Preactor 12.1 SP1 Release Notes

Transcription

1 Preactor International Ltd. A Siemens Company Preactor 12.1 SP1 Release Notes Copyright Preactor International. All rights reserved.

2 Contents 1 Overview Schema Change Warning New Features and Enhancements Import Improvements Import Sources Wizard Based Matrix Import Scripts Removed Import Table Limitations Native 64-bit Support Performance Improvements Expressions Dynamic Indexing API Methods GMPS Viewer Detailed Change Notes Preactor Features and Enhancements Defect Fixes Preactor 12.1 SP Features and Enhancements Defect Fixes Known Issues Deployment Licensing Import Evaluate Fields APS Sequencer GMPS Planner Feature End of Life Notices MANIP Module Legacy Material Control Legacy GMPS Schedule Analysis... 17

3 5.5 ActiveX tools and rules... 17

4 1 Overview This document describes the new features and enhancements in Preactor 12.1, as well as detailing any defect fixes and considerations for upgrade scenarios. The primary objective with this release of Preactor is to improve data integration with enhanced import facilities. However, as detailed throughout this document, there are a number of significant enhancements that, while beneficial to data integration, also benefit Preactor in other areas, leading to enhanced performance and improved behaviour in a number of key areas. It is recommended that you read this document before upgrading to Preactor As always, it is important to plan any deployment and take steps to ensure that you are able to recover from any unforeseen issues. It is recommended that a backup of the database and configuration is taken prior to attempting any upgrade. While every effort is made to ensure that upgrading from one version of Preactor to another is as seamless as possible, it is nevertheless sensible to take such precautions. 1.1 Schema Change Warning This warning is only applicable when upgrading an existing Preactor configuration from a previous release. This does not apply to new deployments; the configurations that ship with Preactor 12.1 require no changes to the database schema and are ready for use. When upgrading from a previous release, Preactor 12.1 requires some changes are made to the database schema. Preactor will detect that changes are required and prompt you to update your schema. Changes to the database schema are irreversible and previous versions of Preactor will not open a database with a later schema version. For this reason you should always take a backup before upgrading Preactor. The best way to take a backup is to initiate the Preactor Configuration Manager from with your Preactor configuration by selecting the Generate Support File option from within the Help and Support category.

5 2 New Features and Enhancements This section describes the major new features and enhancements introduced with this release of Preactor. This is not an exhaustive description, but covers the most significant changes. For a more complete list, please refer to the Detailed Change Notes. 2.1 Import Improvements To facilitate improved data integration, the existing import functionality has been enhanced to support importing from more sources and some limitations on target tables have been removed. In addition, wizard driven imports for Preactor specific field types such as auto lists and auto dimension matrix fields have been included in this release Import Sources Previous releases of Preactor provided native support for importing from CSV files. Now, as well as selecting from CSV files, it is possible to select from a number of other data sources including SQL Server, Oracle, Access and Excel. Provided the query syntax is understood, data can be queried from almost any data source and imported directly into Preactor. The procedure for defining import scripts is unchanged, aside from the steps required to define the data source and the query for the source data. Existing import scripts will continue to work without modification, though CSV parsing is now based on a standard parser, so special care should be taken to ensure that any input CSV files are compliant and any necessary escape sequences are correctly employed Wizard Based Matrix Import Scripts While features do exist in previous releases of Preactor for importing data into auto list fields, those features are file based, require a fixed header definition and could not be defined using the import wizard. This approach is not suitable for importing data from alternative data sources. Though the existing matrix import features continue to function, a new form of import script has also been introduced in this release to facilitate importing into these field types from whatever data source you have defined. Auto dimension matrix fields, such as those used for sequence dependent setup times, are also supported. For more information on how to define import scripts for matrix fields, please refer to the user documentation Removed Import Table Limitations In previous releases of Preactor, there were some limitations on the target table of an import script that have been lifted in this release. Firstly, in order to be able to import into a table, previous released required that the table was listed in the PIO Valid Formats table. This is no longer necessary, and any user data table can be the target of an import script. In addition to this, a target table would require an IMPORT MARKER field to be defined on that table. This is no longer necessary, and IMPORT MARKER fields can be removed from target tables, provided that there is no subsequent process that relies on the IMPORT MARKER values. Finally, though not a limitation that affects only import scripts, the table size limit as defined in the Preactor table definition (.prtdf) file is no longer a hard limit on the table size. This table size limit no

