An information system based on system analysis approach for course scheduling in universities

Abstract

The basic aim of this study is to provide additional insights on the subject of course scheduling in universities. Course scheduling is a very time consiuning effort, and involves different parties like students, instructors and administration, with conflicting interests. Generation of a schedule to satisfy all of the parties seems like an art, rather than an ordinary planning work. Most of the solutions to the course scheduling problem so far is based on algorithms and data structures from operations research, and programmed as batch sequences. In this study, the main argument is that the solution procedure to the course scheduling problem can be based on a system analysis approach, and with the help of an interactive software, the amount of information that a user can pass to the system is increased. This, in turn, may result in a more realistic solution. In addition to the described methodology, a computer software is developed in order to implement and test the solution algorithm.