Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Technology is the making, modification, usage, knowledge of techniques, and

methods of organization, in order to solve a problem, improve a pre-existing solution to a

problem, achieve a goal, handle an applied input or output relation or perform a specific

function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, including machinery,

modifications, arrangements and procedures (Williams, 2012).

One of the remarkable and much known products of technology advancement is

the conversion of manually-operated system into automated system. Automation

produces a great impact in the lives of man, particularly in the field of industry, business,

medicine, and education (Williams, 2012).

Parts of the society which benefit the most from the aforementioned innovation

are the business and the organization sectors. In a business or an organization, a system

always forms part of the effectivity of their operations. Aside from bringing practical

usefulness, a system also is an aid to accuracy and efficiency. Thus, giving rise to the

dawn of countless advantageous systems for several institutions.

The intelligence of the human race could reach horizons which the world never

thought as possible. And as an offshoot, machines are instantly becoming mainstream as

convenience is turning out to be the trend. Combining intellect with the need and want for

expediency, people began forming an ordered manner by virtue of being methodical and
well organized – a system. By having a system, a definite structure or scheme, which

upon conception has been ran-though, is followed for the successful implementation of

certain methods or procedures.

The need for a computerized/automated system is very much essential to

establishments, especially schools/colleges/universities. It provides a great help when it

comes to organizing and speeding up process of work in offices.

The academe has become one of the most essential institutions of society as it is

an avenue for the peoples’ development. This also means, a great population is depending

on the institution. With a big number of public to which the institute caters needs, it is

quite difficult to maintain accuracy and efficiency. For instance, in the assignment of

rooms and faculty members to classes, some educational institutions still generate their

master schedule the old-fashioned way – by gathering registrars and educators together

for several days and having them hash out endless variations of requirements involving

students, faculty members, classrooms, laboratories, and other resources. While this may

eventually lead to a solution, exceptions can disrupt the whole process and require even

more valuable time from key people (USA Scheduler, 2015). If the task is done

manually, that is, without the power and aid of computers or automated systems,

scheduling becomes a very demanding and time-consuming job, imprecision aside.

Moreover, “making class schedules is very hard, for the class scheduling personnel needs

to have adjustments to accommodate each subject of every department to every room

available (Webgeekresources.com, 2015).

 It is a fact that a manual scheduling process is indeed a little laborious, since more

time and labour force is required to plot, arrange and revise the class schedules, room

utilization and instructors’ load provided by the Deans / Department Heads. Without

well-organized time management, classes are delayed and there exceeds the required

number of students in a class. There is a possibility that an instructor will conflict to other

instructor’s schedules.

With a manually-operated scheduling system, assignment of classrooms with

insufficient capacity, schedule conflicts or overlaps between courses taught by a specific

instructor, frequent changes in classroom assignments, and excessive assignment of

special classrooms such as laboratories, were often not detected promptly and were

extremely difficult to resolve (Miranda, 2010). Sometimes, the room assigned to a class

could not accommodate the big number of students. In other cases, two or even more

subjects are placed into one period or class time and worst case scenario, into one room.

These problems are not identified until classes met, so resolving the setback could only

take place at a phase when the school calendar has started implementation. Which means,

much time is being sacrificed and wasted. Under these circumstances of traditional

scheduling, it is tough for the organization to effect accuracy and efficiency. Aside from

demanding too much effort from the personnel, it delays activities and plans which are

supposed to be met at a certain period of time.

In addition, the current system (manual scheduling) also does not insure the

optimum use of classroom space. Neither does it allow for rapid change or the timely

analysis of data on classroom use. A term can be three weeks old before the Registrar’s
office learns of problems or spots a better way to do something (Sajna, 1997). Since this

kind of problem is only seen at a time when it already has occurred, there is no way for

the person-in-charge to anticipate a solution or even to just resolve the conflict at an

earlier time.

Furthermore, Miranda (2010) said that the timetable conflicts increased operating

costs because they necessitated course rescheduling. The institution has to order another

meeting of the teachers and the scheduling personnel and repeat the same process –

gathering registrars and educators together for several days and having them hash out

endless variations of requirements involving students, faculty members, classrooms,

laboratories, and other resources (USA Scheduler, 2015).

The problem with the manual scheduling process is, even with the laborious

effort, it requires someone, it still cannot ensure accuracy and efficiency.

Moreover, to ensure a good studying experience in the college, an organized

schedule must take into consideration. Given this scenario, institutions should be

equipped with an effective scheduling scheme that would handle a smooth time tabling of

the above-mentioned resources; otherwise, and students’ schedules might be negatively

affected as well. Thus, the circumstance would entail the need for a computerized

scheduling algorithm which covers all aspects of the activity of allocating resources such

as instructors, lecture rooms and laboratory rooms to each class or section, at the same

time, satisfying some predetermined academic rules or constraints and objectives of the

school.
 Scheduling System is a powerful tool designed to help create school’s master

schedule. The schedule created by the scheduling system can be analysed, adjusted and

rerun an unlimited number of times until the desired results are achieved. The power of

Scheduling System will greatly reduce the time it takes to create Faculty Schedules

(Gordon Smith, 2007).

Class Scheduling System is a software that improves and speeds up the process of

room utilization and scheduling of classes by making it more accurate, efficient and

suitable to everyone impacted by these processes. The system has features that can

provide a database for storing records and information. It allows the end-user to add, edit,

delete, save and update records or information if some changes occur. It can generate

reports such as class schedule, faculty schedule, room schedule, instructors list, room list

and section list (Evale, 2015).

