A spreadsheet-based decision support system for examination timetabling

Mehmet Güray GÜLER; Ebru GEÇİCİ

doi:https://doi.org/10.3906/elk-1909-14

Makale detayları

A spreadsheet-based decision support system for examination timetabling

Yazarlar:

Mehmet Güray GÜLER | Ebru GEÇİCİ

Yayıncı:

TUBITAK

Dergi:

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2020 Vol.28 Issue 3, pp.1584-1598

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

4/2020

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2000733141

Sıklık:

İki Aylık

eISSN:

1303-6203

pISSN:

1300-0632

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3906/elk-1909-14

Özet:

 

Examination timetabling is an inevitable problem of educational institutions. Each institution has its own  particular limitations; however, the main structure is the same: assigning exams to time slots and classrooms. Several  institutions solve the problem manually, but it becomes more difficult every year with increasing numbers of students  and limited resources. There are many studies in the literature addressing the examination timetabling problem  ETP   and providing high quality solutions within reasonable amounts of time. Nevertheless, almost none of them can be used  in practice since they are not converted into a decision support system  DSS . Commercial DSSs, on the other hand,  are generally transactionally based and do not have optimization capabilities, i.e. they prevent conflicts via functional  user interfaces. In this study, we propose a mixed integer programming  MIP  model that addresses the ETP of the  Industrial Engineering Department of Yıldız Technical University. The model, which is capable of solving a wide range  of similar ETP instances, is embedded into a DSS in the form of a spreadsheet. Given the enrollment lists of the courses,  it generates schedules with minimum conflicts and consecutive exams while addressing requests of the lecturers and  students. It does not require any technical knowledge and can be used by an average spreadsheet user. Moreover, it is  flexible in terms of use for scheduling problems of other educational institutions. Currently, the DSS is in use by the  department and real-life instances can be solved within a few seconds, saving significant amount of man-hours.

Makale detayları

A spreadsheet-based decision support system for examination timetabling

Yazarlar: Mehmet Güray GÜLER | Ebru GEÇİCİ

Yayıncı: TUBITAK

Dergi: Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2020 Vol.28 Issue 3, pp.1584-1598

Belge Tipi: Makale

Yayın Tarihi: 4/2020

Belge Dili: İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.): 2000733141

Sıklık: İki Aylık

eISSN: 1303-6203

pISSN: 1300-0632

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3906/elk-1909-14

Sayı

Yazarlar:

Mehmet Güray GÜLER | Ebru GEÇİCİ

Yayıncı:

TUBITAK

Dergi:

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2020 Vol.28 Issue 3, pp.1584-1598

Belge Tipi:

Makale

Yayın Tarihi:

4/2020

Belge Dili:

İngilizce

Document ID (Org No.):

2000733141

Sıklık:

İki Aylık

eISSN:

1303-6203

pISSN:

1300-0632

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3906/elk-1909-14