2.5.2. Viewing Schedule Attributes

To view schedule attributes go to View in the menu and select 'Schedule Attributes.' The administrator can then view the overall 'score' of the schedule. In schedule scoring, the points are assigned in a golf scoring manner, where every 1 point is a penalty against the schedule. The closer to zero the schedule score is, the better. There is no upper bound to how terrible a schedule can be. The administrator can choose to view the overall score of the schedule, or view each individual professor's score (to ensure fairness). The scores are shown as a total schedule score, an average score for each instructor, and the standard deviation of the scores. If there are any extreme outliers (either well below, or well above) they will be identified to alert the administrator that there is an excess of missed or met preferences compared to the rest of the faculty.

Figure 2.5.2-1: Viewing Schedule Attributes


If while viewing an individual faculty the administrator decides preferences need to be changed for that particular faculty member, the administrator can double-click on the instructor's name. If the administrator would like to manually edit the schedule, the 'Show Manual Schedule Edit' button is pressed. This will cause the window as seen in Figure 2.5.3-1 to be opened.

Figure 2.5.2-2: Filled Instructor Scores

By selecting the 'Other' tab, a different analysis of the schedule is shown as in Figure 2.5.2-2.

Figure 2.5.2-3: Other Schedule Attributes



The 'Other' tab shows an overall Schedule Quality, which is a percentage of how well the schedule was generated. This is shown in the slider bar (which is un-editable by the user) with Excellent being 100%, and Poor being 0%. In the table below, a penalty (a percentage of the points), and a description of the penalty is shown. There is a detailed description of how penalties are assigned, as well as how instructor scores are assigned at the end of this section. When a quarter is selected by choosing the drop-down menu in either the 'Instructor Scores' or 'Other' tabs, the stats on the selected schedule are displayed.

Figure 2.5.2-4: Filled Other Attributes
To change the scores of an instructor, the name of the instructor is double clicked, which brings up a deep copy of the instructors preferences for the quarter being looked at. The administrator can then edit the preferences of the instructor in a window exactly like the window the instructor uses to edit the preferences in the permanent database. This can be seen in Figure 2.5.2-4 and Figure 2.5.2- . The admin will generally be changing instructors preferences for instructors with "too good" or "too bad" of a score, to make the schedule more fair.

For example, as seen in Figure 2.5.2-3, the instructor Kevin O'Gorman has a very high schedule score. The admin double clicks on his name to view his course preference settings (Figure 2.5.2-4). The admin can then recognize that the instructor's preferences were too narrow in his course selection, and can adjust this.

Figure 2.5.2-5 : Admin Viewing of Instructor Course Prefs

 The admin then adjusts the instructors preferences to be more broad and flexible. First the admin adjusts the Course Preferences.

Figure 2.5.2-6: Admin Editing Instructor Course Prefs

 After changing the Course Preferences, the admin selects the 'Save Preferences' button. The instructor's preference window is closed, and a refreshed attributes window is shown (Figure 2.5.2-6). This new window has the newly calculated scores for the instructor whose preferences were just changed.

Figure 2.5.2-7: Newly Generated Attributes

 The admin can then notice that the instructor Gene Fisher has "too good" of a schedule score. The admin double clicks on the instructor's name, and the preferences for that instructor opens. The admin looks at the time preferences for this instructor (Figure 2.5.2-7), and notices that the instructor set all his time preferences to '3'.

Figure 2.5.2-8: Admin Viewing of Instructor Time Prefs

 The admin can then contact the instructor and ask if this is actually accurate, or if the instructor forgot to update his proper preferences. The admin then adjusts the time preferences to be more accurate (Figure 2.5.2-8).

Figure 2.5.2-9: Admin Editing Instructor Time Prefs

 After changing the Time Preferences, the admin selects the 'Save Preferences' button. The instructor's preference window closes, and a refreshed attributes window is shown (Figure 2.5.2-9). This new window has the newly calculated scores for the instructor whose preferences were just changed.

Figure 2.5.2-10: Newly Generated Attributes 2

 Newly generated attributes are calculated for the overall schedule quality also. The admin can view the overall schedule score by selecting the 'Other' tab.
NOTE: The schedules are not regenerated with the newly set preferences until the admin selects the 'Re-generate Schedule' button. The scores are simply updated to reflect the schedule scores associated with the newly set/changed preferences.

Description of Penalty Percentage Assignment

For each conflict there is an associated penalty assigned to the schedule. The more serious the conflict or constraint violation, the more serious the penalty associated with it. The percentages are associated with the schedule quality in the following way:

Description of Instructor Schedule Scoring


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