How do I Track Activity Contents?

Tracking the time-weighted average number of entities occupying a stage in the process that consists of more than a single activity.

Suggested Technique

1. Define a variable of type Integer to track the contents.
2. Increment the variable in Action logic when entering the particular processing stage.
3. Decrement the variable in Action logic after leaving the processing stage.

Example: Once a customer leaves a car at the repair shop, it is serviced, cleaned, and readied for the customer to pickup. We want to know the average number of cars between the start of the Service and the end of the Cleaning activities.

TO DO: Define the variable Serv_Clean_Content as type Integer . Enter the Action logic as depicted in the illustration above.

To examine the results, look for variable statistics in the General Statistics Report (see Smart Stats) where you will find the average value of the variable. The average value is the average contents of the processing stage being tracked. The change in the contents over time can be viewed by selecting Time Series from the View menu in the Output Module . See Time Series Plots & Histograms.