Hi, nice video. i just have problem. when go to Run Setup i just got 2 Default Reports, the SIMAN and Model Statistics. Is there a way to get the Category Overview Report?
Are you using the latest version of Arena? If so, have you installed the Crystal Reports Engine? Unlike older versions of Arena, Crystal Reports has to be manually installed. It is included in the install archive. You can find it under the "Redist" folder and then under "Crystal". You can then run the "CRRuntime" MSI installer. I have never run Arena without having Crystal Reports installed, but I would guess(?!) that if you attempted this, then it is possible that the normal reports that show up under the "Default Report" drop-down might not show up. Alternatively, the SIMAN report will be a text file that shows all of the same information (including the category overview). It's just in a text format instead.
@@TedPavlic Yes, im using the latest version. After reading your reply I installed the Crystal Report and a couple of other things in the "Redist" folder, but im still unavailable to get the Report. Is there a way to get an older version? Thank you for your help
@@danielcollazosacosta516 Are you sure you installed Crystal Reports Engine specifically (in the "Crystal" folder, which is within the "Redist" folder; you have to run "CRRuntime.msi" inside the Cystal folder)? You should be able to go into the "Add/Remove Programs" in your Windows settings and confirm that CRE was installed. Regarding downloading an older version, you would have to consult with Rockwell Automation.
In the latest versions of Arena, Crystal Reports has been completely removed as an option. In those cases, your either have to use their Excel output (which can be difficult to navigate) or just open up the OUT file in the same directory with a text editor. It has all of the same information as the original Crystal Reports, including the category overview.
Hi, could you please explain why the numbers for waiting time in queue are different when you go through the panel on the LHS and through the category overview? Thanks!
Is there a particular time in the video that you can point to that is an example of what you mean? Note that the "Category Overview" represents the averages across ALL replications. If you run 15 replications of a simulation, each replication will have an average waiting time (just for that replication). The overview will then show you an average across those averages. If you click on the "Category by Replication", then you can see the averages per replication (which will be different than the average across all of those replications). I don't know if this answers your question. Again, if you have a particular example from within the video, let me know the time stamp(s) so that I can better address that.
Thank you very good video. Do you know if it is possible to make graphs show up in the final report i.e. a histogram of total CT and total WIP or is it simply easier to take the data and graph it in excel?
There are a variety of graphs that already show up in the report. If you want more, you can export all per-replication data in the report as a CSV file that you can read in to Excel and plot on your own. That's generally always a better idea -- the graphs in crystal reports are really meant for a rapid analysis of a simulation. For exporting reports to your stakeholders/superiors, you should customize the graphs for maximum readability and relevance.
I don't know if I've ever used Arena 14 (the current version of Arena is up to 16.2). I would guess that in such an old version of Arena, you should still be able to find an .OUT file generated in the same folder as your Arena model when you run Arena. That OUT file will have metrics for each replication. It will likely also have an overview listing the mean across replications as well as the 95% confidence interval. If you know how many replications were run (which should be obvious from the file), you can use the formula for the half-width of a confidence interval (basically just SEM * critical t-value for an alpha of 0.05/2) to solve for the SEM. If you're familiar with this formula, see the StackExchange link below [^1]. Alternatively, if you have all of the means, you can calculate the standard deviation (using the unbiased formula for standard deviation that divides the sum by (n-1) and not n) and then divide the standard deviation of the means by sqrt(n) (where n is the number of replications). [^1]: Calculating SEM from CI: stats.stackexchange.com/questions/417236/how-to-calculate-standard-error-from-a-95-confidence-interval
You just have to place Record modules just before the Dispose blocks for each of those outcomes and have it increment a differently named counters. Those will show up in your reports/OUT file under "user specified."
I would probably need a more specific example to answer your question properly. The Record module can record a wide variety of measures (including recording the time a saved time and the current time, as in recording how long an entity took to go through a certain sequence of processes), but it sounds like you're just talking about comparing something after a replication is run -- like comparing the number of individuals that exited a system one way versus another. This would not be something that would be natural to calculate automatically in a field within the reports, but you can easily dump the replication-level data into a spreadsheet and then perform calculations on it in Excel or Google Sheets.
