FlexSimHC 5.0 UserManual

8/16/2019 FlexSimHC 5.0 UserManual

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USER MANUAL

Version FlexSim HC 5.0.2

Date Published

01 JUN 2015


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Table of Contents

Introduction Welcome to FlexSim Healthcare Using This Manual Activating Your License

Customer Support Training Classes What's New in FlexSim HC

Getting Started

Getting Started Overview of the Model Building Process FlexSim HC at a Glance Key Terms and Definitions

Using the Toolbox and Toolbar

o Using the Toolbox and Toolbar o Introduction to the Toolbox and

Toolbar o Adding a New Tool Component o Opening and Closing a Tool

Component o Renaming a Tool Component o Copying a Tool Component o Reorganizing Tool Components o Deleting a Tool Component

Navigating in FlexSim HC

Arranging Windows and Tabs

o Arranging Windows and Tabs o Introduction to Windows and Tabs o Rearranging Windows and Tabs o Resizing Windows and Panes

Planning a Simulation Model

What are Simulations? Planning a New Simulation Model Data Gathering Strategies Using ExpertFit

Building a Layout of Your Facility

Building a Layout of Your Facility Introduction to Building a Layout

Creating or Importing Floor Plans

o Creating or Importing Floor Plans o Introduction to Floor Plans o Importing a Floor Plan File o Changing Floor Plans o Floor Plan Settings o Troubleshooting Floor Plans

Introduction to Library Objects Adding Objects to a Model Adding Locations to an Area

Customizing Object Properties andSettings

o Customizing Object Properties andSettings

o Customizing Object Properties and

Settings o Moving, Resizing, and RotatingObjects

o Changing the Shape andAppearance of Objects

o Additional Patient Location Settings

Connecting Locations and Item Objects

o Connecting Locations and ItemObjects

o

Introduction to Connecting Locationsand Objects o The Flowchart Tool at a Glance o Using the Flowchart Tool

Adding Staff and Resources

Adding Staff and Resources Introduction to Staff and Resources Adding Resources to a Model Selecting a Resource Group or Group

Member Renaming Groups and Group Members Moving Groups and Group Members Changing the Appearance of Staff

Resources Creating Alternate Resource Groups

Patient-Centered Activities


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Patient-Centered Activities Introduction to Patient-Centered Activities

Key Concepts about Activities

o Key Concepts about Activities o Introduction to Key Concepts about

Activities o Most Activities are Patient-Centered o Building Complex Patient Tracks

and Activity Lists o How Activities Begin o What Happens During an Activity o How Patients and Staff Move to

Locations or Areas o How Staff and Resources Are

Assigned to an Activity o Staff and Resource Priorities

Adding and Managing Patient Tracks The Patient Track Manager at a Glance Overview of Adding and Managing Activities Adding an Activity

Basic Activity Settings

o Basic Activity Settings o Introduction to Basic Activity

Settings o Activity IDs o Activity Names

o

Milestones o Predecessors

Activity Types

o Activity Types o Overview of Activity Types o Process o Process > Send Message o Process > Send Item o Move Equipment > Process

o

Move Transports > Process o Escort Patient > Process o Transport Patient > Process o Patient Travels Unattended o Decision Point o Custom

Specific Activity Type Settings

o Specific Activity Type Settings o Introduction to Specific Activity Type

Settings o Patient Destination o Processing Time o Staff Requirements o Staff Destination o Equipment Requirements o Transport Requirements o Next Activity

Advanced Activity Settings

o Advanced Activity Settings o Advanced Functions o Advanced Time Controls o Costs

Adding Patients

Adding Patients Introduction to Patients

Patient Classifications

o Patient Classifications o Introduction to Patient

Classifications o The Patient Classifications Tool at a

Glance

Patient Visuals

o Patient Visuals o Introduction to Patient Visuals o The Patient Visuals Tool at a Glanceo Managing Visual Profiles o Visual Profile Settings o Assigning a Visual Profile to a PCI or

Activity o Patient Overhead Text Display

Patient Arrival Patterns

o Patient Arrival Patterns o Introduction to Patient Arrival

Patterns o Inter-Arrival Times


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o Hourly Arrivals o Appointments o Custom Arrivals

Related Patient Arrival Tools

o Related Patient Arrival Tools o The Distribution Chooser o Creating a Warm-up Period

Routine Staff or Location Activities

Routine Staff or Location Activities Introduction to Routine Staff or Location

Activities The Shift Schedules Tools Introduction to the Shift Schedules Tool Adding and Managing Schedules

The Shift Schedules Tool at a Glance Adding Staff or Resources to a Schedule Resource Break Options Settings Adding Locations and Areas to a Schedule Location Break Options Settings The Global Processes Tool Introduction to the Global Process Tool Adding and Managing Processes Process Example 1: Checking Patient Vitals Process Example 2: Phone Call Answering

System Process Example 3: Staff Meetings

The Random Interrupts Tool Introduction to the Random Interrupts Tool

Running a Simulation Introduction to Running a Simulation Using the Simulation Control Bar Preventing Simulation Model Errors

Getting Data from a Simulation

Getting Data from a Simulation Introduction to Getting Data from a

Simulation Dashboards Introduction to Statistics Dashboards Adding and Managing Dashboards Introduction to Widgets Adding Widgets Moving and Resizing Widget Display Boxes Widget Settings at a Glance Widget Overview

The Data Collector The Experimenter Introduction to Experimenter Key Terms and Concepts The Experimenter at a Glance Designing Scenarios and Testing Variables Running an Experiment Saving and Exporting Data

Tutorials

Tutorials Introduction to Tutorials Tutorial Case Study

Tutorial 1 - Building a Layout of YourFacility

o

Tutorial 1 - Building a Layout of YourFacility o Tutorial 1.1 - Importing a Floor Plan o Tutorial 1.1 Introduction o Step One - Create and Save a New

Simulation Model o Step Two - Import a Floor Plan File o Step Three - Change the Floor

