Add a Production Field

The upper section of the Production Fields screen is static, and is used to record general production field parameters. Below, you find a group of tabs containing categorised commands, including:

  • Formulae—Specify the formulas required to calculate the value of the production field.
  • Revenue Variation—Calculate how the unit price depreciates over time.
  • Actuals—View the daily "actual" production values for the current production field.
  • Targets—View the production targets for the current production field.

Base Revenue

By default, this value is set to zero. When a value is specified, DTS automatically calculates the revenue in the schedule.

This field is used for all revenues attained on dates before the first Date From value in the Revenue Variation tab, or for all values in the project if there are no values in this tab.

This field is also used for grade fields, which result in revenue. For example, if you have the AU grade field and you want to specify the grade in grams per Ton (g/T), you specify the Base Revenue field as dollars per gram ($/g) by entering the appropriate value in the Base Revenue field.

If you have a grade field that you want to specify as a percentage (%), you enter the Base Revenue value in dollars/ton/100.

For weighted production fields the total revenue is calculated as the product of the grade, the weighted production field and the base revenue, for example; a task of 10,000 tons with Au=5 g/tons and base revenue of 80$ has an estimated revenue of 5 * 10,000 * 80 = $ 4,000,000.

Note: Base Revenue applies until the earliest date of the revenue variation (if any) specified for the property.

Tracking Actual Values

Check Track Actual to track the progress of the field, as the task advances.

For example, if you want to track the actual number of metres mined, select this field for the Metres Production Field. By default, this field is not selected.

If you are tracking Actuals for the driving production field of a task and you enter an Actual quantity that is greater than the Planned quantity, DTS adjusts the Planned values to meet those reflected in the Actuals.

For such fields, it is recommended that you do not select Track Actual; instead create a new production field and track the actual values using this new field. As the two fields are no longer linked together, this allows you to view the original, scheduled, quantities and compare them to the actual rate in instances where the actual may be greater than the originally scheduled.  

Also see

To add a production field:

  1. Display the Production Fields screen.
  2. Select the blank row at the end of the production fields table.
  3. Enter a unique Field name, for example; Tons

  4. Choose the Unit.

    This is the abbreviation of the field name used in some instances such as specifying production rates (such as 5m/d).

    The Unit must be unique and no more than 10 characters.

    Note: A unit is created automatically once you define the Field, but you can change to any value.

  5. For grade values, if appropriate, enter the field the grade is Weighted by.

    See Add a Grade Production Field.

  6. Change Cost field to Task if the production field represents a cost value.

    See Add a Fixed Cost Field.

    See also Add a Unit Cost Field.

  7. Decide if actual values are tracked against the production field or not, using Track Actual.

    Note: Tracked actual values appear on the Actuals tab.

    See "Tracking Actual Values", above.

  8. Choose how to record actual values using Record Actuals On:
    • Total—The total actual value is tracked per task, e.g. 23 500 tons).
    • Task—Multiple daily readings can be stored per task, for example; 4.5m for task 1259_U_Decline on 12 Jun, 3.5 m for 13 Jun, ...).
    • Property—Multiple daily readings can be stored on a project wide basis, e.g. 87 900 tons for 12 Jun, 97 567 tons for 13 Jun, ...).
    • Resource—multiple daily readings can be stored for the production field per resource, e.g. 27m for drill DR0196 on 16 Jul, 23m for drill DR0879 on 17 Jul, ...).
  9. Choose the Distribution type of the production field property:
    • Entire Task—The property is spread over the entire duration of the task).
    • Complete Part—The property is spread over the completed part only).
    • Remaining Part—The property is spread over the remaining part only.

  10. Define the Base Revenue per unit of the production field.

    See "Base Revenue", above.

  11. Set the the default Numeric Format for the property for display purposes.
    • If the Numeric Format is fixed, set the number of decimal places to display.

  12. If material categories exist in the schedule, choose how these categories relate to the production field using Calculate from Categories.

    • If checked, the production field's value for each task is calculated from the individual material category values of each respective task.

    • If unchecked, the production field's value doe not consider material category values.

  13. Enter a Description for the production field. This can help others to understand its purpose.

  14. To categorise production fields to make them easier to locate in the grid, enter a Group name. A new category is created in the grid if it does not exist. Production fields with the same text are grouped together.

  15. Define a Formula to derive production field values from another field or custom calculation if required. See Add a Calculated Production Field.

  16. Use the Revenue Variation tab to set up variable unit prices over time. See Add Variable Unit Prices.

  17. Set production field Targets if required. See Set Production Field Targets.

  18. Click OK.
  19. Save your project.

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