In Arena, there are multiple tags you can put on times to better account for where they come from. For example, you can keep track of transfer time (moving between queues) and waiting time (time in queues). The sum of all of these times will add to the total, but if you only sum two of the categories, you risk missing the contribution from another category. In simple models like the one above, it will generally be the case that value added time and waiting time will sum to total time, but that's not always the case because of the other categories that you can tag time as within different blocks in Arena.
Also, I missed that your asked about *maximum*. It is very possible that the maximum processing time did not occur on an entity that also had the maximum wait time. Consequently, the maximum of the sum is not necessarily the sum of the maximum. The sum of the maxima will always be greater than or equal to the maximum of the sum. They would only be equal if all variables were highly correlated.
I would have to give this some thought, but I suppose something funny might happen in the match when attributes from the two different entities are combined to generate the batch entity coming out. I would have to play around to confirm, but I would recommend pausing your simulation and investigating entity by entity to study the relationship between attributes going into the match and coming out of it.
@@theophiluschibuzouzoh8201 I'm afraid I don't have the bandwidth for a detailed investigation over e-mail. I provide these videos from course materials for convenience, and I respond to questions in comments as time permits, but if you need more detailed help I would suggest consulting an instructor of yours or Rockwell Automation support directly. I'm just suggesting ways in which you may be able to uncover the source of the discrepancy. If it were me, I would look at each entity as it queues up at the match and then study it as it moves out of the match in the new batch. You can investigate each entity by double clicking on it while the simulation is paused, and you can see the waiting/VA/total time for each entity in the resulting dialog. If you find the discrepancy with total time in this view, then that solves the mystery of why it is that way on the report. The question then will be understanding what happens in the batch process within the match block.
@@theophiluschibuzouzoh8201 I also recommend looking at the "Help" remarks for the Match module (and, for that matter, the Batch module). There are two important notes: "When a temporary batch is formed within a process’s submodel, the batch should then be split using the Separate module within the same submodel level. Failure to do so will cause inaccuracies in statistics collected, for example, process WIP." And, with respect to permanent batches (which I assume you are using): "If the batch is defined as Permanent, the representative entity permanently replaces the members of the batch. The representative entity’s internal time and cost attributes (Entity.VATime, Entity.NVATime, Entity.WaitTime, Entity.Trantime, Entity.OtherTime, Entity.VACost, Entity.NVACost, Entity.WaitCost, Entity.TranCost, and Entity.OtherCost) as well as the Entity.HoldCostRate attribute are set to the sum of the values of each corresponding attribute among all entities in the batch. The representative entity’s Entity.CreateTime attribute is calculated as the minimum value of the group members." So you can see that VA and Wait time are summed in the batching process.
I am assuming you are using one of the later versions of Arena that does not automatically install Crystal Reports. You should take a look at the special note that I posted in the comment of this video (which was recorded before Rockwell stopped automatically installing Crystal Reports). I've pasted it here for convenience: "If you are using one of the latest versions of Arena, you will have to install Crystal Reports Engine separately. It is included in the installation medium for Arena, but it is not installed by default. To install it, go into the 'Redist' folder, then go to the 'Crystal' folder, and then run the 'CRRuntime' MSI installer. Make sure to restart Arena after this. If you do not do this, you will not have access to the reports interface shown throughout this video."
In the most recent versions of Arena, Crystal Reports is not available at all. In that case, you can open up the OUT file from the same directory using a text editor. It has the same information. You could alternatively use the Excel file, but it can be difficult to navigate.
where to open OUT file? I already install 'CRRuntime' MSI installer still cannot access to the reports interface shown throughout this video@@TedPavlic
Hi, nice video. i just have problem. when go to Run Setup i just got 2 Default Reports, the SIMAN and Model Statistics. Is there a way to get the Category Overview Report?
Are you using the latest version of Arena? If so, have you installed the Crystal Reports Engine? Unlike older versions of Arena, Crystal Reports has to be manually installed. It is included in the install archive. You can find it under the "Redist" folder and then under "Crystal". You can then run the "CRRuntime" MSI installer. I have never run Arena without having Crystal Reports installed, but I would guess(?!) that if you attempted this, then it is possible that the normal reports that show up under the "Default Report" drop-down might not show up.
