James Thorpe, Assistant Head of the school, is an experienced user of Nova T6. Upon hearing there was an alternative product that may be substantially better, he agreed to trial Tes Timetable and directly compare his findings.
Time to learn
Within just 3 days, James felt comfortable using the Timetable software, whereas more training time and a greater understanding of timetabling was required when learning SIMS Nova T6. Timetable is more graphical, easier to understand and show the impact of changes. It was also found to be more user-friendly and intuitive which is a big advantage.
Timetable construction
Using SIMS, it was estimated to take up to 5 weeks to fully construct, staff and room a timetable. James was able to do the same process with Timetable in just 3 days. This was an incredible achievement considering he was learning the new system as he constructed the timetable.
Generating option blocks
Having students submit their option choices online with Timetable saved time and admin effort while alleviating any risk of missing forms. Compared to the option blocks generated by Nova T6, Timetable was not only able to satisfy more students with their requests, but provided a result that saw far less classes running as well. The school was now in a position where they could save on staffing, reduce teacher loads, spend less on over time expenses or not replace teachers who leave.
100% student satisfaction
By building a timetable around the students’ choices, as opposed to the students fitting into the constraints of a timetable program, Court Moor School has achieved 100% success in granting course requests – a first in the school’s history.
Quality of option blocks
On Yr8 into Yr9 blocks, there were 45 classes running. Nova T6 produced a solution where 3 students missed out on a subject choice. Timetable however, was able to do it with no missed requests at all. Timetable also showed alternatives of 2 missed choices but 6 less classes running, or only 4 missed for 8 less classes running.
For Yr9 into Yr10, Timetable managed to halve the 16 missed course requests by Nova T6 while running 5 less classes. The differences in quality and savings Timetable achieved when compared to Nova T6 was undeniable.
Uploading a completed timetable
Once a timetable has been saved, it is automatically accessible across the network. There’s no need for uploading, importing, or publishing. Timetable can read and write data with Nova T6 as well as integrate with SIMS directly, without Nova T6.
Conclusion
It was quickly apparent to James that the capabilities of Tes Timetable software far exceeded his expectations as it continually offered better solutions to those of SIMS/Nova T6 at every stage. No surprises, Timetable had passed the test with flying colours.