A class scheduling system is an automatized scheme which covers timetable for a

school. It uses a fast and efficient timetabling algorithm which defines school directory,

faculty members, subjects, subject prerequisites, composites, class room, class section,

and schedule template (Itachi, 2015). With the program developed, a personnel only

needs to input required information, so the task of appropriating teachers to classes to

rooms is automatically processed by the class scheduling system. The timetabling

algorithm works the inputted details to organize a result – the schedule.

The class scheduling system can analyze variable information and determine

when each section should ideally meet to minimize potential conflicts. This system can

generate faculty schedules, student schedules, and room schedules

(Webgeekresources.com, 2015). Since the system automatically organizes the essential

data, the yielded output – the schedule – defines the when, where, what and who, that is,

the time, room, subject and teacher for each class.

The class scheduling system, as an innovation for the manual or traditional

scheduling has more advantages and benefits.

For the academic departments and registrars working to ensure that every class

meets in a location and at a time that is acceptable to professors and students, the system

provides automatic room assignment within user-supplied parameters, integration with

SIS (Student Information System) software and efficient online collaboration tools. It

also simplifies final exam scheduling. Meeting and event staff have access to a powerful

array of tools for booking single- or multi-day events, reserving the services and

resources required for those events, producing operational and statistical reports, and

tracking financial transactions. For those tasked with publishing a web calendar for the

campus, the Virtual EMS component of the system makes it simple (StudyMode.com,

2013). With its structured and very well-outlined features in organizing information, the

system guarantees that there will be no two or more classes meeting to one room, nor two

or more time slots overlapping to one class period. A utilization of the SIS and other

software may also be required for a more convenient input of necessary information.

Scheduling software not only helps with the course and student scheduling, but

should also assist in speeding up the master schedule builder planning (USA Scheduler,

2015), and as Miranda (2010) said, implementing this system has reduced the time

required for the timetable construction and report generation. With lesser time being
consumed and wasted, the more operating cost of institutions being saved. There is no

need to have tedious discussions among the scheduling personnel and the faculty

members to set everything into place. With much less time and resources devoted to the

scheduling process, important employees can return to more value-added activities.

Student class scheduling software can be a life-saver in terms of the time and resources it

saves. With all the work being done by a high speed computer, key personnel in the

institution are free to use their time for more worthwhile processes and tasks.

It does not only help improve utilization, but also will allow more time to react to

changes that departments might need. In the automated system, the institution could

detect conflicting schedules at an earlier time, say, before the beginning of classes. Lack

of rooms and faculty members could even be anticipated since the system yields master

schedule. Wines (2015) agreed that scheduling also provides district personnel,

administrators, and counselors with knowledge of teacher allocations (funding for hiring

or relocating teachers) and other funding considerations for each campus. With real-time

view of courses, classrooms, and teachers in the timetable, it makes the institute proactive

and not reactive. The organization could address the problems in advance and provide

well-decided solutions which are not made in haste, reassuring the quality and excellence

of services; thus helping them save time and avoid unnecessary delays and confusion

with effective timetabling.

Moreover, keeping track of the schedule will become much easier. With the

automated class schedule system, registrars could conveniently generate reports. Unlike

the manual scheduling where personnel needs to amalgamate all pertinent resources –
faculty members, room, time, and class which are written on many pages of paper, one-

click on the computer is all it needs to print the desired output. In few minutes, the

program generates a complete timetable that fulfills all your requirements. The program

follows all psycho hygienic and organizational requirements such as: (1) the

minimization of gaps in teachers' schedules the limitation of maximal number of gaps in

teachers' schedules, as well as the limitation of days, when teachers teach; (2) a class of a

subject has to be distributed equably in the entire week; (3) verification of succession of

entire and divided classes and; (4) placing lessons into allowed classrooms. The academe

can print a timetable. The program automatically creates timetables for each class,

teacher or classroom. It creates summary timetables of classes, teachers or classrooms for

the entire school. Once printed it helps easily assign substituting teachers when

necessary. Specification of which classes, teachers or classrooms to print in each

summary timetable is also possible. By scheduling all work and resources in one

powerful tool – the automated schedule system, the academe can eliminate double

bookings, monitor utilization, with full reporting and cost analysis. The program verifies

the data entered and helps you remove standard entry errors. It also verifies, whether the

created timetable fulfil all conditions. You can make changes to the timetable, and the

program notifies you, in case of illegal changes.

Since the system will provide information or reports such as class schedules,

instructors’ schedules and room schedules in a more efficient way which makes this

computerized scheduling be potentially cheaper than that of the traditional manual way in

the long term (Evale, 2015). Reducing time and paperwork, getting rid of printing
thousands upon thousands of multi-part forms every year is going to save money on the

part of the institution.

A class schedule maker will go a long way in making life easier for students as

this automates the process of scheduling classes to some extent. It is a useful tool that

will save a lot of time. College days are tough as students have to juggle time between

studies and part-time jobs to keep them afloat meanwhile and some students also have to

participate in sports and athletics. And classes are only available at certain times and

students have to wrap their schedule around these. A tool that will help with scheduling

will be really helpful for students and teachers alike. College teachers have some of the

best and most respected jobs. But enriching the intellect of young minds takes a lot of

responsibility as the competence of the teacher plays a part in deciding to what extent the

student will excel in that subject. And for this teachers have to spend a lot of time

preparing proper study material. And if you put yourself in the academician’s shoes, you

will see that this is quite difficult. Plus, there is the added responsibility of scheduling

classes. This would be unnecessary added stress to the teachers and an electronic aid to

help them will prove to be really helpful. A graphic representation of data is always

useful and this is one of the benefits of a class schedule maker. They say a picture is

worth a thousand words and nowhere is this truer than in the case of pie charts and bar

graphs which say a lot in a very few words. By creating customized graphic layouts, you

can easily view schedules at a glance and manage your time accordingly. Instead of

wasting time scheduling the studies, teachers can now focus on the actual studies and this
results in increased productivity gains for both students and teachers who can now utilize

their time more efficiently (StudyMode.com, 2013).

