Screen Layout
The Sorting Wizard screen is divided into 3 main sections:
The Sorting Wizard Parameters form is at the top of the screen and defines the criteria for the sort. It also contains the action buttons which initiate different functionality.
The Grid section displays the people data to be sorted. Sorting and Filtering is available by clicking on the column headers.
A summary of the data can be found in the footer of the grid.
The Sorting Results section is displayed once a sort has been initiated. This section contains multiple tabs which are composed of a summary of the sort results, the classes or groups requested (named as per the Parameters Form) and a Problem Log providing information about how sucessful the sort was.
The Sorting Parameters Form
The Sorting Parameters Form contains the following fields:
- Show the helpful Sorting Wizard?: Selecting this checkbox will show the Sorting Wizard Character who provides guidance as the cursor moves around the screen. Note that the wizard does have a habit of falling asleep when not helping!
- Use "Class" or "Group" terminology: Determins whether the sort groups are referred to as 'Classes' or 'Groups'. Setting the terminology does not affect a sort but helps anybody using the Wizard to conceptualise their output.
- Gender Identities: Sets the genders available within the sort grid data.
- Number of People to be sorted: The starting number of people to be sorted into groups which can be either entered manually or incrementing or decrementing the value by hovering over the field and using the up and down arrows. This value will set the number of rows available within the grid. If the grid is already populated and a value is entered which is less that the current number of rows within the grid, a message box will appear confirming whether the additional data rows should be deleted. Note the maximum number of people who can be sorted is 1000.
- Number of Classes / Groups: The number of classes or groups (terminology dependent on the selected Class or Group option) which the number of people will be sorted into. below this field, information about the number of people within each class is displayed which is useful when there an odd number of people are not evenly divisible into the number of classes. Note that there are minimum and maximum values of 2 and 6.
- Class / Group Names: This displays the current number of class or groups which is determined by the Number of Classes value. These fields are optional and will default to either Classroom 1 / Group 1 if no values are entered.
The Sorting Data Grid
The Sorting Data Grid lists the people who need to be sorted with the attributes, divided into columns, which are used within the sorting logic.
The columns are defined as follows:
- The first column is a number which identifies the row. This number is system generated and determined by the order in which the data was entered or uploaded into the grid.
- The person's Name.
- Gender: The assigned gender of the individual person. Available genders are determined by the Parameters form or are set automatically if the data is uploaded.
- Ability: An arbitary category (1 to 3) which helps provide an additional level of grouping. There is no set definition or recommendation around what the Ability number should represent although within the schooling system academic ability or attainment is the most likely usage. Other scenarios could include experience, age brackets, even height! It totally depends on your requirement and the data that requires sorting.
- Put With: a list of names obtained from the Names column but excluding the current row name, indicating who this person should be in a class or group with once the data is sorted. A common usage could be friends. Note that once this field is populated, the same name cannot be used within the Do Not Put With field.
- Do Not Put With: Similarly to Put With, a list of names obtained from the Names column but excluding the current row name, indicating who this person should Not be in the same group or class as. A common usage could be 2 children who do not get along or disrupt one another. Note that once this field is populated, the same name cannot be used within the Put With field.
- Remove: Deletes the current row.
The Sorting Data Grid contains a static footer row which aggregates the data provided.
The Grid also supports common functionality such as sorting and filtering which can be accessed by clicking the Column Headers.
Sorting Results
Once a sort has been run successfully, the results are displayed towards the bottom of the screen and are divided into tabs.
The first tab displays aggregated Summary information about the sort by Class or Group.
Each row represent each class or group created by the sort.
Columns represent counts of the attributes within each class, providing a useful comparison and validation check around the success of the distribution.
The main Gender and Ability classifications are listed separately but the grid also contains a breakdown of those attributes combined (e.g. "Male Ability 1").
The final 2 columns within the grid show the number of Put with and Do not put with requests, and how many of those requests were met.
The next tabs contain the Classes or Groups that the sort has created based upon the entered data and criteria.
Each class or group will have its own tab containing the sorted data.
Records are displayed in the same format as in the main Sorting Data Grid but with an alphabetical ordering based on Surname.
Put With and Do not put with records will display a cross or tick icon providing a visual indication of whether the request was successful or not.
A summary of the aggregated data is displayed within the footer of the grid.
The Download Results to CSV button will be available within the Summary and each of the Classes tabs. Clicking the button will allow the Results to be saved in a CSV format which can then be opened in MS Excel or a text editor.
The final tab contains the problem log which sumarises any unresolved issues following the final sort.
Note that due to the random nature of the sorting mechanism, it is always worth attempting the sort again for better results when issues are encountered.
Entering Data Manually
The Number of People to be sorted defaults to 2 which is reflected by 2 available rows within the Data Grid.
