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From time to time, or at the start of the next school year, your timetable will most probably need to be updated. If it's simply a new educator that has replaced one that has left, all you need to do is to change the name and all the tables will be updated though usually it is more complex than this.
This is how I suggest you go about updating the timetable.
| 1. | Clear computer entries. |
| 2. | Remove all manual placements. |
| 3. | Remove all the educators that have left and add all the new educators in. |
| 4. | Modify classes, subjects and rooms in a similar fashion. |
| 5. | On the Layouts tab, remove all the redundant groups, You can select multiple groups for removal by holding down the <Ctrl> key and clicking on the group with the mouse pointer. To select a range of groups, select the first group, then while pressing the <Shift> key, click on the last group that you want selected. You can then either press the delete key or click on the delete button. |
| 6. | Create or modify all the groups. |
| 7. | Prepare the Master Timetable and copy to all. Ensure that all the 'Protect xxx' menu options are not checked beforehand. |
| 8. | Block all the required periods, set the Misc, periods as required. I suggest here that you only do the most important ones, the 'need to haves' not the 'nice to haves'. |
| 9. | Validate and Solve the table. Save this solution so that you have a working solution in case of problems. |
| 10. | Prioritise the 'nice to have' constraints, e.g. "Mrs Green, does not like teaching on a Friday afternoon" vs. "Try not to let the learners have Mathematics first thing in the morning". |
| 11. | Add these constraints one by one and obtain a solution that you save. |
| 12. | If any constraint causes the solving process to fail, remove it and continue with the next constraint. The failed constraints, either the constraints will have to be softened or adapted, or they must be left out. |
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