6 longer needs to be defined for any table and may be removed. If a table limit is specified, that limit will be reported through the API method MaximumRecords() for compatibility reasons only. 2.2 Native 64-bit Support Preactor is now available in both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) variants. The 64-bit variant will execute as a native 64-bit process on a 64-bit operating system. In this scenario, Preactor has access to far more resources and can solve larger and more complex problems as a result. For Preactor configurations that have been customised with scheduling rules, PESP custom actions or sequencer or editor tools, some consideration should be given to this change. If those customizations depend on components that are 32-bit only, they will not work with the 64-bit variant of Preactor, and the 32-bit variant should be used instead. This is applicable to all components that were authored in Visual Basic 6 or earlier. Components authored in a.net language are generally agnostic to processor architecture, but their dependencies can still be 32-bit only. A.Net project that is compiled for a specific architecture (e.g. x86), and not Any CPU, will also fail to execute within the 64-bit variant of Preactor. Another point for consideration is COM registration. It is likely that existing components are registered as 32-bit components, and therefore 64-bit Preactor will be unable to resolve them. Components should be re-registered using 64-bit versions of the registration tools. If components are deployed as part of an installation package, that package will need updating accordingly. 2.3 Performance Improvements As part of an on-going programme of performance improvements, some significant alterations to key areas of Preactor have been made for this release. The emphasis is on areas of the software that affect import performance. The improvements detailed below each play into that theme Expressions Evaluate expressions are a powerful feature in Preactor, allowing for dynamic calculations in table definitions, event scripts, material control rules and through many other Preactor features. This release of Preactor sees the evaluate expression engine completely overhauled to provide significant improvements in evaluate performance as well as some improvements in behaviour. To facilitate these improvements, expressions are now parsed at the earliest opportunity, and the resulting expression tree is then re-used, yielding rapid execution along with more deterministic behaviour. Expressions are now executed on-demand, rather than being updated periodically. This eliminates delays in initialisation. See the API Methods section for more information on how this affects the API. In previous releases of Preactor, one would often need to give much consideration for execution order and operator precedence, as well as avoiding value injection issues which could result in altering the meaning of an expression. All of these considerations have been addressed in this release. For a full explanation of the syntax and behaviour, please refer to the customization documentation. It should be noted that expression syntax is more strictly enforced in this release than it was in previous releases. For this reason, any errors in expression syntax will become apparent when upgrading, and should be addressed as part of the upgrade procedure.

7 Columns which are defined with an EVALUATE classification are now represented in the database as computed columns. This means that those columns may be referenced in reports, but Preactor no longer has to commit to the database the evaluated value. Should you wish to omit these computed columns from the database, a new classification is provided for that purpose. For more information, see the documentation for the classification EXCLUDE FROM DB Dynamic Indexing When resolving record references, Preactor often needs to lookup values on columns defined within the configuration. Indexing aids these lookups and significantly reduces the time required to complete the operation. While indexes were applied in some strategic scenarios in previous releases of Preactor, often relationships would need to be resolved without the aid of an index. In this release, indexes are dynamically created on any defined column as and when required. This aids performance in many different areas API Methods EvaluateRecord() Due to the improvements in the expression engine, the EvaluateRecord() method is now defunct, and performs no useful action. Calling the method will cause no harm, but code that utilizes this method should be reviewed, and calls to this method removed at the earliest opportunity. EvaluateExpression() EvaluateExpression() works in a different context to evaluate expressions that are defined on columns, and therefore a different approach to performance is required for this method. Given that the method takes an expression as an argument, that expression could change every time the method is called. To achieve the objective of parse once, execute many, this method is backed with an expression cache which stores the most frequently executed expressions. Performance is improved because of this approach, but executing expressions using this method will be more expensive than defining the expression on the table, which would be the preferred approach if possible. FindMatchingRecord() As well as benefiting from improvements in expression performance, which are applicable when using an expression as an argument to the FindMatchingRecord() method, the method is now backed by the Dynamic Indexing described above. This will apply an index to columns that are used with FindMatchingRecord(), drastically reducing the time required to find items. CreateRecord() & DeleteRecord() CreateRecord() and DeleteRecord() have been optimised to improve performance. The improvements are most apparent when working with large data sets. 2.4 GMPS Viewer Supported as of this release is a new GMPS product called GMPS viewer. Similar to the Preactor APS Viewer product, this product facilitates the sharing of a GMPS plan between several users without the need for further GMPS 400 licenses. Unlike the Preactor APS viewer, it is not possible to manipulate any element of the plan in a GMPS Viewer.

