Spreadsheet model approaches for university class schedules

Full Citation
Helal, M., Armacost, R., Adams, D. 2005. Spreadsheet model approaches for university class schedules. Southern Association of Intuitional Research Conference; SAIR, Oct 22-25, Charleston, SC.

Abstract
Responding to pressures to have students graduate in four years, a large university has instituted a Graduate On Track program that guarantees a seat in all classes needed to graduate in the four-year period. The technical challenge is to construct a feasible class schedule that identifies which sections of which courses need seats to be reserved. This presentation describes an Excel spreadsheet-based methodology used to generate such schedules for each major. The methodology involves identifying feasible solutions to an embedded optimization problem using the Solver add-in in Excel. The presentation also identifies the technical and operational implementation challenges.