Since the start of the year, the Timetable Project has held 38 hours’ worth of workshops, hearing the views and ideas of PS colleagues across the University who play an active role in scheduling.

The aim of these workshops was to learn more about the different processes currently used for timetabling across different areas of the University. This has given us better insight into how we should implement collaborative timetabling. The new approach means that Faculty teams will manage when and where teaching and learning activities take place, using information provided by School Programme and Curriculum teams. The new timetabling processes will improve the quality of timetables for students and staff and optimise the use of the University’s estate.

The workshops began with a small number of schedulers with experience of collaborative timetabling, to understand what worked well and map out a first draft of the processes. After this, we invited 57 timetabling colleagues from across all three Faculties, to represent their colleagues and to share information so we could understand how different Schools and Departments timetable. This helped us to develop the processes and find solutions that would work across the University.

We have now developed 17 standardised processes that include the collation of timetable data and the scheduling, publishing, and changes to the timetable. It is a collective effort; colleagues’ experiences and insight have been influential in shaping our new approach. 

The Business Change Team is now working on a number of activities that will be used to shape the standard operating procedures and training.

Thank you to colleagues who contributed to the development of our new timetabling and scheduling process through workshops and meetings over the last few months.

The outcome is the final process diagrams that can be viewed here.

Visit the Scheduling Training Homepage. 

This site is a repository for all operational guidance for Collaborative Timetabling. Access to this site is restricted to PS colleagues working in central, faculty, and school teams.