FAQ - Enhanced Production Scheduler

Frequently-asked questions about EPS

Enhanced Production Scheduler - Frequently Asked Questions

This topic covers the following questions:

What are attributes and what is their purpose?

Attributes are actually extra "fields" which get tacked onto the end of the points table in the project. They are used to give scheduling activities extra information which can be used during the scheduling process. This can be for example, level information, rock types, panel numbers etc. Traditionally attributes were simply placed onto the design item strings by editing them in the design window. Experience has shown that it is very easy to make mistakes by using this method and hence another of other methods were devised in order to stream line the attribute application process and to decrease the "human error" involved in their use.

Attributes are uniquely identified by their name (legacy restrictions for a unique linestyle, colour and symbol specification do not apply in Studio UG).

These methods are:

  1. Visual manual application: this method allows attributes to be applied in the traditional way. The visual component is this ability to "see" the attributes on the screen.

  2. Manual application: the traditional method where by editing the design strings is done without visual representation. Annotation of the attributes is, however, possible.

  3. Automatic Application - 3D Solid: a wireframe solid with the appropriate attribute is created and this object is used to place the attributes on the points table.

  4. Automatic Application - 2D Grid: allows you to use grids in the XY, XZ or YZ planes to apply attributes to parts of the design which falls within their extents. Grids are simply 2D (in the appropriate plane) closed polygons. They do not actually need to be a "grid" of polygons and in fact a "grid" is simply a bunch of closed rectangular polygons.

Is Enhanced Production Scheduler able to carry unlimited data items for each scheduled task?

In EPS, each task has the ability to carry the following information:

  • 256 property fields (intrinsic and user-defined)

  • 256 text fields

  • 256 code fields (a code is similar to a text field, except it provides for a fixed list of possibilities)

Is there any limit to the number of tasks in a short- or long-term schedule?

There is no practical limit for the number of tasks in short-term or long-term schedules. To allow an unlimited capacity to undo commands, Enhanced Production Scheduler stores its key data in memory. As a result, exceptionally large project projects will impact memory available more than relatively simple, smaller versions. A project of around 5 to 7 thousand activities consumes approximately 5 megabytes of memory with a base footprint of 3 megabytes. As a rule of thumb - approximately 500kB of memory is consumed for each 1,000 activities depending upon number of properties etc. This far outweighs the memory management capacity of other scheduling applications on the market.

How can EPS be configured to show stope names and ounces per month?

  1. Right-click the header of the task table and format the task table field to those which you would like to see on the left. This should include stope name, tonnes, grades and other attributes.

  2. Right-click the Gannt chart and select Chart Options... from the context-sensitive menu.

  3. Go to the Display tab.

  4. Toggle on Display Field Values.

  5. In the grid select the field you would like to display, remembering that formatting of the field values is also possible by scrolling to the right.

  6. Click OK.

  7. Notice that the gannt bars now change to numbers.

  8. Right-click in the gannt chart and select Copy To Clipboard.

  9. Paste into Excel or other spreadsheet package.

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