Time Studies

The Time tab shown at the top of the mBOM Authoring window for an Activity is a major component of the process interface.  The Time tab displays the elements associated with the selected activity. Elements are the lowest level of time estimation and typically represent the micro-motions of the human and/or machine required to perform a particular task.  Not all companies perform elemental time analysis on their activities, and rarely is elemental analysis done for all activities.  As such, elemental time definitions for an activity are optional

In the Activity Time window; users can define pre-determined element descriptions for work (MTM, Modapts, or User Defined), compute expected work times, enter estimated (best-guess times) and even enter stopwatch times in the Observed Time Editor.

· Observed and Estimated times can be directly entered by the user, however Calculated times are automatically generated by the Predetermined Time Parser executed when the user selects the Calculate button in the bottom-right area of the screen. The user can set the default time (Calculated, Observed or Estimated) by setting the preferences in the Edit menu.

· Proplanner stores each Activity’s Elemental time codes in individual XML files and then parses these files when the user wishes to edit, view or reference this data.

· Proplanner’s parsing capabilities for MTM-1, MTM-B, MTM-UAS, MMMM and Modapts are very robust and are certified as accurate by their respective organizations. Users assign a predetermined time parser by selecting the appropriate option on the Type field in the upper left of the window.  Parser tables are also User-Definable which allows users the ability to accommodate extensions or modifications to these standards made by their organizations.  Users are encouraged to reference those organizations for specific information regarding the use and appropriate syntax of their associated time standard(s). The Default time standard is MTM1, the user could change the same by setting the Preferences Menu, the user can also set the precision (number of significant digits) through the same menu (Edit -> Preferences Menu).

· A Gantt chart for the Left hand and the Right hand activities is shown in the Time tab. The user can change the Gantt chart off by setting the appropriate preferences (Edit -> Preferences Menu).

· Each activity can use a different predetermined time system, which greatly enhances the ability of the company to maintain legacy data from prior predetermined time systems.

· Proplanner’s predetermined time interface allows for copy, paste, insert and delete of Elemental time fields and rows (just like MS Excel).

· Users can also specify fixed machine or process times in any unit that they wish and Proplanner will automatically convert these times into the appropriate time unit (such as MU’s for MTM or MODS for Modapts).

· Activity Summary Reports can be generated by selecting the Reports Pull-down menu at the top of the applications window while in the Activity Time module. As with Operation Reports, the Activity Report is an XML output that is sent to a user-defined Style Sheet (XSLT) to generate a variety of reports.  Users can utilize the XML file directly and/or create additional reports via their own XSLT files.