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  • Enter the time constraints of the classes

To define the time slots on which certain classes must not have courses and guarantee a maximum number of course hours per day, you use the availability and time constraints. Unavailability (red) allows you to set slots without courses on specific days and at specific times (especially during lunch break if you do not use the automatic half-board management). For all other cases, use time constraints.

Table of Contents

1. Enter the unavailability and wishes on the grid 2. Enter the time constraints

1. Enter the unavailability and wishes on the grid

Differentiate between unavailability, optional unavailability, and wish

Unavailability (red)

Unavailability (red) should be reserved for imperative cases, when the class cannot take place during this slot. During the automatic placement, EDT does not place any course of the class on its unavailability. 

For example, if a class does not have to work on Friday afternoon, click drag the red paintbrush onto the corresponding slots.

Optional unavailability (orange)

Unavailability (orange) allows you to indicate the slots during which you prefer a class not to take place. During automatic placement, optional unavailability is considered by EDT as unavailability until you decide to possibly ignore them to resolve failed courses. 

For example, if you would like the tenth grade classes to take place from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., click drag the orange paintbrush onto all the time slots between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.



Note
When you decide to ignore optional unavailability to solve failed courses, the optional unavailability of all the classes is temporarily ignored. Therefore, do not enter as optional unavailability imperatives.
Advice
If you want to preserve free time but do not prefer days, use time constraints rather than blocking slots on the grid with optional unavailability.

Wish (green)

Wishes allow you to designate the time slots during which you would prefer classes to take place. During the automatic placement, EDT tries to take this into account but they are in no way guaranteed, unlike unavailability or time constraints.

For example, if you prefer a class to be occupied until the institution closes, click drag the green paintbrush on the afternoons.

Enter an unavailability or a wish for a class

  1. Go to the display Timetable > Classes > Unavailability, wishes and constraints and select the class.
  2. On the right panel, above the time grid, verify that the correct paintbrush (red, orange, or green) is selected and that the frequency is correct (Weekly, or F1 weeks/F2 weeks if the unavailability or the wish is only one week out of two).
  3. If courses have already been scheduled, they appear with the [icon].
  4. Click drag the paintbrush on the time grid to paint the slots affected by the unavailability or the wish.

Delete an unavailability or a wish for a class

To remove an unavailability or a wish, take the paintbrush of the same color and click drag on the painted area.

Enter an unavailability or a wish for a multi-selection of classes

If several classes have the same unavailability - and this is often the case, you can enter them in a single operation. To do this, select the concerned classes with the shortcut Ctrl + Click before clicking and dragging the red paintbrush on the grid.
For example, if you do not use the automatic management of half-board, you can set the lunch break by entering an unavailability in the concerned time slot for all classes of a level.

Enter unavailability by default for the classes

If you want the classes created or imported later to have the same unavailability, you can enter this unavailability in the standard class grid. Each new class will have this unavailability by default.

  1. In the menu Edit, select Classes' standard grid.
  2. In the pop-up window, click and drag on the common time slots.

 

2. Enter the time constraints

  1. Go to the display Timetable > Classes > Unavailability, wishes and constraints and select a class (or several classes with the same time constraints).
  2. In the right-hand panel, enter the time constraints:
      • Time maximum: enter a maximum number of course hours per day or half-day.
        To be used, for example, if sixth-grade classes must not have more than 6 hours of lessons per day.
      • Flexible hours: enter, a certain number of days per week, the time at which the class must start at the earliest or finish at such a time at the latest. 
        To be used, for example, if you want second-year classes to start at least 3 times a week at 9 o'clock at the earliest.
      • Maximum half-days of work: Enter a maximum number of half-days of work, specifying whether they are mornings or afternoons.
        To be used, for example, if your institution is open on Wednesday afternoons but you still want to guarantee a free afternoon for the students.

        Note
        The concepts of free day and half-day depend on what has been defined for the time grid. For example, depending on the case, a Wednesday not worked can be counted as a half-day off or as a free day.
    • Optimization preferences: the number of gap hours tolerated is taken into account only when optimizing timetables, after their development. By default, it is set to 2 for all classes. Reduce it only if it is essential that a class does not have gaps in its timetable.




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