Editing Assign Modules

Assign modules may be added to the flowchart view by dragging and dropping (the same as Create modules). Multiple assignments can be done within a single assign module by clicking on the Add button. Previously added assignments can be edited using the Edit button. There are multiple possibilities for assignments:

Variables

Variables may be assigned a new value by setting the Type to be Variable, the Variable Name to the name of the variable to assign and New Value to the new value of the variable.

One dimensional variables may be useful when a variable has a different value in a different situation. One dimensional variables may be assigned a new value by setting the Type to be ID Variable, and the Variable Name to the name of the variable to assign. It is then best to access the newly created variable by going to Basic Proces s and double clicking the Variable icon. Select the new variable and choose the Row to be the number of different values the ID variable could be and the New Value to the new value of the variable in each particular situation.

A good example of a ID variable is assigning the times a Receptionist must start work on different days during the week. This example is shown below.

Note: Row 1 represents Monday, Row 2 represents Tuesday...etc

Two dimensional variables may also be useful. They are implemented identically to one dimensional variables (above) except that the user can define the number of rows and the number of columns.

A good example of a 2D variable is assigning a roster for when several receptionists must start work each day. This example is shown below.

Note: Row 1 represents Monday, Row 2 represents Tuesday...etc

Note: Column 1 represents Receptionist 1 (e.g. Mary) , Column 2 represents Receptionist 2 (e.g. Jenny)...etc

Note: An entry of 0 on a weekday means that receptionist does not work on that day.

Attributes

Entities can have Attributes assigned to them. There are also some special types of Attributes. Examples of Attributes and special types of Attributes are given below using a medical centre situation.

Each Attribute must be named and assigned a specific value.

Entity.Type is a special kind of Attribute that refers to one of the specific types of entities defined in the model.

Entity.Picture is a special kind of Attribute that stores the value of an entity's graphical picture to be used for animations within the Arena model.

-- MichaelOSullivan - 25 Aug 2009