University Timetabling Using Constraint Logic Programming

A timetable is a temporal arrangement of a set of meetings such that all given constraints are satissed. A timetabling problem can be suitably modelled in terms of a set of constraints. We use Constraint Logic Programming and develop methods, techniques and concepts for a combination of interactive and automatic timetabling of university courses and school curricula. An exemplary application of such a timetabling system was developed for the Charit e Medical Faculty at the Humboldt University, Berlin. The timetabling system is exible enough to take into account special user requirements and to allow constraints to be modiied easily if no basic conceptual change in the timetabling is necessary. An essential component is an automatic heuristic solution search with an interactive user-intervention facility. The user will, however , only be able to alter a timetable or schedule such that no hard constraints are violated.