Ek-Time: School Timetable Management Tool
TL;DR
Ek-Time is a timetable management system built to reduce teacher workload and improve fairness. Through contextual inquiry, we observed how teachers manage timetables, substitutions, and daily frustrations, turning these insights into work models and personas.
The final solution is a standalone system: a web app for coordinators, a mobile app for teachers, and a WhatsApp bot for proxy management. It handles timetable generation and editing, substitution assignment and proxy allocation, while keeping human oversight in the loop.
User testing revealed issues like handling half‑days, system visibility, and proxy tab complexity, which are being addressed.
Understanding the Problem
Timetable management in schools is an exhausting, often invisible task. Teachers balance heavy teaching loads, last‑minute substitutions, and constant manual updates.
Our main goal was simple: understand how teachers manage their timetables and find small ways to make it easier. Even a tiny one‑percent improvement would be a win for us.
Process
We started with preliminary call interviews across teaching and administrative staff to understand how timetables are created and maintained. The insights were mostly procedural—who creates the timetable, how updates are shared, and the general workflow. Useful, but surface‑level. No real breakdowns emerged.
Staff are naturally cautious about discussing internal issues with an external interviewer, so we moved to a second method: Contextual Inquiry.
Why Contextual Inquiry?
Contextual inquiry is a user‑centered research method where a researcher observes and interviews a user while they perform their tasks in their natural environment. It allowed us to see the real workflow up close, revealing stress points, decision‑making, breakdowns, and informal workarounds.
We conducted 14 contextual inquiries and 4 call‑based interviews: 12 teachers, 3 timetable coordinators, 2 principals, and 1 extra‑curricular teacher.
The Timetable Coordinator is the teacher or staff member responsible for creating and managing the timetable, handling proxy assignments, and resolving issues related to period allocation. Some schools have a permanent coordinator, while others rotate the role.
We used a Master–Apprentice approach, positioning ourselves as newly joined staff learning the process, which helped interviewees walk us through their day naturally.
How Work Models Helped Us
Flow Model
Shows how information moves between people and tools.
It revealed excessive handoffs and opportunities, such as leveraging existing WhatsApp channels.
Physical Model
Represents a typical daily logging setup for teachers at one school.
Artefact Model
Depicts a typical week’s timetable (often a massive 1 m sheet in the principal’s room).
It highlighted proxy management challenges, e.g., ignoring teachers who have already taken several proxies.
We also collected samples from subject teachers showing varied methods: timetable cards, handwritten sheets, Excel files—varying by age, subject, and role.
Interpretation & Affinity Mapping
Interpretation
We took all the data we gathered—the things teachers told us, what we observed in their environment, everything—and compiled it into an Excel sheet. Then we worked together to turn this raw data into actionable insights and prioritized them as low, medium, or high.
Affinity Mapping
We clustered all our research data based on connections and shared meanings.
The mapping was done using a bottom‑up approach: avoided predefined categories and let the patterns emerge naturally.
By this point we had wrapped up the research phase: we gathered data, uncovered key pain points, and identified the connections and meanings between them.
Personas
Two key personas were created to guide the product design process.
Key App Goals
These goals drove our ideation phase.
Ideation
Initial Design Ideas
- Excel or Google Sheets Plugin – speed up existing processes.
- WhatsApp‑Only Experience – leverage a familiar interface.
Both ideas were dropped due to feasibility and scalability concerns, though they influenced the final design.
Final Idea
- Web App – platform for coordinators to create and update the master timetable.
- Mobile App – for teachers to view schedules, manage substitutions, and request leave.
- WhatsApp Bot (Secondary) – for teachers who don’t use the app, enabling updates and proxy management via chatbot.
Conceptual Model
Details of the conceptual model go here.
Scenarios
Sketching scenarios helped expose friction points, subtle gaps, and edge cases.
- Timetable Creation
- Proxy Allocation and Acceptance
- Workload Distribution
Presenting Ek‑Time
Timetable Generation Flow
- School Configuration – On first launch, the app gathers key school details (number of periods, duration, break timings).
- Upload School Data – Users can upload or scan data in a specific format for processing.
- Subjects & Workload – Add subjects for each class and set periods per week.
- Teachers & Subjects – Assign subjects and classes to teachers, marking class teachers.
- Constraints – Define custom rules for timetable generation.
- Generated Master Timetable – Algorithm produces a fair, balanced timetable, which coordinators can view and edit.
Proxy Allocation Flow
- Coordinator views pending leave requests (no authority to approve/reject; decisions remain communication‑based).
- After approval, the algorithm suggests suitable substitute teachers based on workload balance.
- Coordinator reviews and adjusts suggestions as needed.
- Assigned proxy appears in the mobile app; the teacher can accept or reject it.
- WhatsApp bot enables acceptance/rejection without opening the app.
- Teachers with fewer prior proxies are prioritized; rejections require brief justification and are tracked.
User testing using a think‑aloud protocol uncovered usability issues, which were resolved before finalization.
Epilogue
This project reinforced the power of contextual inquiry:
- Teachers’ hidden workload is both emotional and administrative.
- Observing real behaviors revealed gaps no survey could capture.
- Strong research insights can shape system design meaningfully, even without polished UI.
Ek‑Time was part of a 3‑week course by Prof. Anirudha Joshi at IDC, IIT Bombay (2025) with teammates Tanushree Pillai, Puru Vats, Kshitij Ghag, and Vipin Surendran.