Timetable Builder, step by step

What this screen does

The Timetable Builder places one class session at a time: this course, with this lecturer, in this room, on this day, at this time. You repeat it for every class in the programme. It is a data-entry screen, not an automatic scheduler — nothing is generated for you.

You never create a timetable version by hand

This is the single most confusing thing about the screen, so learn it before you start. A version is the whole timetable for one programme, on one campus, in one term. The builder looks after versions for you:

• The first time you add a class for a given year + term + campus + programme, the system creates a draft version and names it automatically — for example TT-1-1-P5-C2-V4.
• Every later class you add for that same combination joins the same draft. There is no "new timetable" button and you do not need one.
• If that timetable has already been published, adding a class does not touch the live one. The system opens a new draft version (V4 becomes V5) and asks you for a revision reason first.

So the green Draft timetable badge in the corner of the form is telling you the truth: whatever you add here lands in a draft, and no student sees it until somebody publishes.

Who is allowed in

Holding a timetable permission is not enough on its own — your role and your permission must both line up. This is the rule that catches people out across the whole module.

If you open the builder and get this instead, your account is missing the role or the permission — not the menu:

What must exist before you start

The builder only offers you things that already exist elsewhere in the system. If a dropdown is empty, nothing is broken — something upstream has not been set up. Five things must be in place.

1. An active room on that campus — created in Timetable Setup by the Registry.
2. A teaching day for that campus and that term, flagged as a teaching day.
3. A teaching period for that campus and term (optional, but strongly recommended — see step 8).
4. The course mapped to the programme at that year of study and that semester, in the curriculum. A course that is not on the programme’s curriculum cannot be timetabled for it.
5. The lecturer assigned to that course for that term, under Lecturer Assignment. The lecturer must also actually hold the Lecturer role.

Reading an empty dropdown

Open the builder

Sign in with your own staff account at the administration portal. Where you land depends on your role — a Head of Department lands on the Exams Dashboard, a Registrar lands in Registry. That is normal.

1. Sign in at /admin/login.
2. In the module bar across the top, click Academics. The left sidebar redraws to the Academics workspace.

   

3. In the sidebar, under the TIMETABLE group, click Timetable Builder.

Menu path Academics › Timetable › Timetable Builder — or go straight to /admin/timetable/builder

The five timetable screens

• Timetable Dashboard — the versions and their status. Where a draft is submitted, approved and published.
• Timetable Builder — this guide. Where classes are placed.
• Programme Timetable — the finished grid for one programme, printable.
• Lecturer Timetable — the same sessions seen per lecturer.
• Room Timetable — the same sessions seen per room.

Set the context — the top row, in this order

Always fill the top row left to right. Each choice filters the boxes below it, so working out of order gives you empty lists and a wasted five minutes.

1. Academic Year — pick the year, e.g. 2026/2027. This filters the Term list.
2. Academic Term — pick the semester, e.g. Sem 1-Sept 2026. Check this one twice. It filters days, periods and courses at the same time.
3. Campus — e.g. Juba Campus. This filters the rooms and the days.
4. Programme — e.g. DIT — Diploma in Information Technology. Together with Year of Study, this filters the Course list.
5. Year of Study — type the number, 1 to 8. It is a plain number box, not a dropdown. It defaults to 1.

Choose the course — and say who shares the class

The Course list shows only courses on this programme’s curriculum at the year and semester you chose. Each entry is labelled with them, for example BIT-123 — Introduction to ICT / Y1 S1.

1. Pick the Course.
2. Read the Shared with other programmes box that appears underneath. It lists every other programme that teaches this same course this semester.
3. If students from those programmes sit in this same room at this same hour, select them — hold Ctrl (or Cmd) to pick more than one. If they are taught separately, select nothing.

Lecturer and room

Two dropdowns, both fed from elsewhere in the system.

• Lecturer — the person teaching. They must already be assigned to this course for this term under Lecturer Assignment, and must hold the Lecturer role. If they are not, the builder accepts the form and then refuses to save it.
• Room — only active rooms on the campus you chose are listed. Check the capacity against your class size; the system does not check it for you.

Day and time

Choose the day, then the period. The times fill themselves in.

1. Day — each entry is labelled campus / term / weekday, e.g. JBA-SS-01 / Sem 1-Sept 2026 / Monday. Only configured teaching days for your campus and term appear.
2. Teaching Period — pick the slot, e.g. SEP1 — Morning (08:00 – 10:00).
3. Look at Start Time and End Time. They now read the period’s hours and have locked themselves, with the hint Times come from the selected period. That is correct — do not try to edit them.

Teaching mode, and splitting a big class

• Teaching Mode required — Physical, Online, Blended, Practical, Lab, Tutorial, Intensive or Examination. Defaults to Physical.
• Configure class group — tick this when the cohort is split into named groups. Then fill Group Name (e.g. Group A) and, if you wish, Group Capacity.
• Group Code — a short tag such as A, B or Lab 1. It is what shows on the timetable list.
• Intentional split group — tick this when you deliberately teach the same course to two groups at the same hour. It tells the clash checker that the second session is on purpose. A group code is compulsory when you tick it.

Revision reason, then Add to Timetable

Revision Reason — usually leave it blank

The last box on the form is Revision Reason. It matters in exactly one situation: when the timetable for this year, term, campus and programme has already been published. Then the system must open a new version to hold your change, and it will not do that silently — leave the box empty and you get “Enter a revision reason before changing a published timetable.”

Write what actually changed, e.g. AGR 101 moved from Wednesday to Thursday at the Dean’s request.

Now press the button

1. Scroll to the bottom of the form and click Add to Timetable.
2. The page reloads and a green confirmation appears: Timetable session added to draft version TT-1-1-P5-C2-V4. That code is your draft.
3. The new class appears as a row in the Timetable Sessions table below, with status draft.

Then do it again

The context row keeps your choices. For the next class of the same programme you normally change only Course, Lecturer, Room, Day and Period — four or five boxes, not fourteen. Work through the programme’s courses one at a time until every class has a slot.

Check the list at the bottom

Everything you have built shows in the Timetable Sessions table under the form. Read it after every few entries — it is the only place you see your work as a whole.

What each status means

If the builder refuses

Refusals are specific and they are almost always about data that does not exist yet, not about the form you just typed. Read the sentence — it names the fix.

Where the builder ends — and who takes over

Your job on this screen is finished when every class in the programme has a row in the sessions table and the version is still draft. The builder cannot approve or publish anything, and it is not supposed to.

1. Go to Academics › Timetable › Timetable Dashboard.
2. Check the top row: Room clashes and Lecturer clashes should both read 0. If they do not, go back and fix them before submitting.
3. Look at Unscheduled courses — that is your remaining work across the institution.
4. Find your version in Recent Timetable Versions and press Submit Review. There is no form to fill in; submitting captures no text.
5. Tell your Dean it is waiting. From here it is out of your hands.

What happens after you submit

Where it becomes real

Once published, the same sessions appear — unchanged — in four more places: the Programme Timetable grid, the Lecturer Portal, the student’s My Timetable page and their printable timetable, and as the slots that Attendance registers against. Nothing shows anywhere until publication.