Prime Timetable Blog

Timetabling history + multiple undo

Prime Timetable team — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:12:43 +0000

Creating a school timetable requires a lot of work. Sometimes, you want to see whether the automatic generator can generate an even better timetable, at other times you want to manually change card positions using drag & drop and sometimes it’s just an accidental mistake. It’s very important that you can undo or redo changes whenever you want.

From the very first version of Prime Timetable it was possible to undo/redo any view changes by clicking undo and redo . Recently, we have added a new history icon which lets you see all previous changes. You can undo all or some of them with just one mouse click. History list is also helpful because every action has its description, for instance: 1 card dragged, 2 marks erased, 240 cards changed by generator, 1 card cleared, 2 positions marked as mandatory… so you get a clear picture of all previous changes.

Undo 6 actions at once using timetabling history

Although history is very similar to what you are already using in Microsoft Excel, Word or Adobe Photoshop, there is a fine catch in the Prime Timetable. Both undo/redo and multiple undo are animated (!), so you can see the cards moving from one position to another. Also, all changes are tracked in the instant validation window, which helps you decide which position better suits you.

Quick timetabling guide

Prime Timetable team — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:34:09 +0000

So, you have been tasked to create a timetable for your school and are looking for a timetabling guide, manual or something that can assist you on the way. Well, we have created just that: a quick guide for easier introduction to Prime Timetable. It might take you 10-15 minutes, but it’s still far less than reading online help or manual. Without further ado, let’s start with timetabling terms.

Timetabling terms

There are many different educational institutions which use different terms. In short:

timetable = schedule
class = grade
subject = course or activity, and
lessons = sections.

Feeling confused? Check basic timetabling terms.

Creating a free account

If you haven’t created a free account so far, go to our plans page and choose a free plan. Registration is easy and it only takes a minute. After the registration, Prime Timetable will be loaded and an empty timetable will show up:

Empty school timetable

We suggest that you get familiar with the interface by clicking Quick Guide or clicking Open icon to browse through other timetable examples, which can be a great resource for learning and understanding. Obviously, there is no data so you need to enter some to enable timetabling tools.

Days and periods

In order to manage days and periods, mouse-over the owl and choose Manage > Days and Periods from the menu.

First you need to decide how many (working) days there will be in the cycle. For a 2-week timetable it may be 10, and for a 1-week timetable it may be 5.

Next, you need to decide how many periods are there in a day. This might be tricky, because one day there might be 8 periods and other days up to 10 periods. The general rule of the thumb is to choose the maximum period number; in this case that would be 10.

The number of periods is directly related to the number of lessons/activities per day, so you might optionally add lunch, break and similar activities and count them as a period. Many schools have different period intervals on different days and in that case you can add custom periods.

Manage days and periods

Subjects, rooms, teachers and classes

Before entering data, you should know that there are various importing options. For instance you can import data from Microsoft Office (Word, Excel) or from Google Docs simply by using copy/paste. Otherwise, you can enter data manually:

Choose Manage > Subjects to add subjects/courses, e.g. Math, History, etc. Lunch, break and other school activities can also be subjects.

Choose Manage > Room to add rooms/cabinets, e.g. Biology room, History room, Gym, dining room, reception hall, etc.

Choose Manage > Teachers to add teachers.

Choose Manage > Classes to add classes/grades. Choose a class from the grid and click Divisions to manage class divisions and groups, e.g. you can create English and French groups.

Manage classes/grades in the timetable

Manage lessons

Choose Manage > Lessons to add lessons/sections. Select teacher(s), subject, classes (and/or its groups). Select how many lessons there are in a week and whether the lesson is single, double, triple… Lastly, you can select desired room(s) where a lesson can occur and/or alternative room(s).

When lessons are entered, related cards are added in the awaiting panel of the timetable view in adequate row.

Add lesson dialog

Saving changes and history

Click save icon to save changes. Use undo and redo to undo/redo latest changes.

Master view

Click view indicator to change the current master timetable view, so you can see classes, teachers, rooms or subjects master view.