Currently, PIMSAT Colleges’ class scheduling is done manually which includes

activities such as organizing and planning the schedule for the faculty member workloads

and the sections that they will instruct, and also the schedule for each section in all the

subjects and its preferred timeslots. All these resources must be efficiently and wisely

matched for best utilization.

The conflicts that the Deans/Department Heads normally encounters: Room

deficiency, time and schedule conflicts, teacher schedule with 1,500 students enrolled in

different courses, majority at Maritime Education.

With these problems, the Developer came up with an idea of creating an

Automated Class Scheduler using MySQL database and PHP Programming Language.

Through this system (PIMSAT Colleges, Inc., Automated Class Scheduler), it is

easy to arrange room assignments, Faculty/Instructor loading, and student sectioning in

every department. It will also lessen the hassles and errors that a manual scheduling

system creates during enrolment. The proposed system provides an organized process of

scheduling the class in an institution. It gives ease and handiness to the user, based on the

functionality of the system. A better service and a high quality process in the scheduling

system. Its automated features are capable of providing fast scheduling processes

resulting to a better scheduling transaction not only on the part of scheduling personnel

and the faculty members but also for the students.

Conceptual Framework

The paradigm of the study exhibits the skeletal framework of the research study.

Observation, research, and interviews were used as inputs in order to understand the

current class scheduling system of PIMSAT, specifically on how application is done,

schedule are conducted, class scheduling are prepared and submitted. These inputs are

important to identify system’s specification that will serve as guide in producing its

projected output.

The developer used the Modified Water Fall methodology. It emphasizes the

necessity of adjusting requirements in reaction to knowledge gained as the project

progresses, as well as it can quickly give the client something to see and use and allow

feedbacks, in the user’s points of view. The methodology comprises of four phases

which includes Requirements Analysis, System Design, Code Generation, and testing.

Figure 1.1 shows the paradigm of the study to be conducted; it illustrates the

problem needed to be resolved for the study input which is the PIMSAT Automated Class

Scheduling.
 Modified Waterfall OUTPUT
INPUT

 To identify the existing Model

processes in terms of:
a. Requirements
- Room Assignment;
Analysis,
- Instructor/Faculty Loading;  PIMSAT Colleges Inc.
and b. System Design Automated Class Scheduler
- Student Sectioning;
 c. Code
 To identify the features of the
system; and Generation,

 To test the acceptability of the d. testing

developed system.

Figure 1.1 Research Paradigm of PIMSAT Automated Class Scheduler (PIMSAT ACS)
Statement of the Objectives

The general objective in developing the system is to design and develop and

test an Automated Class Scheduler for PIMSAT Colleges to ensure a fast and reliable

scheduling of classes, and the avoidance of conflicts in the schedule. Specifically, the

following are the objectives of the study:

1. To identify the existing processes in terms of:

a. Room Assignment;

b. Instructor/Faculty Loading; and

c. Student Sectioning;

2. To identify the features of the system; and

3. To test the acceptability of the developed system.

Significance of the Study

PIMSAT Automated Class Scheduler facilitates scheduling by enabling the

lecturer’s schedules to make their records complete and up-to-date as possible and as

easily accessible for verification. Data provided by this system in the form of

comprehensive reports are invaluable for planning, program implementation and related

purposes.

PIMSAT Colleges. PIMSAT Colleges’ current process is a purely manual

process that incorporates some preferences for assignment and attempts to avoid conflicts

for scheduling. Due to the complexity of the problem, this manual process is prone to
error and is extremely time consuming. With a manual approach as the base line, there is

a great deal of room for improvement.

ACS provides PIMSAT Colleges scheduling model formulation to schedule each

section to a feasible time slot that doesn’t conflict with other time slots assigned to the

same faculty member, same room, or same conflict zone while minimizing preference

values in order to generate a schedule that is desirable.

Dean / Program Heads. The ACS allows automation of classroom spaces

assignments to match timetables; when necessary will be able to use software to find

rooms outside their own faculty to accommodate needs and requirements.

Registrars’ Office / Staff. The ACS provides copy or printed class schedule

during enrollment process.

Faculty Members. The ACS allows all Instructors to have a teaching space that

meets their necessary requirements, and may have access to rooms they have not accessed

in the past.

Students. The ACS provides copy or printed class schedule during enrollment

process. Students will be able to fix their schedules according to the availability of the

subject they prefer to enroll.

Future Developers. Future researchers can use this project study as reference to

generate a more dynamic scheduler that may suit larger numbers of facilities, faculties,

and students.
Scope and Limitations

The study focuses on the development of the PIMSAT Colleges Inc. Automated

Class Scheduler (ACS). The system involves the process of Scheduling of Class Module

such as generating of Schedule, Faculty Load, Room Assignment, and Time Allotment. It

also includes Editing of Schedule, Room Availability Search Engine, Faculty Profile,

Curriculum, Data Archives, Login Module, User Access Levels, and Report Generation

for Class Schedule, Instructor's Schedule, and Room Loading Schedule.

The system will only cover the automation of the scheduling process being

implemented by PIMSAT Colleges and will end at the generation of its corresponding

reports. The system will not include a direct connection to Internet for the uploading of

the generated schedule to be used for the enrollment process as the developers are not

permitted to access or modify it.

Definition of Terms

For a clear and common understanding of the terms used in the study, these are

defined operationally as in the following:

Academic Head. Head of all college departments or program.\

Academic Load. Refers to the number of classes or hours spent in class a person (Faculty

Member and Student) takes / has.

Archive. A collection of historical documents or records providing information about a

place, institution, or group of people.

