CONFIDENTIAL

GUIDELINES ON HOW TO USE THE SA-SAMS TIMETABLING ASSITANT MODULE.

INTRODUCTION

Here are some of the Main functions of the Timetabling Assistant Module Usage:

 Configure the Days, Periods and Add any Miscellaneous Periods.

 Set up your Master Timetables/Templates.
 Enter your Educators, Classes, Rooms and subjects.
 Combine Educators, Classes and Subjects to Form Logical Groups.
 Edit the Criteria for the Newly Created Groups.
 Copy the Master Timetables/Templates to the rest.
 Solve the Timetable.
 Print the Tables or Transfer them to Excel.

N.B: Make sure to read all instructions on each screen displayed before moving to the next step.

1. Click on Timetabling Assistant (13)

Page 1 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

2. Click on Start a new timetable radio button Type in your School’s Name Click on “Start
the input Verification Wizard”.

Step 3

Step 1

Step 2

3. Start the input Verification Wizard: You will see that the “Result” column is empty.

Click on Each Compulsory Steps 1-6 i.e. “Check Cycle Details”.

Page 2 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

3.1 Check Cycle Details Steps:

Step 1

Step 2

3.1.1 Step 1 Verify and Update Cycle Details by clicking on the Update Cycle Details tab.

Page 3 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

3.1.2 Step 2 Click the Cycle Details Checked and Correct check box.

After clicking the

check box to approve
information on the
Results column, the
system will indicate
Checked.

3.2 School Classes and Number of Periods Requiring Supervision:

Page 4 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

3.3 Check the list of Educators and Timetable Codes as captured from Educator Information Module (2.1)

3.3.1 You can also click the Add New Educator tab.

Page 5 of 27
CONFIDENTIAL

Page 6 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

4. Check Subjects for use on Timetable:

Step 2
Step 1

Step 3

4.1 Select the Correct Subject Description Click on the Update Subject tab to Verify and Update
Subjects Click the Subjects Checked and Correct tab.

Page 7 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

5. Click the Educator Ratio and Maximum Periods Type in the Provincial Educator/Learner Ratio
the Get Total Educators tab is highlighted for you to click for Auto Calculation Click Ratio
Checked and Correct and Maximum Periods are Checked and Correct check boxes.

Page 8 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

5.1. Click the Ratio Checked, Correct, and Maximum Periods are checked and correct check boxes,
this will complete step 5&6 simultaneously.

6. Complete the Optional Input Steps.

Page 9 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

6.1 Setting up group/tie subjects.

6.2 Setting up individual Educator load.

N.B: Ensure that all Educator load for all subjects and in all grades is updated.

I. If you selected a wrong class after clicking the accept button just click on top of the class
inside the classes selected box, it will be removed for you to allocate the correct class again.
II. To remove a wrong Educator allocation just click on the record and it will be cleared for you
to create the correct allocation again.

Page 10 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

6.3 Step 9&10 allows you to view and verify summary of Educator and Class Allocations.

Page 11 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

7. Click the optional inputs check box, only if optional inputs have been added click the
create timetable tab.

Step 2

Step 1

8. Start Automated Timetable.

Page 12 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

9. Settings Tab: Enter the days and periods, right click and select delete to remove erroneous
entries.

10. Add Miscellaneous Periods Tab.

Please Note: the miscellaneous period are simply a placeholder within the timetable,
allocating multiple contiguous periods, the program will assume that it is safe to span this
period. I.e. Assembly/ Break.

Page 13 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

11. Copy Master Table to all.

 Select the period description

 Right click for a pop-up Menu of your miscellaneous periods; choose the correct
option.
 You may also 'block select' by dragging your mouse across the row or column before
right clicking.

 Select 'Copy - Master Timetable to All' from the menu, this step copies the main
timetable layout to all the others.

Page 14 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

Other function:

 Allocate miscellaneous periods to Classes, Educators, Rooms, Subjects and Groups

individually i.e.: if an educator can only give classes in the morning until 10 am, you
can create a miscellaneous period called 'Reserved' and allocate this to the periods
after 10 am for that Educator.

12. Preferences Settings Tab.

13. The Educators Tab.

Page 15 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

 Educator Names are displayed in the column on the left side, or you may enter the
educator’s name manually, as you would like to see them on the output.
 The Educator information shows to which groups the educator belongs and cat be
changed from this screen. Do not forget to save.
 Any potential conflicts would highlight the information on the right in yellow and tag
the problem with an asterisk.

14. The Classes Tab.

 As can be seen, the Classes screen works the same as the Educator screen.
 Classes and the number of pupils in the class are populated on the left side of the
screen and they can also be captured manually, do not forget to save.
 Any potential conflicts would highlight the information on the right in yellow and tag
the problem with an asterisk.
 Click the Details tab for more details on how a class’s subjects are grouped.
 Click the Timetable tab to display the timetable view.