Plan's Visual Settings o Step Four - Scale the Floor Plan

Drawing o Tutorial 1.2 - Adding Location and

Item Objects o Tutorial 1.2 Introduction o Step One - Add the Objects to the

Model o Step Two - Resize and Rotate the

Objects o Step Three - Change Object Shapes

and Appearance o Step Four - Change Object Settings o Step Five - Add Locations to a

Custom Area o Tutorial 1.3 - Connecting Location

and Item Objects o Tutorial 1.3 Introduction o Step One - Add the Objects to the

Model o Step Two - Resize and Rotate the

Objects

Tutorial 2 - Adding Staff and Resources


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o Tutorial 2 - Adding Staff andResources

o Tutorial 2.1 - Adding and ChangingStaff and Resources

o Tutorial 2.1 Introduction o Step One - Add Staff and Resources

to a Model o Step Two - Add Group Members to a

Resource o Step Three - Rename Groups and

Group Members o Step Four - Move and Rotate Group

Members o Step Five - Change Staff Member's

Appearance o Tutorial 2.2 - Creating Alternate

Resource Groups o Tutorial 2.2 Introduction o Step One - Create Alternate

Resource Groups o Step Two - Add Members to the

Alternate Groups

Tutorial 3 - Patient-Centered Activities

o Tutorial 3 - Patient-CenteredActivities

o Tutorial 3.1 - Creating Patient Tracksand Activities

o Tutorial 3.1 Introduction o Step One - Create a New Patient

Track o Step Two - Add a Milestone and a

Location o Step Three - Add a Processing Time o Step Four - Assign Staff o Step Five - Keep a Staff Member o Step Six - Assign Equipment o Step Seven - Release a Staff

Member o Step Eight - Reuse Staff Members o Tutorial 3.2 - Creating Decision Point

Activities o Tutorial 3.2 Introduction o Step One - Create a Doctor

Examination Activity o Step Two - Create Variable Activities o Step Three - Change Next Activity

Settings o Step Four - Change Predecessor

Settings o Step Five - Send Staff to a Different

Location

o Step Six - Send Items to a Lab o Step Seven - Require Additional

Staff o Step Eight - Assign a Transport o Step Nine - Return to a Reserved

Location o Tutorial 3.3 - Creating Additional

Patient Tracks o Tutorial 3.3 Introduction o Step One - Copy a Track o Step Two - Change Activity Priority

Levels o Step Three - Delete Activities

Tutorial 4 - Adding Patients

o Tutorial 4 - Adding Patients o Tutorial 4.1 - Creating Patient

Classifications o Tutorial 4.1 Introduction o Step One - Create Different Patient

Classifications o Step Two - Assign Patients to a

Patient Track o Tutorial 4.2 - Changing Patient

Visuals o Tutorial 4.2 Introduction o Step One - Create New Visual

Profiles o Step Two - Change Visual Profiles o Step Three - Assign Visual Profiles

to a PCI o Step Four - Assign Visual Profiles to

an Activity o Tutorial 4.3 - Creating Patient Arrival

Patterns o Tutorial 4.3 Introduction o Step One - Create an Hourly Arrival

Schedule o Step Two - Create an Inter-Arrival

Pattern o Step Three - Set the Hours of

Operation

Reference Manual

License Activation Concepts Example Reference


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FlexScript Coding

o FlexScript Coding o Writing Logic in FlexSim o Basic Modeling Functions o Code Editor

Debugging

Debugging

Overview Breakpoints Call Stack Code Profiler Event List Event Log Local Variables Watch Variables

o Command Helper

FlexScript Commands


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Welcome to FlexSim HealthcareFlexSim Healthcare (HC) is the most robust, comprehensive, and easy-to-use simulation softwaredesigned specifically to solve the unique problems faced by today's healthcare facilities. FlexSim HCallows you to analyze all of the components of your healthcare facility and evaluate the impact they haveon patient outcomes. It will help you find accurate solutions to your problems and make decisions abouthow to make your healthcare organization run as efficiently as possible without the costly risk of trial anderror. Ultimately, FlexSim HC will help practitioners do what they do best: help patients get better.

Real Data

FlexSim HC can help you track and display a wide variety of statistics and data that can help you makewell-informed decisions for your healthcare facility. You can also run many different types of experiments tosee what would happen if you changed some element of your medical facility or process. This valuabledata can help you solve many different kinds of problems, such as:

Ensuring human resources are not over- or under-utilized

Estimating the cost of proposed changes

Reducing patient waiting times by identifying possible bottlenecks

Cutting costs from inefficient use of resources

Identifying the best strategy for handling variations in patient volumes

All of this data can be displayed in any format you would like, such as charts, graphs, etc. Any data youcreate in FlexSim HC can easily be exported to spreadsheet programs such as Excel. Data can also beeasily imported into your simulation model from many different spreadsheet formats.

3D Visuals

Simulation should be just as capable of being visually compelling as it is analytically compelling. FlexSimHC's fully 3D visuals allow you to see exactly what's going on in the model as its running. It's much easierto compare results when you can visualize what's happening to your simulated healthcare system.The 3D visuals also create opportunities for communication and teamwork among all the stakeholders inpatients' outcomes. A simulation with accurate 3D models of the personnel, equipment, and furniture foundin your actual healthcare facility is far more compelling than a simple chart.

Patient Track ManagerUsing the Patient Track Manager, you can create plans for patients to follow based on the patient's acuity,diagnosis, or any other criteria you determine. These plans can include different activities or processes thatshould occur from the moment a patient arrives to the time they depart. The Patient Track Manager canalso pull the necessary human resources to provide patient care and guide them to the appropriate nextstep in their treatment.


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Using this ManualThe right pane (the Quick Properties pane) contains the Table of Contents for the User Manual. The Tableof Contents is divided into multiple chapters, each containing several topics. To open a chapter, either clickthe chapter title or the Book button next to its title. This will open the chapter and display all the topicslisted in that chapter. You can read a topic by clicking the topic title or by clicking the Topic button nextto its title. You can also navigate between topics in the order they are listed in the Table of Contents byclicking the Previous or Next buttons at the top and bottom of each topic.Many topics contain hyper-links to other parts of the User Manual for your convenience. If you ever click alink and find that you want to go back to the page you were just barely looking at, you can click the Back button above the Table of Contents to return to the previous page.

