Design and implementation of a decision support system for academic scheduling

The task of scheduling, especially when it affects the performance of people, is a very complex endeavor. Satisfying a variety of needs and requirements while maintaining standards for efficiency and effectiveness is difficult due to political pressures exerted by those who are scheduled. The assignment of courses to professors, timeblocks, and classrooms impacts strategic planning issues such as the need for new buildings, expansion of course offerings and admission policies. This paper describes an interactive computer system made of three interrelated subsystems: the database which stores the course, professor, and classroom information; the modeling subsystem which includes all of the mathematical models used to produce the schedules, and the dialog subsystem which is designed to allow the user to change the database, execute the models to change assignments at any time, and input priorities or other subjective inputs to produce schedules. This paper also describes analysis, design, and implementation issues that arose during the creation of a Decision Support System (DSS) to aid administrators in course scheduling activities. The constraining effects of the political environment upon decision-making and DSSs are treated through the discussion of policies and their effect on DSS design. Examples from the Spring 1985 schedule of the Anderson Schools are used to expound on the issues.