Abstract
At a time when the need to reduce costs has become part of the day-to-day reality of all educational institutions, it is unthinkable to continue to manually perform those tasks (i.e., the creation of timetables) that can be automated and optimized. The automatic creation of timetables for educational institutions is one of the most studied problems by the scientific community. However, almost all studies have been based on very simplified models of reality that have no practical application. A realistic model of the problem, robust algorithms that are able to find valid solutions in highly restricted environments, and optimization methods that are able to quickly provide quality results are key factors to consider when attempting to solve this (real) problem faced by educational institutions. This paper presents a summary of the work performed by Bullet Solutions over the last few years, from the first stage of understanding and modelling the problem to the final analysis of the results obtained using the developed software under real conditions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the entire team of Bullet Solutions who participated over the years on the project of creating the BTTE software. The authors also thank all educational institutions that contributed to making it possible, in the first instance, to create a realistic model of the discussed problem and, in a second phase, to make the application increasingly robust and comprehensive. Only with the contribution of all these people and entities was it possible to develop a product that could solve the problem of creating timetables for Portuguese educational institutions.
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Fernandes, P., Pereira, C.S. & Barbosa, A. A decision support approach to automatic timetabling in higher education institutions. J Sched 19, 335–348 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10951-015-0435-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10951-015-0435-z