ZonabitOrario: School Timetabling Software

A REAL SCHOOL
The school that we used for our performance test ZonabitOrario actually exists. The following timetable was used for the school year 2007-2008 (all teachers' names were changed for their privacy).

Liceo Classico with 5 sections (from A to E)
25 classes, and 50 teachers in total
The classes belonging to the first 2 years (IV e V) have got 28 hours, the 3 other years 32 (apart from class 3B where the subject religion is missing)

HOW TO CHECK THE PERFORMANCE
You can check on your PC this performance of ZonabitOrario. Just remember that you need a PC with the following requirements: from 2003, 2 or 3 GHz of Cpu. If you try and use an older computer, it will take longer to get results (for instance on a PC of 1998 with 400MHz, it might take up to 5 times as long as the indicated times).

Download and install the FREE software of ZonabitOrario.
Among the preinstalled schools, choose the one called "Zonabit School speed test for calculating a timetable".
Go to the menu "Timetable processing", and process data (with the button" calculate timetable in a quick mode"): the result will be immediate because the timetable is preinstalled together with the program.
Now reset the preinstalled timetable with the button RESET (red button) and process again with the button: "calculate timetable in a quick mode"
This time, the processing will last a certain time, at the end of which the program generates a timetable which differs from the preinstalled one, but which complies with all the constraints. Please note that generating a timetable after you reset the previous one always takes a different amount of time because the starting point is random and the results are always different.

OTHER INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PERFORMANCE

The speed used to calculate the timetable does not depend on how big the school is (number of classes and teachers), but on the severity of specified constraints. No matter how big the school is, before specifying the personal requirements, the timetable can be calculated in a few minutes. Afterwards, the calculating time gets longer as you insert more severe personal constraints (such as requesting free Mondays and Saturdays, teachers who can only be present during specified hours). In the following example, it is the severity of requirements about teachers' availability in days and hours that determines the need for a longer total time in order to remove free hours.

Because of this, ZonabitOrario can automatically create the timetable by respecting all the specified constraints, even for very big schools (50-100 classes, 100-200 teachers) in only a few hours.

Teachers can be in school for maximum 5 hours per day; they can teach for maximum 4 hours per day (only one day is allowed where they can teach for 5 hours).
's products require more time in order to give a result that is still inlight.
Teachers who teach in the same class for 2 or 3 days cannot teach in that class continuously: if they teach on Mondays, they then have to teach on Wednesdays, they can't teach on Tuesdays and Wednesdays)..
Teachers who teach for less than 6 hours in the same class cannot go back to that class in the same day. Those who teach for more than 6 hours can leave the class and only go back once in that same week.
Each teacher can only have one 6th hour per week, unless somebody expressly asks for it.
' reception, and possible other free hours (which are indeed very few: only 19 for the whole school).
Each teacher can only have one free hour per week for parents

There are 13 teachers with less than 18 weekly teaching hours (part time or subsidiary). For these teachers, the weekly available hours are exactly specified.
There are 15 teachers with 18 weekly hours who wish to have, apart from their free day, another few hours during which they are not available.

There are 45 teachers (full time and part time ones) who would like to have their free day as follows:

MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
12	3	6	7	7	10

All literature teachers would like to have 2 hours for class test, preferably the first or second period in every class where they have more than 4 hours per week
There is only one gym that can host two classes: only classes in the same school year can share the gym (1st year with 1st year etc).
There is only one lab for physics, used by 2nd and 3rd year: the timetable needs to be created so that one class at the time is using the lab.
There is only one lab for science, used by 1st and 2nd year: the timetable needs to be created so that one class at the time is using the gym so that one class at the time is usign the lab.
The two part time teachers Canaris and Mezzolara cannot have common hours because Canaris can take up Mezzolara's hours.
The two part time teachers D'Alimonte and Giordano cannot have common hours because D'Alimonte can take up Giordano's hours.