Below is a alphabetical list of some terms and concepts used in help pages.
With block scheduling you can assign all lectures in Timetables view into predefined slots referring them simple with their block numbers. In this selection you can define those slot numbers for each week separately, and copy and paste them across weeks and with the Clipboard. Block scheduling enables you to utilise the slots in the timetables more evenly and also publish the timetables simpler, by attaching the current block number to the name or code of each number.
You can use the characters 1, 2, 3,…, 9, A, B, C,…,Z as block numbers.
Select the current week from the Weeks list, where you want to define the block numbers to. Click any table item and select the block number from the list of Blocks or type it directly into the table. If you want to use the same numbers in several weeks, click the [Copy] to copy the current table onto the Clipboard. Then select the week you want to copy the table to, and click [Paste] to paste the table from the Clipboard. You can use the Clipboard to move the block table to and from any another windows application that supports Clipboard.
[Random] enables you to create the block table randomly, by giving the block numbers and the lectures per block number.
[From file] creates the block tables from all timetabled lectures of the current data file. During this process, the table items are filled according to the course order, and the process stops when all slots have been occupied by some of the block numbers.
[Clear] will clear the active block table.
Check [x] Apply block scheduling if you want the application to search for available block numbers when creating timetables. If checked, block numbers are shown as below in Timetables window in cells where assignment is permitted.
When the user double-clicks some of the coloured block numbers on the table, all lessons of the current course are assigned into slots with the same number – if there are available numbers or unassigned lectures.
In this way, you can assign several lessons at once, and the predefined slots take care that their locations follow a certain pattern. All courses or lectures do not have to be assigned according to this rule.
BookingsBookings prevent the users from assigning lectures in unwanted weeks or timetable slots. There are two kinds of bookings available: weekly bookings for courses and timetable bookings for component timetable cells. For both kinds of bookings you can define three different texts that can be used describe the reason to prevent assigning of lectures. If you do not want to show some of the bookings in your timetable reports, you can always replace them with a blank text. Select Options|Categories to change booking texts.
Weekly bookings are used to prevent unintentional allocation of lectures to certain weeks. Click [Space] to set and remove a bookings in Weeks view grid. In this view, Edit menu contains selections Book this course and Book this week to change several booking status in several cells at once.
Timetable bookings are used to prevent unintentional assignments of lectures into specific cells in timetables. Click [Space] to set and remove a bookings in Timetables view - or paint a rectangle in and then click the Bookings button when several cells are going to be changed simultaneously.
Useful tips to change and copy bookings effectively:
Both courses and components can be divided into a maximum of seven categories which you yourself define in Options|Categories. Categories can be used to describe the type of course: basic, middle, advanced or voluntary, for example. For the components, categories are normally students, classes, teachers, rooms, subjects, equipment and so on. Note that component categories are often easy to define (persons, spaces, vechiles, tools, equipment), whereas in case of courses there are often more alternatives, based on teaching level, location etc. In business environments, categories have normally different interpretations.
You can also specify those component types which require conflict checking in timetables. In practice, subjects or similar kind of informative categories are the only component types that are not dependent on the timetable conflict checking, if you have not selected Prevent conflicts for in selection Options|Timetables.
For each category you also include a descriptive letter or digit as an identifier, such as "C:Classes". Categories can be used to sort and filter the data in several ways. You can easily create reports that are limited to a specific set of all codes.
For other fields in courses and components, see
Code, Name, MAX, SUM, DONE, LINKS
In general, Clipboard is a temporary storage area for text and graphics that you are copying or moving from one place to another; Clipboard is a common holding area for all Windows applications. Mimosa is a true windows application, which can use this useful feature extensively and bi-directionally. Note that it is also possible to import data into Mimosa easily via Text files.
For instance, you can use your spreadsheet application in several ways with Mimosa and increase your productivity. Spreadsheet applications allow you to format your data very easily in several ways, and you can generate a test file or use the sample file(s) that come along with Mimosa.