Automate. A general technology term used to describe any process of performing a task

through the use of computers and computer software that requires less human

intervention.

Automated Class Scheduler. A computer system that will automatically plot the class

into order, avoiding conflicts in time, and provide a view of list that shows the

time in a week at which particular subjects are taught.

Automated Class Scheduler and Information System. A computer system augmented

with automated features in generating class schedules, room allocations, and

faculty loading.

Backup. A copy of computer data as a file or content of a hard drive.

Class Scheduler. Personnel assigned to create a list that shows the time in a week at

which particular subjects are taught, range of subjects, and classes that an

instructor teaches.

Content/Features. The objects that appear on the systems interface that could be clicked

or accessed to maximize the system’s functionalities.

Course. It is usually a subject taken under a program.

Curriculum. A list of all the courses of study offered by a school or college.

Dean / Program Head. Person in charge of the administration in the college, or faculty.

He is responsible in the distribution of subjects / courses to be handled by his

Faculty Members.

Information System. A system composed of people and computers that processes or

interprets information.
Program. A system of education leading to a degree or diploma. Aspect

Restore. To put or bring data or file back into existence or use.

Scheduler. A computer program designed to aid in scheduling tasks or arranges jobs to

be done by the computer in an appropriate order.

Time Slot. Period of time during which certain class duration are plotted together with

the affected rooms or facility.

 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents the list of related studies and literature on developing

computerized systems for Class Scheduling. This serves as guidelines to the developer

and is hereby presented for better understanding of this research.

Existing processes.

One of the study of UK Information Technology Research Team in 2015 stated

that, traditionally, the system of managing a college timetable was done manually by

doing paper work. All the schedules of students/faculties and allocating

subjects/classes/time had to be managed on paper. So if there were any changes to be

made in the timetable it has to be replaced everywhere manually in the whole timetable

making it messy and more difficult. There was lot of manpower needed in this process

and consumed more time. Thus the manual work was more and system was complex.

Then desktops or laptops were used to generate timetables which were produced by

making tables consisting of particular subjects/classes/time and faculties required. This

reduced the use of paper but the manual work was yet to be improved. At every place

where there was any change in the schedule of faculty/student or adding any new

faculty/subject it has to be changed manually everywhere thus consuming a lot of time.

Thus the work of manually adding the subjects/classes/faculty and time has been

erased due to the use of automated timetable generation which will be produced by giving
subjects, faculties and time as inputs and generating a timetable as output. And whenever

there will be any change in the schedule or there are any proxies the use of instant

messaging provided in our project will help to solve the problems/clashes generated

between students/classes thus saving time and manpower (UK Information Technology

Research Team, 2015).

According to Botangen and Khan (2014), Academic institutions and universities

often find difficulties in scheduling classes. This difficult task is devoted with hefty

amount of time, human, and material resources. Several factors such as diverse student

groups, time allotments, courses, rooms, teachers, and scheduling discretions are being

considered in the task. For institutions composed of several academic units, the

complexity is worsened by a decentralized preparation of schedule. In this approach,

several uncontrolled scheduling elements should be taken into account such as schedules

of subjects to be taken offered by other units, the use of resources such as rooms or

facilities located in other units, schedule preferences and constraints implemented by

other units, all of which are affecting schedule preparation processes. The above

mentioned scenario holds true for Central Luzon State University. The unit registrars

spend too much time scrambling and fitting schedules, mindful of considering every

known factor. They need several time-consuming face to face consultations among

themselves to settle anticipated conflicts. Aside from these individual exchanges of data,

a formal meeting is conducted prior to the registration period of every academic term.

This is attended by all unit registrars to fix and finalize their individual schedules. This

meeting is assumed as the best time for them to consult each other about their
individually prepared schedules for cross-checking. Nevertheless, not all schedule-related

problems are fixed in this exclusive session as changes may still inevitably occur,

therefore needing further consultations between the registrars. Individual consultations

between registrars pose difficulty because of the distances between the units they belong.

They need to travel from one location to another that makes scheduling both physically

and mentally arduous task. These situations contribute to the lengthy schedule

preparation and the frequent delay in the submission of final schedules to the in-charge of

registration. Moreover, manual checking does not guarantee a conflict-free schedule. In

most occasions, several problems arise because of scheduling mistakes. Schedule

conflicts affect the normal flow of processes during registration. Classes are delayed until

conflicts are rectified. The worst scenario brought about by these scheduling lapses is

when an affected registered-student is forced to drop or change a course/subject enrolled

due to change in the schedule.

Same as to the study of UK Information Technology Research Team (2015) and

Botangen and Khan (2014), the developer observed the same conflicts using manual way

of preparing class schedule that most likely causes delay in posting class schedule during

enrollment and sometimes causes student to forced drop the enrolled subjects due to

change in schedule.

Room Assignment. Regarding the rapid growth of the number of students and the

increasing number of courses offered in the college, the task of scheduling classes to fit

into timetables and into existing facilities is becoming much more complicated. At the

present time, class scheduling not only needs to fit the courses offered but also has to be
performed based on many factors, such as availability and capacity of the room, cost

occurred when the rooms are engaged by any courses, losses occurred when the rooms

are left out, etc. (Barclay, 2015).

According to John Hopkin’s University (2011), prioritize the schedule system

resource to be used as fully efficient as possible. The schedule system provides equitable

access to a variety of rooms, time management and faculty information, as well as to

provide the students to search more information on their own.

Based on the above studies the room assignment plays a vital role in the

scheduling process. The developer understood the need to fit in the scheduled subject to

the availability of the classrooms, laboratories, etc.

