If you already have a set of options created and want to use the same subjects you can copy them by selecting the set in the Copy subjects from dropdown and then clicking the Copy button. The pupils are selected using the shadow data so will include only those who will be in Year 10 next year and will therefore take account of leavers and joiners. You can use the RE-generate from shadow button as often as you wish to reflect updates in the information. The first time you do this it creates four option choice records for each pupil. Subsequently it deletes choices for pupils who are no longer in the shadow year and generates choices for any newly added pupils.

Next we move to the Pupils tab and enter each pupil’s four choices.

You can now produce a number of reports from the Reports tab.

Selections sorted by subject – this lists alphabetically the subjects, which pupils have opted for that subject and what priority it was.
Selections sorted by pupil – this lists each pupil alphabetically together with their choices.
Selection matrix – exports the choices to a spreadsheet showing a matrix of pupil and subject (see below).
Clash matrix – this report shows the number of times each subject clashes with each other subject listed alphabetically by subject.
Clash matrix spreadsheet – this produces a spreadsheet showing how many times a subject clashes with each of the other subjects.

On the Groups tab you can see how many pupils have chosen each option and then decide how many groups you want ideally for each subject and what the maximum group size will be for each subject. Once you have done this you are ready to experiment to see how good a solution you can get with various parameters. The iterative sequence will be something like the following:

1. Set the group numbers and sizes using the Groups tab.
    
   
2. Move to the Generations tab and click the Create new generation button. Then click the Build now button. This will cause the system to attempt a best fit using the information you have given it. The success (or not) can be judged from the % Fit column with 100.00% being a perfect solution.
    
   
3. Click on the Group button (not the tab) for this generation to see the size of each individual group.
    
   
4. Click the Pupil report button, the Blocks and Groups button or the Clash button to see the detailed results.
    
   
5. If you wish to try a very similar solution, clone the generation by clicking the Clone button and then modify pupil choices. Each separate generation is stored so you can return to a previous solution if you don’t find a better one. Return if necessary to step 2.