week. One (sub)-activity shouldhave duration 2 and the other

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(sub)-activity must have duration 1 at an other day. Add the teacher, thegroup, the subject, split this activity into 2 activities per week, increaseduration of the first sub activity up to 2, modify weight up to 100 and addthe activities.

Subject native language is instructed 4 periods per week. The periodsshould be at different days, but they most not be at different day. If theyare at the same day they must be consecutive. Add the teacher, the group,the subject, split this activity into 4 activities per week, keep weight 95%(or modify like you want), check the force consecutive box and add theactivities.

Subject foreign language is instructed 4 periods per week. The periodsshould be at different days, but they most not be at different day. Add theteacher, the group, the subject, split this activity into 4 activities per week,keep weight 95% (or modify like you want) and don't check the forceconsecutive box.

Subject mathematics is instructed 4 periods per week. The periods shouldbe at different days, but they most not be at different day. But they are not

allowed to be consecutive if they are scheduled at the same day. Add theteacher, the group, the subject, split this activity into 4 activities per week,keep weight 95% (or modify like you want) and don't check the forceconsecutive box. Then you must add a new constraint ***.

Subject religion is instructed 2 periods per week. It should be instructed ondifferent days. Maybe religion is a course of the 4th category (comparesectionYears, groups and subgroups) and you don't want to add thatcategory manually, or you was to lazy to add an other category or pupilshave no unused period in their timetable, so it's clear that these activitiesmust be simultaneously. If you don't have room problems you can add all

religion teachers, the year (you can also add all groups, but that will floodthe printed timetable with too much information) and the subject. Split thisactivity into 2 sub activities per week, keep weight 95% (or modify like youwant) and add the activity. If you have room problems, then you havepossible several variants, that doesn't differ in the timetable solution. They

just differ in the visual printed timetable. Variant 1: The sweetest timetablesare printed if you add a new category. And add activities like always.Variant 2: Add "all" activities just as one activity (like without roomproblems), add as many pseudo activities (without a teacher and room) asrooms are needed and add constraint Same starting time to these activities.Variant 3: Add several activities. Each activity contain a teacher and one

group. Add constraint Same starting time to these activities. If you havemore teachers then groups, then one or more teachers don't have a groupin their activity. If you have more groups then teachers, then one or moregroups don't have a teacher in their group.

Please read section Weights of constraints and Min n days between a set ofactivities.

It's allowed to add pseudo activities. Pseudo activities doesn't include astudents set or a teachers set. Sounds stupid, but they are useful to careabout some constraints. Compare sections Not available teachers, studentsor rooms & breaks, Gaps, Preferred time(s) and Preferred room(s).

Check the statistics after all activities are added.Table ofcontents

Add a fortnightly activity


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There are two big possibilities to add activities that take place once everytwo weeks. The recommended one is to use one of the followingworkarounds. The other one is to do it on a very exact way. The advantageof the workarounds is a very simple input of the activities. The disadvantageis that you might not get the best timetable and it's not easy to differfortnightly activities from regular activities in the printed timetable.

Using a workaround

All workarounds based on a simple idea: Just add a fortnightly activity as aregular activity and call the students and teachers that this activity is onlyinstructed every second week.


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If students are not allowed to have gaps, then fortnightly activities shouldget constraint activity ends day or constraint preferred time(s) with firstperiods as preferd times. If students also need constraint students early,then you should only use constraint activity ends day.

Be careful if you have room problems. In many cases Home room(s) will notcare about fortnightly activities. You need to use a Preferred room(s)constraint.

A teacher instruct an activity to group 1A in odd calender week and togroup 1B in even calender week. Variant 1: Add only one activity for this.

Just add both groups into one activity. This imply, that "both" activities arescheduled at the same period. Variant 2: Add two different activities forthis. This imply, that both activities are scheduled at different periods. Sothis is not recommended if you room problems, because a room will bealways occupied, even it is not used.

A students set is instructed by different teachers in different calenderweeks. Variant 1: Add only one activity for this. Just add both teachers intoone activity. This imply, that "both" activities are scheduled at the same

period. Variant 2: Add two different activities for this. This imply, that bothactivities are scheduled at different periods. So this is not recommended ifyou room problems, because a room will be always occupied, even it is notused.

You have two fortnightly activities with different teachers and students.Variant 1: Add two different activities for this. This will effect the besttimetable if you have no room problems. Variant 2: Add only one activityfor this. Just add all teachers and students into one activity. This imply, that"both" activities are scheduled at the same period.

A teacher T1 instruct group G1 and a teacher T2 instruct group G2. In thefollowing week the teachers change the groups. So T1 instruct G2 and T2instruct G1. Variant 1: Add just one activity with all teachers and students.

This imply, that "all four" activities are scheduled at the same period. Butconsider that only one room is reserved. So just use this if you have noroom problems. The next two variants should be used if you have roomproblems. They doesn't differ in the timetable solution. They just differ inthe visual printed timetable. Variant 2: Add two activities and addconstraint Same starting time to these activities. Variant 3: Add "both"activities just as one activity (like variant 1), add a pseudo activity (with noteacher and no room) and add constraint Same starting time to these

activities. Variant 3: Add four different activities for this. This will effect thatfour different periods are needed! So in many cases this is notrecommended. Especially if you have room problems.

