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Automated Lecture Time-tabling System for Tertiary Institutions

Article · August 2017

DOI: 10.5120/ijais2017451700

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA Volume 12 – No. 5,
August 2017 – www.ijais.org

Automated Lecture Time-tabling System for Tertiary

Institutions
Jumoke Soyemi John Akinode Samson Oloruntoba
Dept. of Computer Science Dept. of Computer Science Dept. of Computer Science
Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro

ABSTRACT various courses which will include the course title, course
The need to automate the manual process of lecture time code, contact hour (lectures and practical), course unit and the
tabling system in higher institution of learning cannot be set lecturer to take them. The second phase is the analysis of the
aside. Despite the fact that several other administrative sectors provided data where the data supplied by the departments are
of most institution have been automated, lecture time-tabling analyzed with the available space [hall sizes]. The last phase
is still done manually because of its inherent problems. is the Lecture time scheduling. Based on the analysis, the
Planning lecture time table is an administrative responsibility lecture time-table is produced with three outputs vis-à-vis:
that demands enormous attention and effort from any Hall time-table [omnibus/main control], Departmental Input
institution because of its constraint satisfaction problem. The and Lecturers time-table [control II]. In scheduling the lecture
Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, the case study in this research time table, the following constraints must be taken into
operates a central time tabling system implemented by a set up consideration; No student can attend more than one lecture at
committee members within the institution, which makes it a time, No lecturer can teach more than one course per time
more difficult in getting a flawless lecture scheduling. This and lecture hall cannot be assigned to more than one
manual time-tabling system used in the institution is time particular course at a time.
consuming and energy sapping which leads to loss of
information, general apathy, clashes and wastage of resources.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
This research is targeted at ameliorating the above stated 2.1 Manual Time-tabling Generation
challenges. The main aim of the study is to develop an Timetable scheduling is an NP-hard problem. NP-hard stands
automated lecture time-tabling system to provide convenience for Non Polynomial Hard and means that there is no specific
in scheduling lecture time-table, reducing time constraints in algorithm which can be used for creating timetables, as
fixing the courses and venues and reducing the risk of constraints for timetables vary from institute to institute. The
omission of courses and clashes of halls and lecturers. The manual lecture time-tabling system requires considerable time
scope of work is limited to space allocation for lectures and and effort with a lot of paperwork. The process involves
merging of similar courses for a particular lecturer. We also assigning courses, lecturers and resources such as lecture halls
administered questionnaire to sample staff, committee to timeslots subject to constraints [4]. The committee saddled
members and student opinion on the existing system and the with the responsibility of manual time-tabling generation are
new system to be developed. The data gathered was analyzed usually faced with numerous challenges ranging from
and based on the analysis; the new system (automated time erroneous computation, clashes in lecture halls, omission of
tabling system) will be the best method in tackling the lapses courses just to mention a few. It has been noted that space
experienced by the old system (manual time table). management in educational institutions is more critical
compared to other institutions [5]. Therefore, management of
General Terms space and facilities within an organization is paramount and
Computer Application must be dealt with efficiently. A study by Ibrahim and
colleagues also noted that the space management for institute
Keywords of higher learning is very critical and therefore, space and
Lecture time table, Manual time-tabling system, Automated facilities management have to be the main agenda and need to
Time-tabling system, Institution. be managed efficiently [6].

1. INTRODUCTION According to Burke and friends, the problem of timetabling is

Lecture time-tabling system is a system of scheduling lecture the problem of assigning the various resources to the meetings
time and available resources so as to maximize such resources in a consistent manner [7]. Timetable involves a set of
[1], [2]. It is one the most important yet time consuming task incident E = {e1, e2,........en} meeting a set of time to the said
done periodically in any academic institution of learning. incident T = {t1, t2, …..ts}. The set of place where the
Therefore lecture time table should be carefully assigned into incident occurred P = {p1, p2..,.pm} and a set of agents in
appropriate timeslot for students, lecturers and lecture halls conduct of the incident A = {a1, a2, ….an} for example
based on constraints [3]. The timetable scheduling in the lecturers. The formal definition for timetable is given in
Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro is done manually by the Standing details in the event that the following resources and time slot
committee of the Academic board for lecture time table. The exist as follows:
lecture time-tabling is done centrally and not on school A set of lecturers {t1, t2…tn}
(faculty) basis or departmental basis. Data are collected from A set of courses {c1, c2,….cm}
various departments in each school for the preparation. The A set of lecture-halls {r1, r2,…..rq}
timetable process is in three phases namely: Data collection A set of time {p1, p2, ….ps}
from departments, where each department will supply the