Tips and Important Notes

Information that requires special attention will be formatted using the following icons:

Tip Box Title

The tip for the text will be included in this text box.

Important Note Box Title

The text for the important note will be included in this text box.

User Manual Display

If you want, you can change way this window displays the User Manual. For example, you could make theUser Manual expand to the full size of the window if you wanted to see an image. See Arranging Windowsand Tabs for more information.


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Activating Your LicenseIn order to activate your license, you will need:

1. Your FlexSim Account2. Your Activation ID

FlexSim Account

First, you will need your login information for your FlexSim Account. There are two possible ways to set upa FlexSim Account:

If you downloaded a trial version of FlexSim Healthcare (HC), you set up your FlexSim account at thattime.

If you purchased FlexSim HC without downloading a trial version, a customer service representativeshould have sent you an email with your FlexSim account information at the time of purchase.

If you have forgotten your FlexSim Account login information or need to set up your account for the firsttime, please contact FlexSim Customer Support.

Activation ID

Using your FlexSim Account, you can obtain an Activation ID. An Activation ID is a product key that is usedto activate your FlexSim HC license on a PC or LAN license server. Each Activation ID has a definednumber of seats associated with it. The seat number determines how many computers using that particularActivation ID will be authorized to run the full version of FlexSim HC at a given time.

What does an Activation ID look like?

A typical Activation ID looks like this:company.com08-ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-FESENT7.3

Once you have your FlexSim account information, follow the steps below to activate your license:

1. Go to http://www.flexsim.com/account/ and login to your FlexSim Account.

2. Once logged in, click My Licenses on the left menu bar. This will take you to a page that lists thecurrent software licenses that are associated with your FlexSim Account.

3. Click on the folder named FlexSim Enterprise to expand it. This will display all the Activation IDs thatare available for your account, as shown in the following image. It will also indicate how many seats areavailable for that particular Activation ID, which refers to the maximum number of computers that canrun a licensed copy of FlexSim HC at a time.


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4. Use your mouse to highlight and copy (Ctrl+V) the Activation ID.

5. In FlexSim on the main menu, click Help , then License Activation . This will open the LicenseActivation dialog box, as shown in the following image:

6. On the Activate tab, paste (Ctrl +P) the Activation ID into the Activation ID field.

7. If you are activating your license directly from FlexSim, click Activate through Flexsim . If you areusing your company's server instead, click Activate through your company's license server .

8. Click Activate . The status box underneath the Activate button will alert you whether the activationprocess was successful or not.


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Returning and Repairing Licenses

For more information about activating, returning, and repairing licenses, see License Activation in theReference Manual.


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Customer SupportYou are welcome to contact FlexSim for customer support at any time using the contact information listedbelow. Be aware that for technical assistance, you will need a current FlexSim maintenance agreementunless you are using an evaluation version of FlexSim HC.FlexSim's in-house technical support is available from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM Eastern Time. Technicalsupport will be closed on major US holidays.

Technical support services are provided through phone, email, and online web conferencing. FlexSimprovides additional community resources, including an online forum. To access FlexSim's technical supportand resources:

Phone: Call (801) 224-6914 and ask for technical support.

Email: Visit http://www.flexsim.com/support/ to submit a support case using an online form. A customerservice representative will respond to you by email and will continue to work with you through emailuntil your case is successfully resolved.

Online Community Forum: Visit http://www.flexsim.com/forum/ to connect to other end-users,including FlexSim partners and distributors who are also ready to assist you. The Online Community

Forum also includes sample models, tips and tricks for modeling and managing simulation projects,and other general support topics.

Training Classes: FlexSim regularly offers in-person, instructor-led training sessions. Many FlexSimsoftware license purchases include training sessions for at least two people. Additional trainingsessions can be purchased for a fee. See Training Classes for more information.

Consulting Projects : FlexSim can provide you with consulting services if you have a big simulationproject that needs to be completed quickly or if you'd like one-on-one help with model building. Use thecontact information above to discuss consulting fees and projects.

Feel free to use FlexSim's support services and resources at any time you feel you need assistance.FlexSim prides itself on its excellent customer service.


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Training ClassesFlexSim regularly offers in-person, instructor-led training sessions. Many FlexSim software licensepurchases include training sessions for at least two people. Additional training sessions can be purchasedfor a fee.The training sessions for first-time FlexSim users includes a 3-day hands-on course which runs Mondaythrough Wednesday. Attendees learn to use the software by creating and analyzing simulation models.

Attendees are then invited to remain at FlexSim's offices for the Thursday through Friday for one-on-onemodel-building help. There is no additional cost for this optional one-on-one training and support. This is anopportunity for attendees to be paired with a FlexSim engineer to start your initial simulation project.The current FlexSim training schedule can be found at http://www.flexsim.com/calendar/.


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What's New?

Version 5.0.2 (May 22, 2015)

New Features

1. PCI table now has a Visuals and Speed column2. Dashboard widgets size according to dashboard size when dragged out3. Objects are selected after being dragged out so their properties are immediately available4. Moving members of resource groups in the 3D view sets their offsets5. Line Graphs set their start time based off the model start time6. Dashboard widgets can be created with the click and drop edit mode7. You can now specify the random stream of patient arrival tables8. Flowchart blocks resize based on name length

Bug Fixes

1. Various interface issues2. Fixed some issues with elevators3. Fixed some Flowchart issues4. Fixed some dashboard widgets

Version 5.0.0 (April 7, 2015)

