ProTime - School Time Tabling System
Features List
ProTime can operate as a stand-alone package or closely integrated with our already proven Administration System – ProEd. ProTime allows you to build up a sophisticated set of rules for your school that mirror the teaching preferences of the staff, with restrictions on locations, subject choice availability etc etc.
ProTime operates on any Windows platform 95, 98, 2000, NT, ME and XP.
It is a multi-user, networked product. The table can be built up from analysing the pupil’s subject mix requirements giving the Staff/Subject/Subject Class cover required, or as would be more probable in SA, from the known Staff/Subject/Subject Class availability, giving a proven structure with given options into which a pupil can fit his/her subject choice.
The user can create up to 25 versions of a year’s Time Table without re-entering any data. These are called ProTime views. Each view is saved separately and can be loaded for further manipulation as required. The concept allows the time tabler to play with the Time Table to reach an optimum schedule that satisfies the majority of the staff requests for period allocation, without destroying any of the tabler's previous work.
Every different entity (Grade, Class, Teacher, class etc) in the system is covered by a sophisticated priority system, so you can change an entire time table by simply forcing any entity into a higher priority category. The higher the priority the lower ‘the degree of freedom’ this entity has during the allocation process.
A detailed error reporting facility guides you through the reasons why a particular set of requirements is not viable.
Comprehensive cross validation takes place during data entry so that the user is immediately warned of errors or inconsistencies that would pose problems during the scheduling phase.
School structure
It caters for a maximum of 10 grades in a school.
The maximum cycle length is 60 days, the minimum 5 days.
Caters for unlimited numbers of staff, subjects, subject/classes, locations(rooms), and pupils.
School days cover the seven day week, the user cancels what is not required.
A cycle day can be split into a maximum of 15 periods for each Grade.
Each cycle day, by grade, can have a differing number of periods.
Periods lengths do not have to be the same within the school.
Teachers (Educators) and Other Resources
At the staff level restrictions can be set up for non-availability at certain times. Preferences can be set up not to teach a particular subject or subject class on certain days, in the am or pm, or in certain periods or sessions. Alternatively preferences can be inserted saying you ‘must’ or ‘would like’ a class to be allocated at certain periods.
A teacher can have a preferred teaching location.
Two or more teachers can be allocated to a class period, or two or more subject classes can be forced to one location.
A teacher can be forced to have a minimum/maximum number of free periods in each week of a cycle.
Replacement Teachers and External staff are catered for.
Locations (Rooms)
Restrictions can be placed on locations at day, session or period level.
Maximum number of pupils for any one location can be defined.
Teachers can be pinned to one room for all of their classes, or moved between locations.
Subjects (Learning Areas)
The subjects available and combinations of choices by grade and teacher provide a very powerful database to ensure no illogical allocation is made within ProTime.
The system caters for double periods with rules at subject or subject/class level defining maximum and minimums, whether splits are allowed over breaks, whether last period/first period next day is allowed as a double period.
Subjects can be restricted from or to any period in the day.
Subjects and Subject classes can be restricted to certain locations.
Subject Classes
Restrictions can be set up that the class cannot be preceded or followed by other named classes.
Subject classes for the same grade subject can have different numbers of periods in the cycle.
Subject classes can have a pupil maximum/minimum allocated to them.
The periods for a subject class are spread as evenly as possible across multi-week cycles.
The maximum number of periods on any one day for a subject/class can be defined.
Subject classes can be manually placed as fixed entries.
Ties & Options
Subject classes can be combined into different types of groupings. Basically, the rule is that all the classes defined in the combination must be scheduled to happen at the same time. A TIE is a combination of classes that goes across different grade boundaries. An OPTION is a number of classes in the same grade, from which a pupil has to make a choice.
Restrictions & Preferences
This facility allows one to set up broad base rules that force the system to place classes at various prescribed points. The school day is broken into periods, sessions , AM and PM period ranges, and restrictions can be defined to put staff, subjects, locations etc into any of these time ranges. At the subject level one can even exclude subjects from being followed by, or preceded by another subject.
Pupils (Learners) and their subject mix
You can enter all of your pupils basic data, covering grade, register class, subject mix or subject preferences. But this is optional, as it simply expands on the facilities provided by ProTime. If you have the ProGen Administration System called ProEd,this pupil data can be exported to/imported from ProEd.
Reporting
Staff Timetables
Pupil Timetables
Register Class Timetables
Grade Timetables
Subject Class Timetables
Subject Timetables
Location(Room) Time tables
School Wall Chart Timetable
Unallocated Classes
Unallocated Staff
Excel Exports
Classes allocated by Register Class
Staff Overall Class Allocation Levels
Option & Ties class contents
Preferences & Restrictions
