RAD-IT Tool Training. June 2017

Transcription

1 Welcome to overview of the RAD-IT Output. This training is designed for transportation professionals who want to understand how to use RAD-IT tool to create regional and project ITS architectures. The training discusses how to use the RAD-IT tool and provides a basic overview of the tool that has been developed to support ARC-IT use. 13-1

2 Upon completion of this module, you will be able to: Create diagrams Create multiple diagrams using batch capability Create focus tables Generate an output document Generate a customized website This module will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Let s look at these topics first then at the end of the Module in a hands-on exercise so you will perform these activities in RAD-IT. 13-2

3 There are a lot of ways to use outputs from RAD-IT. RAD-IT can help with descriptions of regional and project architectures for documentation or outreach. It can provide various diagnostic reports while creating the architecture. As the architecture is created, the user needs to identify stakeholders. Since the stakeholders for the region or project are already in the database, it can be useful for developing agreements. Once the interfaces are defined, the database can help you identify appropriate ITS standards. 13-3

4 Most architectures are very complex, so now we will look at how you can focus and narrow the scope of the output. So far we ve seen some examples of generating diagrams or reports based on the entire architecture. Fortunately our examples have been fairly limited, so it was easy to see the entire diagram or flip through the entire table. What happens if my architecture is fairly large? The diagrams become very large. If you scale them down to fit on a regular sheet of paper you can t read anything. Some of the reports also get massive for even moderately sized architectures. RAD-IT provides a couple of ways to narrow the scope of your output to increase legibility but also to zero-in on a particular stakeholder or system. 13-4

5 The Element Selection window lets you pick which elements will be included in your outputs. It includes a list of the elements taken straight from the inventory of the regional and any project architectures that are in the RAD-IT database. You click the boxes in the Include column to check or uncheck the elements you want to include. There is a short cut button to Select All or to Clear All. If you are working with a project architecture there is also a short cut button to only include the elements associated with the project. The Show All Interfaces checkbox at the top is typically used when some elements are selected and you want to capture all the direct interfaces with those elements. For example, if you select only the TOMATO regional Traveler Information element and select Show All Interfaces, you will get a context diagram showing TOMATO with all the elements with which it interfaces. We will look at the Show All Interfaces option in more detail later. The Show Communications Elements checkbox, when selected, adds an additional column on the right side of the screen labeled Type. As shown in the figure the bottom two elements are Communications types meaning they do not have transportation functionality but enable transportation elements to communicate through them. We will look a the Show Communications Elements option in more detail later. RAD-IT preserves the element selections in a database,so it is always a good idea to check them before making a report or diagram. Image Description: RAD-IT screen capture shows the element selection window for the Marinara regional ITS architecture. 13-5

6 When you open the Filters window, from any entry point, the first thing you ll see is the Summary tab showing which filters types are turned on or off. You can filter output based on type of physical objects, interconnects, flows and/or Service Packages. Each type of filter has a tab in the Filters window from which you set the options for it. Let s look at each type of filter now. Image Description: This RAD-IT screen capture of the Filters window shows the Summary tab with all of the filters types turned off. 13-6

7 On the inventory tab, every element in the architecture was mapped to subsystem(s) and/or terminator(s). There are five classes of subsystem or terminators and three types of them. You can filter output based on an elements mapping to an physical object class and/or type. For example, you could focus on only center elements in an architecture but deselecting everything except the Center Class. Image Description: This RAD-IT screen capture of the Filters window shows the Physical Objects tab with the Classes and Types sections showing all the checkboxes checked (which is the default). 13-7

8 Another way to filter outputs is by interconnect type. The type of interconnects are based upon the physical object types between which they go, i.e. center element to center element, center element to field element, etc. Unlike filtering by physical objects, filtering by interconnects only affects the reports related to interfaces. Image Description: This RAD-IT screen capture of the Filters window shows the Interconnects tab showing all the checkboxes checked (which is the default). 13-8