The exact way

The exact way can maybe find a better solution, but is not recommended,because it's much more work. So entering the dataset and generating a

timetable need much more time (at least 2 times).You need to enter 2 weeks in the basic settings. Enter all activities 2 times.One time with activity tag "odd weeks" and the other time with activity tag

"even weeks". The forthrightly activities are just entered one time. Set aconstraint preferd time to activities with activity tag "odd week" to periodsof the "odd week". Do the same with "even weeks". Be careful manyconstraints must be added two times!

Table ofcontents

Add a team teaching activity


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Team teaching mean two or more teachers instruct one group in the sameperiod.

Be careful if you have room problems. In many cases Home room(s) will notcare about team teaching activities. You need to use a Preferred room(s)constraint.

An activity should have 2 or more teachers for team teaching. Just add aactivity with all needed teachers, the group and subject.


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An activity is splitted into 4 activities per week. Only one of these activitiesshould be instructed by two (or more) teachers. There are two variants thatdiffer only in the visual output. Variant 1: Add an activity with the group,one teacher and split it into 4 activities. Keep the id of one out of thesplitted activities in mind. Add an other activity with no group and theother teacher. Use constraint Same starting time for the other and thememorised activity. Variant 2: Add an activity with the group, one teacherand split it into 3 activities. Add a second activity with the group and bothteacher. Add this activity to the already existing Min n days between a setof activities constraint.

Table ofcontents

Constraints

Weights of constraintsTable of contents

Every constraint has a weight. A weight of 100% mean that this constraintmust be respected. A lower value mean it should be respected, it's notnecessary. It's pretty difficult to explain the exact function, but a simpleillustration is the following: 50% weight mean that in average FET retriestwo times to place an activity without a conflict. If FET isn't able to place theactivity without a conflict after average 2 times it keeps the conflict andtries to place the next activity. This is not an exact explanation of thealgorithm, because the activities might get unallocated or cycle reopened.

Always save the datafile under a different name (just number them) afteradding or modifying a constraint.

Check if your timetable is (still) solvable before adding new constraints. Itmight be impossible to solve the timetable. Every constraint slows downfinding a solution. So just add needed constraint. For example ifteachers/pupils have (nearly) no unused period in their timetable you(maybe) don't need to add constraints like min or max periods per day.


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How to do a good and correct weight? In my opinion nearly allconstraints should have weight 100%. Especially constraintsthat have an other maximum value (like maxdays/periods/gaps). The Min n days between a set of activitiesconstraint is a little bit tricky. It should be always 100%, onlycourse activities in 100% filled timetables should havesometimes lower values. Read sectionYears, groups andsubgroups and Min n days between a set of activities tounderstand why. So of course it's a nice idea to write down alist of all needed constraints and order them by importance.But I do not recommend to set weight to 100% to the mostimportant constraint, maybe 99% to the second importantconstraint and so on until the last one. I recommend to add allconstraints step by step with weight 100% (except a few Min ndays between a set of activities constraints). If you add aconstraint with an other value (like max days/periods/gaps)then also use weight 100%, but use a high value. After allconstraints are added and if FET is still able to find a solution,begin decreasing the max days/periods/gaps values.

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0000000049454320735247420000000000000000000000000000f6d6000100000000d32d485020200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000116370727400000150000000336465736


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Table ofcontents

Basic compulsory time and room constraints

The basic constraints are: Time constraints (misc) Basic compulsory timeconstraints Space constraints (misc) Basic compulsory space constraints

This basic constrains must have weight 100% and must always be includedin the dataset.

The basic time constraints care about that a teacher never has to instructtwo or more activities at the same time. Also students must have maximumone activity per period.

The basic rooms constraints care about that a room will never have included2 or more activities.


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Table ofcontents

Not available teachers, students or rooms & breaks

The not available and break constraints are: Time constraints (teachers) A teacher is not available Time constraints (students) A students set isnot available Space constraints (rooms) A room is not available Timeconstraints (misc) Break (all teachers+all students not available)

It might happen that teachers, students or rooms are not available.

This constraints must have weight 100%.

If a teacher or student has constraint Not available, then this "free" periodmight be a gap. So think twice if you also use constraints that count gaps.Instead of using constraint Not available to a teacher or student you canalso add a pseudo activity and use constraint An activity has a preferred

starting time. A pseudo activity will not counted as gap.

A teacher is teaching at an other school on Wednesday and Thursday. Addconstraint A teacher is not available. You can also use a pseudo activitywith constraint An activity has a preferred starting time (compare nextexample).

A students set has industrial placement at an other institution on Mondayperiod 1 and 2. Variant 1: Add constraint A students set is not available. Inthe students timetable is only ---displayed. Variant 2: Add an activity withsubject industrial placement, no teacher, duration 2 and the corresponding

students set. Add a constraint An activity has a preferred starting time forthis activity on Monday 1st period. Now the students timetable lookssweeter, but be careful that all other constraints still can be respected.