New Features

1. 64-bit version (enables FlexSim to use more RAM)2. Windowing interface overhaul to use a docked window paradigm3. Created a Quick Properties docked window that is context sensitive. The window will display properties

based on the current selection or the active document window4. Removed Properties windows and put all object properties in the Quick Properties panel so they can be

accessed just by clicking an object5. Removed the Tools menu and added an organizable Toolbox6. Library is context sensitive and changes its display based on the current selection or the active

document window7. New Library icons8. Library objects have been reorganized to be more intuitive9. Library enhancements to include collapsible groups and edit modes10. Clicking on library icons shows images of all possible shapes allowing you to select the shape that will

be dragged out11. Track Manager UI redesign to make use of new Quick Properties panel12. Improved the Staff Destination field so that it behaves more like the other fields and can use

pickoptions13. Advanced Function window is now in the Quick properties and displays with the other options for

activities14. Added a Patient Visuals window15. Added a trigger to change a patient's visuals using new visual profiles16. Moved Dashboards into a document window that can now be closed and reopened whenever17. Added dashboard widgets to the library and can now be dragged out


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18. Improved the Shift Schedule so that you can specify different types of down times19. Added a sampler button that is placed throughout the software to allow users to sample objects, colors,

and images. The sampler helps to improve ease of use, speed up model building, and eliminate someneed for writing code

20. Most drop down lists have been organized into a hierarchical structure with objects being placed ingroups according to area and resource group

21. Added and updated several picklist popups removing all text based picklist options from Track fields22. New By Simulation Time pickoption that generates a global table based off the number of time divisions

you need23. Sample Sets can be chosen from a table to speed up multiple selection24. Moved the User Manual into FlexSim as a dockable window25. User Manual completely rewritten26. Added double click to open colors panel to most color wells27. Added an autosave feature to global preferences28. Added capability to model patients who stay on gurneys/wheelchairs through processes29. Improved staff and patient animations and staff positioning30. Added a picklist to allow a patient to stop at an intermediate destination before going to their final

destination31. Added a Measure/Convert tool32. Tree Find/Replace is now integrated with the Quick Properties window and has support for case-

insensitive searches as well as searching for node names33. Improved script console allowing scripts to be saved both in individual models and to the user

environment. You can also now debug your script console code34. Improved the Item Bin interface. Item shapes may be changed through a drag and drop from the

Library Icon Grid35. Improvement in the Code Editor and other areas where logic is defined through draggable constructs in

the library icon grid and sampler buttons throughout popups and picklist widgets to automatically addcode, etc. FlexSim commands also display a short description when typing in the code editor

36. Picklist fields and many popups' fields have code highlighting and autocomplete37. Added support for user libraries38. Better debugger that allows you to access the tree and other areas of FlexSim while in debug mode.

Hovering over variables during debug mode will display their current value39. Better support for importing 3D shapes. FlexSim now supports the following formats: *.wrl; *.3ds; *.dxf;

*.stl; *.skp; *.dae; *.obj; *.ac; *.x; *.ase; *.ply; *.ms3d; *.cob;*.md5mesh; *.irr; *.irrmesh; *.ter; *.lxo;*.csm; *.scn; *.q3o; *. q3s; *.raw; *.off; *.mdl; *.hmp; *.scn; *.xgl; *.zgl; *.lvo; *.lvs; *.blend

40. Added a new mesh class for drawing in OpenGL41. Stereographic 3d rendering (requires workstation Quadro or FireGL card for frame-sequential

rendering)42. Enhanced graphical compatibility with integrated Intel cards43. Improved 3d rendering, including shadow rendering, specular highlights on 3ds objects, bump maps,

parallax maps, etc44. Updated visual studio wizards that work with VS 2012

Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updatedmodels behave.

1. Improved Resource request logic so that queued requests on a resource that goes off scheduleare given to their group and requests are not given to resources with an off schedule event intheir queue

2. Removed the Preempt checkbox from activities since the tier system in the priority field alreadydoes this


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Version 4.3.10 (June 2014)

New Features

1. User sees a warning message if the model start time is set to something greater than 7 days

Bug Fixes

1. The experiment variable to update an Arrival Table now sets the PCI column correctly2. The Data Collector's "List of Locations" recording criteria option now accepts Areas as well as

Locations3. Data Collectors now pass the correct value for "lastval" in column calculation functions4. Fixed the "Standard Down" function for Time Tables and Random Interrupts so that it doesn't cause

exceptions later in certain memory conditions5. Updated the "Resume Object Flow" function for Time Tables and Random Interrupts so that locations

don't receive extra patients when they resume6. Fixed an animation problem when patients try to sit down while carrying something7. If a Location's Area is changed to an Area that does not yet exist, the Location's input and output ports

are deleted

8. Fixed an exception that occurred when switching from a bar chart to a dot plot in the Patient WaitingTime dashboard widget9. Standing animation is now applied to staff called as operators to ItemProcessing objects10. Removed a warning that occurred if a model had just item class objects11. The shape on Patient Processing objects will now either do nothing or animate patient

according to patient's last known position as recorded in the frame attribute.12. Fixed problems with Patient Rounds option for Custom Activities

Version 4.3.8 (May 2014)

New Features

1. Utilization box plots only record a single value per period per day - this applies to Resources, Locationsand Item Object widgets

2. Added box plots to State widgets for Resources, Locations and Item Objects that work like theUtilization box plots

3. Improved look and behavior of box plots4. Added box plot to Resource Distance Traveled widget

Bug fixes

1. Fixed how the box plot displays the range on the y-axis if the number of decimals being displayed is 0

2. Patient Throughput box plots no longer have extra observations if the model starts at a time other than01:00:003. Fixed a bug in Census box plot that was causing too many 0s to be recorded4. Resource State dot plots are now refreshed correctly during a model run5. Long DataCollector names are handled better when they are exported to Excel6. Correct spacing between multiple options in a trigger field is now ensured7. Patients no longer line up at Arrival objects - it was causing replications to not repeat predictably8. GlobalProcesses can no longer start before 0.000011 - this keeps them from having issues with early

events on Patients


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9. The version number is now displayed as 4.3.8 (instead of 4.38)10. Stopped some irritating messages when models were opened in Demo or Runtime mode

