Manual input and partial automatic timetabling

[patchwork]

Hi, not sure where to pose this question so let's try here. I'm helping around with some scheduling and wonder if FET might be the software solution for our needs.

We have the last year's timetable as a basis that will need to be somewhat modified, but mostly keep it's current form. Does FET (or some other software) support manual initial timetable creation with limited (partial) automation when making later changes? Basically just checking for potential issues and applying those changes to multiple schedules (student groups, teachers...) at once.
Up until now the timetables were all done manually, and doing later changes and having to apply those changes to ten different places gets old very quickly.

Am I looking in the wrong direction? We tried UniTime but it seems needlessly complicated, FET's interface is much clearer but I'm still not sure if it does what we need it to do. Thanks in advance!

[Volker Dirr]

You can do small changes manualy with FET, but i must admit not very comfortable.
That is why i do small manual changes with StElTo. (Small changes like moving a few activities or changing rooms)
If you need to replace a single teacher by others it is sometimes also easy possible to do it manualy.

You can use the FET generator by using the advanced lock/unlock feature in the timetable menu. By that you can try to keep your old dataset. But be warned: This work only if you are skilled, the changes are small and the dataset it not too difficult.
In most cases even small changes force a very very long chain changes. Trying to solve that is often extremly difficult. So solving that often need much more time then just modifing the dataset and generating from the scratch again a perfect timetable.

[Liviu Lalescu]

Hello,

Yes, in FET there is a constraint of type activity preferred starting time (you will add it with 100% weight and permanently locked = true), and so you can input a partially locked timetable and generate starting from it. Customizations of FET are also possible.