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA Volume 12 – No. 5,
August 2017 – www.ijais.org

This attempts to arrange classes suitable to the lecture such

that no lecturer will be allocated in two classes at the same
time [8]. This approach is scheduling timetable may solve
several constriction such as courses that have various time,
joint courses, the distribution of courses in a week and lecture
halls required.

2.2 Automated Time-tabling Generation

With the increase in the number of student population, new
programmes being mounted and additional lecture halls, an
automated time-tabling system is required to cater for this
increase. Most of the time-tabling problems belong to the
class of NP-hard problems, as no deterministic polynomial
algorithm exists. Timetable definition is the total schedule of
specific lectures attended by a group of students in an
institution and the lecturer at a specific time. It also requires Fig 1: Existing Manual Process of Time-tabling System
specific resources such as lecture halls and so on [8].
Automated methods used to solve time-tabling include Tabu
Search, Simulated Annealing, Evolutionary Algorithms and
Artificial Intelligence [9]. There are a number of papers within
[10] that deal specifically with Genetic Algorithm methods of
automated time-tabling. Another study [11] noted that only on
particularly complex or resource starved timetabling problems
do Evolutionary Algorithms including GAs-Genetic
Algorithms begin to outperform methods such as hill-
climbing. Professional software currently available for
Automated Timetabling lacks the generality required by
different institutions. This can mean that code needs
adjustment or lengthy training and installation programs
before it can be implemented at an institution which it was not
intentionally written for. Fig 2: Time table Analysis Model

3. SYSTEM DESIGN
The first step in developing the software was to gather the
required information from the committee involved in manual
time table preparation. Data obtained include the number of
lectures halls, number of lecturers, courses with hours of
lectures and practical involved. The manual process was
analyzed and represented using Algorithm-Flowchart to
understand the flow of operation. This enabled us to
understand the flow of operation during the development
phase of the project. System analysis and documentation of
“To be” application was then carried out. The Business
Process for the manual time table (As It Is) and automated
time table (The To Be) and the Business process Model for the
proposed time tabling system are represented in the figures 1,
2 and 3 respectively below. The system is the minimum
operating system required. Also Adobe PDF reader or any
other PDF reading software was used. The design of different
forms required for user interaction was developed. The
interface was developed to be user friendly. The development
of a model that represents the structure of the database and the
interaction of the application with the database was carried Fig 3: The Proposed Model for Automated Time-tabling
out. For the Controller, we designed the logic and the System
implementation of different processes for the application
system. We integrated the developed modules into a single 4. SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND
unit -the software package. We then went ahead to
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
test and validate the application output, efficiency and flow .
4.1 Software Implementation
Several constraints were taken into consideration in the
software implementation. The case study in this research
utilizes a centralized lecture time tabling system, meaning that
lecture scheduling for the school is done centrally. A number
of constraints were taken into consideration among which are;
No student can attend more than one lecture at a time, No

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA Volume 12 – No. 5,
August 2017 – www.ijais.org

lecturer can teach more than one course per time and lecture class size for maximum utilization of limited resources. The
hall cannot be assigned to more than one particular course at a software is also able to merge classes (2 or 3) into a lecture
time. In addition courses with same course code, title and at hall as long as the course title, course code and class level are
the same class level can be merged together to maximize the same and there is available class capacity that can hold
space utilization. Figure 4 is a snapshot of ‘Assign Lecturer to such merged classes.
Courses’ module; table 5 is a module indicating where
additional halls/venues can be added to existing venues.
Figure 6 is a ‘Generation of Timetable’ module where the
actual allocations of courses are done by the software based
on constraints set. Figure7 is a module where the generated
time table can be obtained and finally figure 8 is the result of
the lecture time table generated and downloaded in PDF
format.

