The non-functional requirements for the Scheduler Tool are organized into these categories:
All viewing commands must excecute instantaneously.
All database commands must be effectively instantaneous.
The time to execute the "Generate" command must be on the order of tens of minutes.
Saving operations must take on the order of seconds to complete.
The Scheduler Tool must download published schedules and copy databases from a centralized server. Consequently, this is subject to potential network delays. The Schedule Tool must transmit and download data as fast as is possible on any given network, but delays due to external network circumstances are beyond the control of the Calendar Tool.
There are no specific requirements for the allowable size of a schedule or its database. A schedule on the order of hundreds of schedule items (one single item in a given time slot in the schedule) seems an appropriate maximum size for a schedule. The maximum expected size of the Scheduler Tool database is up to hundreds of entries per database.
The Schedule tool must be able to operate with schedules and databases of sizes larger than these normal maximums. However, the tool need not meet the previously-enumerated time performace requirements for calendars or databases larger than normal maximum sizes.
3.2. General Characteristics
3.2.2. Simplicity versus Power
The scheduler tool is built with simplicity in mind for creating class schedules however it does require previous knowledge of course scheduling and the meaning of information involved. The generation, viewing and editing are designed to balance simplicity with power, leaning more with simplicity.