A Sun Timetabling Assistant
Timetabling for this department is very tedious and currently performed with
the minimum of computer assistance. The only support is provided by a program
that accesses several flat files and constructs internal linked lists from
them. This program can only sensibly be used by one person, although many
different staff are involved in timetabling different activities - this is
partly because of the assumptions built into the program, and partly because
only one person understands how to use it!
This project will identify a reliable database system accessible from the
departmental research and teaching suns, and use it to update the existing
system. An important part of this is to improve the user-interface, so that
untrained users can make full use of the system.
The new system should have different groups of users with different levels
of access, such as:
- modify any part of the timetable
- modify a particular subset (e.g. M.Sc.) of the timetable
- book rooms for meetings, after the main timetable is fixed
- make enquiries and generate personalised timetables
It is important that the system can support more than one simultaneous user,
if they are working on different aspects of the timetable.
COURSE PREREQUISITES: Database/HCI
EQUIPMENT: Sun, using software available in the department