Teaching & schedule
Timetable setup and usage
Periods, generation, publish, substitutes, analytics, rooms, and labs.
Teaching & schedule guide for day and boarding schools.
Last updated August 29, 2026
Treat the timetable as a year-scoped pipeline rather than a single Generate button. Start with an active academic year and its academic-calendar weekend rules, then confirm active periods, classes, subjects, curriculum load, teacher subject capabilities and active class-section assignments. The read-only setup checklist at /api/timetable/setup-checklist reports these prerequisites, feasibility, existing entries and draft-versus-published counts to timetable structure managers.
Generation creates DRAFT entries by default. A successful full run can publish only when the request explicitly asks for it; a partial run can still persist draft entries and an issue worklist for the administrator to fix. Publishing is a separate visibility gate: daily timetable views use PUBLISHED entries, and the publish path records a snapshot and can notify affected teachers and classes. A teacher assignment supplies teaching responsibility, but class teacher fields remain the source for homeroom attendance.
Setup workflow
- Prerequisites: active academic year, calendar/weekend configuration, active periods, classes, subjects, curriculum load, capabilities, and teacher assignments.
- Open /timetable → Generate - configure period definitions (times, days).
- Map load at /timetable/curriculum - periods per class per subject.
- Run generator or place periods manually; assign classrooms as needed and review feasibility.
- Resolve conflicts and persisted generation issues (teacher double-booking, room clash, capacity, or uncovered load).
- Publish with a reason - students and teachers see the published grid only; affected teachers are notified from the snapshot diff.
- Optional: create lab sessions from timetable entries into /laboratories.
Usage workflow
| Role | Task | Steps |
|---|---|---|
| Coordinator | Fix after publish | Unpublish → edit → republish |
| Coordinator | Teacher on leave | Approve at /leave with a substitute - cover rows are created automatically; check Tools / Analytics |
| Teacher | Own schedule | /timetable View; My substitutes for cover duties |
| Teacher | Analytics | View → Analytics (workload, coverage, utilization) |
| Student | Class grid | Published timetable read-only |
| Admin | Mid-term change | Unpublish, adjust assignments, regenerate, publish |
Common questions
Quick answers in plain language.
What does a partial timetable generation result mean?+
The generator may save usable DRAFT entries while returning unresolved errors or diagnostics. Review the highlighted gaps and persisted worklist, repair the underlying curriculum, assignment or constraint problem, then edit or regenerate before publishing. A partial result is not the same as a published timetable.
Can the setup checklist generate the timetable for me?+
No. The checklist is a read-only pipeline report for structure managers. It counts periods, classes, assignments and entries, derives calendar-driven weekly capacity, and reports feasibility; use Generate or the manual editor in the timetable workspace to create entries.
How do I create and publish a school timetable?+
Set active year, assign teachers at /teachers/assignments, configure periods and curriculum at /timetable, generate or place periods, resolve conflicts, then Publish at /timetable with a reason. Teachers see published grids at /my-timetable.
Why is the timetable generator reporting conflicts?+
Usually teacher double-booking or missing curriculum load. Review /teachers/assignments and /timetable/curriculum; reduce periods per subject or fix overlapping room assignments.
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