9 Another way to filter outputs related to interfaces is by architecture flows. Flows contain either information or requests for information. You can filter out all request flows or all information flows. In order to declutter your diagrams it is common not to include request flows, just showing the exchange of actual information. The final way to filter by flows is by the status of the flows as assigned on the interfaces tab. In the example shown, there are three status values of existing, planned and future. Remember that you can add and customize the status values through the RAD-IT menu (Tools-Update Status) as presented in Module 2 of this course. Image Description: This screen capture of the RAD-IT Filters window shows the Flows tab showing all the checkboxes checked (which is the default). 13-9

10 The final way to filter outputs is by service package. You can show all service packages or a single service package. Service package specific reports and diagrams can be drawn using this filter. Image Description: This screen capture of the 2 RAD-IT Filters window shows the Service Packages tab showing All & the Show Only This Service Package radio button selected and the DM01: ITS Data Warehouse service package selected

11 Time for a Knowledge Check. RAD-IT Tool s Output Filters window does not allow you to filter on: Entities Elements Interconnects Flows (Click to highlight the correct answer) The correct answer is Elements. You need to use the Element Selection window to filter by elements

12 From output tool bar you are able to produce diagrams for a completed or partially defined Regional or Project Architecture. To view the diagram output for an architecture, you select Output then Diagrams from the tool bar at the top of the RAD-IT window. This opens the output diagram window. You can traverse through the categories to produces the diagrams. Image Description: An image of the RAD-IT Output tool bar, with Diagrams highlighted, is shown. A large arrow from the highlighted diagrams selection dialog box

13 We all like to personalize things and RAD-IT gives you the ability to customize your diagrams. For interconnect and flow diagrams (but not Subsystem diagrams) you can select the Settings button from the Diagrams window to tailor how the diagrams will look. Some of this is purely cosmetic and you can spend all day playing with color schemes but there is some architecture information that you can convey here as well. You can set it up so that your diagrams will distinguish between the elements that have functions defined (i.e. are mapped as a subsystem) and those that don t (i.e. are only mapped as a terminator). Then, at a glance, you can see which are the core systems of the architecture and which are on the boundary. There are two tabs for diagram settings: Shapes (as shown in the left diagram) On the left side of the tab, there are three types of shapes that you can edit: 1. Transportation Element with defined functions which will also display an optional Stakeholder label in the upper part of the shape, 2. Transportation Element with no defined functions, and 3. Communications Element. 4. On the right side, you can edit the attributes of the selected shape including choosing the shape style, including or not the stakeholder title and changing the color of the title background and text and body background and text. Lines (as shown in the right diagram) On the left side of the tab, you select the type of line, which is based on status value, to edit. In RAD-IT, not only can you create your own status values but here you can customize how the lines of the various status values will appear on diagrams. Image Description: This screen capture of the RAD-IT Diagram Settings windows shows the Shapes tab on the left side and the Lines tab on the right side

14 There are also some settings on the Diagrams window. The Saved Diagram Size allows pull down menu lets you decide how to handle complex diagrams. There are two sets of choices: Fixed Pixel and Scaleable. The fixed pixel choices are good for when you are going to import the diagram into another application and you need to know what the resolution will be or roughly how much memory it will use. As diagrams get really complex, you may find that you need to have them scaleable. This may be better suited for printing large drawings on a plotter. The best advice is to start with the default and if that doesn t work start experimenting with the options. Image Description: This screen capture of the RAD-IT Diagrams window shows the Saved Diagram Size pull down menu with 600X450 selected

15 The Batch feature of the Diagrams window allows you to generate many diagrams with a single command. For example, all interface diagrams or context diagrams for every element may be generated in batch mode based on user specified parameters. All Service Package diagrams can also be generated in batch mode. 1. Select the type of diagram to be batch generated: Interconnect or Flow on the Diagrams window. 2. Select the Batch option. Image Description: This screen capture of the RAD-IT Diagrams windows 13-15

16 RAD-IT includes tools to let you generate outputs in tabular form that you can use to generate documents or presentations about your project. These Output Tables provide a means to output the content from the main tabs into tabular formats that can be imported into other Microsoft Office automation products. From the Outputs tool bar, click Tables to bring up the Output Tables dialog. Click the 1st pull-down to Select Table. You can traverse through the categories to find the report you want. In the 2nd area select from the Available Columns which will vary depending on the table selected in the first step. Use the right arrow to select individual columns to include (they will then move to the Selected Columns area). You can also use the double right arrow to include all the columns. The Filters and Elements buttons work exactly as they do on the "Interfaces" tab and the Diagrams screen. They are only activated for tables for which they would apply, e.g. inventory, interfaces, etc

