E10 - How to: Auto staff / Sample staff classes

Modified on Thu, 14 Aug at 12:55 AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preamble
- Auto staff
- Auto staff options
Sample staffing
Auto staff during/post construction
- Magic squares
Teacher Settings
Staffing Weights
Analysing auto staff results
Manual Staffing Changes

Preamble

Prior to beginning timetable construction, E10 requires that the file is checked to make sure that all classes can be staffed with the right types of teachers.

Staffing allocations can be completed:

manually in Teachers > Staff Allocations, or, less preferred, in the Classes > Class data screens.
automatically, through the Teachers > Staff Allocations > Action bar: Auto staff classes (sample staffing).
a mixture of the above.

Auto staff

The Auto staff function automatically assigns staff to classes before classes are timetabled on the grid. It uses the information entered in the Teachers > Teacher data, Teachers > Subject teachers, and Classes > Class data screens, so it is very important that this information is correct before performing an auto staff.

When the Auto staff is performed prior to timetable construction, and as part of the Ctrl-Q checks, it is known as 'sample staffing'. This is a check that all classes can be staffed, and is required to get to the 'Champagne stage', but it is not necessarily the final staffing allocation. This sample staffing solution helps to analyse staff loads, skill sets, class structures and identifies areas where there is perhaps too many staff or not enough. However, without actually constructing a timetable, it is impossible to determine where there may be timetabling issues and therefore what the final workable staffing solution will be.

A sample staff can only be performed with a cleared timetable, i.e. there are no classes timetabled in the Master grid. This does not include hard-coded classes.

Auto staff options

The Auto staff can be performed:

prior to timetable construction, or
during/post timetable construction.

Common staffing processes:

Process A

Complete a sample staffing prior to beginning constructing the timetable in the Master grid to ensure that there are enough staff of the right kind to cover all classes.
Retain the sample staffing result and begin to timetable as is.
Construct the timetable, using the 'Allow staffing changes' feature if construction issues arise during the process. Alternatively, analyse issues and make manual changes to staffing and continue with construction.

Process B

Complete a sample staffing prior to beginning constructing the timetable in the Master grid to ensure that there are enough staff of the right kind to cover all classes.
Make manual changes in Teachers > Staff allocations to better suit teacher capabilities.
Construct the timetable, using the 'Allow staffing changes' feature if construction issues arise during the process. Alternatively, analyse issues and make manual changes to staffing and continue with construction.

Process C

Complete a sample staffing prior to beginning constructing the timetable in the Master grid to ensure that there are enough staff of the right kind to cover all classes.
Clear all staffing once assured there are enough staff.
Construct the timetable, using the Auto staff function in the Master grid.
Use the 'Allow staffing changes' feature if construction issues arise during the process. Alternatively, analyse issues and make manual changes to staffing and continue with construction.

Sample staffing

Go to Teachers > Staff allocations
Check the Filter menu and select the required rotation. Usually All rotations will be selected.
From the slide out Action bar, select Auto staff classes (sample staffing)

Select Auto staff (it is not usually necessary to alter any of the weights).

A results pop up will appear showing how good the solution found is, based on the weightings. If all classes could not be staffed, analyse which classes they are and why they could not be staffed. It could be that more teachers are required, or more teachers added to Teachers > Subject teachers.

Auto staff during/post construction

The auto staff function in the Master grid will staff classes already timetabled, as well as any classes that are not yet timetabled.

Go to Grid > Master Grid > Action bar: Staffing > Staffing tab
Select Go (it is not usually necessary to alter any of the weights)
A results pop will display, as per the sample staffing function.

Magic squares

When using Magic squares with complete flexibility, the sample staffing will be cleared during the magic squares modelling. Select the auto staff function after E10 has constructed a timetable for some of the years, usually Yr 12 – Yr 9.

Teacher Settings

The options here should be checked and adjusted prior to using the auto staff function.

Go to Settings > Teachers

Periods teachers can be overloaded: This is the allowed overloading for initial construction, but it's not the value we expect teachers to actually work above their normal load. This allows more optimal splits to be determined post-solution, where the splits are far better done to solve hard clashes, but more often for balancing loads to 'no' or rare cases of overloading only. This parameter is solely applied for auto-staffing, so is not managed in an ongoing way, such as preventing overloading with manual changes - it is solely shown in the Staff allocations > LdLeft value shaded 'Orange' if overloaded.