Extra view

Instead of switching views it might be useful to see more than one view on the screen, in which case you should use extra views.

Fully interactive class and teacher view on one screen

Individual view

To choose individual class, teacher, room or subject view click on the desired first column in the timetable.

Individual class/grade view

Automatic generation

If you have finished entering your school data it’s time to start automatic timetable generation by clicking play icon . The owl will warn you if there is a problem with your data, e.g. you can add 50 lessons for one teacher by mistake, where there is only 5 days with 8 periods, 5 * 8 = maximum 40 lessons, so you should consider removing some lessons, organizing lessons differently or just ignore some cards.

If everything is ok, the automatic timetable generator will generate the timetable.

Automatic timetable generation process

Instant validation

You want to make sure your timetable is valid upon any change you make. Click validation icon to turn on instant validation. The timetable is valid if there are no validation errors and warnings. Otherwise, the validation window displays all timetable imperfections grouped and sorted logically. If you click the validation warning or error, a specific timetable position where the problem is will be highlighted as red blinking rectangle, so that you can easily spot and fix it.

Instant validation upon any timetable change

Adding constraints

The generator will position the cards in the timetable considering only default constraints, e.g. the generator will try to avoid gaps/windows for all classes or lots of difficult lessons in one day. You can change these constraints as you wish by editing the entered data, or you can specify additional constraints using markers. Marker draws or erases forbidden , unwanted or mandatory card positions for classes, teachers, rooms and subjects.

Forbidden (red minus), unwanted (yellow exclamation mark) and mandatory (blue plus) marks in the master teacher view

Improving timetable

Click on to improve timetable imperfections. Before you do that, you may use the pin to fix the cards which are already on desired positions, so that they won’t be moved during the generation process.

Pinned cards (8E, 8D and 7B) have bold unrounded borders

Manual timetabling

Cards can be manually dragged using the mouse or you can use sponge to remove them from the timetable.

Customize cards

Choose Print > Card Designer or use right mouse click on any card to customize text, text positions, colors and borders in both master and individual timetable views as best suits your school needs. The configured template will be used in the newly created timetable and published timetable as well.

Card designer for individual view

Share with colleagues

Need help? Choose Share > Share with Others to share the school account with other teachers and colleagues and assign them privileges. The “owner” can manage other users, the “creator” can create and modify timetables and the “viewer” can only view timetables.

Share school account with colleagues

Publish to the web

With one click you can publish a timetable, so it is visible on the web and students can see it. Just choose Share > Publish to the Web. The published timetable is accessible by any smartphone or tablet and is automatically updated when the timetable is modified.

Published timetable is accessible via smartphone, tablet or any mobile

Print

When you are done with customization, what you see on the screen is what is going to be printed. You can print both master and individual timetable views and Prime Timetable will automatically do the paging. Choose Print > Print Timetable View or Print > Print All Individual Timetables.

The conclusion

This is just a quick timetabling guide to get you started. If you think something is missing, please contact us or leave a comment. Feel free to use our online user voice to add your ideas and suggestions on how we can improve Prime Timetable. Happy scheduling and let us know how you are doing.

Introducing a new scheduling tool – the marker

Prime Timetable team — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 10:50:01 +0000

Automatic school scheduling is all about solving constraints. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a handy tool that lets you define constraints simply by drawing marks in the timetable? That’s what we are proudly introducing as of today: red , yellow and blue markers and eraser – the new intuitive and game-like scheduling tools that will let you easily draw or erase forbidden, unwanted or mandatory marks directly into any timetable view and much more than that:

When a marker is selected, all cards fade away and all previously drawn marks are filled with color making them prominent. Thus you can see already scheduled cards, verify marks (even the ones below scheduled cards) and draw/erase new marks for any resource by clicking any position in the timetable view.
Holding the left mouse button down and moving the marker using the mouse will draw or erase multiple marks all at once, similar to using pin and sponge . With just one click on a period/day, you can mark it as forbidden for all resources in the current timetable view. Click again and drawn marks will be erased. Use right mouse click to switch to the next marker and press Esc key to drop the marker when finished.
Instant validation shows instant feedback on any change you make using the marker.
You can use markers in any master, individual or extra view and all other views will be updated accordingly. You can even choose different views to mark resources there without dropping the marker.
Whatever you do, don’t worry because unlimited undo/redo works for any mark changes.
Mouse over the first column to copy marks to other resources, or define number of unwanted or missed mandatory lessons per week and per day.
As always the owl will help you while using markers by providing marker tips and other helpful information.