1. In your spreadsheet program, input the following table:
2. Paint the above area (A1:C9) and select Edit|Copy (or equivalent) to copy it onto the Clipboard.
3. Go to Mimosa and activate Components view (click the button on top of the screen).
4. Select Edit|Paste from the Clipboard - 9 new components should appear.
5. Go to the spreadsheet program, input then the basic information of the following 7 courses:
6. Paint the above area and select Edit|Copy (or equivalent) to copy it onto the Clipboard.
7. Go to Mimosa and activate Courses view (click the button on top of the screen).
8. Select Edit|Paste from the Clipboard|1 Codes, names, categories and MAX - the list of 7 courses should now appear.
9. To add also the components to courses via Clipboard, go to the spreadsheet program and input the following table:
10. Paint the above area (A1:D7) and select Edit|Copy (or equivalent) to copy it onto the Clipboard.
11. Select (in Courses window) Edit|Paste from the Clipboard|2 Replace collections to add components to the courses.
After this operation, you should have 9 components and 7 courses. Steps 9-11 are often easier to perform in Courses window, since the application checks that the components to be added to courses are valid in cases when lectures already have been assigned into timetables.
Perhaps the easiest way to see how Clipboard can help your work is to select Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard command in Mimosa and then invoke your spreadsheet application. Use the Edit|Paste from the Clipboard command and see how the data will be transmitted via the Clipboard.
Click [Ctrl+L] to view and edit the content of the Clipboard in a table format.
It is a good practice to have these both applications on your desktop simultaneously so that you can transmit data back and forth between those applications. Please note that some spreadsheet applications limit your matrix to 255 columns, and that the Clipboard capacity of Mimosa is 64 kilobytes.
If you want to overcome the 64 kilobytes size limit, you can either copy only a subset of the data onto the Clipboard or store the Clipboard content to a text file, by selecting the appropriate text file type in Options|Default Clipboard Target.
With the help of the Clipboard you can:
Note also that using the Clipboard
See example about data import with Clipboard here.
The Clipboard format supports a TAB-limited text or table type content, compatible with all all windows applications. This means that each field on a single line is separated by a TAB character (ASCII=9) and each line ends with the CRLF character combination (ASCII=13 and ASCII=10). The Clipboard content ends with the NUL character (ASCII=0). This format is very suitable when working with other windows applications having a table form data entry, just like the spreadsheet applications.
Note that the following selections produce symmetric data formats. You can copy data from a selected view in Mimosa onto the Clipboard and then paste it back from the Clipboard using the following pairs of commands:
Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard|2 Codes, names and categories
Edit|Paste from the Clipboard
Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard|2 Codes, names and categories and MAX Edit|Paste the Clipboard|1 Codes, names and categories and MAX
Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard|4 Codes and collections Edit|Paste the Clipboard|2 Replace collections
Edit|Copy onto the Clipboard Edit|Paste the Clipboard
For more examples about Clipboard, click here.
Each course and component is supplied with a unique code which contains a maximum of 15 characters. The code column cannot be blank. In order to avoid conflicts, courses and components cannot have any code in common. The code is used as a shortcut to all other information associated with it. It is a good hint to select its first characters so that it informs the user as much as possible about the content associated with it, and it also helps the user to identify the right course or component when it is sorted by code. References to components and courses are often performed on the screen with the help of the code, when there is not enough space to show the name. When printing timetables or other reports, the user often has the option to show either code, name or both.
In case you want to reorganise or rename several codes, you can use Clipboard and code conversion table in selection Tools|Code conversion... and you can also automatically change the codes to upper or lower case in Options|Other. If you have selected Tools|Sort automatically, adding of new components or courses reorganises them again according to non-decreasing order.
If codes are required to be sorted first by categories and then by codes, select first Tools|Sort first by categories. This usually selected in case of components, since it groups all components of the same category.
For other fields in courses and components, see
Name, Category, MAX, SUM, DONE, LINKS
Collections are sets of components selected for courses (each course consists of 1-240 components) One collection may consist of only one teacher and one room, whereas another collection may be a long list of students plus their teachers, rooms and subjects. When the collection for a course is selected, each of its components shares the same schedule for that course. When a lecture of a course is assigned in the timetable, the timetables of all components are assigned simultaneously. The maximum number of components in each collection is 240.
Collections have a varied structure depending on the course type or institution. Some collections may contain one teacher, room and class/group, whereas some other may contain one teacher, two groups and two rooms. When creating individual timetables, it is typical that collections contain one teacher, one room and several students.
It is possible to solve the same scheduling problem with different set of courses and their collections. The structures of the collections are not limited to some template in order to enable using Mimosa in very kinds of environments. For instance, the application can be used (and has used) to schedule conferences by assigning a course for each session and constructing the collections of one or more contributors, referee, room and translator.