The gym is shared with an other school. Talk with the timetable maker ofthe other school and come to an arrangement who can use the gym atwhich period. Add constraint(s) A room is not available.

Constraint break is a easy way to say that all teachers and students are notavailable.

The activities of a full-time school (all-day school) are in the morning and in

the evening. But they must not be at Friday evening. Add constraint Break(all teachers+all students not available) to define Friday evening periods asbreak.

Students and teachers always have lunch at period 7. Add constraint Break(all teachers+all students not available) at every day period 7. But this isonly a cosmetic use. Maybe it's better to just not enter period 7 in the dataperiods per day.

Students and teachers have lunch at period 7 or 8. Add a activity to everygroup of the first category with subject lunch, no teacher, duration 1, split

this activity into as many activities as the students are working per weekand increase weight of constraint Min n days between a set of activities upto 100%. Do it similar to every teacher. Be careful, because a teachermaybe work less days. Add constraint An activity has a set of preferredtimes and set period 7 and 8 are preferd at every day with weight 100%.Be careful if you use constraint Min hours daily, because activity lunch is a"normal" activity to FET.

Tabl


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e ofcontents

Min n days between a set of activities

This constraint is: Time constraints (activities) Min n days between a setof activities

Read also section Add an activity.

A set of activities should be instructed on different days, but they must notinstructed on different days.


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Add constraint Min n days between a set of activities with weight under100%.(This is done automatically if you add an activity). So in favoured caseall activities are instructed at different days. In worst case all constraints areinstructed at only one day.

A set of activities should be instructed on different days, but they must notinstructed on different days. But if they are instructed, then they must beinstructed consecutive. Add constraint Min n days between a set ofactivities (This is done automatically if you add an activity) and check theforce consecutive box. So in favoured case all activities are instructed atdifferent days. Maximum 2 activities can be set consecutive at a single dayby this constraint. So it is not possible that 3 splitted activities areinstructed at only one day. In worst case you have 2 splitted activitiesconsecutive at 2 different days.

Be careful if pupils have (nearly) no unused period in their timetable.Timetables might became impossible to solve, because in 100% filledtimetables activities of the same courses (category) are scheduledsimultaneously. If the biology teacher want get only 1 activity with duration2, then the chemistry and physics teacher must both also get only 1 activity

with duration 2 or both must get 2 activities with duration 1. If the industrialart teacher want to have 3 activities with duration 2, but the French teacherwant to have 4 activities with duration 1, then the timetable is impossible tosolve. Both teachers have good reasons why they need duration 1 or 2consecutive. French is a intellectual subject and 4 activities with duration 1at different days will have a much better learning progress. Industrial art isa technical subject and it is better to work at a project without manyinterrupts. So think about conflicts like this as early as possible. Talk to theteachers, explain the problem and find an agreement. A maybe solution isthis: The French teacher get 4 activities with duration 1 and 100% weight ofconstraint Min n days. This mean the the industrial art teacher "only" get a

activity that is splited into 4 parts (two with duration 2 and two withduration 1). In the strict sense this activity doesn't need a constraint Min ndays between, because the Min n days constraint of the French activityalready care about that. FET also care about that Latin is directly instructedbefore or after French, because industrial art need duration 2. - Also have alook at the nature science now. This also mean it is impossible that allsubjects have only 1 activity with duration 2. If physics and Latin isinstructed by the same teacher then physics can never have 2 periodsconsecutive. If physics and French is instructed by the same teacher, thenno nature science can have 2 periods consecutive.

If you do your cover planing you must also carefully think about constraintMin n days between a set of activities (Normally not in the classes (category1), but in the courses (category 2 and above)).


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Table ofcontents

max & min periods per day

The max & min periods per day constraints are: Time constraints (teachers) Max hours daily for a teacher Time constraints (teachers) Max hoursdaily for all teachers Time constraints (teachers) Min hours daily for ateacher Time constraints (teachers) Min hours daily for all teachers Timeconstraints (students) Max hours daily for a students set Time constraints(students) Max hours daily forall students Time constraints(students) Min hours daily for astudents set Time constraints(students) Min hours daily for allstudents

Constraints max and min periodsper day for students are useful if

you want a balanced day.

Your timetable has 5 days perweek and 6 hours per day, sothere are overall 30 periods perweek. The students have differentnumber of activities (periods) perweek. So without any constraint itmight happen that group 1B have6 periods on Monday toWednesday, 1 period on Thursday

and no period on Friday. Studentsin year 1 and 2 can't concentratevery long, so it useful to limit maxhours daily. Add constraint Max hours daily for a students set withmaximum 4 periods and 100% to year 1. You can't add this constraints tothe other years, because the timetable

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322e31000000000000000000000012735247422049454336313936362d322e31000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000


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will not solvable if you add. (You can maybe add it to the other years with adifferent weight.) Add constraint Max hours daily for a students set withmaximum 5 periods and 100% to year 2. You can't add this constraints toyears 3 and 4. You don't need to add constraint Max hours daily for allstudents with maximum 6 periods and 100% to year 3 and 4, because yourtimetable have only 6 periods per day. You don't need to add constraint Minhours daily for a students set to group 4A and 4B, because it doesn't makesense. You can add constraint Min hours daily for a students set withminimum 5 periods periods to group 3A, but maybe this is to difficult. Youcan't add this constraint to group 3B. So I recommend to add a minimum of4 periods per day to year 3. It's maybe useful if year 2 get minimum 4periods per week. You can add constraint Min hours daily for astudents set with minimum 4 periods periods to group 1A, butmaybe this is to difficult. You can't add this constraint to group 1B.So I recommend to add a minimum of 3 periods per day to year 1.

