Periods, rooms and teacher availability in one place, so a clash is caught when it is made rather than in the second week of term.
Book a demoThe timetable is built in a spreadsheet over the summer by one person who understands it. In the second week of term a teacher discovers they are scheduled in two rooms at once, and the fix has to be traced by hand through every affected class.
Then somebody is off sick. Finding cover means asking who is free in period three, which nobody can answer without reading thirty other timetables.
When availability is part of the timetable rather than something checked afterwards, both problems are a query rather than an afternoon.
Grouped by the job it does rather than listed as one long set of features.
Periods and subjects per class and section, published to students and families rather than pinned to a noticeboard.
The same schedule seen from the teacher's side, in their own portal, including where they are meant to be next.
A teacher or room double-booked is caught as it is entered rather than discovered when two classes arrive at one door.
Rooms assigned with capacity and equipment in mind, so a practical is not scheduled in a room without benches.
Who is genuinely free in that period, so arranging cover is a filter rather than thirty enquiries.
Start from last term rather than a blank grid, then adjust what changed.
Different day patterns, split shifts and half days, because not every school runs eight equal periods.
Students, families and staff see the current version rather than a printout from September.
Teaching load per person and room utilisation, which is what makes next year's planning defensible.
The teacher in two rooms at once. Built in a spreadsheet, a clash is invisible until two classes turn up at the same door. Tracing the fix through every affected group takes the rest of the morning.
The cover arrangement at 8am. Somebody is off sick and the question is who is free in period three. Without availability in the system, that is thirty timetables read by hand under time pressure.
The room without the equipment. A science practical scheduled into a room with no benches, because the timetable knows rooms as names rather than as places with properties.
The version everybody is using. A printout from September, a corrected copy on the staffroom wall, and the real one on somebody's laptop. Three versions and no way to tell which is current.
These are the cases worth testing in a demo. Bring the messiest one you have.
The same records, presented differently depending on the job.
Constructs the timetable, resolves clashes, allocates rooms and arranges cover.
See their own schedule and where they are next, and are told when it changes.
See their own class timetable in their portal rather than copying it into a diary.
Teaching load and room utilisation, which is the evidence behind next year's staffing.
Classes, sections and subjects come from the academic structure the institution already maintains, so the timetable is built against real groups rather than names typed into a grid.
Staff availability reads the same leave records HR keeps, so somebody on approved leave is not scheduled. Attendance is marked against the period the timetable defines. Examination seating draws on the same rooms.
That is why a change propagates rather than needing to be copied into three other places.
The parts of the institution this touches most.
The shared specialist, the one science lab, the split shift. Those are what decide whether a timetable tool is usable.
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