E10 - Line results: How to analyse the lines solution

Modified on Thu, 14 Aug at 12:52 AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preamble
1. How do the scores and statistics look?
2. Are there any obvious issues with the way the classes have been placed on the lines?
3. Which students are 'missing units' or 'not perfect'?
4. Check the Missed courses information
5. Are there enough classes on each line?
6. Are there any part timer warnings?
7. Are class sizes balanced?

Preamble

After a lines solution has been generated, it can be a little overwhelming to understand how to read the lines result, and what issues should be identified, particularly for new users or those new to timetabling.

This document will guide you through the line results analysis process, with examples of the types of issues to look for.

The examples in this document relate to the most commonly used 'Electives' type line generation.

The action of generating lines will likely happen several times. The first few goes are about finding issues in your data, correcting them, and having another go.

 

This article assumes knowledge of the concepts covered in the document: E10 - View lines: Results of line generation

1. How do the scores and statistics look?

One of the first areas that your eyes might be drawn to is the bottom table. These numbers will vary between schools, as every school is dealing with different data, so there is no magic number.

The Success rate, Students missing units and the Students not perfect fields are perhaps the most useful figures. If these numbers are particularly concerning, further exploration is needed to discover why.

2. Are there any obvious issues with the way the classes have been placed on the lines?

Every school will have different requirements, but a look for obvious errors at the placement of classes should be done. Often an error or omission in the data will be identified, which can be edited then lines generated again.

This image shows a scenario with an issue on the English and Maths lines. The English line has an extra class on it (11BIO), as does the Maths line (11SYS).

The Year 8 classes below are to be on two lines, but a quick look at the lines results show that they are actually spread across four lines. The parameters must be edited and lines re-generated to get the desired result.

3. Which students are 'missing units' or 'not perfect'?

Refer to: E10 - Line results: Student results

Look at the Students results screen to analyse the students who have not been granted all of their main preferences. Are there any particularly concerning students?

Are there any students who missed a subject where there was a rule in place that they must be granted the subject?

Toggle between the Views to display the results by Lines or by Preference, depending on how you'd like to see the results (both are helpful!)

Check your rules! They are not just for Edval Choice subject selection purposes; they are most important for line generation purposes also. Add them if necessary and generate again.

4. Check the Missed courses information

Refer to: E10 - View lines Action: Missed courses & preferences report

The missed courses report is helpful to see which courses were missed by students. It can also be referred to if more classes are needed on the lines, but if unsure of exactly which ones to add.

5. Are there enough classes on each line?

In most schools, some year levels must have enough classes on each line to fit every student in the year level, ie, they are not able to be placed into a Study class, usually the lower years 7-10, and perhaps Year 11. Check for any ' Places' and ' places short' warnings.

6. Are there any part timer warnings?

We know that the algorithm factors in the part time teacher requirements right at line generation time stage. So long as the correct data has been entered into Teacher data, and the Line generation construction parameters include the 'Parttimer harmony' weighting, the algorithm will try to group part time teachers' classes onto the same line, where they need the same day off, to allow greater timetable flexibility at construction time.

The image below shows that there are three lines that involve part time teachers that need Wednesdays off. These lines will likely cause an issue when it is time to place the classes onto the Master Grid, as Lines 1, 3 & 6 all cannot run on a Wednesday (depending on the school's structure). The class will need to be split with another teacher or run 'offline'.

Keep an eye on these warnings, making sure your part timer information and Subject teachers are up to date for the following year. Be particularly careful if you are manually moving classes around the lines so as not to create this problem unless sure it won't cause an issue at construction time.

7. Are class sizes balanced?

The algorithm attempts to create balanced sized classes, but a further function exists to perform a deeper shuffle to improve student results and create more even sized classes.

Refer to: E10 - View lines Action: Populate classes

Eventually the issues will be ironed out and the lines accepted.

The lines information will then be transferred to the Class data screens through the Create classes action.

Students will be informed of their subjects at some stage, but it is best to wait as long as possible in case any issues are found with the lines solution during the staffing or even timetable construction process. If issues are found, schools may need to return to the line generation stage and make some changes, which may mean students subject allocations are affected.