Who is first, is not last...

[AndreaMIT]

Hi all,
thanks a lot for this super software and super site.

My name is Andrea, and I'm trying to help my wife, a middle school teacher, build next year's school timetable using FET. The timetable is spread over five days with six hours each day. They gave me a series of constraints that I don't know how to insert.
In particular:

• Those who teach in the first hour do not teach in the sixth hour;
• There are no more than three first hours per week;
• Preferably the empty hours are two consecutive;
• Anyone who teaches 9 hours a week (part-time) teaches 3 days a week.

Could someone help us insert them into FET?
Thank you all
Andrea

[Liviu Lalescu]

Hello, Andrea, and thank you for your kind words!

1, 2, and 4 are very easy:

1) Teachers max span = 5 per day.
2) Teachers interval [1,2) max 3 days per week (the interval you choose in FET is 1, 2, and it is like in mathematics, includes 1 but not 2).
4) Teacher max days per week.

3) is not available in FET, but maybe we'll find some tricks, like:

3a) Add one or more dummy activities with duration 2 for each teacher, and then max 0 gaps for the teacher(s).
or
3b) Use the Mornings-Afternoons mode, which ensures that in the morning and in the afternoon you can constrain 0 gaps, but in between there can be any number of gaps. But this is complicated. You need to read this mode's help.

If it is feasible/possible, you could constrain all the teachers to max 1 gap per day or per week, so 3) is solved implicitly. But this constrains the timetable more and might be impossible to generate successful.

Liviu.

[AndreaMIT]

Hi all,
I apologize for writing directly to Liviu, without thinking that my question could be useful to someone else in any way. Here is the summary of our conversation:

I've asked if it is possible to tell the system to avoid putting "hard" subjects on the same day: for example, avoid putting mathematics and literature on the same day.

We have also set a limit of two free hours per week. The system tends to put them together, but we would like to break them. Is it possible to request to break them?

Thanks in advance,
Andrea

Reply from Liviu Larescu
========================

For the first problem, you can add all such hard activities for each students set in a constraint min days between activities, or tag these activities with "Hard" and use students activity tag max hours daily.

For the second problem, either max gaps per day = 1 (but this is stronger than you want), or add two dummy activities for each teacher, and min 1 gaps between them.

Liviu.

[Liviu Lalescu]

No problem, Andrea!

[AndreaMIT]

Hello everyone: new year, new schedule!
This year is even more difficult: we have 10 subjects in total (as last year) but we have to avoid having two specific subjects on the same day, due to the material to bring. Also they ask me to put the heavier subjects (Hard), 20 hours a week, in the first hours compared to the lighter ones (Soft) that take up 10 hours a week. Could you help me insert these rules into FET?
Thanks, Andrea

[Liviu Lalescu]

Hello, Andrea!

1) Constraints teachers/students max activity tags from set per day.
2) Constraints (sub)activities preferred times. I would recommend to use for subactivities and use 100% weights.