Splits normally expected: How many split classes have you normally had in the past? Put the estimated number. This is solely used by Ctrl-Q Quality checks, which will allow staffing to be classified as valid, even if a few classes are left unstaffed. In this case, the remaining number of classes must be less than the expected number of splits, and there must be a sufficient load remaining to accommodate these unstaffed classes. Basically, it means that unstaffed classes will be treated as 'will be split', just for the purposes of passing Ctrl-Q.

Staffing Weights

The Auto staffing weights are the same in the Staff allocations screen and the Master Grid screen, and provide control over how the auto staffing is done. Generally, the default weightings will be sufficient for most files.

In cases where there are very restrictive resources or other problems, the parameters may be varied slightly, but this is quite an advanced area of E10 for the confident user. Tes Timetable Specialists can more easily diagnose issues or advise the options to resolve staffing problems in a file.

The weights define importance. Increasing a weight may result in staffing arrangements which have this particular issue improved, though sometimes at the cost of other issues. It is really the ratio of weights that defines the type of solution provided when the requirements are too restrictive to easily provide a perfect staffed solution. Sometimes it is worthwhile investigating the additional problems caused by varying weights as it may lead to the discovery of the real underlying issue involved.

Important criteria like staff load balancing takes precedence over timetable flexibility.

Options:

Fix clashes: Unchecked: When doing a sample staffing to check teacher loads. Will not allow classes on the grid to be moved where there are clashes.
Checked: Allows the grid to move classes around to fix teacher clashes.

Allow staffing changes: Auto staffs, and allows any assigned classes to be re-assigned to other teachers

Keep current staffing: Auto staffs, but keeps any current staffing as is, such as any manual allocations

Staff from scratch: Auto staffs, clearing any staffed classes and starting over

Analysing auto staff results

E10 will auto staff the file as best as it can. When this process is finished (usually within a minute or so depending on complexities), the Results pop up box will be displayed. The best result is to have every class staffed, no fallback teachers, no violation of settings.

The auto staffing results may indicate problems within the file, such as limited subject teacher sets, incorrect staff loads, problematic line structures, Class data entry errors or constraints. If results were not optimal, investigate why:

Health Check > Classes > No teachers: list of classes that E10 was not able to staff
Health Check > Staffing > Fallbacks: list of classes where fallback or 'if desperate' teachers were assigned, or where 'evenly' violations have occurred.

These problems will also be highlighted in the Teachers > Staff allocations screen.

In the screenshot below, the violations are shown as:

Unassigned classes show at the bottom of the screen
Fallback teachers show with one set of brackets around the class code e.g. 11ART2
If desperate teachers show with 2 sets of brackets around the class code e.g. 10ART1
Evenly class violations show an orange circle with the letter 'E' e.g. 12ART

This screen also shows the MaxLoad (Maximum load) and Ldleft (Load left) for each staff member, any overloaded staff are highlighted in orange in the LdLeft (Load left) column. This can also be found in the Health Check > Teachers > Overloads. The MaxLoad may be edited in Teachers > Staff allocations or Teachers > Teacher data.

Any problems should try to be resolved with adjustment to the required data. Teachers > Subject teacher sets may need editing, Teachers > Teacher data > MaxLoad column or Classes > Class data errors or constraints addressed.

Where it is recognised that there are not enough teachers to staff all classes, the use of 'Dummy' teachers may be used to signify incoming staff, and once these teachers are known, the 'Dummy teachers' can be altered to the new staff's names and codes without losing their assignments.

Manual Staffing Changes

Manual changes can be made to the staffing solution via Teachers > Staff allocations ; however E10 is considering many things during the auto staffing process, so it is important that manual changes should be carefully examined.

More information about how to make manual changes can be found in this Knowledge Base document: How to: Modify teacher or class allocations.

Clear Staffing

The staffing solution may be cleared by going to Grid > Clear timetable > Save/Backup/Continue > tick: Staff assigned > Clear from timetable;

or via Grid > Master Grid > Actionbar: Staffing > Staffing tab > Clear staffing > Clear staffing of these classes (blank = all) > Clear.