Version 4.3.6 (April 2014)

Bug fixes

1. Stacked bar charts are displayed correctly again2. When models from older versions are opened, all Item Objects will appear in the Flowchart GUI

Version 4.3.4 (April 2014)

New Features

1. Reordered and improved the information in the popup display in the box plot2. Added Acuity to the labels that can be edited by a Patient Arrivals Schedule3. Added Help button to Dashboard, move the tab control buttons to the left to be with the other buttons4. When models are updated from previous versions, a list of the old versions is kept5. Dot plots now list the replication number of an observation in the popup window6. Bar charts and box plots now support and display negative results

Bug fixes

1. Fixed how line charts merge data from multiple replications2. Fixed how throughput box plots handle start times, warmup times and empty periods3. Utilization bar charts now show the percentage by the bar names4. Fixed a bug where states were being set incorrectly when a model was stopped5. Improved and fixed the behavior of the Areas drop-down list on Location parameter GUIs6. Fixed an exception in Resource, Location and Item State and Utilization dot plots7. Fixed an exception in Utilization Box Plots if the model ran more than one day8. Copying and pasting item objects now adds them to the Flowcharting View as well9. Sample Set names are now checked for validity before they are applied10. Making nearly any change to the model will set the active scenario number to 011. Choosing an Area in a Location Parameters GUI now applies immediately12. Histograms manage the size of their y-axis better13. Replaced a lot of uses of getlabelval() with getlabelvalue()14. GUI improvements

Version 4.3.2 (January 2014)

New Features

1. Added some support for the FlexSim web interface2. Improved the patchfile functionality3. Track import/export now includes the Item Created Trigger


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Bug Fixes

1. Supports large memory addresses in 32-bit systems (helpful for large models)2. Fixed how Patient Distance Traveled is reported3. Cleaned up a lot of pickoptions that used intarray when they should have used treenodearray4. Fixed and improved the "By Label Value" picklist option5. Cleaned up syntax errors/warnings in pickoptions6. Track import/export does not support multi-line code (it was badly broken before)

Version 4.3 (November 2013)

New Features

1. Updated help files2. The "Based on condition (two lists)" pickoption for destinations has a nice GUI3. Combined Custom Excel Import/Export into the Excel Communications Options GUI4. Added toolbar buttons for Excel communication5. Added Staff Distance Traveled dashboard widget6. Added Interarrival Times Parameter to Experimenter's list of variables7. Updated the Experimenter's other variables8. Updated the list of variables that can be edited on different object classes by the Experimenter9. Added Photo Eye capability to Item Conveyors10. Added Location Name and Resource Name to Data Collector column options11. Global Processes are included in some history tables and can be used in dashboards

Bug Fixes

1. GUI fixes2. The PCI column of the Appointment table is now imported from Excel correctly3. Improved how line graphs using VALUE_EXACT merge replication data together

4. Fixed an exception in Experiments if Data Collectors only had 1 or 2 columns5. Row headers in the PCI table can not be edited (this was a regresion from a previous version)

Version 4.1 (October 2013)

New Features

1. Line charts aggregate data from multiple replications faster2. The data points in a dot plot are now listed in scenario/replication order3. Clicking "Add Resource" in the Track Manager automatically opens the resource selection GUI

4.

Removed Copy/Paste options from the PCI table since they didn't work well5. Appointment Table can now have label value defined for each appointment6. DataCollectors now have a Model Stopped event they can use for recording data7. DataCollectors now define columns for a raw data table - no more "Sample Set" and "Category" fields8. User-Defined dashboard widgets now allow the user to select multiple columns from a DataCollector to

report9. Renamed "Choose destination, staff and/or transport based on various criteria" picklist option to "Based

on destination status" and improved explanatory wording10. Search/Replace GUI now automatically resizes the table column to fill the available width11. Experimenter GUI now remembers the width of columns in the variables table


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12. Changed how the custom sample set GUI is placed and sized when it is opened13. Export Dashboard Data GUI now includes DataCollectors as options to export14. Improved "Experiment Complete" message and dashboard refreshing15. Added "Explore" tab to Experimenter to allow a user to select a specific replication to run16. Added getlabelvalue() and gettablevalue() commands17. Simplified a number of pick-options using the getlabelvalue() and gettablevalue() commands18. Improved the "Set Location, Rotation, Size" pick-options19. Fixed or improved other pick-options20. Includes all new features and bug fixes of previous versions

Bug Fixes

1. Dashboards with dot plots in them now save and load correctly2. Dot Plot should not slow down as badly after it has been moved or resized3. Fixed syntax error in "Based on simulation time (table)" pickoption4. Patient Appointment table has "Actual Times" column cleared on reset - like it used to work5. Fixed Excel import/export of labels in the PCI table6. Dashboard widgets that use "Current Value" calculate their averages more accurately7. Experimenter works with DataCollectors better now8. Fixed a bug in saving dashboards with model controls in them

9.

Fixed a bug that was requiring users to choose a pickoption before code they wrote in the code editorwould be saved10. Cleaned up how nodes in /Tools/Experimenter and /project/exec/replications are set

Version 4.0.4 (October 2013)

New Features

1. Replaced the Flowchart GUI's pop-out side panel with a toolbar2. The Flowchart GUI now has a button to reset all areas to default locations in the window3. The input ports of an object/area can now be edited in the Flowchart GUI4. Removed the Connections tab from item objects5. Added an Ultrasound shape to the Equipment6. The color of an object in the Flowchart GUI is no longer connected to the color of the actual

object/locations in the model7. Stacked bar charts no longer show the percentage next to the bar if "By Percentage" is checked - it was

always 100%8. Added labels to all history tables so that widgets can filter with them9. Fixed bar/text/etc spacing in a lot of dashboard widgets10. Patient GUI has Visuals tab again11. Patient Wait Times widget now has a Pie Chart option12. Dwell Time/LOS, Patient Travel Distance widgets now have a Histogram display13. Dashboard widgets with only 1 category have their legend hidden by default14. Model start time must be divisible by 15 minutes if Shift Schedules are used15. Box plots now show their N value (the number of observations)16. Room reservations now work for both PatientProcessing and PatientQueueing objects17. Added Dot Plots to any metric that can display bar charts18. Added the ability to export dashboard/history data to CSV files19. When equipment/transports are taken to their primary group, they are automatically snapped into their

default positions20. Added new color palettes (Palette #10 has 80+ colors)21. Dashboard are not updated automatically at the end of an experiment run


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22. Users can manually rerun a specific iteration of an experiment using matched random streams23. Dashboard GUI now has buttons to Add, Remove or Rename tabs

Bug Fixes

1. Dashboard can now be used if the user does not have admin rights to the Program Files directory2. Multiple new or improved pick-options3. Cleaned up or improved GUIs

4.

