ITS Abacus
South Africa
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| Download (PDF, 95 KB) |
| Industry: |
University timetabling |
| Solution: |
Mathematical programming (MP), constraint programming (CP) and visualization tools |
| Products: |
ILOG CPLEX
ILOG CP
ILOG Views
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- Simplifies scheduling process
- Improves instructor and student satisfaction
- Reduces operational costs
- Boosts efficiency of resources
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| "Using ILOG, we not only generated clash-free timetables, but we were able to satisfy the special
requirements of the majority of faculty and students." |
Hercules Dreyer
Managing Director
ITS Abacus |
Business
ITS Abacus currently leads the South African market for tertiary timetabling solutions. It
offers a wide range of services to its customers, providing comprehensive implementation
training and assistance with its software. Post-implementation product maintenance,
software updates and future releases for acquired systems are provided under an annual
maintenance contract.
Goal
More than 30,000 full- and part-time students attend hundreds of courses offered by
North-West University (NWU) of South Africa. Scheduling classes to accommodate both
students and instructors poses a significant challenge for the school. NWU wanted to adopt
a new scheduling system— created by ITS Abacus—to fully optimize its timetabling process
and become one of the best-managed universities in South Africa.
Application
ITS Abacus’s o! suite uses ILOG CPLEX and ILOG CP to create optimized, clash-free exam timetables
and ILOG Views to display course timetables in an interactive graphical environment.
The ITS Abacus suite virtually eliminates scheduling clashes by optimally assigning courses, teaching venues and other resources.
Results
The optimized timetable process helps NWU provide schedules that better match individuals to
classes and venues. There are fewer scheduling clashes, and both students and instructors are more
satisfied with the timetables they are given. The class timetables have improved venue usage, enabling
the school to get more out of its limited resources. The exam timetables have enabled the school to
eliminate one session a day, reducing costs significantly and allowing students to leave earlier in the evening.
Technical
ILOG CPLEX, the world’s leading mathematical programming technology, does most of the optimization work, while ILOG Constraint Programming (CP) handles the especially tough problems. ILOG Views is used
to display course timetables in an interactive graphical environment that allows the university’s planners to fine-tune schedules on screen.
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