#1
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Task allocation by priority
Hi all
I am stuck. Hoping your collective brains can help me solve the problem. This is not as simple as ordering a To Do list. The problem: I have x days to practice for examinations in y different topics (actually 14 subjects). Some topics are more likely than others to be tested, so additional practice examinations need to be scheduled for these. I have already ranked the exams in order of the subject's appearance on prior exams. Example: Subject A has a liklihood of 100% of being tested Subject B has a liklihood of 65% of being tested .... Subject N has a liklihood of 23% of being tested Subject Z has a liklihood of 3% of being tested Rule1: We must complete at least one practice exam for every subject Rule2: We must complete as many practice exams as possible for each subject Rule3: There must be spaced repition. For example, you wouldn' want to do 4 Subject A practice exams on the same day. They need to be spaced with a couple of days in between. Rule4: Only z number of exams can be scheduled for the same calendar date. Rule5: Weekends and holidays are not a factor, practice exams can be done 7 days/week. This may requiring iteritive looping, but if not capable of a final solution, terminate the loop after a number passes. Here are the knowns: An excel column list of all of the exam subjects. An excel column list of the ranking of subject by probablity of testing. 3 Variables, input by user: Number of Days available for study, number of exam subjects, number of practice exams that can be completed in a given day. (the expected range is 1-3). Output desired: A column or columns listing the exam subject and a calendar date to complete each. Thank in advance for you input! Don Lowrey |
#2
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Hi Don,
With 14 subjects, presumably you won't get to Subject Z . What you'll need before this can be progressed is a set of criteria for determining whether a given subject gets tested twice, thrice, etc, weighted according to the number of test sessions available. Obviously, with 14 subjects, if the user inputs 7 days and, say, two tests per day, each subject can only be tested once. If you've got 10 days, though, that's another 6 tests that can be done, so what's the priority? Does one simply start at the top of the list and work down the first 6 tests, or does schedule, say, three of tests 1 & 2 two of tests 3 & 4 ...
__________________
Cheers, Paul Edstein [Fmr MS MVP - Word] |
#3
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Setting the priority
Hi Paul
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I have thought about that and I think the way to do this from whether the subject is likely to show up on the exams. I have two columns, subject name and the percentage of time the subject has appeared. So if a subject show up every year, it should get a higher priority a weight of 1. A subject that shows up only 1/2 of the time, gets weighted 50%. Does that sound right? Thanks Don Lowrey |
#4
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That only goes part way. Even though you might be able to say a subject gets tested 50% or 80% of the time, you need to translate that into a rule that says how the different ratings are weighted to fill any 'spare' time slots.
Suppose, for example, you have six 'spare' time slots and six subjects, rated at 100%, 95%, 90%, 85%, 80% and 75%, respectively (let's not worry about subjects with equal ratings yet), do you put: • each of these subjects into one of the time slots; • the 100% subject in two slots and skip the 75% subject's re-test; • the 100% subject in three slots and skip the 80% & 75% subjects' re-tests; • the 100% & 90% subjects in two slots each and skip the 80% & 75% subjects' re-tests; or • something else. What is the rule? Another possible complication is that different subjects might be worth different test scores. So a ferquently-occurring test might not be as valuable as some of the less-frequent ones. Is this a possibility and, if so, how would you handle that?
__________________
Cheers, Paul Edstein [Fmr MS MVP - Word] |
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