This page contains answers to commonly asked questions about ScheduleWhiz® Academic.
No. We suggest that you pool your needs with another department or school at your college or university to come closer to the 100 course-unit minimum license. That way, you can spread the costs between yourselves and you can allocate the course-units in the license appropriately (across several computers, if you wish). Note that we price our licenses in increments of 25 course units.Back to top
The trial version of ScheduleWhiz® Academic has the full functionality of the licensed version. However, the trial version will develop schedules for no more than 100 courses (the licensed versions will handle an essentially unlimited number of courses, depending on the license purchased). The trial version of ScheduleWhiz® Academic may be used only for a 60-day trial period, while the licensed versions have no expiry date. Finally, the trial version of ScheduleWhiz® Academic will develop only 20 schedules for any data file.You may desire to develop a schedule with more than 100 courses as part of your evaluation of the software. In this case, you can enter and validate your data and then send your data file to us at 'help@thoughtimus.com'. We will then develop a schedule and then send the schedule file to you. You may then load the schedule and view all the reports that ScheduleWhiz® Academic provides.
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The best place to start is to load in one of the sample files. You'll find them in the "/Samples" folder where ScheduleWhiz® Academic was installed (typically "C:\Program Files\Thoughtimus®\ScheduleWhiz Academic\"). Once you've opened a sample file, click the button that looks like red bricks--this will open the main navigation panel. Then just explore and see the way the data is set up.Another good place to start is with the free, downloadable training videos. You can find them on the 'Training' page.
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Here are the steps you can follow:
- Specify room attributes (if courses can be assigned only to rooms with certain attributes).
- Specify the times at which classes can start.
Specify scheduling domains. - Specify rooms and relevant information on the rooms.
- Set the combinations of days and start times that courses can meet. (For example, 9:00 am classes might meet Mon/Wed or Tues/Thu).
- Identify the classes. For each course, specify either the room in which a course can meet or the room attributes the class needs. Also, specify the number of days the course will meet and the times that are valid for the course to start.
- Identify faculty--their preferences for a schedule, the courses they teach and the days and times they are available.
- Specify distances between campuses and between buildings on each campus.
- Identify any cross-course issues--courses that should be offered at the same time or in the same day and courses that should not conflict with each other.
- Run the data validity check to see if the data is OK.
- Run the scheduler. It will search for the schedule that best satisfies your criteria.
- View and print reports.
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You can do this using room attributes, as the following example illustrates. Assume that faculty member Smith prefers to teach Course A in room 101. Here are the steps:
- Begin by adding a new room attribute called "Smith-Course A" to the list of room attributes.
- Open the Campuses/Buildings/Rooms form and view the information for room 101.
- Add the "Smith-Course A" attribute to the list of attributes present in room 101.
- Open the Course form to view the information for Course A.
- Add the "Smith-Course A" attribute as a desired attribute for the course.
- When you develop the schedule, Course A will be assigned to room 101, if possible.
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Yes. When you install ScheduleWhiz® Academic, a PDF formatted manual is included and can be found in the installation folder you selected for the software. You can also download the manual by following this link.Back to top
In general, no. We are happy to do web-based demos, though. Please contact us at sales@thoughtimus.com for details.Back to top
Yes, we do these on a regular basis. Please contact us at sales@thoughtimus.com to request a demo.Back to top
We do not have any conferences on our demo agenda, at the moment.Back to top
Yes. Our software can be used in this mode and has a number of advantages over Schedule25, including the ability to have an unlimited number of room attributes. Please contact us at sale@thoughtimus.com for more information.Back to top
In our opinion, the main reason is that good automated tools did not exist (or were greatly limited in their assumptions and flexibility) and so schedules had to be developed manually. We have expended significant effort to develop a robust, flexible and useful tool. This tool allows one to harness the power of computer to develop schedules that are better than manually-developed schedules and to do so in much less time than is required to develop a manual schedule.Back to top
Although we have been selling the software on the internet since March 1999, our marketing efforts were minimal until August 2001. Our focus has been on improving the functionality and robustness of the software based on the feedback from an early set of adopters. This feedback has proven to be invaluable and we believe (and our customer testimonials reinforce our belief) that our software is now "ready for prime-time." Since August 2001 we have increased our marketing efforts, using a combination of direct mail, in-person sales calls and software demonstrations.Back to top
ScheduleWhiz® Academic is designed to be able to schedule courses at as many sites as one desires. One specifies the travel time between sites, so that when ScheduleWhiz® Academic develops a schedule, it ensures that faculty have sufficient time to travel between the sites where they are teaching. ScheduleWhiz® Academic also incorporates relocation times between buildings on each site, so that, again, faculty are not assigned schedules that leave them insufficient time to move between different buildings.Back to top