Rows withint the Grid become editable when double-clicking the Name column.
The Gender and Ability columns will be drop downs. While the Ability values are set to 1-3, the Gender's available is determined by the Gender Options within the Parameters Form above.
The Put With and Do Not Put With columns are also drop downs and are populated dynamically by the existing records. Selecting a person within one of the drop downs prevents that same person from being selected in the adjacent drop down.
Incremeting the Number of People to be sorted adds addional rows to the grid.
If the Number of People to be sorted is changed so that it becomes less than the current number of rows in the grid, a message appears asking the user to confirm that rows are about to be deleted.
Importing a CSV File
Functionality has been provided for the Wizard to upload a CSV (Comma Delimeted Values) file which populates the grid. Note that the format of the CSV must
match the format that the import process is expecting.
Click on the Import CSV button and a file dialogue will appear where you can navigate and select a CSV file.
Simply highlighting the CSV file and clicking the Open button will load the CSV data into the sorting grid. Note that the Number of People to be sorted and Gender Parameter fields will be updated to reflect the imported data, along with the summary data in the Grid's footer.
Alternatively, click here if you would like to download an example CSV template.
Adding Test Data
Adding test data is the quickest and easiest way to learn about how a sort works. Clicking the Add Test Data button will generate random data into the grid which will be defined by the Parameters Form. For example, the screenshot below shows 90 random records generated which include gender identities of Male, Female and Other. Put With and Do Not Put With records are sporadically added so that the data is realistic.
Exporting Data
Once a dataset has been created as required, saving the data to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file is recommended in order to work with that dataset in the future. The Sorting Wizard does not store data, so subsequently the Export CSV functionality is the only way to do this.
Click on the Export CSV button and a CSV file with a default name of "Sorting Wizard Data.csv" will be saved to the Downloads folder on your PC.
Shuffling Data
Clicking the Shuffle Data button simply reorders the current data within the Sorting Grid. This functionality may be useful if you have attempted a number of sorts but have not been happy with the results.
Clear Grid
The Clear Grid button will remove any data within the Sorting Grid and set the Parameters form back to it's default state which is:
- "Class" terminology
- Male and Female gender identities selected
- Number of People to be sorted: 2 (2 empty grid columns)
- Number of Classes: 2
Please note that once the Clear Grid button is clicked, the data cannot be recovered unless previously saved by Exporting to CSV.
Checking for Problems
Functionality has been provided to analyse the data by clicking the Analyse Problems button. Ideally, when the data is checked the wizard will not identify potential problems with your sort and this will be shown in a modal window.
If any potential problems are are identified, the modal window will contain a list of those issues.
The types of potential problem which are checked by the Wizard are listed below:
- Validate Put With Names: A check is made to ensure that any Put With names are present within the grid. Although this situation is not possible when entering data manually, it is possible for an incorrect name to exist if there is an error within a CSV file that has been uploaded.
- Validate Do Not Put With Names: Similarly, a check is made to ensure that any Do Not Put With names are present within the grid.
- Validate Required Fields: A check is made to ensure each row within the grid contains a name, gender and attribute.
- Duplicate Names Check: Warns if any duplicate names are present within the grid data.
- Validate Do Not Put With Conflicts: Ensures that a name within Do Not Put With is not present as the same person's Put With person.
- Do Not Put With Constraints: Warns if a person appears as a Do Not Put With for multiple people, which exceeds the number of classes / groups and therefore making this requirement impossible.
- Advanced Triad Conflicts: If person 1 has values in both Put With (Person 2) and Do Not Put With (Person 3)
When Person 2 is in the Name field:
- Person 3 cannot be in the Put With field
- Person 1 cannot be in the Do Not Put With field
- Person 1 and Person 2 cannot be in the Put With field
- Multiple Put With or Do Not Put With's: Checks for people who are referenced as Put With and / or Do Not Put With by 3 or more other people.
- Constraint Feasibility: Checks if the sum of all Put With or Do Not Put With constraints exceed what is possible given the number of groups/class size.
- Validate Mathematical Feasibility: Checks if the number of people, class sizes, and constraints (e.g. gender, ability) make it mathematically impossible to satisfy all requirements.
Improving Results
If the wizard has been run on multiple occassions and a "Perfect Sort" has not been achieved, click on the Check for Problems button that may identify a potential problem.
Changing your data or sort criteria in the following way will increase the chances of a more successful sort.
- Aim for a reasonable number of class / group sizes to give the sort enough classes to satisfy Do Not Put With requests.
- Reducing the numbers of Do Not Put With and Put With requests are likely to result in a better sort.
- Ensure people within the Do Not Put With and Put With requests are not used too frequently.
