Activity With Random Distribution

[Natep]

I am trying to use FET to generate activity schedules for different groups (not classes per say) and I want to make it so an activity gets scheduled for a subgroup randomly with a min/max number of days between but no set total number of occurrences if that makes sense.  Is there a way to do this with FET or am I trying to do something that's not designed to work?

[Volker Dirr]

I don't understand your question. Please explain more detailed.

[Natep]

Alright here's the full rundown.  My use case is for a summer camp where campers have a unique schedule every day.  We have a big list of activities where some they have every day like swimming but some they get every few days like tennis.  I want to be able to generate a week's schedule where a group may have tennis two times during that week but another may have it 5 times, and it'll then be different the next week.  There are enough activities for a group to not have the same activity two days in a row.  I can explain more if you need.

[Volker Dirr]

Do you already know exaclty the members of every single group?

Or don't you know that. (So maybe there is a guy X and he might be in group A, but there is in fact an other group B that has similar activities on other days and so he might simply be placed into the other group)

[Natep]

Yes, we have the camp separated into divisions (groups) and then bunks (subgroups).  Most activities if they are more than one bunk will be with a predefined pairing (for example a division may be split in half).  I hope that answers your question.  If you want, I can send a photo of how we made schedules by hand over PM.

[Volker Dirr]

I am not 100% about your way of spliting.

There are a lot of variants how to do it.

Can a guy swap the division / group / bank? Or is it always fixed?


I will try to explain one variant. If that doesn't work, just tell me and explain why it is not possible. Maybe sent me the photo. (If you can't sent it here, then check my email at www.timetabling.de )

Use space/room constraints for places like "tennis yard 1", "tennis yard 2", "football field", ...

Maybe use FET teacher names for the teacher/team leader/supervisor.

Use FET subject names for the activity name like "tennis", "swimming", ...

Maybe use FET year names for your devision names. (might be unneeded, if you have only a few devisions)
Use FET group names for your bunks.

If the mebers of the different bunks never change, then this should be enough.
If the members change and you already now the exact bunks, then you need to use FET subgroups for the team members. So a FET subgroup is for example me "Volker Dirr".

[Natep]

I will send you two examples in a minute.  Anything blacked off is most likely staff assignments and that I don't care about yet.  I am not doing schedules by person but instead by bunk/division so there is no swapping per say.  The big constraints are that an activity can only happen once per period and a space can only be used once per period but I have those figured out.  I am stuck on the time constraints that allow a schedule to not reach the number of splits (my current way of allowing multiple occurrences was adding a bunch of splits).

[Volker Dirr]

ahh.. Ok. If i see it correct then you should do it this way:

Add FET year names like this:
Cubs, Lions, Tigers, ...

Then add FET group names like this:
add in year Cubs: "Cubs 1", "Cubs 2", ...
add in year Lions: "Lions 4", "Lions 5", ...

You don't need to use FET subgroups. Just keep them empty.

[Natep]

How would I go about scheduling activities then if I want unique schedules every day?  As you can see, the list of activities offered are more than the number of periods. 

[Volker Dirr]

Not sure if i understand 100% correct, but for example you know that Cubs, Lions and Tigers have subject Waterfront. You maybe know that they have this at 4 differnt days.

Then you need to add an activity and split it into 4 parts. Increase weight to 100%. Increase the duration for each subactivity up to 2. Add the year names Cubs, Lions and Tigers. Maybe also add the teacher name of the team leader / supervisior (this is maybe unneeded, if the team leader is always in the same team. It is also unneded if the supervisor of the activities is always the same)
 

[Natep]

That I think I have set because those are daily activities but what about Golf and Tennis where they don't have that a set amount of days in the week?  Do I just create enough splits to have an activity daily for a group and keep trying generations until every period has something?

[Volker Dirr]

I am again not 100% sure, but as far as i can see it is like this:

You maybe know that Seniors 25 should have 2 times golf (on different days).

In that case you add a FET activity. Split it into 2 parts. Keep duration 1. Select subject "golf". Add only the group name "Seniors 25". Increase weight to 100%.

[Natep]

So I should plan out how many time they should have it per every two weeks (I am doing two weeks at a time because there are activities that happen every other day)?

[Volker Dirr]

Now i understand what you are asking. Please tell me:
How long is it in total? 2 weeks (14 days)?

[Volker Dirr]

I don't know how many days or weeks you exactly need to plan/enter; since i don't know your whole data set.

In worst case you need to add every single day. So if the camp is 2 weeks you need in worst case 14 FET days. And if Lions go to wanterfront every day, then the activity must be split into 14 parts.

But on the other hand you might need to use only 2 FET days!
So you shedule only 2 days and just tell them, that you repeat the days all the time.

I can't answer that since i don't know your whole data set. Maybe you need to enter 7 FET days.

You sent me 2 pictures. How many of those pictures do you have in total? That should be a good value for the number of FET days that you need.