subtimetableTrial
For a first try
30 days free
- 1 building
- 10 rooms
- 15 teachers
- 5 classes
- 20 subjects
- 5 users
- Generate 3 times a day, 5 min per run
subtimetable is timetabling software that builds your school timetable to your own rules, with as few teacher gaps as possible
You enter teachers, the curriculum, rooms and rules in the browser. subtimetable then searches for up to 60 minutes and shows how many gaps each teacher has in the result. Once you publish the timetable, the app also uses it to pick substitute teachers.
Try it yourself
Change the level of a rule and watch how one teacher’s week rearranges.
Illustration with an invented week
Week of a maths and physics teacher
- gap
- unavailable
- breaks a rule
| Period | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | unavailable | MAT4AMaths 4A | MAT1AMaths 1A | free | unavailable |
| 2. | MAT1AMaths 1A | MAT2BMaths 2B | gap | MAT1AMaths 1A | unavailable |
| 3. | gap | gap | MAT4AMaths 4A | MAT4AMaths 4A | unavailable |
| 4. | PHY3CPhysics 3C | PHY3CPhysics 3C | gap | PHY3CPhysics 3C | unavailable |
| 5. | MAT4AMaths 4A | MAT1AMaths 1A | MAT2BMaths 2B | MAT2BMaths 2B | unavailable |
| 6. | MAT2BMaths 2B | MAT1AMaths 1A, breaks a rule | free | free | unavailable |
- Gaps
- 4
- Periods when unavailable
- 0
- Subject twice a day
- 1
The rule “Subject at most 1 period a day” is not fully met because its level is lower.
Teacher cover: the app picks the substitute from your timetable
The absent teacher reports the absence and leaves instructions or a file for each period. The app then picks a free colleague from the timetable and prefers one who teaches the same subject, is on the list of compatible teachers or teaches that class. It also weighs how much cover each teacher has done this year. The chosen teacher gets an email with the period, the room and the instructions.
1. Today
Mark Hughes
I’m ill and won’t be in tomorrow. Students need supervision in periods 3 and 5. I have no instructions yet.
22:17
MonTueWed2MATBIO3PHY4HISENG5FREGEO
Sarah CollinsteachingTom Barkerno answerEmma Priceoff sick?- David Ellis ???
The deputy head phones one colleague after another until someone says yes.
2. With subtimetable
The teacher reports the absence
22:17
Report an absenceMark Hughes
Date
tomorrow, 15 Oct
Periods
Period 3, 2B
Exercises on page 42
Period 5, 1A
Exercises on page 42
instructions.pdf
Report absence
The absent teacher can add instructions and attachments until each period starts. There is no field for the reason, because the school does not keep it.
the app picks a free colleague from the timetable, preferably one who teaches the same subject and is already in school that period
3. The substitute
The email arrives at 5:30
Notifications created after 22:00 go out the next morning at 5:30. The school sets both times.
First sending time in the morning22:00to5:30
To: Owen Fletcher5:30
Substitution 15 Oct, period 3, 2B
- Period
- Period 3, 10:00 to 10:45
- Class
- 2B
- Room
- Room 14
- Subject
- Maths
- Absent teacher
- Mark Hughes
- Instructions
- Exercises on page 42
If you cannot take it, call the deputy head.
My day
Thursday 15 October
Period 3, covering for Mark HughesRoom 14, 2BExercises on page 42
For the deputy head: A message comes only when no teacher is free for a period. For that period the app shows why each colleague was ruled out, for example because they are teaching or already covering another class.
Plans
Standard
For a smaller timetable
- Everything in Trial
- +no time limit
- +Unlimited runs, 30 min each
- +17 users (15 teachers + 2)
Unlimited
For schools- Everything in Standard
- +no limits on buildings, rooms, teachers, classes or subjects
- +unlimited users
- +Generation without limits
In every plan
- Rule-based generation
- Quality score
- Timetable versions
- Manual edits, locked lessons
- Comments on lessons
- Timetable publishing
- Print-ready PDF
- Absences
- Cover
- Daily list of timetable changes
- Monthly cover records
- Attachments to instructions
What is different about subtimetable
Built alongside a pilot secondary school
subtimetable was developed together with a pilot secondary school in Slovenia. The rules for a lunch break during lessons and for the span of the school day were added to meet that school’s conditions.
The principal and the deputy work on it at the same time
subtimetable runs in the browser, so the principal and the deputy head can edit at the same time, each on their own computer. Every change to a version records who made it and when. If a colleague changes the day’s cover while you have it open, the app shows this and offers to refresh.