8 For existing GMPS 400 users it is necessary to update the license, as some features that were not previously license constrained are now constrained by the license. To request a license update, please contact support@preactor.com.

9 3 Detailed Change Notes 3.1 Preactor Features and Enhancements Preactor is now available as a true 64-bit application. The expression parsing performance has been improved. Preactor will now automatically restart the previous configuration after a crash. Improved the performance of costing calculations. Improved the performance of the API method FindMatchingRecord(). Improved the performance of the API method CreateRecord(). Improved the performance of the API method DeleteRecord(). A number of obsolete classifications have been removed from the product. APPEND LIST, AUTO CALCULATE, CALENDAR CONTROL, CALENDAR GROUP, CAMPAIGN, COLUMN POSITION, CONCATENATE CONTROL, CONCATENATE SUM, CONCATONATE CONTROL, CONCATONATE SUM, CONSTRAINT LIMIT CHECK, CONTAINER DISPLAY, CONTAINER ICON, CONTAINER ICON BACKGROUND, CONTAINER ICON FOREGROUND, CONTAINER TYPE, COST FACTOR, CREATE SEARCH INDEX, DESPATCH RULE, DISABLE IF UNUSED, DISPLAY RIGHT, DYNAMIC SORT FIELD, EFFICIENCY, FORCE STRING CALCULATION, GANTT BAR MAX, GANTT BAR WIDTH, GANTT GROUP, GANTT LEGEND, GRAPH SET VALUE, H DURATION, H END, H SETUP START, H START, HELPID, ICON STAMP, INSTANT UPDATE, JOB SELECTION RULE, JOB SELECTION WINDOW, MATRIX MAXIMUM, MATRIX TOTAL, NEW FIELD, NO COMPONENT UPDATE, OLD FIELD, PREVENT SETUP, PRIMARY RESOURCE, RESOURCE SELECTION RULE, REVERSE SORT LIST, RUN NUMBER, SEQ CONTAINER, SEQ RATE, SEQ RESOURCE TYPE, SPARSE SAVE, STAMP CONTROL, START REFERENCE, STATIC SORT FIELD, STRING IN FILE A GMPS Viewer Product is now available. o As a result of the new GMPS product availability, any existing GMPS license will need to be updated if upgrading to this or a later release from V12.0. Please contact support@preactor.com to update your license. Added a new classification EXCLUDE FROM DB. This classification can be used to exclude a column from the database. This is especially useful for evaluated columns that are otherwise not required in the database. Added Before Unallocate All as a PESP event Defect Fixes Fixed an issue where OPENING STOCK and OPENING STOCK TIME classification would cause a secondary constraint to ignore its calendar GRAPH HIGH VALUE and GRAPH LOW VALUE classifications are now obsolete Changed truncation from the left side to the right side of a plot axis label where the axis label for a plot exceeds the calculated margin. Increased the minimum allocated margin for plots to handle up to Hours by default. Fixed an issue where the 'Fit to Items' option would not include orders loaded in the Comparative Trace Chart

