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Groups of groups

A group of groups is a super-group that gathers several groups — which can come from the same class or from different classes. Other scheduling software uses the term "grouping" for the same concept.

As with an alignment, the shared lessons must rely on a common subject across the classes involved.

Unlike alignments, which express a logic between groups, the group of groups is a standalone entity that can be used like a group. You can see it as a named, dynamic container of groups.

How it is more flexible than an alignment

Aspect Alignment Group of groups
Composition Can be changed afterwards but requires creating the lessons in mirror Can be changed afterwards very easily
Timetable mode Well suited to the weekly and cyclic modes of secondary education Usable in all timetable types; particularly convenient when groupings evolve
Taking a lesson out Requires a non-aligned clone of the group Direct edit of the lesson, whose ownership is then fixed to one class; the lessons of the other classes involved must be recreated
Use case Recurring shared course, for the curriculum of parallel classes Transverse courses, one-off groupings

The group of groups is designed for higher education and continuing education, where:

  • the composition of groupings changes often (one track that joins another, a subgroup that splits off for a project),
  • shared courses are dated individually rather than recurring,
  • guest speakers or visiting professors teach a composite audience on specific dates.

A group of groups is more flexible and easier to track than an alignment. Its limitation lies in complex courses, with asymmetric week alternations. It only requires well-structured naming (for example: "Marketing transverse Master").

Creation and use

Creation happens from the Group of groups tab of the timetable. The group of groups can be assigned to a course as if it were an ordinary group — the difference is that it aggregates several member groups.

If you want to combine entire classes, first create in each class a group that represents the whole class, then use these groups in your group of groups.

A course assigned to a group of groups appears in all the parent classes of the member groups. And you can edit it from any of them.

Groups of groups appear on all relevant screens with a specific icon .

Changing the composition afterwards

Member groups can be added or removed at any time. The courses already assigned adapt automatically (the scope widens or narrows according to the groups added / removed).

This is what makes the concept valuable: you can start a semester with one composition, adjust it along the way, without breaking the structure.

Technical considerations

Technically, a lesson with a group of groups is stored once, transversally to the classes, so it is not assigned to a specific class. Whereas a lesson without a group of groups (including one with aligned groups) is stored in its class. With an alignment across 3 groups, 3 lessons are stored, one in each class; with a group of groups, a single lesson is stored apart from the classes, but displayed in each class.

When a group of groups is removed from a lesson, the system guesses or asks which class the lesson should be attached to.

It is easier to edit the other fields of a lesson with a group of groups than with an alignment: single storage lets you change the classroom or the teacher immediately, with no "mirrored" propagation.

Consolidating unavailabilities

A group of groups consolidates the unavailabilities of all its member groups. An unavailability set on any member group — or on that group's class — applies to the shared lesson. The rule holds both during automatic generation and on screen while editing. Soft levels (Undesired, red) consolidate the same way; and when several levels meet on the same slot, the strongest wins — Unavailable (black) overrides Undesired (red). See Time constraints (general system) for the editor and the levels.

Because a group of groups often spans several classes, this consolidation gathers the unavailabilities of every class it covers: a class closed on Friday afternoon closes that slot for every lesson of the group of groups that includes it, even when the other classes stay free.

Class X — unavailable Monday afternoon

Group A (class X)

Class Y — unavailable Friday morning

Group B (class Y)

Group of groups

Lesson: unavailable Monday afternoon AND Friday morning

On the group of groups itself, the app shows a consolidated, read-only preview of these unavailabilities: you see all the members' constraints at a glance. You edit them on the member groups (or on their classes), where they carry their own meaning — the group of groups has no separate constraint editor.

Consolidated group constraints: a group of groups takes on the unavailabilities of every member group, including those inherited from its class and parent groups; a re-allowed slot locally lifts an inherited constraint.

Each member group brings its own group constraints, as well as those it inherits from its class and its parent groups (see Group hierarchy). The consolidation takes them all on: the more members a group of groups aggregates, the tighter the placement window. To reopen a slot despite an inherited constraint, the Allowed lessons level re-allows it locally, without changing the source.

On screen, these consolidated constraints show up at placement time: the candidate slots and the diagnostic panel flag the conflict and name the member group and the class responsible, so you can trace it back to its source (see Conflicts and diagnostic).

How-to

Creating a transverse group for a guest lecture

  1. A guest lecture for a composite audience (students from three cohorts, two options): the matching Omniscol concept is the group of groups.

  2. Prerequisite: the member groups already exist within their respective classes. Identify the groups to aggregate (M1 marketing, M1 finance, Entrepreneurship option).

  3. Open the Group of groups tab of the timetable. Click the Add a group of groups button. Give it a meaningful name: Guest lecture Dr Lambert — M1 students + electives.

  4. Add the member groups: select the groups of the three classes / options from the list. There is no composition limit. Member groups are not required to be mutually exclusive (at worst, a student who belongs to two groups will see the course only once).

  5. Create the course (the lecture) from one of the classes involved, and assign it the group of groups as if it were an ordinary group. A single entry, and the course appears in all the parent classes of the member groups.

  6. Changes afterwards: if the composition evolves (one group withdraws, another joins), edit the composition of the group of groups — the assigned courses adapt automatically (the scope widens or narrows). This is what sets this concept apart from a classic alignment (fixed composition). See also Alignments for the weekly case.

A more flexible alternative: direct multiple group assignment

Sometimes, for one-off lessons, creating a dedicated group of groups turns out to be a tedious operation. In that case, if the lack of data structure is not an obstacle, you can directly associate several groups from one or more classes with a lesson.

Internally, this is handled like an anonymous group of groups, with single storage transverse to the classes, but you do not have to worry about it.

See also

See also