Geliana Timetables Deep Dive
A single, integrated schedule for all your teaching sessions. From data setup to AI-powered optimization — everything you need to master school scheduling.
What is a Timetable?
A Timetable is a single, integrated schedule that contains all your teaching sessions in one place. Think of it as a traditional school timetable where everything — teachers, classes, subjects, and rooms — is managed together in one unified system.
Integrated Data
- All data (instructors, groups, units, rooms) lives in one place
- Everything is connected and managed together
- Changes automatically affect related elements
Strict Relationships
- Units must have assigned instructors before use
- Groups must have both units and instructors assigned
- This ensures data integrity and prevents incomplete schedules
Best For
- K-12 schools with fixed teaching assignments
- Small institutions with straightforward needs
- Single-campus operations
How Timetables Work
1. Data Setup
Create rooms, instructors, units (subjects), and groups (classes) following a specific order because of data relationships.
2. Lesson Generation
The system generates lesson templates: “This group needs to study this unit with this instructor.” You set sessions per week and distribution.
3. Session Creation
Sessions are lessons with a specific day, time, and room assigned. They appear on your timetable grid and can be manually adjusted or optimized.
Getting Started
Your journey from download to your first timetable in just a few steps.
Welcome Screen
After installing from timetables.geliana.com/app/download, you'll be greeted by the Welcome screen. This appears only on first launch.
Click "Proceed to Setup" to begin configuring your scheduling environment.
Configure Your Terminology
Every school has its own way of referring to scheduling elements. Configure what you call rooms, instructors, subjects, and classes.
- Rooms, Venues, or Labs
- Teachers, Professors, or Lecturers
- Subjects, Courses, or Units
- Classes, Groups, or Streams
The Main Dashboard
Your central hub for all timetabling activities. From here you can:
- Create new Timetables or Timesheets
- Open local files from your computer
- Use pre-built templates for different school types
- Access recent files, cloud files, and favorites
Timetable View Modes
Two powerful view modes to match your workflow and preferences.
Balanced Mode
The traditional timetable view. Drag sessions to change their day and time. Perfect for quick scheduling and familiar to all users.
- Days as rows, periods as columns
- Drag to change day and time
- Traditional, intuitive layout
Vertical Mode
Adds a room dimension to your view. Drag sessions to change day, time, AND room simultaneously.
- Rooms as rows, day/periods as columns
- Drag to change day, time, and room
- See room utilization at a glance
Data Management
The foundation of every great timetable — your rooms, instructors, units, and groups.
Rooms
Classrooms, labs, and venues with capacity and preferences
Instructors
Teachers and professors with their availability
Units
Subjects and courses with assigned instructors
Groups
Classes and student groups with their combinations
Configure Timetable Settings
Set your timetable's fundamental parameters from the General Tab in the Data Screen.
- Start and end days (Mon-Fri, Mon-Sat, etc.)
- Start and end times for your school day
- Minimum session duration
- Breaks with custom times and names
The Data Entry Flow
Each step builds on the previous — instructors need rooms for preferences, units need instructors, and groups need unit-instructor combinations.
Lessons & Sessions
Control how your lessons are distributed and merged throughout the week.
Lesson Distribution
Choose how lessons are spread across the week with three distribution modes:
Even Distribution
Each session on its own day until days run out, then the process repeats.
Consecutive Distribution
One session per day, with extras placed together on a single day.
Consecutive Sessions
All sessions back-to-back on the same day (double/triple periods).
Lesson Merging
Create common classes where multiple groups share the same instructor and subject. Perfect for universities and colleges with shared lectures.
- Lessons must share the same unit and instructor
- Merged lessons display with a special badge
- Works with subgroups for elective subjects
Drag & Drop Scheduling
Move sessions effortlessly by dragging them to new cells. In Balanced mode, change day and time. In Vertical mode, change day, time, AND room.
For precise control, right-click any session to edit its details manually through the Edit Session popup.
Automatic Clash Detection
Every move triggers instant conflict checking. When a clash is detected, you'll see a popup warning with details about the conflicting resources.
- Teacher double-booking
- Room conflicts
- Class overlaps
- Resource constraint violations
Optimization Algorithms
Three powerful algorithms to automatically optimize your timetable. Each has a Fast Mode for quick results and an Advanced Mode with real-time metrics.
Genetic Algorithm
Evolutionary approach that mimics natural selection. Excellent for complex timetables with many soft constraints and exploring diverse solution spaces.
Best for: Breaking plateaus, exploring diverse solutions
Simulated Annealing
Probabilistic technique that gradually reduces randomness. Great for steady improvement and escaping local optima while refining near-perfect schedules.
Best for: Gradual improvement, reducing violations
Constraint Solver
Exact mathematical approach using constraint propagation. Best for eliminating clashes and finding valid solutions in strictly constrained environments.
Best for: High clash count, initial optimization
Custom Algorithm Support
Write your own optimization algorithm and expose it via an API endpoint. The app sends your timetable data, and your algorithm returns optimized results.
View Open Source AlgorithmsAnalysis & Evaluation
Measure your timetable's quality with comprehensive reports across multiple dimensions.