When scheduling the rehearsals of an orchestra or theater performance, users normally create collections from participants and room of each session.
You can edit collections in Components view or in Courses view.
Components are the basic resources of the school, and the use of them is dependent on the school in question. Some schools do not take individual students or classes into account, while others may consider resources like individual students, classes (groups of students), teachers, rooms, teaching equipment and subjects. The different resource types are called categories and they are maintained in Options|Categories.
Components can be any type of resources you want to synchronize together with the courses. You can create up to seven categories to describe different type ofresources, and they are not limited to educational resources. They can be persons, rooms, vechiles, equipment and so on.
Typical examples of components categories are teachers, rooms, groups, persons, equipments. Up to 240 components can be associated for each course and the maximum number of courses + components is 8191.
Components should typically describe unique resources: for instance, each group (of students) should always refer to the same set of persons. If the same person belongs to several groups, Mimosa cannot prevent assigning the same person in the same time. When a course is scheduled in a specific slot, Mimosa requires that all components associated to this course must have a free slot too.
Note that in Options|Timetables you can also uncheck the selection Create timetables for of some component categories, if you do not want Mimosa to check for their double assignments. This is typically done in category Subjects, if you want to add this kind of informative component to some courses.
Courses are sets of components defining all teaching requirements for the institution (such as school or university). For each course, you must select its own set of components (=collections) to define how it is synchronised with other resources (classes, teachers, rooms) and also define the lectures for all weeks or terms and later assign them in timetables.
Courses are abstract concepts, such projects, events, sessions, modules, and they always contain one or more components before they can be scheduled. Courses link together several components and when assigning courses into timetables, all timetables related to the collections of each course must have free slots in the same time. This enables the user to only deal with the courses instead of components; the complicated task to check that the assignments of the linked components are valid is left to Mimosa.
You can edit courses in Courses view or click [Ctrl+H] in any other view and then select Modify.
Suppose that the class LineA must study three hours in a week the course called Nursing of People at Different Ages, taught by NICHOLSON in room R112. We use the abbreviation NURSING for that course and go to the selection Edit|Insert (or press [Insert]) to create it. As with components, you associate a unique code of at most 15 characters, a descriptive name of at most 63 characters and select the appropriate category (from the list of course categories you created in Options|Categories:
Use Add button in that window to move the selected components from the right-hand list (green) to the left-hand list (blue), and Remove button to do the reverse operation. You can also Swap two components between the both lists. You can pick several components at once by keeping the [Ctrl] button pressed while clicking the components with the mouse.
Components of this course (3):
All addable components (10):
With a similar procedure you can create all courses of your school, and in most cases courses consist of a class, teacher and room, but there are other combinations. If the teacher is required to teach pupils from two classes simultaneously, both classes are added to the left-hand list. To demonstrate this example, create the following course:
Suppose that two teachers divide one class to two smaller groups and give them intensive teaching in two rooms:
Sometimes pupils from several classes are mixed with several teachers. The pupils from classes LineA and LineB are divided among three teachers PACINO, PESCI and PFEIFFER to study 5 hours either Anatomy, Astronomy or Athletics, respectively:
The list of courses after adding the examples above might look like the following:
The most common way to define those set of mixed courses containing several teachers and classes is to include all classes (C1,C2,C3,C4), teachers (T1,T2,T3) and rooms (R1,R2,R3) in the same course. The application neither knows nor cares which one of the pupils is attending the lectures of each teacher. The course, when defined in this way, keeps always all classes (and other components) occupied at the same time, and the list of components is: C1, C2, C3, C4, T1, T2, T3, R1, R2, R3.
The order of the components is not relevant, you could also list them as C1, C2, C3, C4, T1, R1, T2, R2, T3, R3 to emphasize in timetables where each teacher is located.
Note that when there are more than one classes and teachers that should be connected together, it helps to view the setting in a form of a table as follows:
Note that the structures of the collections you define for courses are special cases of the above 4x3 matrix. In most cases, there is only one row and one column, and in some cases one row or one column.
Using of subjects as components in courses is basically descriptive and voluntary, and recommended in mixed courses as the one below. If the course structure is simple, the course name is often used instead do describe the course content. Adding a set of subjects (S1,S2,S3) to the course tells the readers of the timetable what the teachers are doing. The subjects can also be used as comments and for statistical reasons to count the sums of lectures of different types. By default, subjects are not (naturally) conflict-checked, which enables to teach some subject simultaneously by different courses.
