|
Product News
 ProModel/MedModel/ServiceModel 7.5 released!
We are proud to announce the release of version 7.5. With this version, simulation teams can independently model separate areas of a broader model and bring them together for simulation analysis through the Model Collaborator add-on. The new Shift Editor has been written in .NET and enables a quicker, easier to use interface for defining weekly schedules. Using array import, you can now initialize model elements prior to the simulation run, such as location capacity and resource units, from Excel and external databases. Version 7.5 is also fully compatible with Windows Vista, multiple user accounts, and Office 2007.
Version 7.5 is available for download only. Go to the Solutions Café to download your copy today!
- Model Collaborator – not only gives modeling teams the ability to independently work on different sections of a more global model and then bring the individual models together to be simulated, it also gives individual model builders a more capable model merge.
- New Shift Editor – the Shift Editor has been completely rewritten in .NET. You can more quickly define your shifts and breaks in an easier to use interface.
- New Array use – Arrays can now be used to initialize the same ProModel fields that Macros have been able to. For example, you can initialize Location capacity or Resource units with an Array! The key is to make sure the Array data is imported from an XLS file or a database.
- Enhanced LOAD statement – the LOAD statement now has a PERM option that causes the load to act like a JOIN. Basically, entities can be permanently loaded (joined) onto a base entity. This extends joining capability but through the LOAD statement which already had great capability with the IFF <condition> and IN <time> options.
- New Status Light state – the Waiting state now shows as yellow for single capacity locations. Previously it would show blue, the same as Empty/Idle.
- More preemption, more often – more preemption checks have been implemented such that preemption should occur more regularly. In particular, in situations where a preemptor is initially denied in its attempt to preempt because the preemptee is in a non-preemptable state. Once the preemptee gets into a preemptable state, it should now check for a preemptor and be preempted in more situations than it had been.
- Simulation engine optimization – the simulation engine has been optimized to run models faster. Results will vary depending upon the model, however in one benchmark test the model increased in speed by over 300%. It went from taking 90 real-time minutes to run, down to just over 20 minutes!
- Mouse wheel and scrolling tables – the mouse wheel will now scroll your tables! Also, when grabbing the scroll bar to quickly move to different records (i.e. rows), the table will be dynamically refreshed showing exactly which record you are on (previously, the table would not be updated until you released the scroll bar).
- New Check for Updates – the automatic check for updates utility has been replaced with our latest .NET version so it is compatible with Windows Vista.
- Excel 2007 files (.XLSX) are now supported.
- EMF graphics supported – Graphic files of type EMF (Enhanced Meta File) can be imported into Background Graphics and the Graphic Editor.
- And more…
The list of fixes in this version is massive! To see the complete list of features and fixes, check out the ProModel Version History PDF.
If you have questions about your maintenance and support contract please contact Jamie Tracy at 610-391-9700 x701 or jtracy@promodel.com.
Product Updates
 Process Simulator 2007 (version 5.2.1) Update coming soon…
This update will contain the following enhancements and fixes:
Enhancements
- Permanent Attach – if you are attaching entities to a base entity and never intend to detach them later on (i.e. in an assembly type of activity), then using the permanent attach feature is the recommend approach. By permanently attaching entities, cost statistics will be appropriately passed to and reported by the base entity.
- Simulation precision – you now have the ability to choose the simulation clock unit precision in Simulation Properties. This helps resolve an issue seen during the simulation where activity times were shorter because they were defined in seconds.
Fixes
- Sometimes during simulation, the scale of the shapes and connections were huge while the animation of the resources and entities were on a smaller scale.
- Entity and resource graphics appeared smaller during simulation.
- A package file could not be installed if the path to the package file was greater than 128 characters.
- If an activity had two or more routes to Exit, each was listed with the same name in the Add Analysis Item dialog accessed from the Six Sigma Configuration window.
- When opening the Scenario Manager, a runtime error 457 was thrown. This was caused from two objects having the same internal unique ID.
- Resource units would not update properly when changing the number of units and then switching to another page in the Visio document.
- Attempting to generate Six Sigma reports in Minitab, on a non-English OS or with a non-English version of Minitab, was failing and giving an error, “*ERROR* Illegal Sequence arguments.”
- Using the same local variable name in the logic of two or more Ordered arrivals to the same activity would generate a simulation compile error stating, “The identifier is already in use.”
- There was a way to define entities, activities, and resources with blank names, which would cause errors when simulating.
- Entities would stop taking the second of two routes out of an activity, if the entity was given a new name for the second route and there was a Continuous arrival coming into the activity.
- Copying Activity, Arrival, or Routing logic from one document (or page) to another was not warning the user that references to Activities, Resources, Entities, Variables, or Attributes in the logic would be lost and must be reassigned for each statement that might use one of these model elements.
- The error "Unable to extract simulation data error 9" was occurring when a model built in version 5.1 with variable counter graphics was simulated in version 5.2.
- In a specific case, the error "Run-time error '13': Type Mismatch" occurred when attempting to open the Variables and Attributes dialog.
Includes 3DR version 2.0.11.93 containing the following fixes:
- When modifying chart items to add or remove series in an existing chart, the titles in the chart were being reset to their default formatting.
- When changing the decimal precision, the chart title was being reset to its default formatting.
- In Windows Vista, scroll bars in reports and charts were being clipped so that they were only partially in view.
- 3DR would throw an error and not load the statistics RDB file if the path and filename were longer than 126 characters.
- The Variables table was not showing up in 3DR when simulating a model having Tanks and there were no entity arrivals defined.
Portfolio Builder 1.0 add-in for Portfolio Simulator (Coming in September)
Quickly build your portfolio of projects in Portfolio Simulator using the new Portfolio Builder add-in. If your project information is in Microsoft Project 2003 or 2007, or if your projects’ information can be exported to Microsoft Excel, it can automatically be brought into Portfolio Simulator.
The Portfolio Builder allows your projects to be imported with any resolution of detail. If you are doing high-level, strategic analysis, a rolled-up view of your projects allows you to quickly run “what-if” scenarios to optimize your portfolio. The Strategic Rollup feature of the Portfolio Builder allows you to run a simulation of your project before importing it them order to generate a rolled-up plan while maintaining all the variability and resource requirements that existed in the detailed project plan.
Project Simulator 2009 (Coming in October) – See the Reality of your Project Plans in Seconds
If your Microsoft Project plan does not account for variability and resource constraints, how can you be sure how the plan will unfold when introduced to the real world? With Project Simulator 2009, you can quickly see the realistic effects of variable task durations and work assignments along with the resource constraints that may be invisible in the plan, but quickly appear once tasks start to slide.
Using the full power of our discrete event simulation engine, Project Simulator allows you to see the realistic plan, and create “what-if” scenarios to see what changes can be made to keep your project on time and under budget.
 Portfolio Simulator 2008 Setup and Upgrade version 7.0.1 have been released
The successful release of Portfolio Simulator 2008 has been followed up with this maintenance release to provide a richer user experience and support future releases of powerful add-ins for Portfolio Simulator.
New Features and Changes
· Includes a Windows Vista compatible, .NET-based automatic update utility.
· Automatically updates users’ databases when the application is launched after an update is installed.
· Improved support for Add-ins.
· Summary tasks can be assigned calendars.
· Ad-Hoc report filters are faster.
|
