Computerised decision aid for timetabling-A case analysis

Timetabling is a large and complex problem. In the absence of a precise objecive function, the solution process mostly aims at obtaining a feasible solution. There is a quality aspect of timetabling which is often not taken care of explicitly. This is due to the fact that the quality is largely the perception of the decision maker. This necessitates interaction of the decision maker during the generation of timetable through a computer. Case data of a timetabling problem have been analysed. The special characteristics of the problem is the highly dense conflict matrix. The computer is used in aiding the decision maker to arrive at a desirable timetable.