Figure 6: Lecturer Time table Generation Module

After allocation of courses in figure 4, figure 6 is the module
where the actual time table is generated by the software by
applying all the constraints stated earlier.

Figure 4: Course to Lecturer Assignment Module

The module above is where Courses are assigned to Lecturers
per semester. More courses could be added and new lecturers
too.

Figure 7: Module for Lecture Time table Download

Figure 7 is a module where the generated time table could be
downloaded by specifying whether it should download based
Figure 5: Classroom/Hall Capacity Module
on departmental basis, school basis or for the whole
The module above holds all the available lecture halls in the institution. The Tab ‘Academic session’ selects the session to
institution of our case study together with the capacity of such be downloaded. ‘Semester tab’ is where to specify either first
halls. The software thus allocates lecture halls based on the or second semester and ‘class tab’ selects the department and

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA Volume 12 – No. 5,
August 2017 – www.ijais.org

the class level such as CSI - which means Computer Science Estate Management and Valuation, Quantity Surveying,
department 100 level, MSII – means Mathematics and Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Urban and Regional
Statistics department 200 level and so on. Planning, Accountancy, Banking and Finance, Business
Administration and Management, Marketing, Insurance,
Taxation and General Studies department as evidenced in
figure 8.
Table 1. Demographic Information of respondents

Frequency Percentage%
Male 88 44
Female 112 56
Gender Total 200 100

Status Single 140 70

Married 50 25
Divorced 10 5
Total 200 100
Applied Science 47 23.5
Engineering 50 25
Environmental 47 23.5
School sciences 56 28
Management 200 100
Sciences
Total
Source: Field Survey, 2016.

The analysis made in figure 9 shows that majority of the

respondents was from the school of management studies.
Figure 8: Generated and Downloaded Lecture time table
in PDF format
This is a PDF sample of software generated and downloaded
School Distribution of
lecture time table showing allocations of courses to lecturers
and lecture halls. This figure also displays a list of lecturers to
Respondents
teach various courses and the code given to such lecturers for
identification.
Frequency

60
55

4.2 Statistical Analysis 50

45
Two hundred and fifteen questionnaires were administered to 40
the respondents which comprises of the “time tabling
committee, the school lecturers, and the students” out of
which two hundred (about 93%) were returned. The
administered questionnaires were in three sections viz;
demographic information of the respondents, components of Schools
time tabling scheduling and perception of respondents on
automated time-tabling system. The three sections were filled Figure 9: Bar Chart showing School distribution of
by the fifteen (15) committee members of the school manual Respondents
time table while only two sections (demographic information
and perception of centralized time tabling) were filled by Table 2 is the analysis on the response of time tabling
other respondents. The research data was analyzed using committee on “components of time tabling scheduling” which
Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 20. indicates that about 73.3% of the committee opined that time
table data collection and verification are always done, 60%
Questionnaires were distributed randomly among the four opined that producing institution time table is done always
schools in the institution; School of Pure and Applied Science, and all the respondents also opined that the institution time
School of Engineering, School of Environmental and School table is always updated, 26.7% opined that resources, venues
of Management. From table 1 field survey, there is an and teaching staff are occasionally deployed in an efficient
indication that 47 (23.5%) were from school of Applied and effective manner, while 73.3% were of the opinion that
Sciences, 50 (25%) were from school of Engineering, the analyzed item is always deployed. It was also of the
47(23.5%) from school of environmental studies and 56(28%) committees opinion that lecture timetable are considered and
were from school of management studies. The respondents cut confirmed as appropriate to the demands of the course.
across all the school departments viz; Mathematics and
Statistics, Computer Science, Science Laboratory Technology,
Food Science and Technology, Nutrition and Diatetics, Civil
Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering,
Computer Engineering, Building Technology,

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA Volume 12 – No. 5,
August 2017 – www.ijais.org

