COMSATS Institute of Information Technology

Park Road, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad

Department of Computer Science

Project Proposal
For
Automated Timetable Generator
Submitted By:
Muhammad Fazal
SP13-BCS-107
Rizwan Waheed
SP13-BCS-154

Supervised By:
Dr.Majid Iqbal
Submission Date(16-02-2016)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1

1.

INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3

2.

LITERATURE REVIEW.....................................................................................................................3

3.

PROBLEM STATEMENT....................................................................................................................3

4.

PROBLEM SOLUTION......................................................................................................................4

5.

ADVANTAGES/BENEFITS OF PROPOSED SYSTEM...........................................................................4

6.

SCOPE..............................................................................................................................................5

7.

SOFTWARE METHODOLOGY...........................................................................................................6

8.

TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES..........................................................................................................6

9.

CONCEPTS.......................................................................................................................................6

10. INTENDED USERS............................................................................................................................6

11. MOCKUPS........................................................................................................................................7
12. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................9

Please select the appropriate category of your project

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Desktop application.

1. Introduction
This project is about generating an automated timetable for the Department of Computer Science.
Developed application will be provided with the constraints, such as number of rooms, seating capacity
of the rooms, number of laboratories with seating capacity, scheduling constraints (e.g. junior semester
classes must end before 1430 hours, engineering laboratory schedule) and it will generate the timetable
for the Department of Computer Science.

2. Literature review
Since the problem that we are addressing in this project is an optimization problem therefore in this
project we will be using Artificial Intelligence based algorithms. We will investigate different existing
AI based algorithms for this purpose, such as

Genetic algorithm:
Genetic Algorithms are adaptive heuristic search algorithm based on the evolutionary ideas of
natural selection and genetics. As such they represent an intelligent exploitation of a random
search used to solve problems following the principal survival of the fittest.

Simulated annealing:

Simulated annealing is a probabilistic technique for approximating the global optimum of a

given function. Specifically, it is a meta-heuristic to approximate global optimization in a
large search place. The method is an adaptation of the MetropolisHastings algorithms.

Ant Colony Optimization:

Ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO) is a probabilistic technique for solving
computational problems which can be reduced to finding good paths through graphs. This
algorithm is a member of the Ant Colony Algorithms family, in swarm intelligence methods, and
it constitutes some Meta-heuristic optimizations.

3. Problem Statement
CIIT is a high standard educational institution. It is ranked 1 in Information Technology. That is why
many students get admission here every semester, especially in Computer Science department.
Because of the large number of students and other constraints it is very difficult for the departmental
administration to generate optimized timetable. Automated generation is difficult because of
following constraints.

The number of subjects needs to be finalized before the algorithms execution begins.
The number of rooms must be enlisted correctly.
The number of labs must be accurate.
Junior classes must be held before 1430.

4. Problem Solution
We will address the stated problem in three folds. First, the developed software will analyze the
result of the previous semester to estimate the number of students registering each course. Second, based
on the administrative constraints number of sections will be identified. Thirdly, identified sections will
be scheduled considering administrative constraints to generate the timetable for the department.
Developed software will have the provision for manual changes in the generated timetable along with
the feedback mechanism on the changes made by the user. Moreover, it will provide the mechanism for
various types of reports generations, such as section-wise, room-wise, etc. viewing of the timetable.

5. Advantages/Benefits of proposed system

Following are the benefits and advantages of our proposed system:
Data management will become easy.
Time table generation will become more accurate and easy.
Authority can concentrate on others things rather than wasting time on making timetable.
Generated timetable e can be manually be changed.
Class wise, section wise and subject wise reports can be generated.

6. Scope
This project will provide assistance to CS department in making an optimized timetable with constraints
for the students. It will also provide the mechanism for manual fine tuning of the timetable.
Modules of the project:
1. General process:
1.1 Student result import and analysis:-

Student results of the previous semester will be imported into the database form of excel sheet and
analysis will be performed to estimate the number of students registering various subjects in the
upcoming semester.
1.2 Input constraints:Before application of algorithm, constraints will be provided in the process so that an optimized
timetable can be generated like:
Junior students classes must be held before 1430.
Timetable of bcs3a should be made according to the slot available in EE department for DLD.
Number of rooms, seating capacity of the rooms, number of laboratories with seating capacity,
scheduling constraints (e.g. junior semester classes must end before 1430 hours, engineering
laboratory schedule) and it will generate the timetable for the Department of Computer Science.
1.3 Time Table generation:Timetable generation will have further sub features:
1.3.1 Analyze constraints:
Provided constraints will be analyzed one by one to see that which of the provided constraints we need.
Before application of algorithm, we will have to analyze the provided constraints so that an optimized
timetable can be generated.
1.4 Edit Generated timetable:
This module shall allow manual editing in the auto-generated timetable. Moreover, it will provide
runtime assistance by highlighting impact of manual change on overall timetable.
1.5 Report/view :
Reports of timetable; section wise, class wise and room wise can be viewed from this feature.

7. Software Methodology
For desktop application, we will use MVC framework.

8. Tools and Technologies

Tools
And
Technologies

Tools
MS Visual Studio
MS SQL Server
Adobe Photoshop
MS Word
MS Power Point
Pencil
Technology
C sharp
SQL
AI based algorithm
Java

Version
2013
2012
CSC 6
2013
2013
2.0.5
Version

9. Concepts
AI based Algorithms for generating the timetable.

10. Intended Users

Students, faculty, management and admin will be the intended user.

11. Mockups
Desktop application:

TIMETABLE FOR ROOM 203:

TIMETABLE FOR CAL-1:

Timetable for bcs 1-b:

12. Conclusion
We are providing an automated timetable generation for the CS s management to make an accurate
timetable to facilitate the students and faculty without making any clash.

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