Scheduling Optimizer Features

The Scheduling Optimizer is a highly optimized, fully featured student scheduling loader program. It performs the task of assigning students to classes based on course requests, a given master schedule and specified scheduling rules. The Optimizer generates an interrelated set of simulation reports which can conveniently be viewed in your browser.

Plug-in Compatible

Installs as an integrated part of SASI. Options within both Schedule Pro and Mass Scheduling allow you to select the Optimizer as the student loader to use for scheduling either all students, a selected subset of the students (Schedule Pro only) or a single student.

Superior Scheduling Results

Rescheduling: Rescheduling of students before classes become full ensures optimal class size balancing. Rescheduling of students in full classes minimizes conflicts.

Fewer conflicts: Results vary, but the improvements can be substantial. For example, a school of 1,000 with a near final master schedule may see the number of students scheduled go from 75% to 85%. This translates to a drop in the number of conflicts from 250 students with standard SASIxp scheduling alone to 150 students with the Scheduling Optimizer, a 40% reduction.

Term Load Balancing: Reads a list of core courses and balances them evenly across terms in individual student schedules.

Features

Musts and Trys: Schedules as many students as possible with all rules in effect, then drops the "try" rules and schedules the remaining students. Once scheduled, a student may subsequently be rescheduled to release seats needed by later students, but the student's original "must" and "try" level is always maintained.

Term Overrides: Tracks section filling by term. Because of term overrides, the overall number of unique students assigned to a section may exceed the section capacity although the total scheduled in any given term will not. You may, for example, find a section with 35 seats that has 37 different students scheduled to it - 32 students who take the class all year, 3 students who take it only in semester 1 and 2 students who take it only in semester 2. The Master Schedule Lists show the number of students assigned to the class in each term independently, in this case 35 in semester 1 and 34 in semester 2.

Teacher Preferences: Observes requests for specific teachers in student course requests. If a course request includes a teacher preference, the student will be assigned only to one of the sections of the requested course taught by the preferred teacher.

Prescheduled Classes: Locks in all of a student's prescheduled classes before it schedules non-prescheduled requests. The prescheduled classes are assigned without regard to loader rules, section limits or even meeting time conflicts. Assignment of sections for non-prescheduled course requests still obeys all rules with respect to both each other and any prescheduled sections.

Corequisites: Provides an additional rule to specify "before or in the same term as" course relationships.

Section Load Restrictions (SLRs): Processes Schedule Pro Restrict and Allocate SLRs. Includes an extension which allows you to define a "non-exclusive Allocate" SLR.

Section Load Restrictions (SLRs): Processes Schedule Pro Restrict and Allocate SLRs to define categories of students permitted in or excluded from designated classes. Includes an extension which allows you to define a "non-exclusive Allocate" SLR limiting certain students to specified sections of a course while not excluding other students from these sections.

Grade Level Ordering: Automatically orders all students from highest to lowest grade before it begins scheduling. This places students in the higher grades into available seats ahead of other students.

Partial Schedules: Uses the sequence order of entries in each individual student course request list as the course request priority. You can manipulate the sequencing of course request lists to control which courses the Scheduling Optimizer will drop for students in conflict.

Partial Simulations: A selected group of students can be scheduled while the currently assigned schedules for all other students remain unchanged.

Browser Based Reports: Generates a set of reports based on results of the current simulation. View these reports in your browser.

Simulation Loading Summary: Summarizes loading results by grade and gender.
Simulation Run Log: Listing of messages generated by the Scheduling Optimizer during the current simulation run.
Master Schedule Lists: Views of the master schedule in list format, each in a different user-selectable order showing course information, number of students assigned to each course section, number of student requests and number of those requests not scheduled for the course.
Master Schedule Grids: Displays the group of course sections associated with each teacher, room or course in a grid, or matrix, format. Each course section entry shows the days, teacher, room and number of students assigned to the course section for the given term and period.
Unscheduled Period Summaries: Displays the number of individual students, male, female and total, who have no class scheduled in each term-period-day.
Resource Schedule Grids: Printable individual teacher and room schedules for each term with course-section entries in rows and columns representing periods and days.
Free Resource Reports: Lists teachers and rooms not allocated to a class in a given period, day and term in either list or grid (matrix) format.
Request Conflict Pairs: Displays the number of students requesting each course and each course pair in a list format (paragraph style conflict matrix).
Course Request Tallies: Displays the number of students requesting each course in total, by gender and by grade.

See Reports for more information.

Feature Extensions

The Scheduling Optimizer enhances standard SASIxp scheduling.

Feature	Scheduling Optimizer	Schedule Pro	Mass Scheduling
Rescheduling	Built into loading algorithm	Separate step adjusts initial loading	None
Musts & Trys	Uses Musts & Trys, then drops Trys	Simulation can include Musts & Trys or Musts only; none dropped	All rules are Musts
Term load balancing	Supported	None	None
Teacher preferences	Supported	None	Supported
Course links/rules	Supported	Supported	Limited
Corequisite rule	Supported	None	None
Term overrides	Tracks number of students by term	Tracks aggregate number of students	Tracks aggregate number of students
Section Load Restrictions (SLR)	Recognizes SLRs; adds non-exclusive Allocate	Recognizes Restrict and (exclusive) Allocate rules	Can limit sections based on some student attributes
Prescheduled classes	Always assigned	May fail - won't override rules	Always assigned
Reports	Browser based reports and standard SASIxp database reports	Text file reports and standard SASIxp database reports	Standard SASIxp database reports

Technical Specifications

Read our technical specifications.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Read our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).