ScheduleWhiz® Academic uses an intelligently-guided search process. This search process incorporates a degree of randomness, which helps ScheduleWhiz® Academic identify good schedules. This logic for this search process was developed by Dr. Gary M. Thompson, a professor at Cornell University, and a recognized expert in the development of algorithms for complex real-world problems such as work-force scheduling.Back to top
We're sorry, but the algorithm is proprietary.Back to top
ScheduleWhiz® Academic can schedule courses that meet for any designated, continous portion of the scheduling horizon. The appropriate range of meeting dates is set on a course-by-course basis. You can see how this is specified on the Main Course Data Edit Screen.Back to top
ScheduleWhiz® Academic allows each faculty member to specify several attributes that define, for them, a good schedule. For example, each faculty member can specify his or her preference for the ideal number of days he/she will teach and whether consecutive classes are desirable, undesirable or unimportant. Each faculty member can specify the times he/she would prefer to teach ("green" time), the times that he/she could teach but would rather not ("yellow" time), and the times he/she is unavailable ("red" time). Finally, the administrator in charge of developing the schedule can set the relative importance of each faculty member, on a scale of 1-100. Giving a faculty member a higher priority increases the chances that he/she will get an individual teaching schedule that better satisfies his/her preferences. Since ScheduleWhiz® Academic allows one to lock-in the times for individual courses, faculty can be assured of getting a particular schedule. Obviously, locking-in course times reduces the flexibility ScheduleWhiz® Academic has in satisfying all the competing demands on a schedule and so it should be done prudently. To see the faculty preference options, see the Main Faculty Data Edit Screen.Back to top
Yes, although the scheduling algorithm is not tailored to the K-12 environment. We are considering developing a specialized scheduler for this environment.Back to top
Yes. Multiple licensed users can access the same data file simultaneously.Back to top
We have web interfaces for collecting faculty preference data and for collecting students' course preferences.Back to top
Support and free upgrades are included for at one year. Check the 'Prices' page for the cost of support beyond the first year.Back to top
Our consulting is generally for customized algorithm development. The price varies depending on the complexity of the task, but generally ranges in the $100-$400 US per hour.Back to top
Yes. Reports of this type can be printed, saved or exported to Excel. We also have similar reports for faculty and a course grid report that shows all scheduled courses, by day and time.Back to top
Yes. The best way to do this would be to define the lab and lectures separately (let's say Chem100Lec and Chem100Lab). This would allow you to specify different instructors and different rooms for the labs and lectures. Then you would put the lab and lecture in what we call a "Disperse Group." Dispersion groups are sets of classes that shouldn't conflict. By placing the lecture and the lab in the same set, the software will ensure they do not conflict when scheduled.Back to top
Yes. This would also be accomplished using the Disperse Groups. The classes the TAs take and the labs could be placed in one or more such groups and the software would mininize the conflicts.Back to top
This message occurs when you have not defined times that Course X can meet. To define meeting times, click the "Change" button in the "Allowable Timing" box of the course form when you are examining Course X's data.Back to top
There are two possible causes for this message:First, you may not have defined any meeting patterns for the course. When you define meeting patterns, you tell the program how many times the course meets per week and the duration of the meetings. To define the meeting lengths, click on the "Valid Meeting Lengths" box on the course form when you are examining Course X's data.
Second, the message can occur if you have defined meeting patterns for a course, but there is a conflict between the times that the course, instructor(s) and room(s) are available. To verify this and investigate possible conflicts, click the "Analyze" button in the "Allowable Timing" box or the "Analyze" button in the "Room" box of the course form when you are examining Course X's data.
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We are not aware of any bugs in the current release of the software.Please let us know if you encounter any problem with the software. Your feedback facilitates our continuous improvement of ScheduleWhiz® Academic. You'll be surprised how quickly your suggestions show up in the software!
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A course-unit is a line item in a listing of courses. In a typical listing of courses, one section (or lab) of a course is listed per line, so each section (or lab) counts as a course-unit. Here is an example that should clarify.Let's say you have a class, say BIOL100, that is offered 4 times per year--two sections both the fall and spring semester. Also, let's assume that each section of this class meets three times per week and that it has an associated lab (BIOL100Lab) that meets once per week, but that is offered only once per semester (in this example all students in either section take the same lab). If you develop schedules separately for each term (in this case semesters), then you would have 3 course-units each term (the two sections and the lab). If you scheduled the whole year at one time (which we wouldn't generally recommend), you would have 6 course-units. Basically, each SECTION (or LAB) of a course counts as a course-unit, but the number of weekly meetings of a particular course/section/lab is NOT relevant in figuring out number of course-units.
