TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Preamble
• Class data (F6)   
  • Line column
  • Spread
• Period allocations
• Year structure (in detail)
  • Are there any gaps?
  • Are there extra columns, marked with '!'?
  • Are the streamed classes/electives lined up? Are the groups mixing correctly?
  • Sign off/Unsign
  • Usage

Preamble

Before starting the process of timetable construction, each year level must have the correct structure.

The total periods for the combination of classes on lines and in groups must equal the number of teaching periods, as defined on the school’s Grid structure.  To put that simply, every student in every academic year level has to be ‘doing something’ for every teaching period in the cycle.  The combination of classes on a line or in groups must also be correct.

Class data (F6)   

Line column

1. Sort.
2. Every class (except Study classes created in the timetable file) must have an entry in the Line or Link column, or both.
3. The entry in the Line column may be a Line or Group.
4. If there is no entry in the Line column, then class A must be linked to another class B by placing the code for class B in the Link column of class A.
5. If both the Line and the Link columns for a class are empty, E10 will be confused and there will be a row called 'Error classes' in the first table of Period allocations.

Spread

1. If all classes on a line have the same number of periods (length of the line). all classes must have the same Spread entry.

Period allocations

1. The total number in the grey at the bottom of the first summary table must equal the number of 'Periods per cycle' (the total number of white teaching periods defined in the Grid structure). 
2. Each letter/number group must have the same overall Total number of periods, even if each group has a different number of periods for individual subjects.
3. Select various rotations from dropdown and check the number of periods. 
4. Using 'All rotations' will display the average number of periods for a rotated subject across the whole year level. e.g. a semesterised subject that runs for 5 periods in one semester only, will be displayed as having 2.5 periods per cycle when 'All' is selected.

Once happy that Period allocations is correct, check  Year structure  ( Ctrl-L ) and shuffle a few times to see any anomalies or unwanted combinations.  Once happy,  Sign-off  (Ctrl-E).  

Year structure (in detail)

E10 requires that the year level structure be checked and signed off.  Select the Year structure tab or simply press ctrl-L.   This will generate a graphical structure which is like a timetable for just that year.  Use this to check E10’s interpretation of the requirements set up in Class data.  It is important to understand the implications of what has been requested.  

Are there any gaps?

If gaps exist, for example, here there are always supposed to be 5 Yr10 classes but in one column only 4 are visible, then this means there is a missing class or a class with the wrong number of periods or an error in the 'Line' column.

Are there extra columns, marked with '!'?

The columns are normally numbered from 1 through to the total number of teaching periods per cycle.  However, sometimes some extra columns marked with the '!' symbol may appear.  This means there are too many classes or too many periods on the classes, OR classes are not overlapping when they should (an error in the 'Line' column).  

It is not necessarily the classes or line in the column under the ‘!’ that are causing the problem.  

In the example below, there were 10 periods, instead of 9, allocated to the 10MAT classes.

Are the streamed classes/electives lined up? Are the groups mixing correctly?

Use this view to check the general details of the 'Line' column.  Select Action tab 'Shuffle', to enable E10 to reshuffle the lessons to display an alternative assignment. This will confirm to what extent things are fixed and to what extent things are flexible.  In the example below, there are several periods where the students in group D are not allocated to a class.  

Often it is easier to find the anomalies by checking Period allocations, mentioned earlier.

Are there 'Error!' entries?

A white box labelled 'Error!' (with another white box below it) is a message that the line cannot be allocated at all, given how it has been set up.  This usually means there is the same teacher or same room required twice in the line; or insufficient teachers/rooms to satisfy the line; or the number of periods for a grouped class is incorrect and so the combination of all the grouped classes does not provide a correct solution.  

Sign off/Unsign

When the check is complete and the year level structure looks correct, select Action tab Signoff  or press ctrl-E to indicate that this year level has been manually checked.  It is important to ensure each year is correct, and while E10 will conduct its own more detailed checks, it doesn't find all possible errors.

Usage

* Double-click or hit enter on a cell to go to the definition of that class.

* Select Action tab Shuffle to re-do the allocation algorithm. This way you can see the full space of arrangements allowed by your data. Sometimes you get the same arrangement, other times there are slight differences due to classes and sublines within a line being rearranged.

This is the same view you get if you select Master Grid F11 on a solution file.