| Online Timetabling for the FH Aalen
Timetabling for a university is a problem that requires considerable time investment each year, even when using computer supported consistency checking. It is a problem that is growing due to the increasing demands to make more efficient use of inter-departmental resources.
Generating timetables with room allocation, reduced availability of lecturers and also to minimize the number of timetable gaps for students is a very complex problem. Through years of slight modification the existing timetable is often not optimal and has evolved rather than been optimised but it is essential that certain components of the existing timetable be retained.
A lecturer and student from the FH Aalen have, at IF Computer, built a system which operates over the internet / intranet to configure and generate timetables online. The resultant plan determines:
- when rooms are in use and by whom,
- when and where lecturers hold courses so that they are contactable,
- which course is offered in which Semester
- when optional courses are available.
Through use of IF/Prolog's Constraint Technology Package such a system can be specified in an elegant and easily maintainable form. Embedding such a system into a WWW server enables the system to be integrated into the existing computing resources.
The system will be in-use in 1998 and will be developed further by IF Computer for more general distribution; it is intended not only for universities.
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