Forbidden (red minus), unwanted (yellow exclamation mark) and mandatory (blue plus) marks drawn using markers

For more information refer to using markers to set time request in our help or read the blog post on how we got the idea to build a better time request based on application usage. The old and deprecated way of defining time request is still available, just check Help > Options > Show Marks button in manage grids.

The new markers will prove that previously slow and tedious task of defining constraints can be fun, game-like and still more productive. Keep in mind though, that it is always a good practice to generate a valid timetable first and then add additional constraints step by step. Hope you will enjoy the prime experience you’ve already grown accustomed to and let us know how it works for you.

Building a better time request

Prime Timetable team — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 07:20:49 +0000

If we were to point out only one scheduling/timetabling tool, it would certainly be the ability to mark specific periods as forbidden, unwanted or mandatory for school resources and let the automatic generator do the magic and create a timetable that solves all constraints. In the screenshot below teacher is not allowed to have lessons on Day 1, Day 3 and Day 5.

Old way of defining time request for teacher, marking day 1, 3 and 5 as forbidden

However, there are problems here. We have collected and analyzed data from our application log and were surprised to find out that the time request is not widely used. Here is what we have also found out.

Drawbacks of time request implementation

Many of our users and even some of our customers are simply not aware that defining time request exists. The Time request button is buried bellow Add, Edit, Remove and Copy grid buttons and users somehow seem to overlook it. Furthermore, here are some additional drawbacks:

Time request can only be defined in the individual timetable view and only for one resource at a time.
No undo/redo is available when marking periods.
To change period constraints one more click on the same position is needed and it sort of complicates the workflow.
To specify a time request, the timetabler has to leave the main master timetable view and go to modal pop-up window.
Time request doesn’t play nice with our unique instant validation.
Already scheduled cards are not displayed while defining time requests.
It’s hard to see defined time request below the card in the timetable view, e.g. timetabler has to pick and drag a card to see the defined time request below (if any).
Less productive, e.g. you can’t easily mark a period for all resources as forbidden.

Well, you get it. We felt like we could do a much better job here and hopefully introduce a new timetabling/scheduling tool that would be a pleasure to use and understandable to all.

A better approach using interactive markers

All these drawbacks have inspired us to think about better approaches that would resolve listed issues. We thought that we should add a new interactive timetabling tool (similar to pin and sponge) that will allow marking positions directly in the master timetable view, but also in the individual and extra views. First we came up with a chalk or pen in different colors, but we also needed the ability to remove marks and for that we could reuse the sponge. But the sponge is already used for removing cards and we didn’t want to mix it and create confusion.

We ended up using markers in different colors (red , yellow and blue ) and the eraser which is a white marker . We have put markers on the school board so it is always at hand. Once a marker is selected, all timetable cards fade out and marks are filled with color (red, yellow and blue) making them prominent.

Although markers are fun and intuitive there are still benefits in the old way of defining time request. For instance, you can easily copy marks to other resources or you can define allowed number of unwanted or missed mandatory lessons. To resolve this, we have added a marker settings when you mouse over the first column with the marker selected.

Benefits of using markers for setting time request

Here are some of the benefits of using markers:

It’s much more fun to use the new interactive game-like tool providing overall better user experience.
More productive, e.g. with just one click on the period you can mark it as forbidden for all resources in the current timetable view.
Better discoverability – it’s on the school board.
Easy learning curve, as it’s working similar to other timetabling tools, such as pin and sponge . No more multiple clicks.
No need to leave the master timetable view.
Unlimited undo/redo works as expected.
It works great with instant validation as you get instant feedback on any change you make using the marker.
You can easily see and verify marks below the cards, because cards are becoming more transparent once the marker is selected.
You can see already scheduled cards while using the marker.
You can use markers in any view: master, individual or extra views. You can even switch views while using the marker to mark resources in other views.