Instead of using max periods per day you can use preferred time(s).It's not the same (it's only the same if you also use constraint nogaps and students early), but very similar, faster and (maybe) a littlebit more powerful.

You can do it similar to teachers, but think always twice. In myopinion the max periods per day constraint is only useful if yourinstitutions has many periods per day.

The min periods daily constraint for a teacher is (in my opinion) notalways useful. Before using this constraints you should do this: Useconstraint max periods per day to get a more balanced timetable.

Think about using constraint max days per week for every singleteacher. It's maybe much better, because it has a rough effect andthe teacher don't need to drive to the institution.

In many schools it is not allowed that activities are omitted. Ifimpeded teachers must be represented by other teachers you mightget big trouble if you add to many min periods daily constraint forteachers, because there might be not enough teachers to coveractivities. Please read chapterTeachers' Free Periods.

Be careful with Min hours daily for all teachers constraints. Thetimetable is not solveable, if you set this constraint with value 2 butat the same time you have a teacher that only teachs 1 period inthe whole week. Variant 1: You need to add constraints Min hours

daily for a teacher to all other instead of constraint Min hours dailyfor all teachers. Variant 2: Add a pseudo activity to the problematicteacher (An activity with the teacher name, but without a students).Be carefull if you have teacher home room constraints.


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61726420436f6d70616e790000646573630000000000000012735247422049454336313936362d322e31000000000000000000000012735247422049454336313936362d322e31000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000


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Table ofcontents

max days per week

The max days per week constraints is: Time constraints (teachers) Maxdays per week for a teacher

Of course if the contract of employment guarantee a max number of daysper week, then this is an important constraint.

A timetable is not solvable if you add constraint max days per week withonly 3 days and weight 100%if the same teacher instruct a set of 4 or more activities that haveconstraint Min n days between a setof activities with weight 100%. Be careful! Most activities have thisconstraint (compare Add anactivity).

I recommend to check this constraint again after all other constraint areadded, most of them already have weight 100% and FET is still able to finda solution.

Most teacher like a free day. Check the teacher statistics. Check if a teacheris able to (maybe) get free day. So the number of periods per day of theteacher must be lower or equal then the number of periods per week of thetimetable minus the number of periods per day. Also check if a lowernumber of working days doesn't controvert to a constraint (especially aconstraint Min n days between a set of activities). Add constraint Max daysper week for a teacher with weight 100% if nothing argue against it.


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Don't add to many constraint at one time. Maybe begin with the teacherthat instruct the lowest number of periods per week. Check if the timetableis still solvable. Add the next teacher if it is still solvable. Remove theconstraint if the timetable is not solvable and try to add the followingteacher.

In many schools it is not allowed that activities are omitted. If impededteachers must be represented by other teachers you might get big trouble ifyou add to many free days, because there might be not enough teachers tocover activities. Please read chapterTeachers' Free Periods.

If you need constraint like max days per week for students set just add anactivity with the students set, subject free, no teacher and the number ofperiods per day of your timetable as duration.

If you need constraint like max days per week for students set you can thinkabout effecting similar with constraint Min hours daily for a students set.

If you need constraint like max days per week for all teachers you can thinkabout effecting similar with constraint Min hours daily for all teachers.

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Gaps

The max gaps constraints are: Time constraints (teachers) Max gaps perweek for a teacher Time constraints (teachers) Max gaps per week for allteachers Time constraints (teachers) Max gaps per day for a teacher

Time constraints (teachers) Max gaps per day for all teachers Time

constraints (students) Max gaps per week for a students set Timeconstraints (students) Max gaps per week for all students

A gap is an unused timeslot (or several) between two activities, between anactivity & a break or between two breaks.

That mean for example unused timeslots in the first and last period are nogaps; a break is not a gap.

The law of many countries rule that students of primary and secondaryschools don't have a gap. Add constraint Max gaps per week for all studentswith value 0 and weight 100%.

The upper years are allowed to have gaps, but not the lower years. Addconstraint Max gaps per week for a students set with value 0 and weight100% to the lower years.

A upper years are allowed to have maximum one gap per week. Addconstraint Max gaps per week for a students set with value 1 and weight100% to the upper years.

Also the teacher like as less gaps as possible. The easiest way to do it is touse constraint Max gaps per week for all teachers.

