Enterprise Timetabler System Overview - Scientia

System OverviewSimple tomasterIntuitiveinterfaceEasypersonalisationRapidauto-schedulingStay incontrolFlexibleauthorisation®Improved Timetable Quality + Control + FlexibilityEnterprise Timetabler System Overview+ Rapid clash-checking and availability advice speeds up the timetabling process+ Soft constraints and scheduling preferences inform quality-based decisions+ Easy-to-use interface and fine-grained permissions allow distributed timetabling2765

®Enterprise TimetablerEasy to masterEnterprise Timetabler has been designed to be intuitiveso that it is easy to learn. Timetabled activities areviewed in a traditional timetable grid showing dayson one axis and times on the other. The orientation canbe chosen by the user. The interface invites the user toclick and drag to move the activities.Simple to avoid clashesWhenever the user attempts to move an activity to adifferent time, Enterprise Timetabler responds withinstantaneous scheduling advice. Colour-codingimmediately indicates the unavailability of particulartime slots and the reason for it. The user can also obtain amore detailed explanation on demand.The user maintains controlRather than the software being in control, preventing the user from scheduling in a certain way or using particularresources, the user is always in the driving seat. A user with appropriate permissions may selectively override any of theconstraints imposed by the scheduling engine. On the other hand, a different user may be restricted from doing so by theauthorisation system.Intuitive view of change impactThe timetabler can view the same activity from multipleperspectives so that the impact of a prospective changecan be analysed for the staff, students and otherresources involved in an activity.Although the user makes the change in one timetableview there is an immediate update of other relatedviews so that the impact of the proposed change isobvious.2

System OverviewSee the big picture …Enterprise Timetabler allows the user to view thetimetable across any selected range of weeks. Smartviewing-week selection means that whenever thetimetabler selects an activity to inspect, all the otheractivities that have an overlap with the selected activityare automatically brought into view. The user can see,in a single screen, the timetable for the entire institutionweek.… or focus on the detailAlternatively, the user can focus on a particular week orweeks and use the timetable zoom features to home ina particular set of days and times. The selected viewingweeks can be “locked” so that they remain constantas the user moves from one timetable to another. Thesection of the week shown as a result of zoomingremains constant until changed by the user.Handle jointly-taught activitiesWhere students on different modules are actually co-taught in the same location by the same member of staff, the studentswill perceive the activity as belonging to the module with which they are associated. From a student perspective thereappear to be multiple activities occurring in the same location while from a resource perspective there is only one activitywhich belongs to many modules. The jointly-taught activities model in ET allows these views to be harmonised so that thesame activity appears to belong to a different module depending on the student perspective.Respond rapidly to week-by-week changeWhere an activity is delivered on a repeating basis across a span of weeks there may be reasons why slight variations arerequired in some weeks; perhaps a different member of staff delivers the teaching, a different type of location is requiredin some weeks to accommodate practical activities or the activity must be rescheduled in some weeks.The activity variant model in Enterprise Timetabler allows such variation to be handled easily, resulting in accurateresource utilisation figures, accurate clash checking and accurate timetables for students. Smart recombination of variantsmeans that the system automatically maintains the minimum number of variant activities required to represent the weekby-weekchanges.3

®Interactive master view of the timetableAs well as viewing the timetable for a specific resource, it is often useful to be able to see the timetable for a number ofsimilar resources at the same time. For example, a group of similar rooms may each be available at some time on a givenday, while no one room is available for the whole day. In order to make way for a whole day booking, it may be desirableto swap activities between rooms.The master view of the timetable makes it easy to see which activities can be moved to a different room, adjusting the timein the process, if necessary. So you can go from this …… to this, with a few clicks of the mouse.The same style of interface can be used to swap activities between other resource types too.4

System OverviewCombined timetablesWhen you are trying to find a common free time fora group of resources, it is invaluable to be able to seetheir timetables combined. Enterprise Timetabler alsosupports this way of viewing the timetable.Imagine that you are trying to arrange a meetingbetween four members of staff. Viewing each of theirtimetables separately makes it difficult to see wherethere is a common free space but imagine being able tooverlay their timetables, one on top of the other.Enterprise Timetabler allows you to combine timetablesfor any number of resources in this way and includes an option to remove the activity detail. In this scenario, the activity towhich the resource is allocated is not important; it is the time that is free of activities that is of interest.Powerful resource allocation toolWhen you’re searching for a solution to a timetablingproblem, the answer might be as simple as movingan activity to a different room. On the other hand, thesolution might be more complex. In order to find analternative room, a change of time might be required.This, in turn, might necessitate a change of staff.Enterprise Timetabler’s resource tab offers a solutionthat can handle every scenario from the simple to thehighly complex.Each of the activity variables (Day, Time, Location,Staff, Equipment) can be kept static or allowed to flex and the search function will find solution permutations that matchthe requirements. You decide which of the variables to fix first and the search is updated in response so that when youselect an available day, only times available on that day will be shown. When a time is selected, the list of available roomsis updated to show only those available at that day and time.Undo and redoAs you manipulate the timetable a trail of your actions is recorded. This means that you can undo those actions a step at atime to retrace your steps. And each step that is undone is added to a trail that allows a redo function too.Improved Timetable Service + Control + Flexibility5