Instructor / Faculty Loading. It is important to have a system or software that is

efficient, reliable and can adapt to different environment. Faculty loading done manually

is time consuming. In today’s society, the use of modern technology is widely used to

conserve time and energy. The use of computerized faculty loading will reduce the time

in scheduling a faculty workload. A school has a limited amount of classrooms, labs, and

lecture halls to hold courses in. Many full-time professors have only specialized areas of

expertise within which they can teach, and have limits to how many classes they can take

on. Courses tend to have differing sizes, room requirements, lengths, credits, and even

some restrictions on which other classes cannot be taught at the same time (Kevin Soule,

2007).

A faculty loading software should have inputs of the faculty information, their

field of specialization, as well as the number of students and classroom where the course
should take place. Every course that is offered has a set of parameters required to be

assigned in order for it to be placed inside a schedule.

According to Graysail (2010), for the past several years, the official of the faculty

senate have struggled with defining teaching loads at Gustavus for the purposes of

determining overload situation and staffing allocations. Several adhoc committees have

looked into the matter, without resolution. At least since the 1992-1993 school years, the

Registrar has tabulated “Faculty Load” data by department, including number of sections

(or contact hours) taught full time load (as determined by the department), enrollment,

and enrollment per faculty. (C.F. Niederriter, 2007) Faculty overloading has been a

known and documented problem since as long as the 1992–1993 school years, this fact

adds to the teacher’s work burden as well as their availability for fruitful interaction with

the students.

Similar to the above studies, the proposed system includes the proper designation

or assignment of faculty / instructor loading based on their field of specialization, to

promote mastery of subject taught and also to be able to give fruitful and meaningful

knowledge to their students.

Student Sectioning. According to Murray and Muller (2007), student sectioning

is the problem of assigning students to classes (i.e., individual sections of a course) while

respecting individual student course requests along with additional constraints (e.g., a

student cannot attend two classes that overlap in time). The traditional reason for

optimizing student sectioning, rather than students choosing individual classes, is to

maximize the number of satisfied student course requests. In the on-line version of the
problem this means maintaining a distribution of available space in classes across times

needed to accommodate requests by students who come later in the process. To meet

modern expectations, optimizing student sectioning must also consider other preferences

and priorities of students while creating their class schedules. This is an important

problem for institutions offering many courses with multiple sections.

In the course of developing a system that is useable in practice, it was necessary

to confront a number of issues that are not typically addressed in timetabling, but which

are critical to successful implementation. These included issues of the “fairness” of the

solution across all departments with classes being timetabled, ability to check and resolve

inconsistencies in input data, ease of introducing changes after a solution has been

generated, creating and managing constraints and other data, and dealing with incomplete

demand information for classes.

Features of the system.

According to Bacala and Reano (2010), an Online schedule System was proposed

to replace the manual searching in Cavite Maritime Institute in order to advance an

organized flow of transaction and an ease of work concerned on how the manual

searching performs throughout the institution’s operations. The Administrator has the

right to update, add and delete records at the same time, tracing the constraints and

evaluation of then manual system essential. Online-based schedule system also provides

the users to view their schedule as long as the user or the student is enrolled in the

institution and also connected through the internet.

 Based on the study of Los Angeles College (2013), before the new semester of

2012 School Year, The Southern California Community College and Long Beach City

College has gone live with a Cognos-Based faculty and students schedule management

system that was designed by Irvine. The schools schedule management system planning

and implement and updating and checking of faculty and students Information was

inspired by the advancement of modern technology. The schedule system management is

also used to view and give the access to the students search their rooms, subjects and

faculty members in the school.

As stated by Rascon (2014), it illustrated that a class schedule should be

demanding, but it shouldn’t overwhelm the student. Frank Kelley, associate dean for

undergraduate studies at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, says

“it is easy to overload your plate with classes, outside employment, commute time if you

live off campus, and time for family, relaxing and a social life”. Students, particularly

younger students, will need time to adjust to their new lives on campus, so they shouldn’t

add unnecessary stress by taking more classes than they can handle. When students are

used to taking five classes a day in high school, the transition to five classes a week may

leave students with more free time than they expect, but most of this time should be

dedicated to studying. College-level classes will require more time for studying and

reading, says Joann Ericson, academic advisor at the College of Human Ecology at East

Carolina University. Even though you have fewer class hours, you do not have less work.

Allow specific time in your daily schedule to keep up with your course work.
 College students will spend a lot of time taking required courses, since in addition

to their major requirements, many colleges also have general education courses that all

students must take. Freeman recommends “completing required courses as soon as

possible. [I have] seen many students who lose their interest and enthusiasm for required

courses the more entrenched they become in their majors.” Required courses lay the

foundation for more specialized courses, and are more beneficial for a student’s academic

development when taken early. Additionally, many students may not want to have their

requirements toward the tail end of their college career at a time where they may be

pursuing internships or job interviews, says Lassiter. Taking required courses sooner

gives students more liberty with their schedules later.

While requirements are best completed early, elective courses shouldn’t be left

until the end. “Students should establish a balance between the two, says Lassiter. Too

many requirements can lead to being burdened and stressed. Ericson encourages students

to get a good taste of college. They should try some subjects they have never sampled

before, learn something new, and open up their world.

When planning a class schedule, it helps to ask peers and professors for their

input, but the best resource is your academic advisor. An advisor provides informed

insight about a course or professor, and they can give honest feedback on the weight of

your class schedule. Your academic advisor can help be a reality check when you meet to

go over your schedule, says Kelley, and they help students steer clear of an unrealistic

schedule. They offer personalized guidance, and understand a student better than a

generic four-year plan. Rather than stressing out about something in the undergraduate
catalog, trust your faculty mentor or staff advisor to guide you accurately through the

curriculum maze, says Mueller. A class schedule is not something that a student should

plan alone, and there are plenty of people at your college, from professors to advisors,

who are qualified and willing to help. As Holder says, students should be proactive and

utilize resources to best prepare for a successful semester.

