Prestige Scheduler Version 5 On-Line Documentation (preliminary)

Milestones

Maintenance: Defining Milestones

Milestones are used in PSv5 to introduce a further constraint to a board process. Adding a milestone to a process will render the process "not ready" and, if the milestone is given an expected date beyond where the process would otherwise be able to occupy space in its resource queue, then the process is moved back on the resource queue so as not to be ready to start until the expected date of the applied milestone. If more than one milestone is applied to a process and more than one milestone has an expected date into the future, the process to which they are applied will be constrained by the milestone whose expected date would introduce the greatest delay.

Milestones are created typically for constraints that cannot themselves be easily scheduled as finite capacity processes. A good case for a milestone would be say "proof out". We can "tag" the first board process with a proof out milestone and set the milestone's expected date to the date we expect (or require) that the proof be back from the customer. This will cause the process to be delayed until that time. Here is the screen used to maintain milestones:

Notice the "Interface" panel. This will contain a list of your external Information System's operations, if PSv5 has been set up to import processes.

When you elect to add or edit a milestone, here is the screen that is displayed:

The code given to a milestone can be any alpha-numeric combination of chartacters up to 10 in length.

NOTE: Milestones and resources occupy the same table in the database. The "code" field must, therefore, be unique accross both milestones and resources.

To associate a defined milestone with one or more operations in the Interface list, check the boxes for those you wish to apply, then press the [Update Interface] button.

Attaching milestones to a board process

NOTE:

Only active users can add, remove or complete milestones. Adding, deleting and removing milestones are not "what - if" operations. If these operations are performed from within the design environment against milestones attached to a process already on the board, the effects areimmediately transmitted to the active board. For this reason, these operations are generally not allowed from within the design environment if the Task Manager is not running.

One or more milestones can be added to a board process from within the Job Browser. The job may be either on the board or in the bin.

Locate and select the board process to which the milestone is to be attached:

Right-click to bring up the context menu and select "New Milestone". The "new milestone" tab is added to the browser and the cursor is focused at the Name drop-down list.

Choose the milestone name from the list. Set the estimated date if you want to delay the start of the process.

Notice the checkbox labelled "Lock at this position". Setting this option will cause PSv5 to treat the "Estimated Date" as a "position" date rather than a "constraint" date. In the absence of this condition, PSv5 only guarantees to ensure that the process to which the milestone is attached will not start BEFORE the estimated date. If "Lock at this position" is selected, PSv5 will endeavour to ensure that the process is set to start at precisely the date and time set as the "Estimated Date". This condition is useful for such things as "Customer Checks", where you have made an arrangement for the customer to check the work for approval.

Removing Milestones from a board process

NOTE:

Only active users can add, remove or complete milestones. Adding, deleting and removing milestones are not "what - if" operations. If these operations are performed from within the design environment against milestones attached to a process already on the board, the effects are immediately transmitted to the active board. For this reason, these operations are generally not allowed from within the design environment if the Task Manager is not running.

A milestone can be removed from a board process in three ways:

From the Job Browser, locate and select the milestone to be removed, then right click the selected milestone to bring up the context menu:

Select "Delete Milestone" from the menu if you want to permanently remove the milestone from the process and delete the milestone record from the database. This option would normally be exercised if you had applied the milestone in error.

If you want to remove the milestone constraint but keep the milestone's history, you should select the "Complete this milestone" option instead. The milestone will remain visible in the job browser as a "completed milestone". Completing a milestone removes any date constraint that the milestone might have imposed.

You can aso complete a milestone from the EPB. When a process is highlighted on the EPB and the detail panel is visible at the bottom of the EPB, any active processes that are currently attached to the board process are displayed in the Pending Milestones list:

Select the milestone in the list, then right-click to bring up the context menu. Select Complete Milestone.

Finally, a milestone can be completed by way of a transaction sent from an external Shop-Floor system.

Editing a milestone's estimated date

If you are an active user, you can edit the estimated date defined for a milestone.

NOTE:

Changing the estimated date of a milestone attached to board process is not a what-if operation. If this operation is performed from within the design environment against milestones attached to a process already on the board, the effects are immediately transmitted to the active board. For this reason, these operations are generally not allowed from within the design environment if the Task Manager is not running.

You can change the estimated date by locating and selecting the milestone in the Job Browser. The Milestone tab is displayed. The date and time can be changed either by typing over the current text - or by using the arrows to bring up the calendar (for the date component) or to spin the time digits.

From the EPB, if the details panel is visible and the selected process has attached milestones, you can first select the milestone from the Pending Milestones list. Then right click to bring up the context menu and select Edit Milestone from the menu options. This will bring the Job Browser to the foreground with the chosen milestone already selected and its tab in view.