Long lists of object names now have scroll bars so they are fully visible5. The Processing Utilization widget now allows the correct selection of locations for custom sample sets6. Fixed an occasional crash when adding a widget to a dashboard7. If history tables are too large to export to a single Excel tab, they are split up across multiple tabs8. Fixed the Connect to Path checkbox on the Alternate Group GUI9. Fixed a recurring "floor does not exist" error message in Elevators10. The line graph shows the times better and its scroll-bars work better now11. Removed a pointless error message when copying color between item objects12. Line charts' x-axis lines are now drawn more accurately13. Removed a barely visible buttons from the main view - they caused crashes14. Fixed "First activity satisfying location and resource requirements" option for decision point activities15. Fixed some dashboard exceptions when moving the mouse around or changing the graph type

16. Fixed how percentages are calculated in bar charts17. Utilization is now calculated more accurately, especially in box plots

18. Improved placement of dashboard widget GUIs19. Dashboard widgets should always have recent menus when old ones are opened20. The Interval field for DataCollectors is enabled/disabled correctly now21. Fixed an exception that occurred when trying to export Histograms to Excel22. Fixed the widgettype for Length of Stay widgets23. Desk object now has an ObjectType variable24. UserCommands GUI has had extra controls removed25. Fixed exceptions in Resource OnDraw behavior26. Changed getgroupstat() so that it considers any member that is not in an idle state to be busy27. The getcensus() command now returns correct values when locations are reserved manually

28. Item Object sample sets now work correctly with Experiments29. By Percentage pick-option preserves the user's values when adding/deleting entries

30. Code editor places "Custom Code" where needed31. The Patient Classification tab no longer overwrites PCI row names32. Added decimals variable to LWBS widget33. Fixed how LOS and Dwell Time dashboard widgets interact with warmup times34. Fixed box plot calculations of Utilization over multiple days35. Improved management of pre-process cost calculations36. The tasksequence created to return equip/trans is now given a priority matching that of the activity that

specifies the return process.37. The "ActivityWaitTime_" columns in an Output file needed a reference to the activity rank concatenated

onto the header.38. Changed GlobalProcesses and Patients so that the Earliest Start Time is only evaluated once if it's an

expression39. Box plots should be calculated faster and with fewer crashes40. Models are now always reset when they are saved


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Version 4.0.2 (July 2013)

New Features

1. Added Item Object dashboard widgets2. Added Utilization dashboard widgets3. Added Dwell Time and LOS dashboard widgets4. State dashboard widgets have simplified state selection in their GUIs - They now use standard

checkboxes instead of red/yellow/green options5. Resource, Location and ItemObject dataset selection GUI controls are now consistent with the Patient

dataset selection controls6. Dashboard widgets use colors from palettes more intelligently7. Palettes are repeated in dashboards if there are not enough colors available8. Closing the Dashboard GUI closes the GUIs of all of the widgets in it9. getstaffgroupstat() is now getgroupstat() and works with all group types10. setnumresources() is more robust and can sometimes be used during runtime11. getnumresources() can be used to get the total number of usable resources for alternate groups as well

as primary groups12. Many GUIs have been updated with new drop-down lists and code-edit controls13. Lots of clean-up and work to picklist options all over the place14. Dashboard is larger by default so that all metric names are fully visible15. Removed "Exact" from the display types list for most metrics16. Many dashboard widgets now automatically set and update their title nicely17. A message is now shown when an experiment is complete18. Removed the default milestone-to-milestone entry19. Bar charts always show the value next to the bar - makes them easier to read20. User-defined widget has "Current Value" option, but nothing else does21. Line plot now shows times in day:hour:minute format22. Patient State graph now has "By Percentage" option23. Added Export Dashboard Data GUI24. Blocked state is now called WaitingToSend25. Location Census and Throughput can now report for individual locations26. Added Patient Throughput dashboard widget27. Added "Duplicate Graph" option to the right-click menu in the dashboard28. Added Elevators to Resource State/Utilization graphs29. A box plot with a single period can define a range of hours to report30. Added functionality to Track Manager GUI, simplified the Advanced Functions31. Added spinners to Source arrival/sequence table GUIs32. Added Location and Patient Throughput box plots33. Simplified naming of new Global Processes and Tracks34. Custom sample sets automatically have "Custom_" added to their names35. Dashboard widget GUIs are opened in better places on the screen36. Minor cleanup to the Model Documentation GUI37. Added custom scaling to the Floor Plan import wizard38. getareastat() has been deprecated - use getnumlocations() and getcensus()

Bug Fixes

1. Various fixes for GUIs (thrown exceptions, control placement, etc.)2. Visual tab is now consistent across non-patient objects - removed the unit-conversion controls3. Removed THIS_GROUP from the pick-option generated for Home Base selection4. Item Object Stats tab now shows state information correctly5. Patient Census no longer throws exceptions if only 1 period was selected