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You can transfer a valid license to another computer by following these steps:Steps 1-6 are performed on the computer that is giving up its license:
- Run ScheduleWhiz® Academic and select the "License" menu item.
- Click "Transfer License to Another Computer" button.
- Answer "Yes" to the warning message.
- ScheduleWhiz® Academic will then show you your Old License Code, which you will need to complete step 4.
- Complete and submit the form you see when you follow the link to Transfer a license from a currently licensed computer to a currently unlicensed computer. This transfers your old license back into "Inventory."
- Click the "OK" button on the ScheduleWhiz® Academic license form. ScheduleWhiz® Academic will then operate in its unlicensed mode.
The remaining steps (7-10) are performed on the computer that are to receive the license:
- Start ScheduleWhiz® Academic (first installing it, if you have not already done so) and open the License form.
- Return to the "Activation" page of our website and follow the link to Activate an additional copy of ScheduleWhiz® Academic in an existing, multiple computer license. Fill out that form, specifying the characteristics of the license being transferred.
- Await your new license code, which is sent via email.
- Enter the new license code in the ScheduleWhiz® Academic license form, click the "Enter License Code" button and you're done!
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If you attempt to develop a schedule having more course units than is allowed in the 60-day trial version or in your fully licensed version, ScheduleWhiz® Academic will tell you the exact number of course units you're using.Back to top
Upgrading your license is a simple process. There are two routes, depending on your current number of course units:Activating the additional course units WILL NOT exceed the aggregate number of course units in your license. Here are the steps in altering the activated number of course units for a currently licensed computer:
Activating the additional course units WILL exceed the aggregate number of course units in your license.
- Run ScheduleWhiz® Academic and select the "License" menu item.
- Click "Upgrade License on this Computer" button.
- Answer "Yes" to the warning message. ScheduleWhiz® Academic will then show you your "Old License Code."
- Follow the link to Alter the number of activated course units for a currently licensed compute on the "Activate" page of our website.
- Complete and submit the website form that you find by following step 5. This transfers your old license back into "Inventory."
- Click the "OK" button on the ScheduleWhiz® Academic license form and the software will then show you an "Install Code".
- Return to the "Activation" page of our website and follow the link to Activate an additional copy of ScheduleWhiz® Academic in an existing, multiple computer license. Fill out that form, specifying the characteristics you desire in the new license.
- Await your new license code, which is sent via email.
- Enter the new license code in the ScheduleWhiz® Academic license form, click the "Enter License Code" button and you're done!
- You will need to pay for the incremental number of units required. For example, should you wish to increase your licensed course units from 300 to 600, you would need to pay an additional $1000 (=$2,499-$1,499) U.S. Dollars. You may order the license upgrade on our "Order" page.
- Once your order has been approved, follow the steps above to activate the additional units.
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When you purchase a license for a particular number of course units, you have the flexibility to decide whether to have the full license reside on one computer or on several. For example, if you purchased a license for 1000 course units, one computer could be assigned all 1000 course units. Alternately, one computer might be assigned 200 course units, another 300 course units, and a third 500 course units. Providing you have not activated the maximum allowable units in your license, adding another computer is as simple as installing ScheduleWhiz® Academic on the additional computer and then activating it. You will need your master account number for this activation.Back to top
No. When you purchase an indefinite (one year) license to ScheduleWhiz® Academic, you are purchasing the right to schedule the defined number of course units as many times, over as long a period as you wish (during one year).Back to top
An "Installation Code" is the code you see on the License form when you run ScheduleWhiz® Academic after your initial 60-day trial period expires. You will need that code if you wish to extend your trial evaluation or if you wish to activate the fully licensed version. The code is required when you fill out the forms found by following the links on the "Activate" page of this website.Back to top
A "License Code" is a code we send you, via email, that you use to activate the fully licensed version of ScheduleWhiz® Academic on your computer or extend your trial evaluation period. The "License Code" must be entered into the License form. You can find this form in an unactivated version of ScheduleWhiz® Academic by selecting the "License" menu option. To receive a License Code, you must fill out a form found by following the appropriate link on the "Activate" page of this website.Back to top