When you add the subjects to the course collection, you can insert them where the corresponding teachers and rooms are, to make them more readable in printouts. Below are samples from some typical layouts:
Use the arrow keys to move the component up or down on the list to get the desired result. The same order is used when timetables are printed.
Cycling timetables is here a special setting where the users want to create timetables for a number of days (n) that is larger than the days in a school week, but n is not normally a multiple of the days in a school week. This selection generates an extra set of n weeks (in Weeks view) where each of these n days appear in turn so that each of them appears as often as any other. Mimosa enables you to use n=31 (maximum), but in most applications this number is much smaller.
The reason behind using the cycling timetables is that there are too many courses to fit in a single weekly timetable to be repeated over the school year. This same result can be achieved in different methods of Mimosa (in Weeks window), but using cycling timetables enables to use same daily timetables over again, which reduces the timetabling effort.
Before you start, activate the Weeks window so that you can better see how this selection creates the needed weeks and timetables.
Suppose you have five (5) days in a week and you want to create 9 days (possibly different days) which you want to use in turns. You create the timetables for the first two weeks, days 1-5 for the first week (Monday-Friday), and days 6-9 for the second week (Monday-Thursday). In Options|Limits, you have to set the number of weeks to 2 before and allocate the lectures to two weeks.
When you have given the number of cycles (n) and ensured that you have first created the model for the n timetables in the first week(s), Mimosa prompts you to confirm the given input and finally displays a map of the timetables across weeks, like below. The first weeks are used to store the results.
Click [Remove] button to remove special days from the list without disturbing the intended cycle and [Copy] to copy this list onto the Clipboard.
When the process is completed, you can also to select View|Graphics plus View|Timetabled lectures in Weeks window to view the resulting timetables in graphic outlook.
Note that in Weeks window, you can copy the timetable form any day to another week and to the same or different day. Click first the week which you want to use as the source week and select Edit|Copy week. Click next the destination week and select Edit|Paste week Special|Single day of week. Finally you select the source and destination day of week to start copying.
DONE is the total number of lectures for a course that have been assigned into timetables (timetabled) in Timetables view. DONE is always less or equal to SUM, the total number of weekly allocated lectures. For components, DONE is automatically calculated from the courses which are linked with that component. When all allocated lectures have been timetabled, SUM=DONE, and at the beginning of timetabling, DONE=0.
| Field | Modified in
| MAX, LINKS | Courses view
| SUM | Weeks view
| DONE | Timetables view
| |
For other fields in courses and components, see
Code, Name, Category, MAX, SUM, LINKS
Timetables for the components are called feasible if they do not contain any conflicting lectures. There cannot be any pair of courses having the same component in their collections which have occupied the same slot in some of the timetables. Timetables which are not feasible have conflicts or clashes, and they can be automatically removed in the selection Tools|Remove conflicts. This tool enables also to view conflicts without removing them and it copies all conflicts onto the Clipboard. Conflicting timetables are not normally allowed in Mimosa, but they can be created only by special actions. For instance, user can in remove checking for conflicts in case of some components, and permitting of this kind of overlaps in schedules is sometimes mandatory.
Mimosa works in a preventive fashion and it automatically prevents users from creating conflicts in timetables and when timetables are created manually, it also displays available options and enables to clear slots from other timetables to enable assignments in active timetable. Feasible timetables are also created with the help of initial solution, as described in Optimise.
Mimosa pre-checks all conflicts, and this approach may differ from other applications, which views and removes conflicts from timetables after the solution is created. It is also possible to create conflicts in timetables intentionally with special tricks, for instance in removing the Create timetables for selection from some or all categories in selection Options|Timetables.
Gaps are empty cells between cells containing lectures or bookings. If you have selected [x] Assume bookings as lectures (when counting gaps) in Options|Timetables, also bookings are considered as lectures when gaps are counted. When optimising the timetables, the number of total gaps weighted by their category is the criteria that is minimised. In Timetables view the indicators show the change of the number gaps in timetables if the assumed action is taken.
Note that the number of gaps is not the only criteria for a "good" timetable. When timetables are created automatically, minimising the gaps is the goal function, but there are also additional restrictions user can apply. See details in Optimise.
