Manufacturing Visualizer

IFS/Manufacturing Visualizer uses data visualization techniques which lets the user view a graphical representation of data in order to better understand the information and take necessary action.

IFS/Manufacturing Visualizer provides the possibility to view and manage the component availability for shop orders and to view machine and labor load using data selected in selected overview windows.

There are different categories of visualizations, such as labor availability, machine availability and shop orders material availability, and depending on the data in the overview window, the window may or may not be visualization-enabled.

Configuration

The user can decide which charts should be displayed in the current overview using the Visualization Settings dialog box. These charts will be saved in the user profile and the next time the overview window is opened by the user, the charts from the last session will be displayed. In the Visualization Settings dialog box, there is also a tab for general settings. These settings will take effect in all charts for the user. The options that can be modified for each user are:

Maximum Detail Lines in Tooltips - The maximum number of lines to be displayed in tooltips where the tooltip is displayed as a table.
Include Images in Tooltips - Include images connected to the object in the tool tip.
Touch-Friendly Menus - Provides bigger icons and the possibility to multiselect without the keyboard. The main purpose of this setting is to give the user the option to use IFS/Manufacturing Visualizer on a touch enabled screen.
Enable Crosshair - Controls whether the red cross should be visible when the user selects a point in the chart.
Week Number or First Day of Week under Display Week as - It is possible to either indicate the week by the first day of the week (ISO weeks) or the week number. This will be displayed when a chart is grouped as Per Week.

Visualization-enabled overview windows have alternate views that can be accessed through Data View and Visualization View on the title bar. The Data View displays the records in tabular form while the Visualization View allows the user to view the same data in diagrammatic form. The users can toggle between the views as required. Each visualization-enabled window has a library of charts which can be selected and customized by the user. A maximum of four charts can be presented at a given time. The area in which the chart is displayed is called a placeholder. When a query is performed in the Visualization View, it can sometimes take a while for the results to load. If you want to modify the query (for example, to include less results), it is possible to perform new query even if previous query is still in progress.

Parameter Subscription - It is possible to use connections between charts to reflect the data selection of a publishing chart on subscribing charts. Click on the transmit/receive icon on the topmost right-hand corner of the placeholder and click Publish Parameters to use the chart as master.

To be able to use the publishing in other charts, at least one other chart needs to be set up as either Subscribe to Parameters or Both Publish and Subscribe to Parameters. Click the transmit/receive icon on the topmost right-hand corner of the placeholder on that chart and click Subscribe to Parameters and the selection on the master chart will be reflected in the current chart. If Both Publish and Subscribe Parameters is selected, then the data displayed on the chart will change based on selection of a publishing chart while data can also be selected in the current chart and published on another chart that subscribes to parameters. When using this option, the chart will only subscribe to parameters when no segment in that chart is selected. It is also possible to prevent both subscribing and publishing of parameters by selecting Neither Publish nor Subscribe Parameters. When this option is selected, the chart will always show the original result from the query. When the query results large set of data record, display of visualizer charts will take time. In that case user can abort the chart population or perform a new query which resulted less data and therefore fast in execution.

When there are several charts set up as publisher and segments selected in more than one of those charts, all these segments are considered and will affect the other charts that are set up as Subscribe to Parameters or Both Publish and Subscribe Parameters. The filtering will be done on each selected segment from the publishing charts and the result is an intersection of all selections on the subscribing charts. However, if two selections that have no intersection are made there are no results as each publisher will fine tune the filtering when there are multiple publishers. For more information about the parameters that each chart can publish and subscribe to, read the detailed About Description for each chart category.

The visualizations which were displayed during the previous session are saved to the user profile, i.e., when the visualization-enabled overview window is revisited, the visualizations that were shown during the previous instance that the window was accessed are displayed. If the user desires to have different configurations for the same window, it is also possible to use the framework functionality to create a shortcut from the current page. In order to do this, configure the Visualization View as required, and perform a relevant query. Next, right-click on Shortcuts on the left of the screen, click Add and then click Current Page. This shortcut will be saved in the current user's profile, and clicking it will load the overview (in either Visualization or Data View, depending on the setting in which the user created the shortcut). In Visualization View, the window will contain the visualizations that the user has decided to display. The query that is used when this shortcut is accessed is the same query that was used when the shortcut was created.

Some settings cannot be saved in the shortcut but will be configured based on the user profile. These settings are as follows:

Capacity Type - Theoretical/Available
Supply Options - Include/Exclude Requisitions
Per Day/Per Week
Group By options
X-Axis - Date Required/Latest Order Date

The following right mouse button options are available as configuration options in the Visualization View.

Select Visualization - The Select Visualization dialog box is opened. The library of charts available for the window will be displayed and a chart can be selected.
Maximize Visualization - The placeholder can be maximized using the right mouse button option. This can also be performed by double-clicking on the placeholder.
Restore Visualization - The placeholder can be restored to the default size using the right mouse button option. This can also be performed by double-clicking on the placeholder. This option will be displayed only when the placeholder is maximized.

Common Actions

The following options are available in the Visualization View.

Snapshot - The chart can be printed, saved as a .png file or copied to the clipboard using the right mouse button option.
Zoom - A particular area in a bar chart can be zoomed into by selecting the area.
Show/Hide - Data points in the charts can be displayed and hidden from view by clicking on an item in the legend.
Tool Tip - Pointing to a particular data point will display detailed information about it.
Remove Filter - The current parameters will be removed and the default chart for the data retrieved to the overview window will be displayed.
Back - Navigate back to the chart which was displayed prior to the current chart.

Chart Library

The chart library consists of a collection of charts that will be loaded based on the data that is queried in the overview window. The charts are divided into different categories.

Glossary

Chart – Each graphical representation of data is called a chart.
Data Point – When you select a specific point in the chart, the tool tip will display extra information about the object.
Neither Publish Nor Subscribe - This chart will only show information from the overview and will not be affected by selections of other charts.
Segment – A section of data that can be selected on a pie chart is called a segment.
Subscribe - The chart will only display data either from the overview or from another chart that publishes data whether you select something in this chart or not, i.e., this chart will not be used to send information to the other charts.
Placeholder – The area where the chart is displayed.
Publish - Each time you select an object inside that chart, the selected object will be sent to other charts that either subscribes or both publishes and subscribes.
Publish and Subscribe - Each time you select an object inside that chart, the selected object will be sent to other charts that either subscribe or both publish and subscribe. But on the other hand, if you select something in another chart that is set as Publish or both Publish and Subscribe, this chart will be updated with data from that selection.