For more information about markers refer to using markers to set time request in our help or read follow-up blog post introducing a new scheduling tool – the marker.

Ignoring cards to use automatic timetable generator

Prime Timetable team — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:56:31 +0000

One of the main purposes of school scheduling/timetabling software is to help schools with automatic timetable generation and validation. In order to use automatic generator and validator you should follow the basic timetabling rule which says:

One school resource during one school period can be scheduled in only one lesson. Otherwise, there is a conflict.

In the Prime Timetable, the conflicted cards are rotated so you can easily spot and fix them. There are two common approaches to fixing conflicts:

Add more than one teacher or class/group in the lesson or remove redundant lessons/cards.
Just ignore conflicted cards.

Add more than one teacher or class/group

If there is more than one teacher or more than one class/group attending a lesson, you should not create more than one lesson for it. The example is in the screenshot below. Teachers John and Jim are giving lectures for two classes/grades 7A and 7B at the same time.

Screenshot with two conflicted cards instead of one. The owl gives a helpful hint how to resolve the issue.

When adding a new lesson (Manage > Lessons > Add) just add another teacher or class/group to it. Thus, you’ve created only 1 lesson/card and therefore there are no conflicts/rotation and automatic timetable generation and validation will work as expected.

Ignore cards

If for some reason you want to keep the position of conflicted cards and still take advantage of automatic timetable generation and validation, you might want to ignore them.

When there are lots of conflicted cards, it might be easier to just ignore them

In this screenshot there are lots of classes/grades using the Fellowship Hall/Gym at the same time, which creates many conflicts in the room view. Nevertheless, you can create only one lesson and include all those classes or just ignore the Gym.

In order to ignore cards, do the following:

Set “-” (without quotes) as a short name for any school resource which is part of the lesson/card you want to ignore. For instance, you can set short name to “-” for subject Lunch or for Gym room.
Check Help > Options > Exclude fake lessons while generating timetable.
Click Ok.

And that’s all you need to do. Automatic timetable generator will just ignore those cards and treat them as if they are not part of the timetable.

Prime Timetable 5.0 + summer discount

Prime Timetable team — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:53:28 +0000

Dear timetablers,
In just 1 year we have released 3.0, 4.0, and now 5.0 release. We would like to thank you all for your support, and especially for spreading the word. Ever since the beginning of our journey, we’ve been promoting the concept of “enjoyable timetabling” and today Prime Timetable is used in more than 110 countries around the world! Here is what’s new in the latest 5.0 release:

Custom period intervals

The most requested feature is here. You can enter any period interval for any day/period (and class/teacher/room/subject), and appropriate cards will be resized and repositioned accordingly. Custom periods are logically and smartly grouped in the grid and can be easily filtered. Furthermore, you can add custom intervals inside the card by checking Help > Options > Show period intervals instead of numbers.

Special summer offer, up to 50% discount

It’s prime time to buy Prime Timetable for as low as $14/month in US and €14/month in Europe (prices are based on 5 years plan). Are we serious? You bet! Many have already taken advantage of this offer, so hurry up! Until August 1st, we are offering up to 50% discount for 2 or more years purchase. Use the slider on the plans and pricing page to choose your billing term and special discount. If you are an existing user and looking for upgrade, just choose Help > Purchase/Update.

New web server

Having an ever increasing number of schools using our services, we had to make sure that all teachers and students get their timetables timely and efficiently. The new web server means faster, more reliable, secure and efficient timetabling and so much more. And yes, you can download and start Prime Timetable in just 1 second now.

Desktop application

Desktop application is now available for both Basic and Premium plans. Choose Help > Options > Install Prime Timetable and the software will be installed on your computer, so when you start the application by clicking desktop icon it will automatically do the log in for you. Desktop version is available for both Mac OS X and Windows and we especially recommend using it on school computers with a slower Internet connection.

