Algorithm 286: Examination scheduling
Communications of the ACM
Tabu Search
Recent Developments in Practical Examination Timetabling
Selected papers from the First International Conference on Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling
Three Methods Used to Solve an Examination Timetable Problem
Selected papers from the First International Conference on Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling
Generalized Assignment-Type Problems: A Powerful Modeling Scheme
PATAT '97 Selected papers from the Second International Conference on Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling II
Roulette Wheel Graph Colouring for Solving Examination Timetabling Problems
COCOA '09 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Combinatorial Optimization and Applications
A new neural network based construction heuristic for the examination timetabling problem
PPSN'06 Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature
Information Sciences: an International Journal
Semantic components for timetabling
PATAT'04 Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling
PATAT'04 Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling
A hybrid multi-objective evolutionary algorithm for the uncapacitated exam proximity problem
PATAT'04 Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling
The classroom assignment problem: Complexity, size reduction and heuristics
Applied Soft Computing
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The examination scheduling problem has been examined and a four-phase system using a tabu search algorithm, OTTABU, has been implemented. This system uses both recency-based short-term memory and move (or frequency)-based longer-term memory to improve the quality of the solutions found. The system was tested using real data obtained from the University of Ottawa registrar's office and real examination schedules were produced. It was found that the use of longer-term memory produced better schedules that those produced without such memory - typically a 34% improvement was obtained due to this factor alone. The length of the long term memory list was also found to be important. A length that is too small can greatly reduce its effectiveness. A list that is too long only reduces the effectiveness by a small amount. A quantitative analysis method is applied to estimate the appropriate length of the longer-term tabu list and a controlled tabu relaxation technique is used to improve the effectiveness.