Use weight 100% and start with a high Max gaps per week for all teachersvalue. Try to solve the timetable and decrease the value step by step.

In many schools it is not allowed that activities are omitted. If impededteachers must be represented by other teachers you might get big trouble ifyou add to "good" gap constraints, because there might be not enoughteachers to cover activities. Please read chapterTeachers' Free Periods.

It sound fair if you use Max gaps per week for all teachers instead of


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different values to every single teacher by constraint Max gaps per week fora teacher. But you might think over hasted. For example the chef and it'sdeputy always have much paperwork in the office. So they don't have reallygaps, they can expedient use this "gaps". Also trainee teachers don't havereally gaps, because they also have to observe activities from otherteachers. The timetable might be solvable if a few teachers have a highermax gaps per week value.

Maybe FET can solve the timetable if all teachers have maximum 2 gaps perweek, but it can't solve the timetable if all teachers have maximum 1 gapper week. Maybe it's fair if all teachers that have free days get a constraintmax gaps 2 and all teachers that are working every day get the constraintmax gap 1.


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Don't forget a teacher if you use constraint Max gaps per week for a teacherinstead of Max gaps per week for all teachers.

Most teacher should have max gap 3 and only a few one should have 2 (ora lower value). Add constraint Max gaps per week for all teachers withvalue 3 and weight 100%. Add constraint Max gaps per week for a teacherwith value 2 (or lower) and weight 100% to every teacher that should havethe lower value.

Most teacher should have max gap 2 and only a few one should have 3 (ora higher value). You cannot do it like in the previous example, becausealways the lowest value has highest priority. Add constraint Max gaps perweek for all teachers. Add a activities with subject gap (or the reason) andduration 1 to every single teacher that should have more gaps. Be carefullif you have teacher home room constraints.

You added constraint max 2 gap per week for all teachers. But someteachers have both gaps consecutive at a single day and you don't likethat. Add constraint Max 1 gap per day for all teachers at the same time.

I need a contraint like min gaps per week. There is no min n gaps per weekconstraint. But there are 2 constraints that nearly do the same.. Variant 1:Use constraint Max hours continuously. Variant 2: Please read previousexamples again. In short: Add pseudo activities and maybe also useconstraint preferred times.

Table ofcontents

Max hours continuously

The max hours continuously constraints are: Time constraints (teachers) Max hours continuously for a teacher Time constraints (teachers) Maxhours continuously all teachers Time constraints (students) Max hourscontinuously a students set Time constraints (students) Max hourscontinuously for all students

This constraints can be used to affect the minimum number of gaps perday. If someone get a constraint Max hours continuously with value 4, thenit mean he will never teacher more then 3 hours continuously. So if he work4 hours per day, then he will get at least 1 gap. If he work 7 hours a day,

then he will get at least 2 gaps.

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students early

The students early constraints are: Time constraints (students) Astudents set begins early Time constraints (students) All students beginearly

A students day will always start in the first period with an activity if you usethis constraint (except you also used a constraint like in section Notavailable teachers, students or rooms & breaks in the first period).

Most students come to school by bus. But it arrive only at the first periodand students are not allowed to have gaps. Add constraint All studentsbegin early with weight 100%.

Most students come to school by bus, it arrive only at the first period. The


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lower years are not allowed to have gaps. But the upper years are allowedto have gaps. Add constraint A students set begins early to the lower yearswith weight 100%.

Most students come to school by bus, it arrive only at the first period andstudents are not allowed to have gaps. The bus bring them back only afterfourth, fifth and sixth (last) period. Add constraint All students begin earlywith weight 100%. Add constraint Min hours daily for all students withvalue 4 and weight 100%.


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Table ofcontents

activity ends day

The activity ends day constraints are: Time constraints (activities) Anactivity ends students day Time constraints (activities) A set of activitiesends students day

This constraint is very important if students have constraint no gaps and notall students of an group (or several groups) visit this activity. Alsofortnightly activities maybe need this constraint.

The school offer remedial education to the students of an year. So notevery students need to visit this activity. But you don't want to add a newcategory, because you are to lazy or pupils have (nearly) no unused periodin their timetable. There are two variants: Variant 1: Add an activity withsubject of remedial education, add the correct teacher, duration and the

year (instead of this you can also add all groups, but it doesn't look so finein the printed timetable). Add constraint An activity ends students day thisactivity. Variant 2: If you have several activities that must end a studentsday and that activities have an common attribute (for example a speacialsubject), then you can use constraint A set of activities ends students dayto select several activities with a single constraint.

If you need activity starts day, then use An activity has a set of preferredtimes and choose every 1st period as possible time.

Tabl

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2 activities are consecutive

The 2 activities are consecutive constraint is: Time constraints (activities) 2 activities are consecutive

Constraint consecutive mean that these activities are scheduled at thesame day without any gap, break or an other activity between them.

Students have subjects mathematics listening first and directly after thisactivity they should have mathematics practise by an other teacher. Addconstraint 2 activities are consecutive to these activities.

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2 activities are ordered

The 2 activities are ordered constraint is: Time constraints (activities) 2activities are ordered

Constraint ordered mean that the first activity must be scheduled beforethe second activitiy.