Table 2: Components of Time Tabling Scheduling

Perception of Respondents on
S/N Frequenc Percentag
o y e
Components of Time Tabling
To what Always 11 73.8 Schedulling
1 extent is Occasionall 4 26.7

Produc…

Updat…Efcie…Demand
Extent…
15

Frequency
time table y 15 100.0
data Total 10
5
collection 0
and Always
verificatio
n done? Occassionally
2 Producing Always 9 60
Institution Occasionall 6 40
Items
Time table y 15 100.0
should be Total
done Figure 10: Component Bar Chart showing the perception
To what Always 15 100.0 of respodents on component time tabling scheduling
3 extent is Total 15 100.0
Table 3: Perception of Respondents on Automated Time
the Tabling Scheduling
Institution
Time table S/N Frequen Percenta
updated? o cy ge
Resources, Always 11 73.3 Do you Yes 169 84.5
4 venues of Occasionall 4 26.7 think the No 31 15.5
lectures, y 15 100.0 1 automated Total 200 100.0
and Total method of
teaching time tabling
staff are scheduling
deployed is
in an appropriate
efficient Yes 155 77.5
and Do you No 29 14.5
effective 2 think this I don’t know 16 8
manner method will Total 200 100.0
Lectures Always 13 86.7 be
5 time table Occasionall 2 13.3 convenient
are y 15 100.0 and easy to
considered Total use?
and Do you Yes 15 7.5
confirmed think the No 174 87
as 3 manual I don’t know 11 5.5
appropriat system of Total 200 100.0
e to the timetabling
demand of scheduling
the course is
Source: Field Survey, 2016 appropriate
in this
Based on the analysis of the research study, it is pertinent to dispensation
note that time tabling scheduling is a pre-requisite for ?
effective implementation of any school lecture time table. This Should a Yes 139 69.5
is evidenced from figure 9 below. particular No 33 16.5
4 unit be I don’t know 28 14
responsible Total 200 100.0
for time
tabling
scheduling?
Are your Yes 25 12.5
timetable No 161 80.5
5 schedule I don’t know 14 7
always Total 200 100.0
flawless?
Has this Yes 128 64
6 manual No 72 36
system been Total 200 100.0

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA Volume 12 – No. 5,
August 2017 – www.ijais.org

dealing with committee

intensive members?
teaching How will Highly 20 10
arrangement you rate the satisfactory 108 47
s 14 overall Satisfactory 35 17.5
effectively? performanc Neutral 200 100.0
Have you Yes 35 17.5 e of manual Total
7 ever No 165 82.5 time-tabling
experienced Total 200 100.0 scheduling?
clashes of How would Highly 50 25
courses and you rate the satisfactory 105 52.5
halls? 15 overall Satisfactory 42
Do you Yes 171 85.5 performanc Unsatisfacto 200 100.0
8 think delay No 29 14.5 e of the ry
in time Total 200 100.0 time-tabling Total
tabling committee
scheduling in terms of
is as a result prompt
of manual delivery?
process of How would Highly 104 52
preparation? you rate the satisfactory 37 29.5
Would it be Yes 200 100 16 effectivenes Satisfactory 59 9.5
9 best if an Total 200 100.0 s of Neutral 200 100.0
automated operating an Total
method of automated
time tabling time-tabling
scheduling scheduling
be engaged? Source: Field Survey, 2016.
Are you of Yes 200 100
10 the opinion Total 200 100.0 Table 3 in line with figure 11 indicates the perception of
that with respondents on automated timetabling scheduling. About
automated 169(84.5%) opined that automated timetabling is appropriate
time out of which 155(77.5%) opined that the method will be
tabling, convenient and easy to use; 174(87%) opined that manual
clashes will system of timetabling is inappropriate in this modern
be dispensation, 139(69.5%) were of the opinion that a particular
eradicated unit should be responsible for timetabling scheduling,
Will this Yes 131 65.5 161(80.5%) were of the opinion that their timetable is not
new method No 48 24 always flawless, 36% of the respondents were of the opinion
11 make time I don’t know 21 10.5 that manual system has not been dealing with intensive
tabling Total 200 100.0 teaching arrangements effectively of which about 165
reliable, totalling 82.5% opined that they have never experienced
effective clashes of course and halls. the results is a good indication
and that automated time tabling will be the best method to be
efficient? adopted in an higher learning environment.
Do you Yes 86 43
think with No 20 10 However, about 171(85.5%) of the total respondents opined
12 the new I don’t know 94 47 that delay in timetabling scheduling is as a result of manual
system, Total 200 100.0 process of preparation but would be best if an automated
time table method is engaged as opined by all the respondents because
can be of the clashes it would eradicate. In addition, the automated
changed method will make timetabling reliable, efficient and effective
once it is as opined by 65.5% of all the respondents while 10.5% don’t
published? know what its outcome would be. It was also opined by 43%
of the respondents that the new system timetable can be
If Yes 63 31.5
changed once it is published while 61% of the total
13 scheduling No 122 61
respondents were of the opinion that there would be no
is carried I don’t know 15 7.5
responsibility for timetabling committee members if
out Total 200 100.0
scheduling is carried out automatically.
automaticall
y, do you
think there
will be any
responsibilit
y for
timetabling

