Inquiry About Modifying Room Size Penalty in Solution Valuation

[yunlong]

Dear UniTime Developers,

First, thank you for your work on UniTime. I have a question regarding the room size penalty within the solution valuation process.

In our specific scheduling context, due to institutional policy, we are unable to pre-determine or estimate the expected student enrollment for individual classes. Consequently, we cannot assign differentiated room sizes based on class size during the scheduling phase. Our current approach is to assign a single, uniform value for room size across all classes.

However, we've noticed that the "Room Size Penalty" significantly impacts the overall solution value. Could you please advise on the recommended way to modify the weight or the calculation method of the Room Size Penalty to accommodate our use case?

Specifically, we would like to know:

1. Is there a configuration file or an administrative setting where we can adjust the influence of this penalty on the overall solution score?

2. If modifying the penalty weight is the intended way, which specific parameter should we adjust?

Any guidance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time and support.

Best regards,

[Tomáš Müller]

Dear Yunlong,

Yes, by default, there is a small penalty for extra space in the room (room capacity - class limit * room ratio). It can be adjusted in the solver configuration (Administration> Solver > Configurations), look for the parameter named "Excessive room size weight" (defaulting to 0.01).

On the other hand, if there is just one dummy room (that does not check for room conflicts) of a large capacity, let's say 1000, the Room Size Penalty for a class would always be the same. And unless the solver cannot find a complete solution (all variables/classes are assigned), the excessive room-size penalty should not affect solution quality (any solution with all classes assigned would always incur the exact same Room Size Penalty).

Best regards,

Tomas Muller

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