Five Analysis Tabs
Your total fitness score and conflict count
How well lessons follow distribution constraints
Conflicts affecting student groups
Double-booked rooms and venue conflicts
Teacher availability issues
Subgroups & Electives
Create subgroups within classes for students taking different elective subjects. Perfect for secondary schools and universities with optional course selections.
- Split a class into subgroups (e.g., Sciences vs Arts)
- Each subgroup can have unique lessons
- Subgroup lessons show with distinctive badges
- Works seamlessly with lesson merging
Understand. Optimize. Perfect.
A comprehensive analytics suite with four specialized tools for understanding and perfecting your schedules.
Feasibility Analyzer
Check if your schedule is possible before generating
Ctrl+TResource Explorer
Deep-dive into any resource's schedule
Ctrl+RQuality Evaluator
Get a 0-100 score with detailed breakdowns
Ctrl+EFocus Mode
Filter timetable to one resource for targeted fixes
Ctrl+FImport Your Data From Excel
Already have your teachers, rooms, and classes in a spreadsheet? Import your Excel file directly and our smart parser will handle the rest.
- Import instructors, rooms, units & groups
- AI converts text preferences to rules
- Download ready-to-use templates
- Automatic dependency linking
Beautiful in Light & Dark
Work comfortably at any time of day with full theme support. Both modes are carefully designed for optimal readability.
Geliana AI Assistant
Your personal scheduling assistant powered by OpenRouter. Ask questions, create entities, and manage your timetable through natural conversation.
AI Behavior Rules
- Never asks for IDs
Users only know names; the AI finds IDs internally
- Never shares IDs
IDs are internal; AI refers to entities by name only
- Automatic entity lookup
Say 'Mr. Kamau' and AI finds the right instructor
- Full data access
AI uses tools to access any timetable data
Entity Management
create_groupcreate_roomcreate_unitcreate_instructoredit_groupedit_roomEntity Retrieval
get_groupsget_roomsget_unitsget_instructorsget_lessonsSession Management
get_sessionsmove_sessionget_sessions_by_dayget_sessions_by_instructorTimetable Operations
get_timetable_daysget_period_timesevaluate_timetableSmart Run
An autonomous AI agent that optimizes your timetable using natural language instructions. Tell it what you want, and let it work.
The Agentic Loop
Repeats until your target score is reached or max iterations complete.
Natural Language Instructions
Tell Smart Run what matters to you in plain English:
Smart Run vs Manual
When to Use Timetables
Understand the strengths and trade-offs to decide if Timetables are the right fit for your institution.
Choose Timetables if…
Simplicity
- Everything in one place
- Easy to understand structure
- Clear relationships between elements
Data Integrity
- Enforced relationships prevent errors
- Cannot create incomplete data
- Automatic validation
Traditional Approach
- Familiar to most educational institutions
- Matches how schools traditionally think about scheduling
- Easy to explain to staff
Limitations to Consider
Inflexibility
Changing an instructor's subject assignment requires updating multiple places. Cannot easily share subjects across different instructor groups.
Single Context
All data must exist in one file. Cannot reuse data across multiple timetables. Harder to manage multiple campuses or programs.
Instructor Constraints
Units are tied to specific instructors. Reassigning subjects requires careful conflict resolution. Not ideal for universities with rotating faculty.
Need more flexibility, multiple campuses, or rotating faculty? Consider Timesheets instead
Example Workflow
Setting up a high school timetable from scratch in seven steps.
Add Rooms
Room 101 (Cap: 35) • Science Lab (Cap: 30) • Computer Lab (Cap: 25) • Gymnasium (Cap: 50)
Add Instructors
Mr. John Doe (Mathematics) • Ms. Jane Smith (English) • Dr. Robert Brown (Science)
Add Units
Mathematics → Mr. John Doe • English → Ms. Jane Smith • Physics → Dr. Robert Brown • Chemistry → Dr. Robert Brown
Add Groups
Grade 9 East (30 students): Mathematics → Mr. Doe, English → Ms. Smith, Physics → Dr. Brown
Generate Lessons
Grade 9 East – Mathematics – Mr. Doe (5/week) • Grade 9 East – English – Ms. Smith (4/week) • Grade 9 East – Physics – Dr. Brown (3/week)
Create Sessions
Use 'Update Sessions' to generate scheduled sessions, or run optimization algorithms for the best schedule.
Review & Adjust
Check for conflicts (red highlights) • Move sessions as needed • Ensure breaks are respected • Verify room capacities
Tips for Success
Best practices to get the most out of your timetabling experience.
Start Small
- Begin with one grade level or department
- Test your setup before adding all data
- Use the AI assistant to help with data entry
Use Preferences Wisely
- Set instructor preferences for days they cannot teach
- Mark preferred rooms for specific subjects
- Use preferences to guide the optimization algorithms
Regular Backups
- Save your timetable frequently
- Use cloud sync for automatic backups
- Create versions before major changes
Leverage Automation
- Use 'Update Sessions' to generate sessions from lessons
- Try different optimization algorithms
- Let the system handle conflict detection
Cloud Features
Access your timetables anywhere with Geliana Cloud
Ready to Master Your Scheduling?
Download Geliana Timetables free and start creating conflict-free schedules today.
Need more flexibility? Explore Timesheets for multi-campus, rotating faculty, and advanced scheduling.