A decision support system for timetable construction: automated lesson planning using a special scheduling algorithm

Creating timetables is a difficult and time-consuming task. Constraints and questions mean that the certainty of decisions is not always apparent. Creativity and computing power are two of the ingredients for successful timetable construction. Computers are able to assist in the computing intensive tasks. Human planners should focus on the creative tasks. Key concepts of the approach that is described are: careful analysis of the tasks of a human planner, dividing the tasks in creative and computing tasks, finding effective and efficient algorithms for these tasks and embedding these algorithms in a fitting planning environment. The approach and the algorithms have been tested in a number of cases for timetable construction for institutes for higher education. Some data on efficiency and effectiveness are presented