Buying timetable software - 7 things to consider

The timetable is a crucial part of your school’s success, underpinning the experience of students, teachers and even parents. With smarter timetabling in mind, we’ve compiled our top seven things to consider if you’re looking for a software that’ll create beautifully balanced schedules that benefit the entire school:

1. Does it save you time?
A normal school timetable is a functional requirement, so it’s best to pick software that works with you to get the job done as fast as possible. Yet many schools use inefficient tools to build their timetables, often absorbing a huge amount of staff time. An intelligent timetabling software can help your school evolve and grow, allowing staff to work more flexibly and enabling you to use better resources, such as staff and specialist classrooms, freeing up your time to focus on delivering on strategic goals.

2. Make sure there are no compromises to the quality of your timetable
You need to find the best timetable possible for your school. Timetabling software that embraces powerful, AI-driven algorithms considers all the options before suggesting a bespoke timetable to suit the needs of students and teachers, all while following your complex requirements.

3. Does it support flexible working?
Smarter technology can help your school make flexible teaching a reality. Use timetabling software that can rapidly offer a variety of tools to facilitate flexible working, from different days off for staff who don’t require hard coded part-time patterns, to easy generation of part-timers’ schedules, flexible start and end of day work patterns and adjustable arrangements through the school year.

4. Does it allow you to offer your students the maximum possible choice of options/ electives?
A smarter timetable can improve student outcomes by enabling more students to study their first-choice subjects. This in turn increases student satisfaction to create better learning outcomes. Don't settle with a 'good-enough timetable'. With the right software, you can ensure you're offering the best possible curriculum with the resources you have.

5. You spot an error; how quickly can you make changes?
Does one error somewhere send you back hours and hours of work? You need timetabling software where you can automatically identify and fix issues. This has the added benefit of reducing the fear of experimentation. When trying a different approach is as simple as pressing a button, you can focus on quality more than worrying about mistakes.

6. Can you make on the day changes to your timetable?
A timetable is a living document, and you need a system where you can rapidly update the timetable structures. You should ensure you can manage day to day operations with speed and agility, meaning you can quickly rearrange the day in the face of unexpected problems.

7. Can it do scenario planning?
Can the timetabling software generate a number of timetable scenarios, depending on your school’s unique needs, eg, to help with flexible working, department restructures, and midterm staffing reductions? This is an important tool to be able to easily create what-if scenarios to enable better strategic decision making.

If you're looking for an easy-to-use solution that does all this and more, turn to Tes Timetable, powered by Edval. Our timetabling software can efficiently create even the most complex timetable, helping you prioritise teacher choices and welfare. We also offer a free consultation to discuss your current timetable process, challenges and areas for improvement.