E10 - Elective data > Courses Action: Rules

Modified on Thu, 9 Apr at 4:41 AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preamble

Preamble

Tes Timetable applies rules to student preferences and elective line generation to ensure school and Educational authority requirements are met. While it tries to give students all of their main preferences, it is not always possible. Rules validate student selections, guide line generation and control online forms (if using Timetable Choice for subject selections).

When constructing lines, other constraints often need to be considered, such as individual class placement.

Refer to E10 - Elective data > Courses Action: Constraints.

When Rules are Used

Check student preferences: Before generating lines, student preferences are checked against curriculum rules, eg required English or no more than two Math courses. Any issues are highlighted so they can be corrected beforehand, ensuring the best results. Note this should not occur if using Timetable Choice, as rules prevent invalid submission.
Line generation requirements: Rules ensure students are placed into required course types during line generation, regardless of course preference level.
Customise Timetable Choice form: Course categorisation rules allow forms to be tailored to school preferences.
Timetable Choice submission requirements: Two rules from the etz file flow to online forms, preventing invalid preference submissions and ensuring downloaded data into etz file meets school requirements. These rules are:
- 'at least'
- 'no more than'

For schools using Timetable Choice, refer to E10 - Choice: Submission rules for details on using Rule entries to configure the Choice form.

Types of Rules

Rules are entered in Lines > Elective data > Courses > Action bar: Rules and Constraints: Rules screen and consist of:

at least
no more than
mandatory if req (requested)
priority
units-per-rotation at least
units-per-rotation at most

If multiple pathways exist in a dataset, rules can be applied to a specific pathway by selecting it from the Pathway column drop down list. If a rule is applicable to all pathways, select 'All'.

Units explained

A 'unit' represents how much of a student's overall program a course accounts for. The number of units per course will differ from school to school as they depend on the number of rotations within the file and the set up of the dataset.

Some examples of the use of units:

NSW Year 11 single-year dataset: 6 year-long subjects x 2 units = 12 units total
VIC (2 rotations) using Year 9-12 multi-year dataset:
- Year-long course = 2 units
- Semester course = 1 unit
VIC (4 rotations) using Year 7-12 multi-year dataset:

Year-long course = 4 units
Semester course = 2 units
Term-based electives in Yr7 and Yr8 = 1 unit

Categorising Subjects

In Lines > Elective data > Courses: Rules field, courses are assigned character(s) to allow grouping of subjects.

Allowable characters: letters A-Z, digits 0-9, !@#$%^&*()_+
A course may have more than one letter/character assigned.
Use meaningful assignments as much as possible, eg Art=A, English=E, to categorise them into groups.

Rules explained

Rule: At least

This rule requires students to have a minimum number of units from a group as part of their program. It does two things:

Checks that the required number of units of a group/category is included in their preferences.
Assigns students the specified number of units per group at line generation stage.

Example: at least - 2 Units - Group E

Students must select and be assigned 2 units of an English type subject.

Example: Yr10 students must select and be assigned 2 units of E, 2 units of M, 2 units of S and 2 units of H category of courses, where English are assigned the letter E, Maths are M, Science are S, Humanities are H in the Courses >Rules field.

Students missing the required units are flagged in Lines > Elective data > Students > Insufficient field. Note that it is only possible for this to occur where student selections have been imported or entered manually as Timetable Choice prevents submission if any 'at least' rule is unmet.

Tes Timetable attempts to satisfy all 'at least' rules at line generation stage, but it may not always be possible. When this occurs, affected students are highlighted in Lines > View Lines > Students screen.

Rule: No more than

The 'no more than' rule limits students to a maximum number of units from a group. It does two things:

Checks that no more than the allowable number of units of a group is included in their preferences.
Assigns students only the allowable number of units per group at line generation stage.

Example: no more than - 2 Units - Group M
Students must not choose nor receive more than 2 units of Maths subject, where all Maths courses are assigned M in the Courses > Rules field.

Violations are flagged in Lines > Elective data > Students. Note that it is only possible for this to occur where student selections have been imported or entered manually as Timetable Choice prevents submission if any 'no more than' rule violated.

Rule: Mandatory if requested

The 'mandatory if requested' rule ensures students receive a course if they selected it, regardless of preference order.

applies only to line generation stage
does not force students to include a course in their preferences
does not override 'at least' or 'no more than' rules

Example: mandatory if req - V
School wants to ensure Yr10 accelerated students get their Yr 11 subjects. The letter V has been used to associate these subjects in the Courses > Rules field.

Tes Timetable prioritises assigning V group subjects to those who selected it during line generation, even if it causes them to miss out on a subject that was higher up their preference list.

On occasion it may not be able to grant the subject. If this occurs, affected students are highlighted in Lines > View Lines > Students screen and the missed course shown in the Missed field.

Rule: Priority

The 'priority' rule encourages enrolment in certain strategic or low-demand subjects to reach the minimum class size.

applies only to line generation stage
lower priority than other rules
temporarily boost effective preference ranking at line generation but does not change the displayed preference order

Example: priority - 2 - X

Subjects in group X are nudged up two preference levels.

7INF is often a low student preference, but the school decided to run it and wants to maximise enrolments. This priority rule nudges it up by two preferences places for those students who selected it.

Rule: Units-per-rotation at least

This rule ensures students are allocated a minimum number of units from a group per rotation.

applies only to files set up with more than one rotation
applies only to line generation stage

Example: units-per-rot at least - 1 Unit - Group S
Yr9 students have a number of one unit Science subjects on offer that runs for half a year. They must study science for the whole year by completing one Science subject in rotation 1 and another science subject in rotation 2.
Each science course must have a letter group assigned in the Courses > Rules field, such as S.

Rule: Units-per-rotation at most

This rule ensures students are allocated no more than the specified number of units per group per rotation.

applies only to files set up with more than one rotation
applies only to line generation stage

Example: units-per-rot at most - 1 Unit - Group T
Yr10 students may choose from multiple technology subjects but are restricted to one per rotation as the school does not want students to have two technology subjects in the same rotation.

Each technology courses must have a letter group assigned, such as T, in the Courses > Rules field.

Note that it is possible to use both the 'units-per-rotation at least' and the 'units-per-rotation at most' rules.

Similarly, where students do not receive a subject to meet these rules, any issues are highlighted in the Lines > View Lines > Students screen.

Multi-year datasets

A few things to note about multi-year datasets:

Rules are set for each year level, as different rules may apply for each year level.
Groups assigned in the Courses > Rules field apply to all year levels listed in Courses > Years field.
Groups assigned in the Courses > Rules field apply to all pathways of the year level.

If Yr 7 has two pathways, such as a Main pathway and a Sports Program pathway, and a rule such as 'at least - 2U - Group E' is entered, both pathways must have E category courses for the student to select and submit to meet the rule.

Check rules carefully, particularly where multiple year levels can access courses from other year levels in the dataset, such as Yr11 students taking Yr12 courses, Y10 taking Yr11 courses and Yr9 taking Yr10 courses in a Yr9-12 dataset. Keep a clear list of course groups/categories used in Courses > Rules field by year level to avoid confusion.