What is Omniscol?

Omniscol is online constraint-based scheduling software, designed for institutions ranging from primary school to higher education and continuing education. It lets you create weekly, cyclic or calendar (dated, non-recurring) timetables, then publish them to the relevant users.

The product combines manual entry, conflict diagnostics and automatic generation by a solver. The domain details are documented in the specialized pages.

How it works, in general

The standard workflow with Omniscol:

1. Enter the data            (users, subjects, sites/rooms, classes)
   ↓
2. Configure the timetable   (hourly volumes, alignments, constraints)
   ↓
3. Generate or place         (automatic solver or manual positioning)
   ↓
4. Check and arbitrate       (conflicts, adjustments, locks)
   ↓
5. Publish                   (the timetable becomes visible to users)
   ↓
6. Live with the timetable   (daily changes, absences, substitutions)

Each step has a dedicated module. Steps 1 to 5 are occasional (before a school year starts, a semester or an overhaul). Step 6 corresponds to daily use.

Timetable types

Omniscol supports three types of timetable. The availability of each type depends on your plan.

• Weekly — recurring lessons on a model week, with or without A/B alternation. This is the standard case in primary and secondary education. Available on all plans.
• Cyclic — recurring lessons on a cycle of N numbered days (typically 6 or 8), different from the 5- or 7-day week. Common in North American systems. Available on Premium accounts.
• Calendar — lessons dated one by one, with no recurrence. The preferred mode of higher education and continuing education. Available on Premium accounts.

On a Premium account, all three types can be used. And thanks to Multiple active timetables in parallel, a feature included in Premium, they can even be combined over the same periods. See Choosing the right timetable type to help you decide.

Philosophy: data first

Omniscol starts from an observation: a timetable is not a table to fill in, it is a constraint-based optimization problem. The software is designed around five principles:

1. Data before computation: sites, rooms, teachers, classes, groups, subjects and hourly volumes must be reliable before launching a generation.
2. Separation of structure / daily life: building a timetable and handling the day's changes are two different activities, with different interfaces.
3. Explicit constraints: impossibilities are flagged as conflicts or unplaced lessons; the user keeps the final say on business decisions.
4. Drafts and versions: an unpublished timetable can be tested, duplicated or rebuilt without changing what users see.
5. Data ownership: JSON export or export through the built-in spreadsheet, and reversibility.

Reference page: Omniscol's general philosophy.

Input / output data

On the input side, Omniscol accepts:

• one-by-one entry in the interface;
• bulk import by copy-paste from a spreadsheet, with verification before applying;
• assisted migrations depending on the exports available on the source side;
• ERP/IT-system connectors through the synchronization with external systems (Aurion, Auriga; adding a new ERP as a project);
• the Omniscol API depending on the account's rights and options;
• OIDC / SSO depending on the contract and configuration.

On the output side:

• responsive web consultation;
• iCal subscriptions;
• signed, expirable public links;
• display panels;
• Excel / CSV / PDF / JSON exports depending on the screen;
• a documented REST API, with a scope limited by the authorized endpoints and options;
• MCP for compatible AI agents on Premium accounts.

Modular organization

The software is organized into two families of modules.

Day-to-day modules

• Home — a summary view of the day and a getting-started checklist.
• Timetable — consultation and one-off changes.
• Dashboard — occupancy and service statistics.
• Absence management & substitutions — unavailability declarations and assignment of substitutes.

Configuration modules

• Timetable management — creating, configuring, generating and publishing timetables.
• Administration — users, subjects, school years, settings, import / export and integrations.
• Staffing — task-based staff scheduling when the module is active; it can also be sold as a standalone offer.

Roles and access

Four profiles structure access on the school side. Administrators (scheduling managers, school leadership, IT department) configure the account and build the timetables. Teachers consult their schedule, enter their availability and declare their absences. Students consult their personal timetable. Staff (student supervision teams, supervisors) come into play when Staffing is used. Signed sharing links additionally provide account-free access to a precise scope.

Roles can be combined: a teacher who takes part in scheduling can be both a Teacher and an Administrator. The roles are detailed in Architecture and roles.

The Custom roles option lets you restrict an administrator account's rights module by module and operation by operation.

Plans and options

Omniscol offers several plans: Lite (independents, solo trainers, very small institutions), Staffing (the Staffing module only), Standard (a typical school), Standard Plus (Standard + Staffing) and Premium (higher education, continuing education, complex multi-site organizations). Some features are included by default in Premium — cyclic and calendar timetable types, calendar availability, several active timetables — while others are enabled according to the contract (snapshots, logs, real-time collaboration, linked accounts, custom roles…).

The details of plans, options and how they are activated are centralized in Omniscol plans and options.

Differentiating points

• Automatic generation: the solver places lessons while honoring the hard constraints and optimizing the preferences.
• Manual control: the user can always inspect, move, lock or arbitrate.
• Multi-channel distribution: web, iCal, exports, public links and display panels.
• Reporting: dashboards and exports to track hours, room occupancy and the indicators useful for audits.

Architecture and hosting

The architecture, security and hosting aspects are described in Architecture and roles and FAQ — Security and hosting.

What's next

• For an interactive tour: A five-minute guided tour.
• To set up your account: First login then Set up the school account.
• To understand the core concepts: Class, group, subgroup.
• To create your first timetable: Timetable management module.
• For frequently asked questions: General FAQ.