Initial solution inserts lectures of selected courses into timetables and generates a starting solution, which may be good or bad, depending on the type of school and on the restrictions that are used. You will create the end solution using the optimisation tool. Initial solution never changes the possible previously inserted lessons; it adds new lessons to timetables. See Optimise and Timetables view.
Since Initial solution creates only an approximate starting solution for your timetables, you may have inserted some critical courses in Timetables view beforehand. If you have done this, you may have protected those courses by locking them with [Ctrl+U] in this window. It is also a good practice to save this solution on disk before you start Initial solution or you begin to optimise, since you can always read this file again into the application, if something unexpected happens - as it sometimes does.
The timetables are often manually and automatically created. When courses are properly selected, it is possible to assign a lot of "easy" courses automatically. It is a good practice lock those courses that are not intended to be manipulated automatically and save the file on disk before making big changes.
Intake scheduling permits to use the same schedule or allocation of lectures all over again. In some institutions similar kind of courses are repeated several times during the school year or over several years (Mimosa allows to define up to 255 weeks/terms in one file). In some cases this tool may save a lot of time, if many courses repeat the same pattern over again. There are at least two approaches to solve this in Mimosa, and both are presented here.
The simplest way to perform this task is Mimosa is to create separate files for each intakes and then combine them together with File|File Add selection. Mimosa provides a built in tool in this selection, which is described below. This approach gives the end-user better control of the final result and the coding of components and courses.
After all files have been combined the result might look like this (Components view):
Note that each group (LineA, LineB, LineC) requires a different code, since the groups are dependent on the intake.
In the Weeks view the patterns for each intake are easy to see. Note that using intake prefix in codes (rather than postfix) organises the codes in a more readable order. If the intakes are overlapping (which is not the case in this example), user may be forced to remove conflicts after adding the other intake files - or use the selection Tools|Remove conflicts.
In order to recode the components and courses across intakes with a minimum effort, use the Clipboard-based selection Tools|Code conversion and spreadsheet application.
When you have reallocated the courses, you can then change some of the components (such as classes or groups) for each modified course. You can save time and optionally take copies of the selected courses and reschedule them instead of original courses. If you are not happy with the result, these copied courses can automatically be removed afterwards.
You can first select the courses you want to reschedule and then select Move to right or Move to left to reallocate the lectures in next or previous weeks.
The starting week is the currently active week, but it can be changed.
If some of the lectures of the courses have been timetabled, there might occur conflicts in the timetables of their components and they should be removed by Tools|Remove conflicts after creating the intakes.
If you have taken copies of the courses, you can also remove them afterwards.
LINKS of courses and componentsFor courses, LINKS are the total number of components in a course or the size of its collection. For components, LINKS represent the number of courses that use this component as a member in their collections. For each course, the maximum number of LINKS is 240 (size of course collection), but there are no upper limit for LINKS (or course references) for components.
When modifying of Courses or Course references of components, LINKS represents the number of items on the left box.
| Field | Modified in
| MAX, LINKS | Courses view
| SUM | Weeks view
| DONE | Timetables view
| |
For other fields in courses and components, see
Code, Name, Category, MAX, SUM, DONE
Lock coursesYou can lock courses to disable their accidental schedule changes in Weeks and Timetables window. You can lock and unlock a course by clicking [Ctrl+U] or the corresponding button. In selection Tools|Lock courses you can lock and unlock several courses at once and set locks by components. Note that locking locks all lectures of a selected course.
Locking of courses prevents the user from making accidentally mistakes in interactive and automatic timetabling, or when allocating lectures to weeks. Lock those courses you want to freeze either temporarily or permanently. Another way to prevent user from mistakes is to set Bookings to some of the free cells in timetables. This prevents from assigning lectures in undesired slots.
With MAX the user defines for each course the maximum number of lectures indicating the total number of lectures for the whole planning period (semester, year). MAX must be selected from the range 1-65565, and for components MAX is automatically calculated from the courses which are linked with that component. The number of lectures allocated to SUM can never exceed MAX and for cases with only one week, SUM is automatically set equal to MAX.
When creating courses, it is also possible to set a big number in MAX field, say 9999, if it is not clear how many lectures will be used. After allocating lectures to weeks in Weeks view, user can finally set Edit|Set MAX=SUM to automatically set MAX to the number of real lectures.
| Field | Modified in
| MAX, LINKS | Courses view
| SUM | Weeks view
| DONE | Timetables view
| |
For other fields in courses and components, see
Code, Name, Category, SUM, DONE, LINKS
Each course and component is supplied with a name of 63 characters maximum, which is a description of the content or goal of the course or in case of the component the name of the student, subject, room, equipment or teacher in question. Name field can also be blank or same as the Code field. The Name can also be used as a sorting criteria.