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA Volume 12 – No. 5,
August 2017 – www.ijais.org

Table 4 Cross tabulation table.

200 Expected counts are printed below observed counts
180
160 RESPONSE LEVEL
140 YES NO I Total
120 DON’T
100 KNOW
80 Do you think 169 31 0 200
60 the 82.33 109.0 8. 67
Yes Automated 0
40
method
20 No of time table
0
…………………………
of…

I don't know scheduling

of

b ility
Effici

Relia
ency
of
of a

is appropriate?
Manual

of

of
clashes

QUESTIONS
of Responsibility
and
of Time
Conveniency

Do you think
Flawlessness

Clashes

Eradicat io n

result
aresult

the manual 15 174 11 200

of

of

system of 82.33 109.0 8. 67

Courses

a
Delay
Respo nsib iltyE ficen c y

Changesas
as

timetabling 0
scheduling is
appropriate in
Dispensation?
Will this new
Figure 11: Component Bar Chart showing the perception method make 131 48 21 200
of respondents on Time tabling Scheduling time tabling 82.33 109.0 8. 67
reliable, 0
effective and
efficient?
Total 247 327 26 600
Where;
2
χ is the chi-square test statistic
Table 5 Computed Result
Oi is the observed frequency
ei is the expected frequency Chi- DF Critical P-Value Remark
square Value
∑ is the summation sign
260.886 4 9.488 0.000 Reject H0
The critical value, χ2
tab   , (r 1)( c1)
Where;
 = level of significance From the chi-square analytical method, we observed that the
calculated result is greater than the critical value at the  =
(r-1)(c-1) = Degree of freedom 0.05 level of significance i.e. 59.674 > 9.488. Therefore, we
2 2 reject the null hypothesis and conclude that automated
Decision rule: Reject H0 if χ cal is greater than χ tab at  level
timetabling scheduling is significantly efficient, reliable and
of significance, otherwise, accepts H0. For the purpose of this
effective in Nigeria Higher Institutions. This can also be
research work, the hypotheses was tested at 95% confidence evidenced from the P-value of 0.000 which also serve as an
level i.e. =0.05
indication of rejecting H0 since it is less than  = 0.05 level of
H0: Automated timetabling scheduling is not significantly significance.
efficient, reliable and effective in Nigeria Higher Institution
The plotted graph of figure 12 below justify the significance
H1: Automated timetabling scheduling is significantly of the tested hypothesis in addition to the opinion of the
efficient, reliable and effective in Nigeria Higher Institution. respondents on the overall performance of manual and
automated time tabling scheduling. The perception on general
satisfaction indicates that 36% were “highly satisfied” with
manual time tabling scheduling while 52% was observed and
recorded for its automated counterpart.

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA Volume 12 – No. 5,
August 2017 – www.ijais.org

6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Perception of respondents on overall This research was supported by TETFUND Grant.
performance of Time Tabling Scheduling
7. REFERENCES
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