When rules conflict, the app shows which ones
Before you run the generator, Check lists the data that is missing and the settings that rule each other out. If the timetable still has no solution, the app gives the reason, for example how many periods a teacher needs and how many they have available, and suggests which limit to change.
Every timetable gets a quality score. You see how often each rule is broken, the number of gaps and the longest gap for each teacher, and whether each class is better or worse than the school average.
The screenshots are from the app. The school in them is invented.
How to build a school timetable in 5 steps, from data entry to publishing
You enter the data once. When something changes, you run the generator again.
- 1
Enter the data
Start with the bell times: when period 1 begins, how long a period lasts, breaks and lunch. Then add classes with their groups and the curriculum, where each subject gets a teacher, a number of periods per week and the rooms it can use. A lesson that several classes share is entered once. For each teacher you mark the periods they cannot teach and the periods they would prefer not to.
- 2
Set the rules
Start from the Balanced, Teachers first or Students first preset, then give each rule a level. High counts 2 times as much as medium and 10 times as much as low, so you know which rule the app relaxes first.
- 3
Run the generator
Choose how long subtimetable may search: 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes. While it runs you see which phase the search is in, and you can stop it. If the run fails, the previous timetable stays.
- 4
Review and adjust
Drag a lesson to another slot. While you drag, the app shows where it can go and which lesson it would swap with. Lock the lessons that are right, and they stay in place when you generate again.
- 5
Publish the timetable
When you publish, you choose the date the timetable applies from. Before that, the app shows which confirmed cover the new timetable cancels and which teachers still have no account.
You decide which rules are required
Each rule has a level of low, medium or high, and some can also be required. subtimetable never breaks a required rule. If it cannot meet one, the timetable has no solution and the app tells you why. Rules with a lower level are met as far as the timetable allows.
lowmediumhighrequired
For teacher gaps you set a daily and a weekly limit, and a limit on consecutive periods. The limits apply to the whole school, and any teacher can have their own.
- A teacher has no lessons in periods when they are unavailable. Periods marked Prefer not are used only when there is no other way.
- Double lessons are set in the curriculum, for example 2 periods of maths together once a week.
- A subject has no more periods a day than the limit you set.
- A subject with several periods a week is spread over different days.
- A class starts at the same period, or at period 1, on as many days as possible.
- A class gets a free period for lunch on days when it has at least the number of periods you set. The lunch period does not count as a gap.
- A whole-day subject, such as practical training, takes up the class’s entire day.
- A class has lessons only between the earliest and the latest period you set.
You can split a class into groups. Groups from the same division, for example by language, can have lessons at the same time, because they have different students.
Everyone you invite to the school sees the published timetable
- You invite teachers by email, and you can invite everyone who has no invitation yet in one go. Each user gets the role Principal, Assistant head, Viewer or Teacher. Teachers see only the published timetable and never the versions in preparation.
- Everyone sees the published timetable of the whole school. They can download a PDF for one class, teacher or room, or for all of them at once, in colour or black and white.
- In My day a teacher sees their regular lessons, cover and changes. My substitutions shows how much cover they have done this year.
Import from aSc is in progress, until then you enter the data by hand
There is no date for the import yet. You enter the data once and create the next school year as a copy of this one. Classes move up one year level, and classes in the final year drop out. You can prepare the new year while cover still runs on the current year’s timetable.
If you get stuck entering the data, write to info@subtimetable.com.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I import data from aSc TimeTables?
- Not yet. The import is in progress, until then you enter the data in the app.
- What do I do when a teacher tells me after generating that they cannot teach on Wednesdays?
- In subtimetable you mark the teacher as unavailable on Wednesdays and run the generator with Improve the existing timetable switched on. The run starts from the current timetable, and locked lessons stay in place.
- Is subtimetable suitable for primary schools?
- Yes. You set the rules, period lengths and year levels yourself, so a primary school, a secondary school or any other institution with a weekly timetable can use it.
- Do I need to install subtimetable?
- No. subtimetable is online timetable software for schools and runs in the browser. On a phone you can view the timetable, and you edit lessons on a larger screen.
- Who can see the timetable?
- Only the users your school invites. Teachers see the published timetable. The principal, assistant heads and viewers also see the versions in preparation. A teacher’s private phone number is visible only to the principal and assistant heads.
- How do I enter an absence for a teacher who does not know yet when they will be back?
- In subtimetable you choose Not sure yet as the end of the absence. Cover is arranged day by day, and you add the return date later. A teacher who reports their own absence has the same option and can later press I am back earlier.