You can also insert hidden text to Name field, by enclosing the text between special characters (such as {...}, [...], <...>), selected in Options|Other. By default, this additional information is not visible on screen or in reports, but it is seen when the name is edited. This hidden text may include confidential comments.
For other fields in courses and components, see
Code, Category, MAX, SUM, DONE, LINKS
NetworkMimosa permits several users to access the same file simultaneously. When several users want to access the same file, the version saved by the latest user overrides all other versions. If several users want to modify the same file, there must be some agreed rules how it is done, but the preferred way is to use the File|Network selection in File menu of Mimosa. Note that this functionality is a generalisation of File|File Add selection in File menu, which enables synchronising of two Mimosa files. When this command is repeated several times, it is possible to combine as many files user wants. It is also possible to use the selection File|File pre-check to check for possible conflicts of two files before they are combined. Note that combining any two files does not change their content on disk. The result of the combnation resides in the memory and it should be stored on disk with a different name.
Mimosa utilises its own sophisticated database system, which is not record-based. The reason is that all elements in this database are dependent on each other (courses, components, timetable items and so on), and therefore a traditional record-based approach cannot be applied, since it violates the integrity of the items. This means that you cannot edit or extract any item of the database without endangering to break its structure.
Since all data items in Mimosa depend on each other, it is practically impossible to access the same file simultaneously, as in the case of many database applications, where the file structure is composed of independent data records. For instance, if some of the users wants to edit some of the components, the change is reflected to all courses, timetables and bookings which are dependent on it, and so on. This dependency indirectly affects all items in a single Mimosa file, and while one user is about to make any change in the file, all other users have to wait until the task is completed, in order to keep the file intact. Since this kind of setting is not very user-friendly, networking is performed by combining or merging the files.
The Network concept of Mimosa enables a lot of flexiblity and users can easily change the working habits between network and single file access at any time. However, it is a good practice to follow the rules below:
Before starting using the commands File|Network or File|File Add, you should start from a single Mimosa file where at least the components have been created and all weeks defined. This file is then saved with different file names to all users. If you are about to change the component codes or the weeks, it is wise to inform the other users about that.
When users want to share their files to other users, they select the command File|Network|Write to network, which stores a text file copy of the file into a folder which is accessible by all users and which is defined in File|Network|Select network folder. When all users have stored their files in this folder, the command File|Network|Read from network shows a list of stored files (in the sample case peter.mxt, paul.mxt and mary.mxt), which can then been combined selectively in any order with the Mimosa file user has read into memory. All conflicts are then removed from this combined file, and it can then be stored with a different file name (for security reasons).
This method allows the users to combine the files of other users in various ways and it also prevents from making mistakes accidentally.
Files are combined in the computer memory, and the files on the disk has not been modified. Since the resulting file may have conflicts or it may contains elements that the user does not want to have in the original file, it is always safer to store the content of the computer memory on disk with a different file name, until the user is accepted the changes that has been made. Note that when users combine several files, the combined file tends to grow, and when other users remove unnecessary courses or components, they are not removed from the combined file.
If the name of the current Mimosa file is peter.mfw and you are aboutto combine the files of Paul (paul.mxt) and Mary (mary.mxt) with this file, it is advised that you do the following:
Note that you can also split the resulting file into smaller parts with File|File Split... and you can use the above instructions also, if you are about to use the selection File|File Add... to combine files one by one.
Optimising of timetables automatically makes them more compact by eliminating their caps with a set of different kind of change, replace and move algorithms, which constitute a very complicated sequence of operations. The computer can search for those change options much faster than humans, since the number of possible combinations often grows exponentially comparing to the data file size. In selection Tools|Optimise|Optimise timetables you can control the optimisation process with several parameters.
Before timetables can be optimised, you should assign at least some oft the lectures into timetables, either manually in Timetables view or automatically in Tools|Optimise|Initial solution. Note that optimisation does not assign new lectures into timetables, does not remove them, but changes their positions according to specific rules.