Fundamentally, the system has the following functional features: (1) The system

has capability to auto generate the section list and starting of new school year given the

details by user. (2) The system has the capability to switch between the current semester

and the upcoming semester, and allow user to set schedules in advance without affecting

the current schedules. (3) The user can specify the teaching loads and working days of

each instructor. (4) The user can set the subjects of an instructor based on their preferred

subjects to teach. (5) The user can set the section or group for a particular instructor. The

system has the capability to check availability of each instructor based on their teaching

loads set in the module of instructor constraints. (6) The user can switch to different tabs

while viewing the schedules of each instructor and section. This tab helps the user to

easily view and compare while plotting specific schedules. (7) The user can easily choose

what schedule to edit, using either the instructor module or the section module. (8) The

user can choose whether to split a class into two meetings in two different days, or join

two classes of the automated class scheduling system, as an innovation for the manual or

traditional scheduling has more advantages and benefits. (9) The system has the

capability to update all schedules involved when a schedule is edited by the user. (10)

The system has the capability to detect conflicts automatically while plotting schedules.
(11) The system has the capability to prompt or notify the user immediately after plotting

in an unavailable schedule slot. (12) The system can generate specific reports for

instructor, section or room schedule.

The stated scenarios would help the developer in composing a process with an

effective scheduling scheme that would handle a smooth time tabling. Thus, the

circumstance would entail the need for an intelligent scheduling algorithm which covers

all aspects of the activity of allocating resources such as instructors, lecture rooms and

laboratory rooms to each class or section, at the same time, satisfying some

predetermined academic rules or constraints and objectives of the school.

Test the acceptability of the developed system.

According to Jeralyn Gamale (2011), the study tested the functionality of the

system in terms of speed, data handling, accuracy, security, stability, and adaptability in

making class schedules. The study was conducted during the second semester of the

school year 2010-2011. The respondents of this study were the 6 experts instructors in the

field of computer programming. They tested and evaluated the program in terms of its

design, accuracy, data handling, security, stability, and adaptability. Another 8 instructors

who are in charge of making class schedules determined the functionality of the system in

terms of speed, accuracy, data handling, stability and adaptability of the software.

The study concluded that the manual and automated class scheduling systems are

both functional. However, the automated system is more functional because of its extra

features which solve the primary problems in creating class schedules.

 The respondents who are in charge of making the class schedules manually are

serving as instructors in the institution for about five years and below. The range of the

number of years they experienced in making schedules is from 1 to 6 years. The

respondents’ data, it was found out that 100% of them experienced conflicting schedules

that are hard to check and consumes more materials such as papers, pencils, and others as

the topmost problem being encountered during the preparation of their respective class

schedules.

The expert respondents rated the functionality of the automated class scheduling

system in terms of speed, accuracy, data handling, stability, and adaptability as “Very

Good”. Based on the data gathered from the 8 respondents, the average weighted mean

for the functionality of the two systems in terms of speed, accuracy, data handling,

stability, and adaptability are as follows: (1) Automated – the average weighted mean is

3.779 which is described as “Very Good”. (2) Manual – the average weighted mean is

2.602 which is described as “Good”.

The study found out that there is a significant difference between the automated

class scheduling system and the manual class scheduling system in terms of their

functionality and acceptability level. This is attested with the average weighted mean of

3.19 or good (based on the experts’ perception) and 3.779 or very good (based on the

respondents’ perception) for the automated system and 2,602 or good (based on the

respondent’s perception) for the manual system. It was found out there was no single

item for the manual class scheduling system that was being rated higher than the

automated class scheduling system.

 Based on Bohol Island State University (2012) Automated Class Scheduling

System Study was tested and evaluated the functionality of the program in terms of its

design, accuracy, data handling, security, stability and adaptability. They concluded that

the manual and the automated class scheduling systems are both functional. However, the

automated system is more functional because of its extra features which solve the

primary problems in creating class schedules.

In conclusion, the manual system is adaptable and useful in the making of class

schedules. However, the automated class scheduling system is more functional because

of the distinctive performance in the aspect of speed, project design, accuracy and

stability of the system in the preparation of class schedules, room schedules, and

instructors’ load. With these features, the automated system can really solve the primary

problems being encountered during the class schedule preparation.

The literatures stated will help the developer to implement an automated

scheduling system following the requirements in terms of using an algorithm that will

construct an optimized and effective schedule for the institution, following guidelines

based on authorities that provide instructions essential in generating schedules, depending

on the facility and classrooms’ availability, the comfort of students in learning handling

classes and consultation, and generating an optimized schedule that will prevent

unnecessary anomalies that usually occur in manual process. This literature will help the

developer in analyzing data needed in developing and designing an automated scheduling

system.
 Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The developer utilized the descriptive-developmental research methodology. It

was paired with the SDLC. To be precise, modified waterfall model is being applied.

Descriptive research can be either quantitative or qualitative. It can involve

collections of quantitative information that can be tabulated along a range in numerical

form, such as scores on a test or the number of times a person chooses to have a-certain

program or subject, or it can describe categories of information such as gender or patterns

of interaction when using technology in a group situation. Descriptive research is used to

describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied. It does not answer

questions about how/when/why the characteristics occurred. Rather it addresses the

"what" question (Shields, Patricia and Rangarjan, N. 2013). It often uses visual aids such

as graphs and charts to aid the reader in understanding the data distribution. Because the

human mind cannot extract the full import of a large mass of raw data, descriptive

statistics are very important in reducing the data to manageable form. When in-depth,

narrative descriptions of small numbers of cases are involved, the research uses

description as a tool to organize data into patterns that emerge during analysis.

