Data collection
Importing data into your timetable
You already hold most of this information somewhere — in a student information system, an HR database, or a spreadsheet someone maintains by hand. Wise Timetable reads it rather than making you retype it.
- Excel, CSV, XML, REST API
- Ready-made templates
- Custom mapping available
Every route in, and you can mix them
There is no single blessed import path that everything must go through.
Excel and CSV import covers the majority of institutions, because almost every source system can produce one. XML is supported where your systems speak it natively. And a documented REST API allows direct, scheduled synchronisation from your student information system so the timetable stays current without anyone running an export.
Crucially, these are not exclusive choices. Import your programme structure from the SIS, your room inventory from a spreadsheet the estates office keeps, and enter the three new seminar rooms by hand — all into the same dataset. Automated import and manual adjustment can be combined at any point.
- Excel and CSV files, the most common route
- XML for systems that produce it natively
- REST API libraries for direct integration and scheduled synchronisation
- Manual entry for anything not held anywhere else
- Any combination of the above, into one dataset
Templates for the common cases, mapping for yours
Many ready-made templates exist, so most institutions get started quickly with a file layout we already understand. Where your setup requires something unique — and in higher education it frequently does — imports can be tailored precisely to your specifications rather than forcing you to reshape your data to suit our software.
Send us a sample export before you commit to anything. We will tell you honestly what maps cleanly, what needs work, and what will have to be entered by hand.
What you will typically import
- Programmes, years, study areas and modules, with their hierarchy
- Courses and sessions, with contact hours and session types
- Student groups and cohort sizes, including combined groups
- Lecturers, with their teaching loads and department affiliation
- Rooms and facilities, with capacity, equipment and building
- Existing constraints and fixed commitments carried over from last year
Related capabilities
- Manual inputFor everything that does not exist in a file anywhere.
- SIS integration and APIScheduled synchronisation rather than one-off imports.
- Lecturer availabilityThe data your lecturers supply themselves.
- Moving from Excel to automated timetablingWhat actually changes when you stop scheduling in spreadsheets.
See Wise Timetable on your own data
Book a 45-minute online presentation. We will walk through your institution's scheduling problem, show how Wise Timetable handles it, and answer anything your team wants to test.