Survey Database Settings

To access this dialog:

Activate the Report ribbon and select Settings.

This dialog is used to configure your Studio Survey database.

It defines the data context, time context and formatting of your survey reports. Selectable items will be determined by your current Studio Survey database folder structure and contents, some of which are managed by the Add To Database task.

This screen is also used to access your bench settings. These bench definitions will be used to report per-bench volumes for the EOM reporting tools.

You can also use this dialog to set up a new Studio Survey database, or link to an existing local or remote database.

Creating a New Database

To create a new Studio Survey database (and make it active), you need to choose where it will be created; enter a path into the Database Directory field, or use the browse button to select a folder on your local disk or any network location to which you have access. Then, click Initialize to set up a default folder structure.

When you have defined your database parameters, click OK or Apply to update your system. Subsequent use of the following tasks will then point to the new database settings:

The Survey Database structure is explained in more detail here.

Database Settings

Database: select this tab to select or view the current database folder. The folder structure of this database will dictate the items that can be selected below, and governs what data appears in the Survey Database section of the Project Data control bar.

Either describe a path or use the browse button to locate an empty folder on disk, or select a folder and click Initialize to create a new folder at the specified location by clicking Initialize (you cannot overwrite existing folders/files).

When specifying a path for a database folder, you can use either fully-qualified or relative paths (e.g. "C:\MyDBFolder" or "..\MyDBFolder"). Relative paths will be relative to the current project directory.

You cannot create a new database if the folder path already exists, and that folder contains any files. You can only select a folder if it is empty.

Pits: displays the following drop-down lists:

Current Pit: lists every folder in the current Database Directory and "Pits" sub-folder. Items in sub-folders, or files, are not included. This level denotes the highest possible data context and would commonly be used to denote the name of the pit from which all reports will originate.

To add/delete a pit or rename an existing pit: select Manage to display the Manage Pits dialog.

Current Area: select the area within your pit that relates to your reporting scope. This could be used to identify distinct open cast operations within the same pit, for example, or those requiring distinct reporting properties. Like pits, each area is represented by a corresponding folder in your Studio Survey database.

To add/delete a pit area or rename an existing area, select Manage to display the Manage Areas dialog.

Benches: lists the current bench definitions for your project. Each bench will have a unique Label and is defined according to its height and crest/toe elevation values.

To configure your bench definitions, select Manage to display the Manage Benches dialog.

ROMs: displays the Current ROM drop-down list, which is also represented by a corresponding folder in your Studio Survey database.

To add/delete a ROM or to rename an existing ROM, select Manage to display the Manage ROMs dialog.

Declines: this area contains all of the configuration options relevant to underground data storage. Here, you can set a reporting scope for underground reporting by defining the following underground database items; Current Decline, Current Area, Current Level and Current Stope.

Each of the underground database levels can be configured further using the appropriate Manage button.

More about managing declines...

More about managing areas...

More about managing levels...

More about managing stopes...

Surveyors: displays the Surveyors drop-down list, which is also represented by a corresponding folder in your Studio Survey database. This section allows you to manage the surveyors referenced within your database. Surveyors can be selected to associate them with an EOM report.

To add/delete a Surveyor or to rename an existing Surveyor, select Manage to display the Manage Surveyors dialog.

Project Data: use this panel to control the amount of data that appears in the Project Data Control bar. You can filter survey data to show all, the latest or within the last x days. Filtering this data helps to improve system responsiveness when refreshing the control bar and (re)listing database or in-memory items.

By default, data from the previous 30 days is shown, with only survey date of the latest time within those dates being displayed at the lower levels of the menu system.

To change the amount of information display in the Project Data Control Bar, use the settings on the Project Data panel.

When modifying your database, changes are applied when you dismiss the Database Settings dialog. New or modified items will then appear in the respective drop down list(s) the next time they are expanded.

Report Settings

This section defines the templates that will be used to generate EOM reports. Various formats are generated by the reporting routines, and each EOM report template location is specified independently:

EOM Pit: contains a list of Pit Actual report templates and the Excel template used to generate reports.

Click Manage to access the Manage EOM Pit dialog, where templates for the Pit Actual report are added or removed.
EOM ROM: contains a list of ROMreport templates and the Excel template used to generate reports.

Click Manage to access the Manage EOM ROM dialog, where templates for the ROM report are added or removed.
Compliance to Design / Compliance to Plan: contains a list of Compliance to Design or Compliance to Plan report templates and the Excel template used to generate reports.

Click Manage to access the Manage Compliance to Design dialog, where templates for the Compliance to Design report are added or removed.
Blast: select a database folder name containing a blast volume plot template. This template will be used to display results of the Generate Blast Volume report.

Click Manage to access the Manage Blast dialog, where templates for the Generate Blast Volume report are added or removed.
Blasts Summary: select a database folder name containing a blast summary Excel template. This template will be used to display the Blast Summary report.

Click Manage to access the Manage Blasts Summary dialog, where templates for Blast Summary reports are added to or removed from the current database.
Publish: the Excel template that will be used to generate any end-of-month reports as stored in your current Database Directory, in its own folder.

You can store as many templates as you wish (for the same database) by creating more folders and adding a template to them. The default template, as created when you select Initialize, is found in this database sub-folder:

Settings\EOM\Excel Templates\Template 1

By adding more folders at the Settings\EOM\Excel Templates\ location, you can store other templates and select them using the Database Settings screen.
Development Report: choose what is generated/displayed when you preview development reports, choosing from any or all of Datamine Report (a table view), Solid wireframe volumes, an automatically-generated Plot sheet and/or a file browser opened at the location of the generated development data files.

Development Summary: the Excel template that will be used to generate any development summary as stored in your current Database Directory.

As with its open pit counterpart, you can store as many templates as you need.
Browse: choose what is displayed when you preview the results shown on the Browse Database panel, picking either a File Previewer (e.g. loaded into Datamine InTouch GO) and/or a File Explorer, opened at the location containing the output report data.

Preview options

You also have access to Preview settings. These check boxes determine which file(s) are displayed when previewing results for the various EOM report types:

Datamine Report: this is the Datamine table that contains the results of the cut and fill operation associated with a report.
Available for: EOM Pit, EOM Rom, Compliance to Design, Compliance to Plan and Blast activities.
Excel Report: each time results are calculated for a report, an Excel worksheet is generated/updated. Select this check box to display the associated report in excel when previewing results.
Available for: EOM Pit, EOM Rom, Compliance to Design, Compliance to Plan and Publish activities.
Solids: load the 3D cut and fill solids from your report calculation into the 3D window when previewing results. There can be a short delay whilst these are loaded/displayed.
Available for: EOM Pit, EOM Rom, Compliance to Design, Compliance to Plan and Blast activities.
Plot: a plot file of the generated solids is generated when you calculate EOM reports. This can be automatically displayed in PDF format when results are previewed, if this check box is selected.
Available for: EOM Pit, EOM Rom, Compliance to Design, Compliance to Plan and Blast activities.
File Explorer: open Windows Explorer when previewing the results of an EOM report calculation. This will show the files generated during report generation.
Available for: all activities.