God how I used to hate STARS! It took ages and ages to do what I used to be able to do in an hour or so in the 'old' manner with wallboards and a notepad. Each input seemed to take 10 seconds whilst the data was processed - it nearly drove me mad!
The best method I ever used was at the UAS. I used to start planning the next days programme (about 40 slots) at 1600 and it was all ready by 1700. Get the assets (aircraft and FI availability) sorted, then allocate studes to FIs, then check which were their next exercises. One of the girls would then mark up the magnetic plaques as I directed, then shift them around the board until we'd filled all the slots. Why one of the girls? Because their writing was neater and they were better at multi-tasking than most of the blokes. And they'd usually volunteer to help, rather than have to be dragged out of the crewroom.
And then the boss would mess the whole thing up by trying to get a quart out of a pint pot, neglecting the time we needed to brief, turn the a/c etc.......
maple 01 - when I was Sqn Warmonger back in the days of Tacevals, the entire VC10K sqn Aircraft State plot could be managed with a perspex A4 board and a single radio! If we had to move sqn ops at immediate notice, just pick up board and radio and move out. Only limitation, as ever - crap batteries!