Students have subjects mathematics listening and mathematics practise.Of listening should be before practise. Add constraint 2 activities areordered to these activities. So if listining is on Wendesday 3th period, thenpractise will be later in that week.


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Be careful with this constraint, because it is very restrict the timetable verymuch.

In my opinion this constraint sounds nice, but ensnare to an unhelpful use. Ifyou order two activities, then it might happen that listining is on Mondayand the practise is on Tuesday. Sounds correct and maybe also sound likethis is needed, but think more carefully. What happen if the activity on

Tuesday doesn't take place because of ill teacher, ill students, holiday, fieldday, school trip or other reasons. The "needed" order is confused. It isnearly impossible to keep such an order the whole year. So why addingsuch an strict constraint if you can't keep the order over the whole year?

Just because of the first week? In my opinion that is nonsense. Even if thefirst week start with an practise lesson that realy doesn't matter. You haveenough other things to do in the first lesson (Get to know your students,check their previous knowledge, give an overview about the year or maybe

just do a listing lesson.).


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So in my opinion this constraint should be only used if you also use aconstraint A set of activities has same starting day (any hours) to thatactivities.

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Min gaps (hours) between a set of activities

The Min gaps (hours) between a set of activities constraint is: Timeconstraints (activities) Min gaps (hours) between a set of activities

Constraint Min gaps (hours) between a set of activities mean that there area minimum number of periods between 2 activities. So this constraint issomething like the opposite of constraint consecutive.

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entsWorking in an hourly interval max days per week

The Working in an hourly interval max days per week constraints are: Timeconstraints (teachers) A teacher works in an hourly interval max days perweek Time constraints (teachers) All teachers works in an hourly intervalmax days per week

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preferred time(s)

The preferred time(s) constraints are: Time constraints (activities) Anactivity has a preferred starting time Time constraints (activities) Anactivity has a set of preferred time slots Time constraints (activities) A setof activities has a set of preferred time slots Time constraints (activities) A set of subactivities has a set of preferred time slots Time constraints(activities) An activity has a set of preferred starting times Timeconstraints (activities) A set of activities has a set of preferred startingtimes Time constraints (activities) A set of subactivities has a set ofpreferred starting times

Preferred times are very powerful and fundamental constraints, you cannearly do everything with them. Especially constraint A set of (sub)-activities has a set of preferred times is very helpful (compare nextexample). It can care about activities with the same teacher, the samestudents, the same subject or the same activity tag.

What is the difference between preferred time slot and preferred startingtime? There is no difference if the corresponding activities have duration 1.

There are only differences if duration is 2 or more. Have a look at the rightexample. An activity with duration 2 can be start at period 1 and 2 if youuse constraint preferred time slot. But an activity with duration 2 can startat period 1, 2, 3 and 5 if you use constraint preferred starting time.

The main subjects (often the native language, a foreign language,mathematics) are instructed in a German secondary school 4 times perweek. It might happen, that a students set has a main subject always in thelast period. That is pretty bad because the students are already tired andcan't learn as good as in earlier periods. Add constraint A set of subactivityhas a set of preferred times. Seletct component number 1. Select amainsubject. Select activity preferd times periods 1 to 4. Add thatconstraint. Repeat it one more time, just with component number 2. By this


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constraints it can't happen that all activities are instructed at period 5 orlater. There are now at least 2 activities in the 4th period or before. Nowthe teacher can instruct new things or write tests in activities that have aearlier period and just do practice in activities that are scheduled later. Asalways I prefer to use 100% weight. If this constraint is to difficult, thenmaybe just do it with the first component. If the timetable is still to easy tosolve you can maybe also do it with the 3th component or with periods 1 to3. But be careful. Some activities still must be able to schedule late! So youshouldn't use constraint A set


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of activity has a set of preferred times to do this. Of course don't do thiswith all subjects, because some subjects can/must be scheduled late.

An external teacher come at a special period to your school. Use An activityhas a preferred starting time.

All students should be able to celebrate Mass in the first Period exceptFriday. Add an activity to every year with subject Mass and the priest asteacher. Use An activity has a set of preferred times. Select corresponding

activities and select the first periods as preferred times.

Activities with duration 2 must (or should) start only in odd periods (1st,3th, 5th, ...). Use odd as activity tag and add a constraint A set of activitieshas a set of preferred starting times to all 1st, 3th and 5th periods. Don'tuse constraint A set of activities has a set of preferred time slots to effectthis, because that mean activities with duration 2 or more can not beplaced!

Activities must (or should) be instructed only in the morning (or in theevening). Use morning (or evening) as activity tag and add to

both activity tags a constraint A set of activities has a set ofpreferred times.

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Table ofcontents

Same starting time

The same starting time constraints are: Time constraints (activities) A setof activities has same starting time (day+hour) Time constraints (activities) A set of activities has same starting day (any hour) Time constraints(activities) A set of activities has same starting hour (any days)

Every single year should be able to celebrate Mass in the first Period. Add aactivity to every year with subject Mass and the priest as teacher. Addconstraint A set of activities has same starting hour (any days) or A set ofactivities has a set of preferred times. Select corresponding subject orpriest and choose the first periods as preferred times.