Web site redesign and other improvements

More than 20 new timetable examples are added from various countries around the world. There are lots of minor improvements and fixes that you have suggested, such as: setting 1 minute interval on the period form, the ability to print conflicts, the new context menu (use right mouse click on the card to edit lesson, access card designer, pin/unpin and clear), etc. Our help and manual has been updated to reflect the latest changes.

The web site has been redesigned in order to present our services more clearly and user friendly. If you are satisfied with our product, please share http://primetimetable.com link with other teachers, principals, principal assistants, and others. You can also use the new “Spread the word” section in the footer of every web page to like us on Facebook, share a link on Twitter, Google Plus or LinkedIn. Your help is much appreciated!

Enjoy the new release and use online user voice to suggest a feature or add new ideas that you would like to see in the Prime Timetable. Happy summer timetabling!

Special summer offer, up to 50% discount

Prime Timetable team — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 10:47:27 +0000

When is the perfect time to purchase a school scheduling software? When there is a discount, of course . So you might want to check our special summer offer. Until August 1st, we are offering special discounts for long term service. For some countries special discounts are up to 50%, so hurry up!

If you already have an account, choose Help > Purchase and if you are new to Prime Timetable just click here. Once on Plans and Pricing page, choose Basic or Premium plan based on the size of your school and drag the year slider to choose the billing term and special discounts.

For example, in the US and Canada, the price for Basic plan is $25/month for 1 year billing period, but if you choose 5 years the price is down to only $14/month which is 47% discount!

Discounts are offered for 2 or more billing years, but we are also offering special discounts for periods less than a year, e.g. 6 months, and if that’s what you need just contact us.

This offer is valid until ~~August~~ October 1st. We hope you will make the best of it, and wish you enjoyable timetabling!

New Prime Timetable web site

Prime Timetable team — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 09:19:17 +0000

A brand new web site is here with a much needed refresh. Apart from the new design, here is what we’ve improved.

Your testimonials speak for themselves

Since we have received really awesome testimonials from timetablers around the world, we wanted them to be seen on our home page. Overall, timetablers who had previously used different school scheduling software for years were pleasantly surprised by our solution and sent emails to express their positive impressions. As it turned out, they managed to leave behind more well known scheduling software in favour of Prime Timetable. We would like to thank all of you who supported our software. That means the world to us.

Timetabling features explained

Some of the best and most used timetabling features are presented on the home page. In order to show better what’s in the Prime Timetable box we have added a couple of new features pages where timetablers can easily understand the possibilities of our software explained in no more than a few sentences.

Plans and pricing simplified

We are trying to keep our offering as simple as possible, so our plans and pricing page follows that model. All bullet points for every plan are now more clearly explained with a tooltip next to each one. If your organization is specific and doesn’t fit into basic or premium plan, then contact us about special pricing and offers for you.

Spread the word!

A new “Spread the word” section is added in the footer of every web page, where you can like us on Facebook, share a link on Twitter, Google Plus or LinkedIn.

The main reason why we did a makeover is to present our timetabling services more clearly and user friendly and we hope that you will share http://primetimetable.com link with other teachers, principals, colleagues, and others. Your help will be much appreciated! Enjoy the new web site and let us know if you like this version better than the previous one.

Screenshot of new Prime Timeble web site redesign

New Prime Timetable web server

Prime Timetable team — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:14:45 +0000

Having an ever increasing number of schools using our services, we had to make sure that all teachers and students get their timetables timely and efficiently. Therefore, we are very pleased to announce that the new Prime Timetable web server is at your service! In a nutshell, the new web server means a faster, more reliable, secure and efficient scheduling/timetabling, and so much more.

Download Prime Timetable in 1 second!

The new server is able to fully utilize fast Internet connection. In a number of cases, we have detected Prime Timetable being downloaded in just 1 second on the very first visit! With an average Internet connection, Prime Timetable starts in just a couple of seconds. Of course, every subsequent opening of Prime Timetable is immediate (the browser caches the application)! The new web server is physically located in Toronto, Canada, so Canadian and US schools may even notice slightly faster responses.