Alternatively, the SIMAN report will be a text file that shows all of the same information (including the category overview). It's just in a text format instead.
@@TedPavlic Yes, im using the latest version. After reading your reply I installed the Crystal Report and a couple of other things in the "Redist" folder, but im still unavailable to get the Report. Is there a way to get an older version? Thank you for your help
@@danielcollazosacosta516 Are you sure you installed Crystal Reports Engine specifically (in the "Crystal" folder, which is within the "Redist" folder; you have to run "CRRuntime.msi" inside the Cystal folder)? You should be able to go into the "Add/Remove Programs" in your Windows settings and confirm that CRE was installed.
Regarding downloading an older version, you would have to consult with Rockwell Automation.
In the latest versions of Arena, Crystal Reports has been completely removed as an option. In those cases, your either have to use their Excel output (which can be difficult to navigate) or just open up the OUT file in the same directory with a text editor. It has all of the same information as the original Crystal Reports, including the category overview.
Thank you !
Very good explanations !
God bless you!
Hi, could you please explain why the numbers for waiting time in queue are different when you go through the panel on the LHS and through the category overview? Thanks!
Is there a particular time in the video that you can point to that is an example of what you mean? Note that the "Category Overview" represents the averages across ALL replications. If you run 15 replications of a simulation, each replication will have an average waiting time (just for that replication). The overview will then show you an average across those averages. If you click on the "Category by Replication", then you can see the averages per replication (which will be different than the average across all of those replications). I don't know if this answers your question. Again, if you have a particular example from within the video, let me know the time stamp(s) so that I can better address that.
Thank you very good video. Do you know if it is possible to make graphs show up in the final report i.e. a histogram of total CT and total WIP or is it simply easier to take the data and graph it in excel?
There are a variety of graphs that already show up in the report. If you want more, you can export all per-replication data in the report as a CSV file that you can read in to Excel and plot on your own. That's generally always a better idea -- the graphs in crystal reports are really meant for a rapid analysis of a simulation. For exporting reports to your stakeholders/superiors, you should customize the graphs for maximum readability and relevance.
Hi sir. Could you please explain how I can calculate the standard deviation of the mean across replications? Thank you! I am using Arena 14
I don't know if I've ever used Arena 14 (the current version of Arena is up to 16.2). I would guess that in such an old version of Arena, you should still be able to find an .OUT file generated in the same folder as your Arena model when you run Arena. That OUT file will have metrics for each replication. It will likely also have an overview listing the mean across replications as well as the 95% confidence interval. If you know how many replications were run (which should be obvious from the file), you can use the formula for the half-width of a confidence interval (basically just SEM * critical t-value for an alpha of 0.05/2) to solve for the SEM. If you're familiar with this formula, see the StackExchange link below [^1].
Alternatively, if you have all of the means, you can calculate the standard deviation (using the unbiased formula for standard deviation that divides the sum by (n-1) and not n) and then divide the standard deviation of the means by sqrt(n) (where n is the number of replications).
[^1]: Calculating SEM from CI: stats.stackexchange.com/questions/417236/how-to-calculate-standard-error-from-a-95-confidence-interval
@@TedPavlic Thank you, sir! It helps me a lot
If I want to breaker up the User specified section to define Shipped, scrapped, salvaged for the part A and part B. how do I do that?
You just have to place Record modules just before the Dispose blocks for each of those outcomes and have it increment a differently named counters. Those will show up in your reports/OUT file under "user specified."
can I put a difference between two records in the result report in another records section?
I would probably need a more specific example to answer your question properly. The Record module can record a wide variety of measures (including recording the time a saved time and the current time, as in recording how long an entity took to go through a certain sequence of processes), but it sounds like you're just talking about comparing something after a replication is run -- like comparing the number of individuals that exited a system one way versus another. This would not be something that would be natural to calculate automatically in a field within the reports, but you can easily dump the replication-level data into a spreadsheet and then perform calculations on it in Excel or Google Sheets.
Why the maximum total time does not equal the sum of the maximum processing time and the maximum wait time?
