Features

For Timetablers

Core features

If there's one thing that schedulers are short of, it's time. Timetabler's wide range of features means it has never been quicker or easier to schedule courses and classes.

• Creating timetables
• Lending a helping hand – assisted timetabling
• Managing resources
• Publishing Timetables
• Communication

For information on features for institutions and administrators click here

Creating timetables

Using our attractive and functional timetables you can add or modify events, check for clashes or seek advice. A user-friendly event window makes it simple to assign equipment, students, modules, staff and rooms to an event or part of an event, and to alter or set the weeks the event runs over.

Timetables are easily accessible. Tabs on resource records allow you to access the timetable for any individual record and switch between details, timetables and statistics for any resource. In fact, you can create, view and print timetables and statistics for any of the seven resources available.

Other useful features include:

• Drag and drop editing, which allows you to move and copy events, even between different timetable grids
• Extensive undo and redo options make it easy to fix problems
• The option to colour code events by category, department or faculty
• Standard event start times and durations (i.e. 5 past the hour) and customisable events to cater for offset start times or durations
• The underlying global timetable is an easy way of storing site-wide events and ensuring clashes don’t occur
• You can even roll your whole timetable over each year instead of creating events from scratch.

Lending a helping hand – assisted timetabling

We can’t create timetables for you – that’s why you employ skilled schedulers. But we can lend a helping hand where it’s needed most.

Timetabler’s philosophy of assisted timetabling gives you powerful tools that enable you to stay in control of your timetable. They help you schedule events, set up relationships between resources, make large-scale changes or check for clashes.

Advisers

Advisers are powerful scheduling aids that offer advice on availability and suitability of rooms, staff and times for a proposed event.

Wizards

Event Wizard
Allows you to change times, resources etc for all events, or for events containing a specific resource or at certain times.

Resource Wizard
Allows you to edit or delete information about multiple resources in a single operation.

Office Wizard
Helps you create Word Documents or Excel Spreadsheets containing timetables or statistics.

Clash checking
Whether you need to clash check dynamically as you create events, clash check single events or run a clash check wizard to check a complete timetable, Timetabler can help.

It checks for a wide range of common problems, like incomplete events and double booked or inappropriately assigned resources, making them easy to isolate; and with the advisors you can be sure that if there is a solution to be found, Timetabler will find it for you.

Clash checker also allows you to ensure that your resources are being used in an efficient and intelligent way. Checks for inadequate or inefficient rooming or staffing and checks for missed teaching targets mean you can be confident that your resources are being used to the full.

Checks for insufficient breaks, free days, travel times between sites or time to change room layouts and set up equipment makes sure that your timetable works smoothly on a day to day basis.

Managing resources

Timetabler is about more than creating events. It enables you to manage your resources so that you save time, effort and money.

Managing rooms
Timetabler puts you in control of your resources. You can assign rooms to certain campuses, catalogue their fixtures and fittings, add mobile equipment and list what layouts are available for a room – and what capacity the room has for each layout. Rooms can also be tagged as the property of certain faculties. Once you have the full picture, choosing the right room for an event is easy.

Room Booker
Room Booker is a web server application that allows you to find and request a booking, or book available rooms. This application is open to users across your site – and you can even choose to make it available to anyone via your website, meaning ad hoc bookings are managed efficiently and because they are within your Timetabler tables there are never any conflicts.

Statistics
Statistics are a powerful and important management tool. With Timetabler, information about your resources and how they are used is automatically converted into user-friendly statistics. With the tabbed screens it is simple to produce a statistical analysis of resource use (including standard room utilisation figures), while the Office Wizard makes it easy to display these statistics in Word or Excel. So, no more wading through piles of figures to get the information you need, with Timetabler it’s at your finger tips.

You can also:

• Make notes about resources
• Manage groups/student and group/subgroup membership to any level
• Record charges for rooms and equipment
• Give week spans and weeks descriptive names
• Specify fixed and preferred resources for modules and groups who need to work with particular staff or in certain rooms using set equipment
• Specify incompatible resource combinations to prevent mistakes
• Record if staff or students have special access or hearing needs and match them with rooms that fit their requirements.
• Synchronise event information with MS Outlook Calendars using Autocal.
• View and print usage charts showing resource use en masse for a date, week, or week span.

Publishing Timetables

Once you’ve created your timetable, you obviously need to get it to the people concerned. Whether you want great looking printouts or easy web access to individual timetables, Timetabler can help.

Web Publisher allows automated publishing of your entire timetable to the intra- or internet, and it only takes seconds to email a PDF of a specific grid.

Because you can print the timetables for any resource, either as a grid or a list, Timetabler allows you to make your timetable information available and functional in your institution.

Communication

It’s a fact of life that nothing goes completely to plan. Timetabler allows you to be responsive when circumstances lead to event changes or cancellations. Notifier is a configurable service that checks the timetable for changes and sends emails or SMS messages with event changes to the staff or students concerned.