Constraint: “Activities available to different teachers”

[Alami mohammed]

Subject: Suggestion: New Constraint "Activities Available to Multiple Teachers"

Hello Mr. Liviu,

Thank you for your continuous improvements in FET. I would like to suggest a new type of guide/constraint regarding time restrictions for activities.

Constraint: "Activities available to different teachers"

This would allow an activity to be initially assigned to a first teacher, as usual.

After the timetable generation, it would give the possibility to link the same activity to a second teacher, without causing conflicts or errors for students or other teachers.

The main goal is to provide flexibility: if the first teacher is absent, the activity can be assigned to the second teacher directly.

I am aware that we cannot use tags for this purpose, but using tags might complicate the process later. Therefore, it would be better to have a specific constraint directed at one activity or a group of activities, allowing them to be assigned to two different teachers in a controlled way.


This feature would be very helpful for schools where certain activities can be taught by more than one teacher or in cases of temporary teacher absence.

Thank you very much for considering this suggestion!

Best regards,
Alami Mohammed

[Liviu Lalescu]

Hello, Mr. Alami,

I will add your suggestion in the list of suggestions (TODO list).

But, could you think of constraint activities min simultaneous in selected time slots?

[Alami mohammed]

Hello Mr. Liviu,

Thank you very much for adding my suggestion to the TODO list.

Regarding the constraint activities min simultaneous in selected time slots: I have already tried to use it in one of my timetables. The difficulty is that the user needs to manually select all the time slots for each teacher's activity, and also add other constraints like no gaps, minimum hours, and many more. This makes the process complicated.

In the new constraint I suggested, the program itself would handle the distribution more effectively. The user only defines that an activity is available to two teachers, and FET would automatically decide the placement of the activities and the possible substitution for the second teacher in case of absence. This would be much simpler and more efficient.

Best regards,
Alami Mohammed

[YOUSSEF HOUIET]

You can use dummy activities assigned to the second teacher and make them simultaneous with the main teacher's activities.

[Alami mohammed]

But in this way we will exhaust the halls theoretically because every activity, whether real or fake, must be provided with a specific place for it. However, if the matter is done through registration, the place will be reserved for only one activity.

[Liviu Lalescu]

An activity can end up in an unspecified room (meaning it will have no room) if there are no space constraints for it.

I am not sure I understand correctly your requirements/suggestion. I might be too tired.

[Alami mohammed]

Hello Mr. Liviu,

Thank you again for your reply and for adding my suggestion to the TODO list.
I would like to clarify my idea in more detail, so that the goal of this new constraint becomes clearer.

The main objective of "Activities available to multiple teachers" is not to make two teachers teach the same activity simultaneously, but rather to define an alternative teacher for the same activity in a flexible and conflict-free way.

For example:

Suppose "Math – Class 2A – Monday 10:00" is normally assigned to Teacher A.

In the same activity, we could also specify Teacher B as an "available alternative teacher."


This means:

FET would still treat the activity as belonging to Teacher A in the generated timetable.

However, in the data structure, the system would recognize that Teacher B is also compatible with that same activity, and can replace Teacher A if necessary (for example, in case of absence or substitution).


The advantage of this approach compared to using "dummy" simultaneous activities is:

1. No duplicate room usage – the activity only occupies one room.


2. No artificial load increase for Teacher B – the program knows it's an optional link, not a real assignment.


3. Simpler data structure – no need to create extra activities or multiple constraints manually.


4. Better flexibility for real schools, where substitution is common.



Technically, this new constraint could act as a "link" or "secondary teacher option" associated with a specific activity or group of activities, without affecting the rest of the timetable generation process.

I believe this feature could be a powerful improvement, especially for schools that need automatic flexibility in case of teacher absence or activity sharing between teachers.

Best regards,
Alami Mohammed

[Liviu Lalescu]

Thank you for the clarification, Mr. Alami Mohammed! I also added your above words in the list of suggestions (TODO file). I think I understood now your idea.