Smart Stats replace the output report in ProcessModel. The following video provides an overview of the capabilities of Smart Stats.
Standard Reports
Seven standard reports automatically expose information to identify system problems. The reports include:
- Entities
- Activities
- Single-capacity activity states
- Multi-capacity activity states
- Resource
- Resource states
- Variables
Change the look and feel
Customize the look of all reports using the Theme icon from the ribbon. Fonts, colors, and accents all change to popular and tested themes.
Remove reports
Use the Tabs Icon to hide any irrelevant report categories. For example, if your model doesn’t include resources, then showing resource reports would be confusing, so hide these.
Rearrange the tabs by dragging a tab into a new position. Show the information in the order necessary for your presentation.
Remove columns from a report
Use the Column Icon to hide any statistics column not crucial to your goal. For example, if you decided not to include the cost or BVA in the model build, showing these columns provides no useful information.
Sort information by the clicking on the header
Names appear on the output report in the order of how you placed them on the layout. Alphabetize the names by clicking on the header. All columns sort using this same method. This technique quickly identifies critical information in many reports.
Additional stats
After running replications, use the Stats icon in the ribbon to enable additional information — Such as the Min and Max…confidence intervals, etc.
Custom Reports
Custom reports provide a method to create a comparative view of specific statistics. To create a custom report, click on the new report button.
All elements used to create custom reports work the same.
- Select the object to use in the report from the Menu Bar.
- Click on the layout to locate the upper left corner of the stat or graph location.
- Make selections from the dialog to define the object.
Stats
These statistics are called Smarts Stats. “Smart Stats” continue to work whether running
- a single runs
- multiple scenarios
- replications
- scenarios with “replications.”
- or even numerous model files
All sections of the report expand and contract as needed depending on the type of simulation run.
Service Level Agreement
The Service Level Agreement (SLA) reports if a collected set of data achieved an agreed level of service. The SLA consists of the following:
- A metric to measure (must be a variable)
- The goal or agreed standard to be measured includes two parts
- The level to achieve (for Example, 180 minutes).
- The percentage below the level to declare metric success (Example, 95%).
The dialog allows the selection of any variable and the goal entry.
The metric displayed on the report provides an instant, persistent statistic that can be reviewed after changes to the model.
Filtered stats
Filtered Statistics allows stratification of data collected in variables – that is, multiple variables collected simultaneously.
Let’s use an example. A prominent support center stratifies customers based on Type (5 types), Priority (4 priorities), and Service Level (3 service levels). The combination of these descriptive elements equals sixty (5 * 4 * 3) potential statistics. Each variety has a separate service level agreement. A sub example might be Priority 1, Level 1, for customer type 1 requires that 95% of all calls resolve in less than 90 minutes.
When using variables to report service level agreements above, I would need 120 variables and 120 to track the information required. Using 240 elements to define and collect 60 statistics is not reasonable. Using Filtered Statistics, I can collect all the information to report on all groups, answering the same questions with only four variables. To accomplish this data collection task, the variables Time value, Priority, Type, and Service Level, need to be written simultaneously.
How to use filtered stats
All data used in filtered stats must be collected using the same action statements at the same clock time. All Activities or Routes collecting stats would use the same action logic. An example is shown below:
v_Time = Clock( ) – CycleStart (If you were not counting off sift time, then the first line might look like v_Time = v_Clock – a_Cycle_Start where v_Clock is a is part of a model object reaching only on shift time).
v_Type = a_Type
v_Priority = a_Priority
v_Service_Level = a_Service_Level
From the Filtered Stas dialog, select the main variable to display. All variables collected at the same instant display as potential variables used to filter the main variable.
Clicking on the filter dropdown arrow provides methods to filter the main variable.
Times Series
Time Series charts plot the value of a variable over time. These charts show critical information – key performance indicators that relate to time. For example, you could plot the number of people in the waiting room by the time of day.
Histogram
The histogram summarizes values saved to a variable and allows you to see the shape of the distribution. For example, you could observe the time to enter a new patient at the emergency room.
State or Utilization
State & Utilization charts are useful for quickly seeing what your locations and resources spent their time doing. In addition, such visualizations help identify problem areas in your process.
Pie graphs
Pie graphs isolate the “State” information for an individual resource or location.
Text and images
Add images to the layout. For example, you might want to add a company logo to personalize the report. Add Text to clarify statistics, graphs, and charts.
Save reports
If you save the output before exiting, the report returns in the exact position as you left it the next time you run the model. So, you will see the same active report as viewed previously with all the formatting, columns, colors, etc. And you won’t see the things detracting from your goal. If anything has changed during the use of Smart Stats, a prompt appears asking if the output should be saved. Answer no, and the previous save becomes the default. Answer yes and all the changes become the new default for this model.
Definitions
Click on the Entity tab while on the Standard Report.
Entity Name: Names of all the entities that have been added to the model with statistics enabled.
Qty Processed: The total number of entities processed through the model. Only exiting entities count in Qty Processed.
Average Cycle Time: The average time each entity spent in the model.
Cycle Time is the total elapsed time to move a unit of work from the beginning to the end of a process. Cycle time includes process time, during which a unit is acted upon to bring it closer to an output, and delay time, during which a unit of work is spent waiting to take the next action.