In Arena, there are multiple tags you can put on times to better account for where they come from. For example, you can keep track of transfer time (moving between queues) and waiting time (time in queues). The sum of all of these times will add to the total, but if you only sum two of the categories, you risk missing the contribution from another category. In simple models like the one above, it will generally be the case that value added time and waiting time will sum to total time, but that's not always the case because of the other categories that you can tag time as within different blocks in Arena.
@@TedPavlic Got it, thank you!
Also, I missed that your asked about *maximum*. It is very possible that the maximum processing time did not occur on an entity that also had the maximum wait time. Consequently, the maximum of the sum is not necessarily the sum of the maximum. The sum of the maxima will always be greater than or equal to the maximum of the sum. They would only be equal if all variables were highly correlated.
is there a reason why waiting time and VA times could be larger than total time if simulation involves matching and batching?
I would have to give this some thought, but I suppose something funny might happen in the match when attributes from the two different entities are combined to generate the batch entity coming out. I would have to play around to confirm, but I would recommend pausing your simulation and investigating entity by entity to study the relationship between attributes going into the match and coming out of it.
@@TedPavlic I can explain more vividly via mail to you may be I am doing something wrong in the simulation model
@@theophiluschibuzouzoh8201 I'm afraid I don't have the bandwidth for a detailed investigation over e-mail. I provide these videos from course materials for convenience, and I respond to questions in comments as time permits, but if you need more detailed help I would suggest consulting an instructor of yours or Rockwell Automation support directly. I'm just suggesting ways in which you may be able to uncover the source of the discrepancy. If it were me, I would look at each entity as it queues up at the match and then study it as it moves out of the match in the new batch. You can investigate each entity by double clicking on it while the simulation is paused, and you can see the waiting/VA/total time for each entity in the resulting dialog. If you find the discrepancy with total time in this view, then that solves the mystery of why it is that way on the report. The question then will be understanding what happens in the batch process within the match block.
@@TedPavlic thanks, will try that
@@theophiluschibuzouzoh8201 I also recommend looking at the "Help" remarks for the Match module (and, for that matter, the Batch module). There are two important notes:
"When a temporary batch is formed within a process’s submodel, the batch should then be split using the Separate module within the same submodel level. Failure to do so will cause inaccuracies in statistics collected, for example, process WIP."
And, with respect to permanent batches (which I assume you are using):
"If the batch is defined as Permanent, the representative entity permanently replaces the members of the batch. The representative entity’s internal time and cost attributes (Entity.VATime, Entity.NVATime, Entity.WaitTime, Entity.Trantime, Entity.OtherTime, Entity.VACost, Entity.NVACost, Entity.WaitCost, Entity.TranCost, and Entity.OtherCost) as well as the Entity.HoldCostRate attribute are set to the sum of the values of each corresponding attribute among all entities in the batch. The representative entity’s Entity.CreateTime attribute is calculated as the minimum value of the group members."
So you can see that VA and Wait time are summed in the batching process.
Hello...why my arena simulation can't display output.....it just have model statistics in excel only....
I am assuming you are using one of the later versions of Arena that does not automatically install Crystal Reports. You should take a look at the special note that I posted in the comment of this video (which was recorded before Rockwell stopped automatically installing Crystal Reports). I've pasted it here for convenience: "If you are using one of the latest versions of Arena, you will have to install Crystal Reports Engine separately. It is included in the installation medium for Arena, but it is not installed by default. To install it, go into the 'Redist' folder, then go to the 'Crystal' folder, and then run the 'CRRuntime' MSI installer. Make sure to restart Arena after this. If you do not do this, you will not have access to the reports interface shown throughout this video."
do you deal with this problem ? i have an another error 😭
In the most recent versions of Arena, Crystal Reports is not available at all. In that case, you can open up the OUT file from the same directory using a text editor. It has the same information. You could alternatively use the Excel file, but it can be difficult to navigate.
@@TedPavlic thanks a lot, professor ！ It helps a lot. i have opened up the OUT file using a text editor. Thank you again !
where to open OUT file? I already install 'CRRuntime' MSI installer still cannot access to the reports interface shown throughout this video@@TedPavlic