®Multi-user scheduling, centralised or distributedEnterprise Timetabler has the ability to support a centralised or distributed way of timetabling.Using a centralised model, resources are “owned” by the institution and each department must request the resources theyneed to deliver their teaching. In the distributed model, each department “owns” resources and is responsible for the waythese are used to deliver teaching.In practice, many institutions operate a mixture of the two models with departments “owning” specialist space andsome small general teaching rooms, while larger general teaching rooms and lecture theatres are centrally “owned”. Theauthorisation system that controls access in Enterprise Timetabler can handle any of these scenarios, including thosewhere ownership is jointly held.Distributed userCentral userAuthorisationInstitution-wide databaseManagerEach user operates with a full set of data held locally even though they may be authorised to change only a subset. Thismeans that all scheduling decisions are made in the context of the institution-wide use of resources but allows a user toexperiment locally in order to arrive at a satisfactory solution before committing changes to the centrally-held database.Once changes have been committed, each local user is updated with those changes so that they continue to work with anaccurate knowledge of the institution-wide timetable.6

System OverviewRequest and approval mechanismWhether working in a centralised or distributed fashion, it may be necessary for timetablers to make use of resources thatdo not “belong” to them. Enterprise Timetabler, coupled with the Enterprise Authorisation Manager, allows users to have“Request” access to specified resources.When operating in Request Mode, the user is able to see the availability of resources to which they have “Request” permissionbut attempting to allocate them will generate a request that must be granted by a user with “Full” permission.Enterprise Timetabler indicates clearly to each user the number of pending requests they still have and allows the user tosee details of those requests at the click of a button.A user with full permission to resources that can be requested by other users will see requests appear as they are made.The user can examine the activity to see the detail of the request and then make a decision whether to grant or deny.Either operation requires only a click of the mouse.Personalised workspaceAlthough they all share a common set of data, each user will have a specific, and possibly quite different, task focus. Acentral user whose primary task is to allocate rooms to activities will be interested in a different set of information from theuser working in a department, whose primary task is to ensure student-friendly timetables.Enterprise Timetabler helps each user to personalise their workspace to suit their primary tasks. Whether viewinglocations, staff, modules or student sets, the user can decide what details should be visible and the order in which thosedetails should appear.Each user is presented only with the data that is relevant to that individual according to their permissions so that users willnot see, for example, a room that they do not have permission to use or even to request. Additionally, the user may applytheir own filtering, sorting and grouping criteria, allowing them to focus on the data that is pertinent to the task in hand.Personalisation extends to the layout of the panes on the screen, the buttons available on the toolbar and even the colourscheme for the interface. All the settings are remembered between sessions so that a returning user will see the software inthe same state as when they last used it.7

Scientia – the companyScientia Ltd was formed in 1989 and has built an enviable reputation as a global market leaderin scheduling and planning software, with over 450 higher and further education institutions in24 countries crossing 4 continents worldwide.The company is committed to developing and delivering advanced Enterprise resourceoptimisation solutions that meet the needs of our customers.To find out more about our range of web-deployed applications and custom solutions, includingthe Scientia Enterprise suite, click on www.scientia.com to register your details and receiveupdates/news.Further InformationScientia LtdSt John’s Innovation CentreCowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WSUnited KingdomTel: +44 (0) 1223 421221Fax: +44 (0) 1223 421218Email: sales@scientia.comEmail: support@scientia.comWeb: www.scientia.com/ukScientia GmbHHansaring 61, 50670 KölnGermanyTel: +49 (0) 221 1612177Fax: +49 (0) 221 1612100Email: info@scientia.deWeb: www.scientia.deScientia (the Netherlands)Postbox 12019701 BE GroningenThe NetherlandsTel: +31 (0) 50 5797443Fax: +31 (0) 50 5797441Email: salesnl@scientia.comWeb: www.scientia.com/nlCyon Knowledge Computing Pty. LtdSuite 3.12, 247 Coward Street, MascotNSW 2020AustraliaTel: +61 (0) 2 99299292Fax: +61 (0) 2 99299294Email: sales@cyon.com.auWeb: www.cyon.com.auCyon Canada Inc3300 Bloor Street WestSuite 3140, Centre Tower, 11th FloorToronto, Ontario, M8X 2X3CanadaTel: +1 416 2348357Tel: +1 888 9006084 (toll free)Fax: +1 416 2345384Email: sales@cyoncanada.comWeb: www.cyoncanada.comISO 9001:2000 / TickIT approvedScientia is a registered trademark of Scientia Ltd.