Near-Optimal Course Scheduling at the Technion

The focus of this article is the automation of course, classroom, and exam scheduling for the faculty of Industrial Engineering (IE) at the Technion in Haifa, Israel. The system, called the Technion Industrial Engineering Scheduler (TieSched), has been operational since 2012. It is based on a distributed collection of constraints and multiple engines running in parallel, including SAT, pseudo-Boolean, CSP, and weighted-Max-SAT solvers. A sophisticated decision support subsystem accommodates manual edits to the schedule. This article describes the manual process used previously and the TieSched system architecture, and it provides details about the model formulation and solving engines. It also presents the new process that TieSched enables and the path to stakeholder acceptance. The benefits of TieSched include improved efficiency of the scheduling process (i.e., a reduction from 9–10 to 3–4 weeks), better schedules, and enhanced levels of service to teachers, assistants, and students.