10 Fixed issue that could prevent resizing the sequencer window when certain plots are visible in the multi plot window. Fixed an issue where changing the case of a field name would cause Preactor to shut down. Fixed an issue where SetInterOrderLinks() would not return the expected value. Fixed an issue where API method GetResourceQueueName() would cause a memory exception if queues have not been initialised. Fixed an issue where the locate window would remain available after leaving the editor. Fixed issue where dragging and dropping operations which significantly changed a sequence dependent setup time could change the sequence of operations on the planning board. Fixed an issue where Efficiency values were not retained when creating new calendar templates from existing templates. Removed all remaining functionality for AUTO CALCULATE. Fixed a defect where a custom image link defined using an invalid drive would crash Preactor. Fixed an issue where only one order number would be reported by Validate Schedule when an operation is out of sequence relative to operations in another order. Fixed an issue where Save Schedule Copy would return the same value for CustomCheckRecordNumber as Save Schedule As. Added new property to the API called ScheduleDespiteShortages() to enable and disable scheduling despite shortages. Improved sequencing performance when using the MATCH FIELD classification. Fixed an issue where attempting to use PCO when PCO is disabled would cause an exception. Fixed issue where the last operation of an order enquiry may fail to schedule, or fail to highlight properly Fixed issue that caused the sequencer to take a very long time to determine that operations with unachievable constraint requirements could not be sequenced. Improved performance of RankQueueByCriticalRatio() when using the Dynamic ranking criteria. Fixed the PESP action Set Record Refresh. Fixed an issue where the SEQ EFFECTIVE PROCESS TIME field would be calculated incorrectly when changing a resource efficiency. Improved sequencer progress bar display update frequency. Fixed an issue where text and toolbar customisations from other languages will appear when switching languages. As a result toolbar customisations are now culture specific. Fixed an issue if invalid font and sizes were selected in the planner Resolved an issue where entering a non-numeric characters into the Set Planning Horizon fields would result in an exception message. Added stronger validation when saving the planner horizon settings. Fixed an issue where you could not over type a dataset name when saving the plan. Fixed an issue where it was not possible to export a Preactor report to HTML. Fixed an issue where filter lists in editor windows would sometimes not refresh. Resolved an issue where Preactor would crash after an automatic license repair.

11 Fixed an issue where switching to the Planning Resource Multi Plot View after deleting a dataset would cause an exception. Fixed an issue with the capacity alerts window not updating when dragging capacity to a different resource on the capacity multi plot window. Removed the PESP action 'Evaluate Record', which is no longer required. Writing a value to an evaluated field will now cause an 'Invalid field type' exception. Fixed issue whereby use of a START OFFSET value on a DURATION field caused the start offset to be taken from the setup start time and not the process start time. Resolved an issue where sorting the Demand Colours table in the planner would result in the colours not updating. Fixed an issue where the advanced pivot view would not maintain headers when scrolling. Fixed an issue in the planner where the capacity could overload if run in Move mode if the items re-order multiple is higher than the available capacity. Fixed an issue with the stock profile selector losing selection when focus is lost on the window. Fixed a refresh issue with the alerts window filters being lost when making a change to the plan. Fixed an issue where events could cause user code or PESP scripts to execute before a user has logged in if the security module is enabled. Resolved an issue where the Dynamic Bottleneck and Min WIP APS rules were broken since they attempted to write to the 'due date' field. It is not possible to do this since it is an evaluated field and is read only. Resolved an issue in the Planner where there was a rounding issue with lead times against the BoM. This happened when the plan was in variable hours. Resolved an issue where the Bar Text configuration (i.e. the text that is displayed in the bar on the overview) was not maintained over Sequencer restarts. The Bar Tool now places items in its lists in alphabetical order. Fixed an issue where an operations could not be dragged around or off the planning board on the first click if the overview window did not have focus. Fixed an issue whereby 'Res. Specific Rate Per Hour' was missing as a Capacity UoM against the items format in the Mixed Planning example configuration. Fixed an issue where restoring the unallocated operations window may fail when saved in a workspace as a tabbed window. Fixed an issue where the Sequencer would report errors when the Bar Tool was passed an exclude expression Resolved an issue where the highlighting of constraint usage (by clicking and dragging on a constraint plot) did not work when the Bar Tool or Reports and the Editor windows were open. Default values can no longer be set for fields that have been mapped in the Import Wizard. Fixed an issue where an incorrect SEQ EFFECTIVE PROCESS TIME value would be calculated for operations with a transfer batch value less than the quantity when validating a schedule using the 'Validate Schedule' tool in the sequencer. Fixed issue that caused BackTestOpOnResource() to run slowly.