Page 16 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

15. The Rooms.

 The Rooms screen also works the same as the Educators or Classes screen.
 Rooms and the capacity of the room is populated, or can be captured manually and
do not forget to save.
 You only need to enter rooms that are shared by multiple educators.
 Any potential conflicts would highlight the information on the right in yellow and tag
the problem with an asterisk.

15. The Subjects.

 The Subjects screen also works the same as the previous screens.
 Subject Names are populated, do not forget to Save.
 Any potential conflicts would highlight the information on the right in Yellow and tag the
problem with an Asterisk.
 The total usable periods does not have to be less than the total available periods for the
subjects.

Page 17 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

 This step gives an indication of the total number of periods used by the subject since
multiple groups can be taught that specific subject simultaneously.

16. The Layout.

 This group consists of two classes where half of each class goes to one subject and the
other half goes to another. Here both educators and the classes must have blank periods in
common for the program to slot the group into.

 This time a single class is split into three smaller units each going to a different educator.

Page 18 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

 Double Click the group to edit it from here,the default values are prepopulated for new
groups.
 Click on the column title to lock selected item when creating new groups.

Page 19 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

 The last group displayed, will always be the blank group where you will drag the educator,
class, room and subject. This will append a new blank group on the end and the process is
then repeated.

 To speed things up, you can enter in the group defaults that will be used on the groups that
are created. These defaults can be changed as required before the next batch is entered.

 You also have the 'Options - Quick Group Label' menu option which will provide a default
label for the group based on the subject and class name.

 To remove a group or an educator, or class, or room, or subject from a group, select item
and drag it to the trashcan in the bottom right.

Page 20 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

17. Groups Tab.

 Groups are easily populated and directed from the layouts tab.
 The groups tab can be used to verify the 'Minimum periods per day' the
'Maximum periods per day', and the 'Number of periods per cycle' values.
 The details tab at the bottom left of the screen displays the subject and room
that the educator will use and the number of learners taking each subject.
 Simplex groups will have the information filled in automatically.
 Groups are a logical set containing educators, classes, rooms and subjects
that have to be available at the same period for a certain number of times.

18. The Validation Screen.

 The validation screen will detect most of the basic errors and some of the more subtle
errors, it will display the information and colour code it according to the severity.

Page 21 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

 I would strongly recommend making use of this screen before attempting to solve
your timetable.

Page 22 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

19. The Solving Process.

19.1 The Clash Table.

 The clash table shows the level of groups sharing the same educators, classes and
rooms.
 The lower you keep the conflicts in the first column, the easier it is to resolve the
table.


19.2 The Combing Chat: it shows the minimum required periods for any educator, class/
room.

Page 23 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

19.3 The Solve it Tab:

 This is the heart of the program, the program attempts to solve the timetable.
 The graph displays the status of the solving process with the red line being the best
solution so far and the green line, the status.

 Slot the remainder in at a best of x unresolved slots.

This will allow the solving engine to go one or two periods beyond the maximum for the day
in an attempt to solve the timetable.

 Allow x Non-contiguous periods in the timetable.

This will allow the solving engine to split the periods i.e. one in the morning and one in the
afternoon, on the same day if it is unable to get two consecutive available slots.

Page 24 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

 Status Display Refresh Rate.

This simply increases or decreases the display refresh rate. It has no impact on the speed that
the program uses to attempt to solve the timetable.

20. The Reports Tab: This allows you to transfer the information to Excel.

Page 25 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

Additional Information:

The Reports Available are broken into six groups namely:

The Timetables.

 These are the standard timetables for the Educators, Classes, and Rooms.

The Composite Timetables.

 These timetables would be kept in the office, information is grouped by day.

The Statistics.

 This group lists the information along with the workload or utilization of that
resource. You would very likely use these reports to ensure that the workload is
distributed fairly amongst your educators.

The Lists.

 This will provide you with the basic information as entered into the system.

The Availability Lists.

 These lists will help you allocate Educators to look after Classes where that Educator
is absent.

The Exclusion List.

 This will show you how you have configured any mutually exclusive groups.

21. Period Control.

Page 26 of 27
 CONFIDENTIAL

You have the ability to control all the periods at the sub-levels. You could for example, ensure
that technology is never the first or the last period of the day for all grades:

22. The Master Timetables

 The Master Timetable to create your initial timetable.

 If your educators had a staff meeting on Friday afternoons while the learners left
early, you could modify the Educator Master and the Class Master accordingly before
copying these to their respective destinations.

N.B: You also have the ability to modify the lowest level of the timetables based on their
requirements. Either i.e. the headmaster’s timetable could be blocked or a miscellaneous
period assigned to the periods that he or she would not be available.

Page 27 of 27