On the other hand, developmental research is a study focused on the progressive

changes that occur as an organism develops. Its purpose is to assess changes over an
extended period of time. For example, developmental research would be an ideal choice

to assess the differences in academic and social development (Devin Kowalczyk, 2015).

This developmental methodology is a framework that is used to structure, plan,

and control the process of developing the project. The developer selected Modified

Waterfall Model, a derivative of the traditional water fall model but with some minor

variations relative to iterations between certain stages. This model illustrates a few

critical principles of a good methodology: Work is done in stages primarily in sequence

with some minor iteration; Content reviews are conducted between certain stages, and;

Reviews represents decision points for continuing to the next phase.

In the traditional waterfall model, the phases are sequential, which means that

only after the completion of the previous stage, does the development move to the next

phase. However, once the software has progressed from one phase to the next stage, there

is no way the software can go back to the previous stage. Since the software cannot go

back to the previous stage is the deterrent, due to which this model is not used often,

which necessitated the development of modified waterfall model (www.buzzle.com,

2010).

The main change is that the phases in the modified waterfall model are permitted

to overlap. Because the phases overlap, a lot of flexibility has been introduced. At the

same time, a number of tasks can function concurrently, which ensures that the defects in

the software are removed in the development stage itself and the overhead cost of making

changes to the software before implementation is saved.

 Additionally, making changes to the basic design is also possible, as there are a

number of phases active at one point of time. In case there are any errors introduced

because of the changes made, rectifying them is also easy. This helps to reduce any

oversight issues. As to every phase of the model a verification and validation step has

been added.

The developer chose this methodology because a step by step process with close

interactions is suitable for systems with complex development algorithm such as

Automated Class Scheduler. Hence, the developer can track invalid outputs at early

stages to avoid the downward flow of the defects. Additionally, immediate solutions can

be implemented because user feedbacks are gathered on every phase of the study.

Presenting sketches and blueprints of the system to the users for their feedback is an

effective way of letting them visualize how the system will work.

This software development methodology is very useful in the development of the

study. Development begins by specifying and implementing just part of the system,

which can then be reviewed in order to identify further requirements. This process is then

repeated, producing another part of the system for each cycle of the model. Figure 3.1

shows the Modified Waterfall model with the discussion of each phase.
Figure 3.1. The Modified Waterfall Model

Requirements Analysis Phase. Gathering and analysing the system and user

requirements is essential for entry to the design step. This phase is the main focus of the

developer and stake holders (Paul Moya, 2016).

In this phase, the developer conducted an interview with the personnel involved in

creating the class schedule and room assignments to determine the functional and non-

functional features of the system to be developed.

The gathered answer aided the developer in identifying numbers of on-going

students, faculty, rooms, and facilities, and the determination of possible solutions and

the project scope.

 System Design Phase. According to Neetu Marwah, System Design helps in

specifying hardware and system requirements and also helps in defining overall system

architecture.

In this phase, the developer prepared the system and software design from the

requirement specifications which were studied in the first phase. The system design

specifications serve as input for the next phase of the model. After completing the

design, actual coding begins. The codes and database are tested to ensure the results

obtained are as intended before the next phase which is deployment.

The developer has prepared the design of data, system inputs and outputs, and

interfaces, which also helped in identifying the flaws and missing elements. The prepared

architectural design focuses on the technical or implementation concern of the system. As

requirement of the study, a database was designed and will be implemented in the later

phase. Database schema or data dictionary were also created during this phase.

The designed diagrams and tables aided the user in composing the best algorithm

that eased the developer in implementing codes that created modules required in

generating optimized schedules.

Code Generation. The purpose of the coding or construction phase is to

implement the requirements after successful testing the system is delivered / deployed to

the customer for their use.

It is the coding phase in which the realization of the abstract ideas and concepts

takes place. The development involves the implementation of the designed system user
interface, developed business logic, data access controls and the integration of all these

components.

The output of this phase is the PIMSAT Automated Class Scheduler, which will

eventually be implemented.

Testing. In this phase, both individual components and the integrated whole are

methodically verified to ensure that they are error-free and fully meet the requirements

outlined in the previous phases.

Once the customers starts using the developed system then the actual problems

comes up and needs to be solved from time to time. Testing the developed system helped

the developer in identifying exceptions, errors found are logged and feedback provided to

the developer to enable correction. This is also the stage at which product documentation,

such as a user manual, is prepared, reviewed and published.

The developer defines “test cases” to evaluate whether the system fully or

partially satisfies the requirements discussed in the design phase. Three types of testing

typically take place: unit testing of individual code modules; system testing of the

integrated product; and acceptance testing, formally conducted by or on behalf of the

involved personnel of PIMSAT.

Sources of Data

The PIMSAT Colleges Inc. was the primary source of data in the design and

development of the system where information needed were derived from observation and

structured interviews with VP for Academic Affairs, the HRDO, and the Deans / Program

Heads of different Programs whom the class scheduling is tasked and from the Registrar

who validates the schedule. Other sources are the existing list of programs, curriculum,

classes, and faculty of PIMSAT which is essential in constructing the database design.

For the secondary sources of data, the developer made use of books, journals in

the internet and analysis of some existing studies published on electronic books.

Instrumentation and Data Collection

A range of techniques were used to classify the requirements of the system. These

techniques were important in gathering various requirements of the system that were

essential building blocks for subsequent developments. The following are the various

techniques that are used to be able to design and develop the system.

Observation. Observation was done to determine the existing processes in the

arrangement of the course schedule.

The developer observed the actual process of time tabling of subjects in the

college. Through this, the problems in the current system were clearly identified.