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6. State and Utilization dashboard widgets have the correct state lists7. The toolbar in the Dashboard can be clicked to take focus from a widget8. Datasets are now updated automatically more intelligently9. An idle elevator should no longer steal requests that are already scheduled for another elevator10. The Dashboard does a better job of saving and loading dashboards with tabs11. Opening saved Dashboard does a better job of creating sample sets if needed12. Changed default priority for maintenance task sequences to 15013. Fixed a bug when maintenance staff were called to a preempting escort patient activity14. Box plots can now plot a single value (before they needed at least 2)15. Staff used for maintenance now start their standing animation correctly16. Experimenter will always have at least 1 variable17. Bar charts now expand correctly if there is only one member of a group18. Fixed an exception that occurred when saving a file after a replication19. Fixed an exception in the Milestone-to-milestone Histogram20. Text display widgets no longer show decimals for integer values21. Census box plot is more accurate when there are no arrivals during a period22. Average Milestone Time and Wait Time calculations are more accurate now23. Milestone and milestone-to-milestone box plots are more accurate now24. Item Objects have a Connections tab again25. FlowCharting tool does a better job of managing connections for item objects26. Changes to port order on item objects is no longer lost in the FlowChart GUI27. Bar charts now show the name of a sample set, even if that set is pointing to a set with a different name28. Bar charts show the name of the sample set, not the group being displayed29. Location/Resource State/Utilization show data when the sample set names don't match the group

names30. Experimenter takes Model Start Time into account better31. Census and Throughput widgets take warmup time into account better32. Box plots only set their visible range based on confidence intervals if the graph is actually showing

confidence intervals33. Improved vertical spacing in bar charts if there were values of 034. Fixed undo capability in some GUIs35. Improved how/when census values are recorded or calculated36. Fixed object GUIs so that text isn't displayed when the shape is changed37. Fixed bugs in the naming of Global Processes and Tracks38. Census of an area is incremented when a location in the area is reserved39. Improved the output tab of the Experimenter40. Removed a lot of legacy code and nodes used with old dashboards41. Staff no longer travel up/down when they pick up flowitems

Version 4.0 (April 2013)

New Features

1. Added the Recent Files menu option.2. Changed the Experimenter so that it performs multi-core experiments.3. Item objects can now have their connections edited in the Flowchart GUI.4. The order of an Area's downstream areas can be edited in the Flowchart GUI. Double-click on an Area,

the downstream areas can be dragged around to change their connection order.5. The connection order of locations in an Area can also be edited.6. Arrival objects can now be stopped with the setnumlocations() command and with the OnTimerEvent of

Areas.7. Entirely new Dashboard and widgets and integration with Experiments.


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8. Added commands to handle the new bundle data type9. Floor plans can now be .dwg files.10. Layers on .dwg floor plans can be hidden/shown, or have their color edited.11. Floor Plan wizard now has a "Scale" field to make resizing the drawing easier.12. Down and Resume functions for Interrupts and Shift Schedules have been improved.13. Item/Message Destination and Item Created Trigger have been added to the Global Process Advanced

Function Editor.14. When an object name changes, references in patient tracks and global processes are automatically

updated.15. When an activity is renamed, Resource Requirements that refer to it are updated.16. Models now pack their media by default.17. Added Lab and Workbench to Patient Processing objects' shapes.18. Revised shape lists for Item objects.19. Wait cursor is now shown during search/replace and Excel import/export.20. User Verification can now be disabled by the admin user.21. Implemented a new task sequence priority tiering system. A new request will preempt an active

request if the active request is in a lower tier. Competing requests within the same tier will be executedaccording to priority, higher numbers indicating higher priorities. Tiers follow the pattern:

1. Tier 1 0-992. Tier 2 100-1993. Etc.

22. Added new staff states: Break1, Break2, Lunch.23. Added or improved keep/releaseresource() and reserve/releaselocation() commands.24. Kept resources now have a colored square around their base - the color matches the color of the

patient keeping the resource.25. ElevatorBanks now update the OnArrival code on their nodes (assumes that the nodes still have the

default code).26. PatientProcessing objects are now shown with a base and a red border when they are set to be

unavailable in the FlowChart view.27. Added a button to the FlowChart view that toggles between Patient and Item object views.28. Changed the default condition in the Travel To Home Base pickoption so that staff don't go home if they

are kept.29. PCI Table is now available for Excel import/export.30. Labels in the PCI Table can now be given lists or tables.31. Removed Elevator's default OnLoad code.32. Changed how travelers are placed in an Elevator.33. Fewer errors are shown now if the user reaches the model limit in demo mode.34. Advanced Function Editor GUI now ensures that there is default code when the code edit button is

pressed before the template button.35. Patient datasets in the Dashboard are automatically created/removed when PCIs and Scenarios are

created/removed.36. Track Resource tables now have a option.37. Dashboard widgets that implement the Box Plot chart now have pop-up data to show the actual values

in the chart.38. There are now three kinds of reporting datasets: Patients, Resources, Location. These are used in

dashboard widgets so that they can record data during experiments.39. PatientProcessing objects are now placed in WaitingForMaintenance state until a staff member arrives

to perform maintenance.40. Added Maintenance Start and End triggers to PatientProcessing object.41. The PatientProcessing maintenance table can now have "patient" and "location" used in the staff and

time functions.42. Added a Box Plot graph for Patient Travel Distance and Area Census dashboard widgets.43. New GUI and pickoptions for User-Defined dashbaord widget.44. Removed Tracks and Processes tabs from Track Manager and Global Process Manager GUIs.


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45. When the Patient Destination function is reevaluated by the Entrance Criteria, param(3) is set so thatthese reevaluations can be distinguished from normal calls.

