E10 - Elective data > Courses Action: Generate lines around existing lines in other year levels using 'Timetable around'

Modified on Thu, 14 Aug at 12:42 AM

Preamble

Sometimes a school wishes to generate elective lines around other existing school lines. Edval's 'Timetable around' feature allows the line generation to look at the existing lines in Class data F6, checking the teacher and room resources already being used on those lines, and work around them. If lines are all generated independently on their own, it is highly possible that a timetable cannot be constructed due to resource impossibilities. It is far better to either 'Timetable around', or even generate multi-year datasets.

This document refers to the 'Timetable around' line generation feature.

Scenario 1:

The school has existing lines in Yr12 that are to remain the same for the following year. When it is time to generate elective lines for Yr11, the lines must work around the existing Yr 12 lines. The Yr11 classes will not be allocated to a line if this will cause a clash for existing teachers or rooms used by the Yr12 classes, or the classes will not be able to be staffed or roomed based on the existing subject sets.

Year 11 lines will be 'Timetabled around' Yr12.

Scenario 2:

The school has a set of lines already generated for Years 10, 11 and 12, and now wishes to generate some elective lines for Year 9. As the resources (teachers and rooms) needed for Year 9 courses are also used in the Year 10, 11 and 12 lines, we must ensure that we do not create Year 9 lines in isolation in case it results in the Year 9 lines not being able to work around the Years 10, 11 and 12 lines on the timetable. Much better lines, with greater timetabling flexibility, can be produced if the Year 9 lines have visibility of what is already in place in Years 10, 11 & 12.

Year 9 lines will be 'Timetabled around' Yr10+11+12.

The 'Timetable around' feature reads the Line numbers that appear in the Class data screens of the year level/s being timetabled around. It does not refer to any other line generation screens.

NSW schools may need to refer to the document E10 - Generating Lines in NSW that covers the scenario of lines being generated around the promoted Year 9 and 11 classes (ie, next year's Year 10 and 12 classes).

Timetable around set up

Check Subject Teacher and Room sets

Check and edit, if required, the Teachers > Subject Teachers and Rooms > Subject rooms. It is crucial that these sets are updated with the most up to date school knowledge before line generation occurs to optimally use Edval's powerful line generation feature. If this step is skipped, Edval will still generate lines, but when it comes to staffing or timetabling, the user may find that classes cannot possibly be staffed or roomed.

It is crucial that the Subject teachers and Subject rooms data is correct before generating lines to avoid producing lines that may not be able to be staffed and/or roomed.

For example:

- There is one Year 12 Drama class on Line 3 requiring room D1.

- The Year 11 Drama class also needs to use room D1, therefore, 11DRA cannot be placed on line 3.

- As long as the Subject room set has D1 room entered as the Only room option for 12DRA and 11DRA, Edval will ensure that 11DRA does not run on Line 3.

Check that an umbrella year level exists if timetabling around more than one year level

If Timetabling around a single year level, such as Scenario 1, this step is not required.
If timetabling around more than one year level:
1. Go to File > Setup > Year levels
2. Add an 'umbrella' year level to combine the year levels that will be timetabled around.
  For example, Scenario 2 means that an umbrella year level of 'Yr10+11+12' must exist so that the line generation can check the lined classes from all three year levels.

Generate lines, selecting 'Timetable around'

Go to Lines > Elective data F10 > Courses > Action bar: Generate lines
Check the 'Timetable around dataset' option
Select the year level or umbrella year that the lines are to be generated around

If the year level you need does not display as an option to 'timetable around', check the Lines > Datasets screen to make sure it is not included in the dataset.
A year level cannot be included in the dataset if we want to generate lines around it.

In the example below, we want to generate Year 11 lines around Year 12, but Year 12 wasn't showing as an option in the 'Timetable around dataset' dropdown.
Checking the Datasets screen shows that Yr12 is included in the dataset, but as we are not generating Year 12 lines, Yr12 can be safely removed by dragging it out of the Year levels field.
Yr12 will then display as an option to generate the Year 11 lines around.

Select Generate

In the below image, Year 11 lines are being generated around existing Year 12 lines.

The 'Timetable around' feature reads the Classes > Class data screen, specifically the Line column. It does not work around other Line results screens. Therefore, check the class data screen that is being referenced prior to generating lines.

It also will check the Assigned staff and Assigned room columns for any hard coded staffing and rooming.

Line entries in Class data must be numbered lines (Line 1, Line 2 etc), not letter lines (Line A, Line B etc) to be referenced correctly to use the 'Timetable around' feature.

View Lines

The resulting Line results screen will display. The lined classes that the dataset was generated around will display in black for reference along with the newly created lines. Classes will display the teacher code if a teacher has been allocated.

Create classes

Create classes. Lines > Line results > Action bar: Create classes.

In Classes > Class data F6, you will note that Edval has added entries into the Link fields. This ensures that when timetabling the lines will get timetabled together.

Common error

Some users skip the last step of creating classes that transfers the new classes to the Class data screen prior to generating the next set of lines.

For example, a school might generate Year 11 lines around Year 12, then want to generate Year 10 lines around Years 11 & 12. It is crucial that the Year 11 classes have been transferred from the Line results screen to the Class data screen so that the Line numbers are updated, ready for Year 10 to work around.

Again, The 'Timetable around' feature looks at the Line numbers in the Class data screens, not any other line generation screens.