In the easier way you don't need constraint A set of activities has samestarting time (day+hour). Just move all needed teachers and students inone activity. But by this they get only one room. But there are at least 3

needful examples:

In the classes are male and female students. You maybe want to schedulesport separated by girls and boys. Of course you can do it by using a newcategory. But in (nearly) 100% filled timetables this mean that they musthave sport simultaneously. If the first activity is subject sport, teacher 1and group 10A, the second activity is subject sport, teacher 2 and group10B. Add constraint A set of activities has same starting time (day+hour)to this to activities. Now teacher 1 can instruct all boys of group 10A and10B; teacher 2 can instruct all girl of this groups. This work well if thenumber of groups/classes is not odd in a year. If the number of groups is

odd, then just connect to classes of two different years together (maybe10C and 9C).

The native language teacher is teaching 4 periods per week in a group. Butat 1 out of the 4 periods an other teacher is team teaching. So you can't

just add this teacher to the activity, because in the other 3 periods heshould teach somewhere else. Variant 1: Add an pseudo activity. Thisactivity just include the team teaching teacher. Now add constraint A set ofactivities has same starting time (day+hour) with the pseudo activity andone out of the four native language activities. You need to uncheck theblock checkbox to see a single activities. If you have teacher home rooms

this variant mean two rooms a locked for the team teaching activity.Variant 2: Add one activity with both teachers and duration 1. Add asecond activity with the native language teacher and total duration 3. Addthe first single activity into the automatic generated Min n days constraintof the last activities.

Students have subjects mathematics listening first and directly after thisactivity they should have mathematics practise by an other teacher. Addconstraint 2 activities are consecutive to these activities.

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Not overlapping

The not overlapping constraint is: Time constraints (activities) A set ofactivities are not overlapping

Activities with same teacher or same students or same room are neveroverlapping by default. (compare Basic compulsory time and roomconstraints). So this constraint is only needed in very special situations.

There are 2 very important guys with a special skill. You know that one ofthem is sometimes away (or ill) and the other guy need to represent theother. Of course that is only possible if he have no activity at the sametime. Use constraint A set of activities are not overlapping.

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Home room(s)

The home rooms constraints are: Space constraints (teachers) A teacherhas a home room Space constraints (teachers) A teacher has a set ofhome rooms Space constraints (students) A set of students has a homeroom Space constraints (students) A set of students has a set of homerooms

Home rooms are the default rooms. They are allocated if there is noPreferred room(s) constraint.

Many institutions have home rooms to groups or teachers. You don't needto add home room constraints if every group (or teacher) have it's own

home room. So you don't need to add home room constraints because youalready know that there will never be a conflict. Add home roomsconstraints only if some groups (or teachers) share rooms or if you want todisplay them into the timetable.

FET didn't allocate a home room if a activity contain more then 2 teachersor students sets. Use a Preferred room(s) constraint for that activities if youneed to allocate a room.

Don't use teachers home room constraints and students home roomconstraints at the same time.

Read chapter preferd rooms before you add home rooms.

Every teacher should get his own home room. Sadly there are moreteachers then rooms at the institution. Your institution instruct 6 periodsper day at 5 days a week. So the institution has 30 periods per week. Nowcount the number of periods that every teacher is working in hishomeroom. You will see that some teacher work many hours in their homeroom. But there will also be teacher that work less hours in theirhomeroom. Not only because they are half time teachers, also becausethey maybe just teach math in the homeroom but physic in the lab. Someteacher even don't need a homeroom, because they teach only in special

rooms. Now count the number of teachers that need home rooms; maybeyou already have enough rooms. If not you need to check two variants:Variant 1: Check if 2 (or more) teacher can share a home room. So thenumber of teaching periods from all teachers that share a single room canbe maximum the number of periods per week of the institution. Add thesame room to all teachers that should share a single room (constraint Ateacher has a home room). Variant 2: Maybe you have bad luck and thereare no teachers that can share a single room. In that case one (or some)teacher need two (or more) home rooms (constraint A teacher has a set of


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home rooms). Before using this constraint you should think about usingconstraint An activity has a preferred room to activities of that teacher.

You counted the number of home room periods of every teacher and wrotedown a list of teacher that could share a home room. But which teachersshould share a single home room?

Check if teachers that instruct in the same special room can share a homeroom. For example teacher T1 instruct math and physics and teacher T2

instruct history and physics. Physics is instructed in the lab. Math andhistory is instructed in the home room. So if teacher T1 instruct physics,then the lab is used by T1. So T2 will never be able to instruct physics at thesame time as T1, but that also mean the


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home room of T1 is free and T2 can use that home room.

Be careful if you share a special room with an other institution and so youalso use A room is not available at the same time. For example you have ahugh gym that has 3 room but you can't use it every day because also another school use it. Teacher T3 instruct math and sports and teacher T4instruct history and sports. So this teachers can maybe never share a homeroom, because they must use the gym at the same time.

