Untis Alternative

Untis alternative: the platform around the timetable

Anyone looking for an Untis alternative rarely means timetable planning itself. Untis creates timetables fully automatically to the school's specifications – no young product measures up to that. What people are usually looking for is everything around it: how does the finished plan reach parents and staff, where does this morning's sick note end up, who keeps the class register? That is exactly where SchuleVernetzt starts. We do not replace timetable planning, we build on it: the plan is carried over from Untis, and around it come the class register, sick notes, parent communication and appointments – in one system, with one role concept and servers in Germany.

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  • Hosted in Germany
  • Free for teachers

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Benefits

What an Untis alternative is usually meant to do

The plan is carried over

Timetable and substitutions come across from Untis as a DIF export, GPU001.TXT and GPU014.TXT. Classes, subjects, rooms and teacher codes are read along with them – nobody types a finished plan a second time.

Everything around the plan

The class register, sick notes, parent letters and parents' evening bookings all hang off the timetable. They use the same classes and contacts instead of maintaining every list one more time.

One login, one role concept

After signing in, the role decides what is on screen: classes see their day, parents see their child's lessons, teachers see their own duty, the school office sees the full plan.

Hosting in Germany

The school signs a data processing agreement, the data sits on servers in Germany, access and changes are logged, and the school sets deletion periods for its own federal state.

How it works

How the start alongside Untis works

Getting started needs no system change: export the plan from Untis, upload it and check the preview, invite staff and parents – after that the day's substitutions simply come along.

1 2 3 4
  1. 1

    Export the plan

    In Untis the timetable is written out as the DIF file GPU001.TXT, the program's documented exchange format. Optionally the teacher file GPU004.TXT comes along, so that the short codes are matched to the right people right away.

  2. 2

    Upload and check

    The file is uploaded, and before anything is saved a preview shows what arrives: classes, subjects, rooms, periods. The import detects separators and encoding by itself, CP1252 included. Conspicuous rows are named.

  3. 3

    Invite staff and parents

    Teachers get their role, parents get an invitation link. From then on everyone sees their own plan, without anyone creating class lists a second time or typing contacts out of a spreadsheet.

  4. 4

    Take over substitutions daily

    The day's substitutions follow as GPU014.TXT or are entered directly. The classes affected, their parents and the teachers involved get a message, and the notice board in the foyer updates along with it.

In comparison

What Untis is built for – and what is added

SchuleVernetzt
FocusThe daily routine around the finished plan
TimetableImport from GPU001.TXT or entered by hand
SubstitutionsImport from GPU014.TXT, push only to those affected
Class register and parentsIncluded in the same system and the same login
Untis
FocusTimetable creation and automatic optimisation
TimetableFully automatic creation to your own specifications
SubstitutionsA dedicated module for substitution planning
Class register and parentsVia WebUntis: class register, parents' day, messages
In detail

What the search for an Untis alternative really means

The timetable stays in Untis

Untis describes itself as the base software that creates timetables fully automatically to the school's specifications; for that, the optimisation places lessons into an empty grid and then improves the plan through targeted swaps. SchuleVernetzt does not reproduce that computation – it is the reason schools use Untis in the first place. Instead we use the interface Untis documents: the finished plan goes out as the DIF file GPU001.TXT, the substitutions go out as GPU014.TXT, and SchuleVernetzt reads both along with classes, subjects, rooms and teacher codes. So planning carries on where the school is used to it – and the plan still becomes visible everywhere it is needed.

What is added around the plan

A timetable alone does not answer the morning. When parents report their child sick, the absence appears in the digital class register straight away and is already marked as excused; nobody enters it a second time. When a lesson is cancelled, the class affected, their parents and the teacher hear about it – not the whole school. Parent letters come back with a read receipt and a structured reply, and the same families book their parents' evening slot through a link. All of it uses the same data and the same role concept: hosting in Germany, a data processing agreement, logged access and deletion periods the school sets for its federal state – once centrally instead of per tool.

When Untis remains the right choice

For creating and optimising the timetable itself. Anyone who has a plan calculated across classes, courses, rooms and time preferences every school year needs exactly the automatic optimisation Untis offers for it, plus modules such as course scheduling or break supervision that build on it. SchuleVernetzt can enter lessons, move them and report double bookings of class, teacher or room, but it does not calculate a plan. And then the honest part: our product is still before launch. There are no reference schools we could point to, and the feature set is smaller than that of a system established for years. Anyone who needs both from one source, with long practice, is better off there.

The switch is not a switch

Untis stays where it is. The school exports the timetable as GPU001.TXT, uploads it and checks the preview – the import detects separators and encoding by itself. After that, staff and parents join through an invitation link, and the day's substitutions follow daily as GPU014.TXT. Anyone who later does want everything in one system enters the plan directly.

FAQ

Common questions about the Untis alternative

No, and that is the usual route: timetable planning stays in Untis, SchuleVernetzt reads the finished plan and takes over display, notification and everything attached to it – class register, sick notes, parent letters and appointment booking. Both systems run side by side, and planning still happens in one place.

The timetable as GPU001.TXT and the substitutions as GPU014.TXT – both DIF exports that Untis describes in its own documentation. If the teacher file GPU004.TXT with e-mail addresses is included, the import assigns the short codes to the matching accounts automatically. Encoding and separators it detects by itself.

The role decides, not the notice board: classes see their day, parents see their child's lessons, teachers see their duty with subject and room, the school office sees the full plan. Anyone without a smartphone opens the same view in a browser or reads the daily plan on the digital notice board in the foyer.

No. Untis creates timetables fully automatically to the school's specifications and then improves them through targeted swaps of individual lessons – we do not reproduce that computation. SchuleVernetzt takes the finished plan and looks after everything that comes afterwards: display, notification, class register and parent communication.

Yes. Lessons can be entered directly, and on saving the system reports double bookings of class, teacher or room. A plan is not calculated in the process: the assignment is still made by the person planning. For a school of manageable size that is enough; for demanding course scheduling a planning program is the better route.

A new export replaces the previous state; lessons already carried over are recognised by the import and not created a second time. The day's substitutions come the same way or are entered directly. Only those the change concerns are notified: the class, their parents and the teachers involved.
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