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Setup & Configuration

Group Scheduling (Together / Split / Pinned)

Decide how a subject group runs across its sections with one plain-language question, instead of hand-pinning a fixed slot for every section. Group Scheduling applies to subject groups — the elective / stream blocks where students split into different subjects during the same period (e.g. Science / Commerce / Humanities in Grade 11).

💡 This replaces the old "one pre-assignment per section" chore. For a grade level with five sections, you no longer create five fixed-schedule rules and paint each one's grid cells — you pick a mode once.

Start from the left sidebar navigation menu:

  1. Click Pre-Assignments in the left sidebar.
  2. Click Schedule Subject Group (the electives button in the top-right).
  3. Pick the subject group and its grade level, then answer "How should this group run across its sections?"

You can see and change a group's current mode any time — the Subjects page shows a Scheduling badge (Together / Split / Window / Pinned) on each group row.

Overview

When you schedule a subject group you now choose one of three modes. The first two are automatic — the generator finds the slots for you, and there is nothing to paint on a grid. Only the third asks you for exact times.

  • Together — one shared period; all sections take the group at the same time. Best for streams and most electives. Nothing to pick — the generator finds one slot where every section's teachers are free. This is how shared elective blocks are meant to run, and it's the default for a new group.

  • Split — each section takes the group at its own time. Use when the same teacher or room can't cover every section at once. Nothing to pick — the generator places each section separately at a slot that's free for that section and its teacher.

  • Pinned — you choose the exact day and period for each section. Advanced — only when a slot is genuinely fixed (an exam-board time, a shared external tutor). This is the classic time-slot grid; it works exactly as fixed pre-assignments always have.

Tasks

Set a group to Together or Split (automatic — no grid)

  1. Open the chooser: Pre-Assignments → Schedule Subject Group.
  2. Pick the group from the "Subject Group" dropdown, then pick its grade level. The question appears: "How should <group> run across its sections (Grade 11, 3 sections)?"
  3. Choose Together or Split. A one-line explanation confirms what will happen ("The generator finds one slot where every section's teachers are free — no pins to manage").
  4. Save ("Schedule Together" / "Schedule Split"). No time slots to select — you're done. The group's periods are placed automatically at generation time.

Set a group to Pinned (exact slots)

  1. Open the chooser and pick the group + level as above.
  2. Choose Pinned. The time-slot grid appears (schedule, teachers, and the day×period picker), exactly like a fixed-schedule pre-assignment.
  3. Select the teachers and paint the exact slots for the section, then Save. (See Pre-Assignments for the grid, and Save-time conflict detection there if a pin collides.)

Switch a Pinned group to Together or Split (pins are set aside, not lost)

If a group already has pinned rules and you switch it to Together or Split, those pins are set aside so they don't fight the new automatic policy:

  1. Open the chooser for the group and choose Together or Split.
  2. A notice appears: "This group has N pinned rule(s). Saving will set them aside — kept and restorable."
  3. Save. The pins are deactivated (not deleted). Switch the group back to Pinned later if you need that exact layout again.

Rules & Constraints

  • Existing groups are unaffected until you pick a mode. Every group keeps its current behavior with no action from you: a group that already has pinned slots reads as Pinned; a group with no pins co-schedules as it always has (equivalent to Together). Nothing is migrated or changed until you explicitly choose a mode.
  • Together needs all teachers free at the same time. Because every section shares one period, all of the group's teachers must be simultaneously available. Keep groups lean (see Common Scenarios); if a shared teacher makes one slot impossible for every section at once, use Split instead.
  • Split trades a shared block for flexibility. Each section is placed independently, so students in different sections may take the group at different times — choose this only when a common slot isn't required.
  • Only Pinned uses the grid. Together and Split never ask for time slots; the grid appears solely in Pinned mode.

Tips & Notes

  • Streams → Together. For Grade 11 / 12 option blocks shared across streams, Together is almost always right — it's the one shared period the whole stream attends. Tag the sections as a stream on the Grades page so the generator knows they belong together, then pick Together here.
  • Reach for Split when a specialist or room is the bottleneck. If one lab or one teacher can't serve all sections in the same period, Split lets the generator stagger them automatically — no hand-pinning apart.
  • The Subjects-page badge is the quick status. Scan the Scheduling column on the Subjects page to see, at a glance, which groups are Together, Split, or Pinned.
  • Coming later (Phase 2): a Window mode (keep a group inside a time band, e.g. mornings, without fixing exact slots) and per-section exceptions (pin just one section inside an otherwise-automatic group).