Atlantis' Wonderful Timetabling Module

Data Entry

To get started, you need data - who are your teachers, what rooms do you have, what courses are you offering, how many classes of each course and so on. Some of this data can come from your SIS via import files or import integrations. Other data will need to be manually entered.

You will generally work from left to right and top to bottom in the menu bar. You will start in: DataEntry > Basic Setup , visiting each screen in turn, checking that the data is correct or manually entering data. If you have csv files then they can be imported by clicking on [Import] in the relevant data-entry screen.

Elective Lines

The elective line, aka option blocks, construction area is a world unto itself. You will start by creating an elective dataset. E.g. you might have one elective dataset for Years 11 & 12, and another one for Year 10. You will need basic student data. You will then need to gather student subject requests, which you can do through Atlantis or through your SIS. You can then run the algorithm.

The elective lines need to be largely finalised before you begin the main timetabling phase. However, don't communicate to students what subjects they were granted until you know that you can get a timetable out using a particular solution to the elective line dataset - e.g. if you have a particular elective line with too few teachers of a particular type then you might find it impossible to timetable. So occasionally it's necessary to rearrange what you thought was your final elective line solution.

The main timetabling phase

If you think you're ready to build the timetable, then go to: "Construction > Pre-dive checks" . This will tell you of any serious contradictions or incompleteness in your requirements.

If that's fine then you can start building the timetable. The main screen you will use in this phase is the 'Mosaic' screen. This screen will attempt to show you your entire timetable in a single screen. If you are able to use dual computer monitors, or a particularly large computer monitor, then this is the time to use that.

However, sometimes you can get a good head-start on the mosaic screen by starting in the "Construction > Special Tricks > Thumbnails" screen.

When you think you have a good result, go to "Construction > Evaluation". This will let you know of any glaring problems you have in your solution.

Publishing

What then? First you might want to circulate the timetable among faculty heads. When you are happy with the timetable you can then publish it to your SIS if you have an integration set up. See "File > Integrations". Or do a bulk paper printout.