Evaluating timetables

The optimisation run is the "heart" of Untis and is responsible for scheduling lessons automatically. As a general rule, each optimisation run consists of two parts, initial placement and swapping. During placement optimisation, the various lesson periods are inserted into the initially empty timetable beginning with the most difficult lessons, and the timetable is gradually filled. The swap optimisation then attempts to switch the periods about in order to improve the result.

Optimisation is finished as soon as a blue "OK" is displayed in a yellow window. The time needed for optimisation depends on the computing power of your PC, the chosen optimisation strategy and the size of your school.

The top section of the window displays an initial rough diagnosis of benchmark values for the timetable generated during optimisation.

Evaluation number

Each violation of one of your specifications (e.g. master data or lesson entries) will be given penalty points. These points are rated according to the weighting values you specified, and this finally results in a total of penalty points for your school's timetable as an indication of the quality of the timetable. The lower the total, the fewer violations of your specifications.

Note: Size of the evaluation number

The size of the evaluation number very much depends on the size of your school and the values that you entered. This number will also change as soon as you start modifying weighting factors or other settings. For this reason it does not make sense to compare results computed on the basis of different settings.

Unscheduled periods, NTPs, core time violations

The following items displayed after optimisation will give you an initial basic idea of the quality of the timetables:

•Number of unscheduled periods

•Non-teaching periods (for classes)

•Core time violations ( core time = +3 time request for classes)

•Subject 2x / day (e.g. when a subject is scheduled in the first and fifth periods on the same day)

•Double-period errors

Specially designed toolsallow you to diagnose the timetable in greater detail.