The following points explain the steps involved in carrying out a more detailed Input Path schedule. These steps incorporate some additional facilities available in XPAC Input Path scheduling.
Calendar database
| • | Create a new calendar database. Set up data fields to store the start date and any schedule inputs which vary over time. This may include equipment delays, equipment production rates, equipment numbers, production targets, etc. |
| • | Use the Calendar Wizard to automatically create the calendar database structure and to assign the start dates. The calendar may have multiple levels (eg. year, quarter, month). Different sections of the calendar structure may be at different levels. For example, the first year might be divided into quarter and month records, the second year might be divided into quarter records only and the remaining years might have no sub-division. The lowest level records in the calendar are used to define the Time Periods. |
| • | The calendar data can be entered manually or it can be assigned via an XCM. If you are planning to use the calendar to do many schedules over a long period of time, then it may be beneficial to write an XCM to assign the data, as it will be easier to update the data. Conversely, if the data is extremely variable then there may be no time benefit in writing an XCM versus entering the data manually. |
Schedule setup
| • | Attach the calendar database created above to the scenario. Assign the calendar date field and schedule start period in the calendar options. |
| • | Set up productive activities for each operation that you want to schedule. For example, Waste Drilling, Waste Mining and Ore Mining. Specify a zero test data field for each activity and make the relevant activities Active in your scenario. |
| • | Set up non productive activities that you want to schedule, such as public holidays, planned maintenance, deadheading, etc. |
| • | If any mining blocks have already been mined from the deposit, then add these blocks and their mined percentages to the list of mined out quantities. This list will be used for every scenario in your project. |
| • | Blocks that you are planning to mine by the start of the schedule scenario, should be added to the preschedule table list. Each scenario can have a different preschedule table. |
| • | Define the Dump fill characteristics. The actual dump blocks are created from within the Main database. In the schedule setup tree, the fill characteristics for each Dump are defined. These include the dump fill capacity, the field to accumulate when a record is sent to the dump and the definition of which activities can be delivered to the dump. |
| • | Create new resources to represent all equipment items and equipment fleets that you want to schedule. These resources can be assigned as either Input Path Target or Input Path Production Rate resources. |
| • | For each resource, set the activities that it will allowed to schedule. For those activities specify the Main database field that must be accumulated as records are scheduled (this is referred to as the accumulation field). For Input Path Production Rate resources, a production for each activity must also be specified. The production rate may reference either the main database, the calendar database or both databases. |
| • | For each resource, define the Production Details. For Input Path Target resources, this involves assigning a production target (typically stored in a calendar data field). For Input Path Production Rate resources, this involves assigning a fleet size, availability and utilisation (typically stored in calendar data fields) and the Input Path Dependencies settings. |
| • | For each activity that the resource may schedule, the default destination must be specified. The default destination may be set to Product, Stockpile, Dump Path, Classified Field or Advanced Destination. For example, Waste Mining could be set to Dump Path, Low Grade Ore Mining could be set to Stockpile and High Grade Ore Mining could be set to Product. |
| • | For each resource, create a roster to represent the hours during which the equipment will normally operate. |
| • | For each resource, create a set of roster exceptions to represent the exceptions to the roster specified for the resource. These may include planned maintenance shutdowns and public holidays. |
| • | For each resource, create a set of period delays to represent the delays that occur within each time period. Since these delays vary for different length time periods, they may be stored in the calendar database. The period delay template assigned to each resource will reference the relevant calendar database fields. Period delays will typically be used to account for delays which are known to occur but cannot be fixed in time. These may include blasting delays, wet weather, strikes, minor equipment moves, etc. |
| • | Create an input path for each resource. The input path may be generated manually from the database tree, graphically from polygons, from an XCM or you can copy and modify a path from another resource. |
| • | Within the input path, set the destination for each step. This can be left as Default to use the default destination defined earlier for each activity or it can be defined for individual steps in the Input Path. |
Scheduling
Schedule results
| • | Create schedule report writers to generate specific schedule results. Use the filter and result commands to extract a wide range of information from the schedule. The schedule report can be displayed in a window, sent to a csv file or sent to an XPAC results database. |
| • | If the results are sent to a window or an XPAC results database, the business graphics can be used to display schedule information. In a results database XCM can also be used to calculate additional information from the schedule. |
| • | Create Gantt Charts for your schedule. Set up tasks for levels in your database, activities, class fields and resources. Include/exclude particular resources and activities according to the audience that will be using the Gantt Chart. |
| • | Generate a mine status report of the mined/unmined blocks in a range of the database, at a specified point in time. |
| • | Generate a period progress polygon plot to visually check and display the mining sequence. |