17 You can generating Web pages for a regional architecture directly from RAD-IT tool. At this time, Web pages cannot be created in RAD-IT for project architectures. Web page generation is accessed from the Output item on the menu bar. The Web Pages selection brings up a window that enables you to customize, create and view a complete Web site based on the regional architecture. Image Description: A screen capture of RAD-IT showing the menu item Output- Web Pages and its corresponding Control-W shortcut

18 To create a new Web site, you must first setup some basic information about the site by selecting the Setup button. As we will see later in this Module, you also have the ability to customize the text fonts, styles and colors used on the site. Once the setup is complete, the types of pages you wish to generate must be selected by checking the appropriate boxes in the Create section, on the left side of the window. Top-Level Web pages are, as the name implies, the pages directly accessible from the Web site, and cover the basic architecture components. The top-level pages provide hyperlinks to detailed Web pages, which provide details about the architecture components. The detailed pages in turn provide links to architecture diagrams. Once you have selected the types of pages to be created, you select the Create button to have RAD-IT generate the selected pages. Depending on the size of the architecture and the pages to be created, this could take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. The status panel displays the most recent operation. Once the Web site is created, you can use the View button to view it. When the View button is selected, RAD-IT opens the site in your default Web browser. Image Description: A screen capture is shown of the RAD-IT Web Pages window with arrows pointing to the Setup, Create, View and Close buttons, the three check boxes of the Create section and the status pane underneath

19 If you have Microsoft Word on the computer, you can generating a Microsoft Word document for a regional architecture from RAD-IT. A document can be created in RAD-IT for the regional or project architectures. Information from all ten tabs of RAD-IT can be included in sections of the document. Document generation is accessed from the Output item on the menu bar. Image Description: A screen capture of RAD-IT showing the menu item Output- Document

20 To create a new document, you must first setup some basic information about the document. First you should select whether you want to create the Word document with or without the interface diagrams by selecting the appropriate check boxes in the Create section. Then, by selecting the Setup button, you enter the location to store the document and what sections to include in it. Once the setup is complete, you select the Create button to have RAD-IT generate the document. Depending on the size of the architecture and the pages to be created, this could take anywhere from a few minutes to many hours. The status panel displays the most recent operation. Once the document is created, you can use the View button to view it. When the View button is selected, RAD-IT opens the document in Microsoft Word. Image Description: A screen capture is shown of the RAD-IT Document window with arrows pointing to the Setup, Create, View and Close buttons, the two check boxes of the Create section and the status pane underneath

21 Time for an exercise on website generation. The exercise will use the same database and architecture that was modified in the previous exercises. If it is not already open, open the marinaraforexercises database in RAD-IT. Select the Marinara County Regional Architecture. Let s look at the objective of the exercise before you begin it. Image Description: A symbol identifying this slide as part of a handson exercise is shown

22 In this exercise, we will customize and generate a Inventory table for the Marinara County ITS Architecture. Image Description: A symbol identifying this slide as part of a handson exercise is shown

23 Now perform the exercise following these steps. On outputs tab select Tables: Inventory Select Columns in this order: Stakeholder Element Element Description Status Create Output in Word or Excel 13-23

24 Develop Flow Diagram for TOMATO Project

25 The Marinara County IT department has specific look and feel requirements for any web site produced for the county government. Menu backgrounds must be beige, with black text and bright blue highlighted items. Headers and footers must be violet, with text in white. All web sites are designed for a 1024 pixel screen width. Image Description: A symbol identifying this slide as part of a hands-on exercise is shown

26 Let s do a knowledge check to wrap up the exercise. How many Elements are on TOMATO Flow Diagram? (Click to display the answer.) 13-26

27 You have completed Module 13: Project Architecture. You are now able to: Create diagrams Create multiple diagrams using batch capability Create focus tables Generate an output document Generate a customized web site Return to the training curriculum to select the next module. To close this window, select the "X" in the upper right hand corner of your screen