A daily pattern arrival shows the rate at which entities arrive for different time periods during the day. Arrivals are assumed to occur randomly within each period. The pattern for each day of the week can be different from the others.
- If a shift file has been defined for the activity where entities arrive, it is a good idea to synchronize the arrival periods with the activity schedule.
Day The list of days of the week. A pattern may be defined for each day.
Start – End, Quantity The list of period entries showing the start time, end time, and quantity of entities to arrive during that period for the day currently selected.
Copy day Button to copy a day’s pattern in order to paste it later on another day. Prevents tedium of entering the same periods for each day of the week that has the same arrival pattern.
Paste day Once a day has been copied, the Paste button becomes active and lists the name of the day that will be copied in the button itself. Select another day in the Day list and press the button to paste the pattern into the new day.
New Creates a new period entry in the Start – End, Quantity list with default times and quantity. The order of the new entry in the list will automatically be adjusted to maintain a chronological list.
Delete Removes an arrival period from the list.
Start time The start time edit field for the currently selected period.
End time The end time edit field for the currently selected period.
Quantity The quantity edit field for the currently selected period. Any valid expression may be used.
- Time entries for a Daily Pattern many not overlap (Correct example: Monday 8:00-9:00, 9:00-10:00. Incorrect example: Monday 8:00-9:00, 8:30-9:30 — these time slots overlap).
How To – Define a daily pattern
1. Click on the Define Pattern button to display the Daily Pattern dialog.
2. Click the New button to create a new entry in the pattern dialog. This creates the Monday 8:00am – 9:00am, 1 default entry. (The quantity and times may be changed as desired.)
3. Repeat step 2 for each time period to be defined in which arrivals occur.
4. Once a particular day’s pattern has been defined, you can copy the pattern to another day by selecting the defined day, clicking on the Copy day button, then selecting the day to which the pattern will be copied and clicking the Paste button. (The name of the weekday appears on the Paste button, so you will know which day is being copied.)
A Note About Time
When you use the Daily Pattern arrival or Scheduled Arrival, you must understand that statistics, especially resource statistics, may be affected due to the way the clock works in ProcessModel. Each ProcessModel simulation begins at 12:00 a.m. (midnight) on Monday morning of the first week. Therefore, Daily Pattern or Scheduled arrivals may skew statistical results, especially with regard to resource and input and output queue utilization. The solution is the use of Shifts in conjunction with your Daily Pattern or Scheduled arrivals. For more information see Schedules—Shifts & Breaks.