Interviews. Interviews were done to ascertain and clarify answers to the

questionnaire as needed.
 Informal interviews were conducted by the developer to be able to gather facts,

opinions and speculations of what end-users want and how they assess current systems.

In this context, the questions raised are mostly referring to the processes in the current

academic advising procedures at the college. The developer noted the answer of the all

personnel interviewed which include VP for Academic Affairs, the HRDO and the Deans

or Program Heads of different Programs or Courses.

Analysis of existing projects. Study, review and comparison of projects /

researches / systems with on-going and/or executed projects / researches / systems similar

to the study being conducted.

The developer studied and reviewed journals or white papers published with

similar systems, as well as unpublished materials that deal with the study being

conducted. As a result, these have helped the developer to easily compare and evaluate

the existing systems with the proposed one.

Library and Internet Research. Library and the Internet provided lots of

information that is useful for the research of the project.

The developer browsed books from the library to gather information that was

useful for the course of project development. Many tutorials and articles that were

available for download from the Internet were also useful. Further, the use of search

engines such as Google and Yahoo, and digital libraries such Scribd have proven to result

in providing vital information which may not be found in books.

Tools for Data Analysis

The tools used for data analysis include the Flow Chart, Data Flow Diagram,

Database Schema, Entity Relationship Diagram and Average Weighted Means.

Flowchart. Is a diagram that shows step-by-step progression through a procedure

or system especially using connecting lines and a set of conventional symbols (Merriam

Webster, n.d). This allows anyone to view the flowchart and logically follow the process

from beginning to end (Flowcharts, 2016). Flowcharts use simple geometric symbols and

arrows to define relationships. In programming, for instance, the beginning or end of a

program is represented by an oval. A process is represented by a rectangle, a decision is

represented by a diamond and an I/O process is represented by a parallelogram. The

Internet is represented by a cloud (Rouse, 2008).

The developers made use of flowchart in order to visualize the flow of the system

with the use of diagrams. This will be used within the User Design phase.

Database Schema. A database schema is the skeleton structure that represents the

logical view of the entire database. It defines how the data is organized and how the

relations among them are associated. It formulates all the constraints that are to be

applied on the data (tutorialspoint, 2015). A database schema is a way to logically group

objects such as tables, views, stored procedures etc. Think of a schema as a container of

objects. Schemas can be created and altered in a database, and users can be granted

access to a schema. A schema can be owned by any user, and schema ownership is

transferable (Rana, 2015). It represents the logical configuration of all or part of a

relational database. It can exist both as a visual representation and as a set of formulas
known as integrity constraints that govern a database. These formulas are expressed in a

data definition language, such as SQL (Lucidchart, 2016).

With this the developers will be able to create a structured entity table that will

represent the database and its data. This will be used within the User Design phase

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). An entity-relationship diagram (ERD) is a

data modeling technique that graphically illustrates an information system’s entities and

the relationships between those entities. An ERD is a conceptual and representational

model of data used to represent the entity framework infrastructure (Techopedia, 2016).

An entity relationship diagram (ERD) shows the relationships of entity sets stored in a

database. An entity in this context is a component of data. In other words, ER diagrams

illustrate the logical structure of databases (Smartdraw, 2016). Three main components of

an ERD are the entities, which are objects or concepts that can have data stored about

them, the relationship between those entities, and the cardinality, which defines that

relationship in terms of numbers (Rouse, 2015).

The developer made use of this to visualize a diagram that represents the

relationship of each data entities stored in the database. This will be used within the User

Design phase.

Database Instance. A database instance (Server) is a set of memory structure and

background processes that access a set of database files. The process can be shared by all

users. The memory structure that are used to store most queried data from database.

This helps up to improve database performance by decreasing the amount of I/O

performed against data file (THAKUR, n.d). A database instance includes background
processes. Server processes, and the process memory allocated in these processes, also

exist in the instance. The instance continues to function when server processes terminate

(oracle, 2016).

The developer used the database instance in improving the performance of the

database. This is done by monitoring the server processes and memory allocation within

these processes

Unified Modeling Language (UML). Is a standard notation for the modeling of

real-world objects as a first step in developing an object-oriented design methodology?

Its notation is derived from and unifies the notations of three object-oriented design and

analysis methodologies (Rouse, 2010). UML is not a programming language but there are

tools that can be used to generate code in various languages using UML diagrams. UML

has a direct relation with object-oriented analysis and design (Lucid Software Inc., 2016).

The UML architecture is based on the Meta object facility, which defines the foundation

for creating modeling language. They are precise enough to generate the entire

application. A fully executable UML can be deployed to multiple platforms using

different technologies and can be used with all processes throughout the software

development cycle (Techopedia, 2016).

The developer made use of this in order to identify the different stakeholder’s

roles with the system to be developed. This will be used within the User Design phase.

Weighted Mean. A weighted mean is a kind of average. Instead of each data

point contributing equally to the final mean, some data points contribute more “weight”

than others. If all the weights are equal, then the weighted mean equals the arithmetic
mean (Andale, 2014). Sometimes a data set contains a large number of repeated values.

In these situations, simplify the process of computing the mean by using weights — the

frequencies of a value in a sample or a population. Arithmetic mean can be computed as a

weighted average (Anderson, n.d).

The developer used the weighted mean to measure the acceptability of the system

through computation of the frequencies of a value within a sample. Likert scale was used

in the evaluation of the system. Table 3.1 shows the Likert scale interpretation.

Table 3.1 Likert Scale Interpretation

Scale Limits Description
5 4.41 - 5.00 Strongly Agree (SA)
4 3.41 - 4.20 Agree (A)
3 2.61 - 3.40 Undecided (U)
2 1.81 - 2.60 Disagree (D)
1 1.00 - 1.80 Strongly Disagree (SD)