Average VA Time: Average value-added time each entity spent being processed in activities or moved from one activity or storage to the next, does not include the time waiting or time at any activity that is declared as NVA (Non-Value Added).
Activity time begins as soon as an entity enters the capacity of the activity, and ends when the entity leaves the capacity, either by moving to the output queue or to the next location in the model. Value-added time is accrued only from a TIME statement in the action logic or from the General tab’s Time field.
Average BVA Time: Average time each entity spent being in activities set to BVA. BVA activities include actions that are required but do not add value (as defined by the customer). An example of a BVA activity might include a governmental inspection that neither the producer nor the customer identifies as value-adding.
Average NVA Time: Average Non-value-added time each entity spent at an activity declared as NVA, the time an entity spends being idle, waiting for a resource, in storage, traveling on a route, waiting in an input queue or when a Wait Until statement holds it.
Average Touch Time Cost: The average cost of the entity. This is based on how much work was done on the entity by activities, resources etc that have an associated cost. Unused resource cost is not applied to the average cost, to see cost with unused resource cost added, see the Average Total Cost.
Average Total Cost: The total cost for each entity. Total Cost represents the sum of all the costs to run the process plus the addition of all unused resource costs. Includes sum of;
- Used / Unused Resource cost.
2. VA, NVA, and BVA costs for each entity.
3. Initial entity cost.
4. Entity waiting cost.
Only entities that exit the model have statistics collected for them and reported. If an entity is renamed at some point in the model, the original entity will not report statistics. Only the new name will show stats. Another instance when the entity summary will show 0’s is when one entity is attached to another without detaching them before they exit the model.
Activities
Activity Name: Names of all the activities that have been added to the model with statistics enabled.
Scheduled Hours: The total number of hours the activity was scheduled to be available, as the result of any shift file it uses, defined in the properties dialog.
Capacity: Capacity of the activity, defined in the properties dialog.
Total Entries: The total number of entities that entered the activity, not including entities arriving to be attached. Entities arriving that have been previously grouped or have entities attached to them to form a single entity only count as one entry.
Average (Sec/Min/Hrs/Days) Per Entry: Average time an entity spent at the activity, time value is based on what is selected in the Simulation \ Options window. This time may include partial times from the beginning and end of the actual run time.
Average Contents: Average entities in the activity at the same time.
Maximum Contents: The maximum number of entities that occupied the activity at the same time, over the course of the simulation.
Current Contents: The number of entities remaining at the activity when the simulation ended.
% Utilization: The percentage of capacity occupied, on average, during the simulation.
Activity by % (Multi Cap)
Activity Name: Names of all the activities that have been added to the model with statistics enabled and have a capacity of more than 1.
Scheduled Hours: Scheduled hours for the activity, defined in the properties dialog.
% Empty: Percentage time the activity was empty.
% Partially Occupied: The percentage of time the activity had entities but was not filled to capacity.
(100% of time – %Full – %Empty)
% Full: The percentage of time the activity was filled to capacity with entities.
Activity by % (Single Cap)
Activity Name: Names of all the activities that have been added to the model with statistics enabled and have a capacity of 1.
Scheduled Hours: Scheduled hours for the activity, defined in the properties dialog.
% Operation: The percentage of time the activity was actually processing an entity.
% Idle: The percentage of time that no entities were at the activity, but the activity was not down.
% Waiting: The percentage of time the activity was waiting for a resource or another entity in order to begin processing or move to the next activity. Any delays in processing routing Action logic are counted as waiting time.
% Blocked: The percentage of time entities spent waiting for a freed destination. “Blocked” means that an entity cannot move downstream in the model due to insufficient capacity at the next location. The entity has to sit at the current location after the normal processing time is complete until there is room available for it to move.
Resources
Resource Name: Names of all the resources that have been added to the model.
Units: Number of resources assigned, defined in the properties dialog.
Scheduled Hours: The total number of hours the resource was scheduled to be available, as determined by the assigned shift file, defined in the properties dialog.
Number of Times Used: The total number of times the resource has been acquired to transport or process an entity.
Average (Sec/Min/Hrs/Days) Per Usage: The average time the resource is used by an entity. Time value is based on what is selected in the Simulation \ Options window.
% Util: The percentage of time the resource spent moving or processing an entity.
(100 * (Number of Time Used * Average Minutes Per Usage)) / (Scheduled Hours * 60 min/hr)
Resources are reported both by unit and collectively. The collective unit (aggregate) report for a resource totals the first three fields and averages the last two fields discussed above.
Resource by %
Resource Name: Names of all the resources that have been added to the model.
Scheduled Hours: Total scheduled hours for the resource during simulation, defined in the properties dialog.
% in Use: The percentage of time the resource was being used by entities.
% Idle: The percentage of time the resource was available but not in use.
% Down: The percentage of time the resource was unavailable due to shifts or options selected in the Availability tab for the resource.
Variables
Variable Name: Names of all the variables that have been added to the model with statistics enabled.
Total Changes: The total number of times that the value of the given variable changed during the simulation.
Average (Sec/Min/Hrs/Days) Per Change: The average time that a given variable remained at any one value. Time value is based on what is selected in the Simulation \ Options window.
Minimum Value: The lowest value of the variable during the simulation.
Maximum Value: The highest value of the variable during the simulation.
Current Value: The final value of the variable when the simulation ended.
Average Value: The average value of the variable during the simulation.