Sometimes (especially if you just need the last link of 2 teachers) it's thebest if the teachers with the lowest number of home room periods share aroom.

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Preferred room(s)

The same starting time constraints are: Space constraints (subject) A

subject has a preferred room Space constraints (subject) A subject has aset of preferred rooms Space constraints (subject+activity) Asubject+activity tag have a preferred room Space constraints(subject+activity) A subject+activity tag have a set of preferred roomsSpace constraints (activity) An activity has a preferred room Spaceconstraints (activity) An activity has a set of preferred rooms

Preferd room constraints have a higher priority then home roomconstraints. This constraints are normally used for special rooms.

Subject chemistry must always be instructed in the chemistry lab. Add

constraint A subject has a preferred room if you have just one chemistryroom. Add constraint A subject has a set of preferred rooms if you haveseveral chemistry rooms.

Subject physics must always be instructed in physics lab, but if physics labis already occupied it is allowed to be instructed in the chemistry lab. Thisexample is sadly not possible, but very similar constraint is possible:Subject physics must always be instructed in physics lab or chemistry lab.Add A subject has a set of preferred rooms. So it might happen that physicsis instructed in chemistry lab even the physics room is free. So pleasecheck yourself if this happen and manually correct it.

Subject biology must always be instructed in biology lab in year 7 to 10,but must not be instructed in year 5 and 6. Set activity tag room needed toall biology activities of year 7 to 10. Add constraint A subject+activity taghave a preferred room with weight 100%. Add constraint A subject has apreferred room with weight under 100%.

You need to allocate several rooms for a single activity. Add dummyactivities with a (dummy) subject, maybe a dummy teacher and without astudents set. Add constraint A set of activities has same starting time(day+hour) to connect dummy activities with the other activity. You don'tneed the dummy teacher, but it maybe help you checking the timetable.

Don't forget that this dummy teacher maybe infringe upon otherconstraints (especially gaps constraints) Add room constraints to thedummy activities.

You have a gym that can be separated into 3 parts. Sometime 3 very largegroups are together in the gym and it's a little bit to full in the gym. Youcan't remove a room, because sometimes must be 3 groups in the gym.

There are two different variants to solve this problem. Both are verysimilar, but depending on your exact dataset one of them is (maybe) much


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better and/or easier to enter: Variant 1: Write down all very large groups.Add dummy activities with subject sport, dummy teacher and without astudents set. Add constraint A set of activities has same starting time(day+hour) to connect a dummy activity with two large sport activities. Youdon't need the dummy teacher, but it maybe help you checking thetimetable. Don't forget that this dummy teacher maybe infringe upon otherconstraints (especially gaps constraints) Variant 2: Write down all smallestgroups. Add A set of activities has same starting time (day+hour) toconnect 3 small sport activity groups together.


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An activity is splitted into 4 activities per week. Only one of these activitiesneed the computer lab and not the home room. Just add the activity asnormal and use constraint An activity has a preferred room to one (sub)-activity

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Buildings

The buildings constraints are: Space constraints (teachers) Max buildingchanges per day for a teacher Space constraints (teachers) Max buildingchanges per day for all teachers Space constraints (teachers) Maxbuilding changes per week for a teacher Space constraints (teachers) Max building changes per week for all teachers Space constraints (teachers) Min gaps between building changes for a teacher Space constraints(teachers) Min gaps between building changes for all teachers Spaceconstraints (students) Max building changes per day for a set of studentsSpace constraints (students) Max building changes per day for all

students Space constraints (students) Max building changes per week fora set of students Space constraints (students) Max building changes perweek for all students Space constraints (students) Min gaps betweenbuilding changes for a a set of students Space constraints (students) Mingaps between building changes for all students

TODO: nice example?Table ofcontents

Statistics

Check the teachers and students statistics before generating a timetable.You can check if all activities are (hopefully) added correct. It's also usefulto check the statistics if you want to add some constraints. (like max daysper week or max gaps)

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Timetable

Maybe not every timetable is solvable. Remove constraints if FET fail to finda solution. Contact the author if you know that a solution is possible. Don'tadd to many constraints at one time and always save with a new file name.

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Generating a timetable

There are two different ways to generate timetables: timetable generatenew timetable generate multiple variants

Generating a timetable is very random process. So it might happen thatgenerating a timetable just need a few seconds and generating a timetable


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with the same dataset need the next time several minutes. I can't say howmuch time is needed to your timetable, but I know datasets that needseveral hours to solve even on a modern computer.

Don't wonder if the number of placed activities stop or even decreasesometimes. That is normal. Just try some sample files. They are all solvable.

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View a timetable

If you generated a single timetable by timetable generate new, you canview the timetables by: timetable view (students) timetable view(teachers) timetable view (rooms)


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*** you can lock activities here *** who need it? Good example?

I recommend to view the timetables with an web browser. They are saved inhtml format. On Linux systems they are stored in ~/fet-results/ and onWindows systems they are stored in a subdirectory /results/ of the FET

FET Manual Del Usuario

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