12 Resolved an issue where field names would not show correctly in import/export script wizards. Fixed an issue where FindMatchingRecord() would not return the correct value when searching for a value that does not exist. Fixed an Issue where the 'Enable Shelf life' option is not being tested during capacity calculations. Resolved an issue where repeating the Calculate MPS action would give an incorrect result. Fixed an issue where the calendars are not displayed correctly when displaying the overview in Utilization Mode. Fixed an issue where resetting toolbar settings in a different language would cause English settings (text) to be loaded instead of the current language. Fixed a display issue where the Demand Date field would show as a Double instead of Date Time if the capacity plots are shown by Item in the planner. Fixed an issue where the calendar resource names would not be properly updated. Fixed an issue in the planner whereby the item calendars are ignored if the item is planned weekly mode. Fixed an index out of range issue whilst dragging demand bars on the stock profile chart. Fixed an issue where an index out of range exception would be raised whilst using the global filter in the planner. Resolved an issue where attempting to backward sequence an order from a position where the first operation(s) of the order would align their start time with the terminator time would result in those first operation(s) remaining unallocated. Fixed an issue with incorrect capacity levels against a planning resource if planning in weekly mode. Fixed an issue saving the plan if the planner tab is not in focus. Fixed an issue where the 'Sort By', 'Filter', 'Locate By', 'Selective Assign' and 'Global Assign' editor controls could not be retrieved when those tools were placed on toolbars rather than menus in the sequencer. Fixed an issue with printing the GMPS planner showing the print preview dialog even if cancel was being pressed. Fixed an issue with MPS Values being reset when exploding bill of material requirements running in infinite capacity mode. Fixed an issue with the total days of cover calculation not calculating correctly when planning in weeks. Fixed an issue with data corruption in the planner when using the append to cycle option. Fixed an issue where GMPS was unable to save a plan when in Spanish/Portuguese languages. Fixed an issue where out of life production was not being reset when planning in weeks. Fixed an issue which resulted in operations placed on planning board out of sequence when using MADE FROM classification. Fixed an issue where Preactor would place operations on the planning board later than necessary when recursively scheduling linked operations where shifts have varying lengths. Improved performance of Drag and Drop by removing unnecessary recalculation of secondary constrains.

13 Fixed an issue where order enquiry might fail erroneously in 'made from' configurations. Fixed an issue where the API couldn't be used during an 'After File Load' event. 3.2 Preactor 12.1 SP Features and Enhancements Added encoding options when importing from file. Options are 'Unicode' or 'Windows Encoding'. Each option allows several sub-options. Default, in the case of 'Windows Encoding', means use the current locale to determine the code page to use. In each case the encoding or code page can be explicitly set. Added schema upgrade tasks to add required encoding fields to the Import/Export scripts table. If upgrading from 12.0 or earlier then the assumed encoding will be Windows Encoding (Default). If upgrading from an existing release of 12.1 the assumed encoding will be Unicode (UTF-8) Defect Fixes Fixed an issue where the separator specified in an import script would be ignored if Preactor is not running in English and the separator names have been translated. Fixed issue where Preactor would fail to import SQL dates where a time element is specified but the imported value is at midnight. Improved the capacity smoothing process in GMPS for items with similar days of cover. Fixed an issue where the Open Planning Board method GetAvailableCapacity() could get into an infinite loop where a job ends and a calendar shift starts at precisely the same time. Fixed an issue where resource names in the overview window could be corrupted if the resource name field has an EVALUATE defined. Fixed an issue where the example configurations contained incorrect time formatters in their import scripts. Fixed an issue using calendar edit mode in Dutch. Fixed an issue where regional settings could affect the parsing of dates and times when importing with an explicit formatter defined. Resolved an issue whereby a DB upgrade failed if there were no import or export scripts defined. Fixed an issue where fields that have a name that correlates to a SQL keyword would cause a schema upgrade step to fail. Fixed an issue which prevented the renaming of tables using the PREVIOUS TABLE NAME classification. Fixed an issue where NULL values would not be evaluated correctly within the corresponding computed column in the database. Fixed an issue where evaluating many expressions could cause an ACCESS VIOLATION or unpredictable results. Fixed issue where import scripts fail to apply default values where the field name is translated. Fixed an issue where EVALUATEs would fail to convert to a computed column when a comparison to an empty string existed.

