Effective computational models for timetabling problem

Abstract

Timetabling is a table of information showing when certain events are scheduled to take place. Timetabling is in fact very essential in making sure that all events occur in the time and place required. It is critical in areas such as: education, production and manufacturing, sport competitions, transport and logistics. The difficulty in timetabling is satisfying all the restrictions and requirements. The restrictions relate to resources such as time and location as well as conflicts. The requirements relate to the preferences of customers and service providers. The problem is further complicated by the desire to optimize an objective function that usually relates to the cost or effectiveness of the schedule. The task of how to construct a high quality timetable which satisfies all requirements is definitely not an easy one. A further difficulty is the dynamic aspect of timetabling and the need to accommodate changes after the schedule has been announced. Our focus in this study is on university timetabling problems.