Reliable timetabling

With 99,99% guaranteed uptime by our hosting partner you can rest assured that your timetables are accessible everywhere and whenever students or teachers need them on Mac & PC, tablets, smartphones and mobiles. With our improved and automated daily backup system your data is safe, e.g. we can fully recover your timetable even if you delete it.

Thank you for your support

Thanks to your continuous support and promoting, we have been able to improve our services to a great extent. The new server is far more superior to the previous one in so many ways: it is faster, more reliable, has better uptime and download time and overall we hope it will serve you well. So, enjoy an even faster timetabling.

Custom periods for classes, subjects, teachers and rooms

Prime Timetable team — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:45:36 +0000

By a very popular demand, the ability to add different period intervals on specific day(s) and period(s) for specific class(es)/subject(s)/room(s) and teacher(s) is now available in the Prime Timetable. This unique timetabling feature will show up in all timetable views, both master and individual, and in extra views, too. Appropriate cards will be repositioned and resized according to specified intervals, so you can print highly flexible timetables. Before getting down to details, we would like to thank all of you who requested or voted for this feature in our online user voice (idea 1, idea 2, idea 3), and all of you who have sent us your timetables created in Microsoft Excel or similar software. Guess what? Your Excel timetabling days might be over… Read on.

Example 3 shows custom period intervals, e.g. 09:02 – 09:35, 09:40 – 10:18 on Monday and Tuesday

Adding custom periods

In order to enter custom period interval(s) for specific day(s)/class(es)/subject(s)/room(s)/teacher(s) do the following:

Click on a period you wish to modify and then click Add.
Change period interval: start time and end time.
Choose class, subject, room, or teacher custom period.
Choose day(s)/class(es)/subject(s)/room(s)/teacher(s) where the new interval applies.
Click Ok.

When you enter new custom period(s), appropriate cards will be resized and repositioned based on specified custom interval.

While adding and editing custom period intervals all timetable views will be updated accordingly

Editing and filtering custom periods

If a timetable has custom periods, the filters will appear above the periods grid where you can choose whether to show custom periods or not. If you check “Show custom periods”, all custom periods will be listed in the grid logically and smartly grouped, e.g. all periods with the same name and intervals will be grouped in a single row. You can filter custom periods by choosing specific day and/or class/subject/room/teacher. To edit (grouped) custom periods, select period row and click Edit.

Custom period intervals displayed on the cards

If you want to display custom intervals on the cards, do the following:

Choose Help > Options > Show period intervals instead of numbers.
Click Ok.

Start time will be displayed in the upper left corner and end time will be in the bottom left corner of the custom cards.

Dragging custom cards

When you drag a card, the card’s shadow changes its size and position according to default or custom periods below. Thus, you will know the size and the position of dragged card before it is even dropped. In case there is more than one custom period defined for a single card, the subject custom period will have the highest priority, followed by room, teacher and class custom period.

Printing timetable with custom periods

In the Prime Timetable what you see on the screen is what is going to be printed. So, when you are finished with custom periods and optionally card designer settings, just choose: Print > Print timetable view or Print > Print all individual timetables.

Automatic timetable generator and other recommendations

Although custom periods give you the ability to create extremely flexible timetables, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. We recommend that you create a valid timetable first, and then adjust custom period intervals. Currently, custom periods are not supported in your published timetables. Using custom periods you can put 2 or more cards on the same position. At the moment, these cards are considered as conflicts by automatic timetable generator. To overcome this limitation:

Change one of the resource’s short name to “-”.
Check Help > Options > Exclude fake lessons while generating timetable.
Click Ok.

Conflicted cards are rotated by default, so you might want to disable rotating conflicts:

Uncheck Help > Options > Rotate conflicts.
Click Ok.

Give us feedback

Wow! We didn’t even get a chance to update our Help or write this blog post and custom periods are already heavily used by many timetablers. We are excited more than ever to see what you are going to create. As always, your feedback is very much appreciated. Online user voice is open for anyone who want to participate in shaping our software. All in all, we hope you will use this feature wisely and wish you a very happy timetable customization!