You can also lock selected courses to exclude them from optimisation or set bookings to timetable slots to prevent undesired results. Creating of timetables is often a combination of interactive solution and optimisation. It is a good practice to assign first critical lectures manually in Timetables view, then lock those courses and possible save this solution on disk to ease experimenting with different automatic solutions.
Optimise enables to apply also certain rules for the patterns in timetables in order to prevent undesired results.
Redo last change in timetablesRepeats the last command you cancelled Timetables view, such as assigning lectures into timetables, removing them, moving lectures to other slots or setting and removing of bookings in timetables. You can also Redo All previous commands, Set Bookmark to the current state that you are about to go back later on or trace the whole History of all commands performed so far. See the Edit selection in this view.
Mimosa stores up to 1000 last actions in History selection and user can jump back to any previous action or undo all actions. In other views, commands cannot be undone or redone. Therefore it is important that you save your file often on disk.
See also Undo last change in timetables.
SUM is the total number of lectures of a course that have been allocated to weeks in Weeks view. For this reason, SUM is always less than or equal to MAX (=the maximum number of lectures), but greater than or equal to DONE, which is the total number of lectures that has assigned to timetables. For components, SUM is automatically calculated from the courses which are linked with that component.
When all planned lectures of a course or component have been allocated to weeks, SUM=MAX. If the maximum number of weeks equals 1, all planned lectures (MAX) are automatically allocated to this week, and in this case SUM automatically equals MAX.
| Field | Modified in
| MAX, LINKS | Courses view
| SUM | Weeks view
| DONE | Timetables view
| |
For other fields in courses and components, see
Code, Name, Category, MAX, DONE, LINKS
A timetable is a matrix containing as its cells courses, bookings or empty cells. A timetable can be different each week, and timetables of components are made of combinations of course timetables which they have references to. Timetables are scheduled in Timetables view. Mimosa permits to create up to 8191x255 timetables in each file.
In selection File|Print it is possible to change the layout of the timetables, such as selecting the elements that are displayed in each cell.
| Ballantine, Jeanne (Form-C) A3, 30.10.05-15.12.05 | |||||
| [^] | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| 8 am |
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COM638 Composition Sarandon, S. ROOM 230 | STR308 Structures of Wood Davis, G. (8 am) ROOM 204 | PRA651 Practical Training I Newman, P. ROOM 241 |
| 9 am | STR308 Structures of Wood Davis, G. | HUM514 Human Resource Management Voigt, J. ROOM 234 | |||
| 10 am | DIA756 Diability Field, S. ROOM 335 | PRA651 Practical Training I Newman, P. ROOM 241 | COM638 Composition Sarandon, S. ROOM 230 | ||
| 11 am | HUM514 Human Resource Management Voigt, J. ROOM 234 | STR308 Structures of Wood Davis, G. (11 am) ROOM 205 | HUM514 Human Resource Management Voigt, J. ROOM 234 | HUM514 Human Resource Management Voigt, J. ROOM 234 | |
| 12 pm | STR308 Structures of Wood Davis, G. (12 pm) ROOM 203 (1 pm) ROOM 111 | DIA756 Diability Field, S. ROOM 335 |
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SWE492 Swedish for Marketing Caine, M. Voigt, J. ROOM 307 ROOM 311 Swedish Course | STR308 Structures of Wood Davis, G. (12 pm) ROOM 203 (1 pm) ROOM 203 |
| 1 pm | GIL324 Gilding Hawn, G. ROOM 328 |
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| 2 pm |
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PHY717 Physiology of Clothing Caine, M. ROOM 242 |
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PHY717 Physiology of Clothing Caine, M. ROOM 242 | COM638 Composition Sarandon, S. ROOM 230 |
| 3 pm |
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MET95 Methods of the Aged Hackmann, G. Streep, M. ROOM 206 ROOM 241 | ||
| Mimosa Scheduling Software | Mimosa Version 4.0 dd.mm.yy hh:mm |
See Timetables view, Reports.
Undo last change in timetablesReverses actions you perform in Timetables view, such as inserting, deleting or moving lectures, or changing the bookings in timetables. Up to 1000 previous actions can be undone. You can also Undo All previous commands, Set Bookmark to the current state that you are about to go back later on or trace the whole History of all commands performed so far. See the Edit selection in this view.
Mimosa stores up to 1000 last actions in History selection and user can jump back to any previous action or undo all actions. In other views, commands cannot be undone or redone. Therefore it is important that you save your file often on disk.
See also Redo last change in timetables.