14 Fixed an issue where existing matrix imports might not work if a separator other than a comma is used. Fixed an issue where duration fields with custom formats were not imported correctly.

15 4 Known Issues 4.1 Deployment Upgrades and Side-by-side Due to changes in technology, Preactor 12.1 has limited compatibility with previous versions of Preactor 12 and Preactor 11. If older versions of Preactor are installed after Preactor 12.1 a number of ActiveX related issues will arise, such as GetTypeInfoCount messages and errors when running certain Preactor modules. To resolve this uninstall all versions of Preactor and then re-install in chronological order (i.e then 12.1). The product allows the side by side installation of both the 32 bit and 64 bit version. This is not supported, and should not be done. If it is done by mistake - uninstall the version not required, and repair or re-install the version that is. 4.2 Licensing Network License Activation If activate is selected, the user is given the choice to activate either local or network license. Only local licenses can be activated and the network license option should not be offered or used. Offline License Upgrades When a user generates a manual upgrade, a request is generated and stored in the licensing storage. If a new manual upgrade is created, this cancels the existing request and generates a new one. If a user then tries to apply the result of the first request, it will fail. This can leave their license in an inconsistent state. 4.3 Import Import with Country Code Some demonstration data may not be compatible with all languages. Running a configuration in a language where Day, Hours and Mins has been translated on DURATION field type, values in DURATION type fields such as Op. Time Per Item or Batch Time etc. may not be interpreted correctly when importing data from the import files that ship with the product, resulting in incorrect operation times and operations that cannot be scheduled. The workaround is to modify the import file to use the language equivalent for Days, Hours, Mins etc. 4.4 Evaluate Fields Configuration Changes and Evaluate Fields The process which makes schema changes to the database in response to changes to the Preactor Table Definition file can fail when fields with an EVALUATE classification are removed. The process fails if a field with an EVALUATE classification is removed at the same time as one or more fields referenced by the EVALUATE statement. The workaround is to remove the field with the EVALUATE statement, run Preactor so the database is changed, and then remove the remaining fields.

16 4.5 APS Sequencer Backward scheduling with constraints Backward Scheduling an infinite capacity resource with a secondary constraint on setup time only, does not work as expected. It works like a finite resource. Highlighting All Bi-Directional Ops Highlighting all bi-directional ops in a configuration with material control will highlight operations following all material relationships, rather than just the immediate predecessors and successors. Rounding Issue causing SMC shortages An issue exists in Preactor where Date/Time values can lose accuracy after a round trip to the database. This can manifest in a number of ways and typically causes operation sequences that were valid on commit to become invalid on load. To work around this issue on SQL Server 2008 or later, the data type for DateTime columns should be changed to DateTime2. MATCH FIELD and Backward Sequencing This is an incompatibility between two features. The use of MATCH FIELD only works with forward sequencing. Increment for Setup and Backwards Sequencing This is an incompatibility between the two features. The problem causes the setup time to be applied twice. 4.6 GMPS Planner Out of Life Production in Constrained Mode In a Make to Order GMPS configuration in Constrained Mode, when planning in Hours, Update Out of Life production needs to be called to refresh the values to state if any production goes out of life.

17 5 Feature End of Life Notices 5.1 MANIP Module The MANIP module and all of its functions are deprecated. This module will be removed in an upcoming version of the software and selected features will be replaced with alternatives. 5.2 Legacy Material Control The material control module issued prior to version Preactor 11.0 and associated functionality (includes Static Material Control or SMC, legacy PBX, Dynamic Material Control or DMC) will be removed in an upcoming version of the software. We recommend migrating to the latest version of the material control module. 5.3 Legacy GMPS Legacy GMPS has been replaced by Preactor 400GMPS (introduced in version 12.0). Legacy GMPS features will be removed in an upcoming version of the software. We recommend migrating to the Planner module. 5.4 Schedule Analysis The Schedule Analysis feature has been superseded by the SQL Schedule Analysis Reports. This feature will be removed in an upcoming version of the software. 5.5 ActiveX tools and rules The Preactor COM interface has been deprecated and will be replaced by a new API in a future release. We recommend all developers to reduce their dependency on the Preactor COM objects (PreactorObj and OpenPlanningBoard) and instead use the interfaces IPreactor and IPlanningBoard.