46. Added buttons to GUIs that open Google 3D Warehouse so the use can search for .skp files.47. Added the Desk to the library as a nice visual for models. (It can not be used as a location - it is simply

there for visuals.)48. Updated triggers tabs of GUIs to use newer, better-looking GUI controls.49. Updated Advanced Functions GUIs for Track Manager and Global Process Manager to use newer GUI

controls.50. Removed "Triangle" as a patient display mode.51. Added global preferences to show/hide the indicator boxes for Kept or OffSchedule resources.52. Implemented new and improved task sequence handling behavior.53. Added "Custom Request Selection Process and Idle Staff Handling" pickoption.54. Added new 3D shapes and animation for patients. This includes patients with slings, crutches and

wheelchairs.55. Added new 3D shapes for locations including: Licac, and Phone.56. Added other shapes that can be browsed for including: clothes hamper, sink.57. Removed Connections and Members tabs from many resource and group GUIs because the

complicated connections schemes are no longer valid.58. Added Global Variable display to the Text object.59. Elevator travelers are placed randomly around the network node connected to the Elevator while they

wait. This helps the user see how many are waiting. They are also placed randomly inside the Elevator.60. User's Manual now has a nice "Welcome to FlexSim HealthCare" page when it is opened.61. Added "Node Value" experiment variable type.62. Added experiment variable type to activate/deactivate arrival modes on an Arrival object.63. Added experiment variable to copy data from a Global Table to an Arrival table.64. Changed the numbering scheme when activities are inserted between two existing activities.65. Updated "Choose from a list of destinations based on various selection criteria" pickoption.66. Census and Throughput are now tracked at each location and area by PCI.67. Added a lot of functionality to getcensus() and getthroughput() commands to report the new tracking.68. Replaced old getcensus() and getthroughput() calls with gettrackcensus() and gettrackthroughput()

calls.69. Added Output tab to Experimenter to show the output and system console output from experiment

replication runs.70. The Experimenter now shows a message if any exceptions were reported during experiment runs.71. New default background and grid colors.72. New background and grid colors available in the Background Color menu option (right-click on the

model).73. The getcensus() and getthroughput() commands can be used to get information by PCI for locations,

areass, and model.74. Activities created between two activities that already exist are assigned numbers in a better way.75. Developed a standard down function for resources with many new options (i.e. maxdelay, extendbreak,

down/resume states, locations, variance, etc.).76. Improved random placement of staff at locations other than primary group, and staff snap to non-

primary group locations at model start if off schedule.77. Colored floor shows for staff on break/lunch as well as offschedule now.78. Default priority for activities in Tracks and GlobalProcesses is 150.79. Old models have the activity templates for Tracks and GlobalProcesses changed so that the default

priority is 150.80. Added copyobjectcolor() command.81. Added "Resource Request Selection Policy" and "OnResourceIdle" fields to Groups.

Bug Fixes

1. Changed CheckLocationAvailability() so that it checks a Queuing Area's maxcontent variable correctly.


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2. Added a default activity to some of the Next Activity picklist options.3. Fixed Process > Send Item activity so that it calls the Item Created trigger.4. Periods in Custom Arrivals that overlap or are defined out of order are handled better.5. Custom Arrivals repeat intervals have been improved.6. Improvements to pickoptions and GUIs.7. Global Settings can now be accessed when in trial mode.8. Popups work in template windows again.9. Number precision is now handled better when switching from one model to another.10. Bitmap on Edit Schedule button no longer disappears randomly.11. CloseOutputFiles() is now called correctly when a single run ends because of a finish time.12. Fixed a bug in importing/exporting of Patient Track and Global Process .fst files.13. Changing a track's shape no longer prints useless information to the Output Console.14. Updated Patient Queuing areas so that they are chair and bed layout is easier to edit. Old models will

need to be updated manually.15. New dashboard widgets are always placed above the others.16. Fixed a bug that was causing staff to go to their homebase when they reached a 'Break' task.17. Various small fixes to dashboard widgets.18. Experimenter's "Go To Scenario" button now works correctly.19. Track Manager's Advanced Functions GUI is kept up-to-date when different tracks are selected.20. Fixed an exception in the Object Tracker that was thrown if an Alternate Group was connected to

another Group.21. Fixed a bug that was preventing staff member from taking task sequences from their tasksequence

queue in priority order.22. Various GUI updates.23. Wall posts are now drawn centered along the wall.24. Floor Plan GUI now shows all 5 types of image files that it can support.25. Old Milestone stacked bar chart now resets the throughput values at the end of the warmup time.26. Various pickoption fixes.27. Fixed the Rounds pickoption so that it doesn't throw exceptions when equipment isn't used.28. Patient Milestone dashboard widget GUI now keeps its milestone list more in sync with the model's

master list.29. Patient Wait Times dashboard widget no longer allows Groups and their Members to be selected at the

same time.30. Updates to command documentation.31. New blocks in the FlowChart view should never be hidden behind other blocks.32. A user can now select "none" in the PatientProcessing maintenance table.33. The Recent Models menu is now empty when FlexSim Healthcare is first installed.34. Patient Processing object no longer change state if they are in the OffSchedule state when the

processing time finishes.35. PatientProcessing objects no longer use the Blocked state.36. PatientProcessing objects now treat the Interrupted state like OffSchedule when maintenance is

needed.37. Fixed some problems in the User Events GUI.38. All attempts to Copy/Paste in the FlowChart GUI are now ignored.39. Saving Default Workspaces works better now.40. Time displays should not show X:010 or X:60 anymore.41. Time displays are not rounded to the nearest minute (real clocks don't round, this shouldn't either).42. The "Patient's Name" display mode no longer shows extra information over a patient's head.43. Fixed syntax errors in many pickoptions.44. Converted workbench.wrl to a .3ds file to avoid reported crashes.45. Triggers should always have at least header text when the Edit Code button is pressed.46. Staff, Equipment, Transports now clear their keepingpatient variable correctly if they were kept by a

Global Process.47. Removed "Add Table to MTEI" button from several GUIs.


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48. Created some new text displays and fixed others (divide by zero error).49. Consolidated default Entrance Criteria for PatientQueuing, PatientProcessing and PatientExit into a

function called DefaultEntranceCriteria().50. Fixed how Hourly Arrivals assign PCI so that the "row" variable can be used correctly in the PCI

function if there is a start time defined.51. All triggers should have header text added to them when an pick-option is selected from the list.52. Logic Builder should be disabled by default, and can't be turned back on.53. The totals output file is now recorded when the box is checked.54. New activities in Tracks or Global Processes now have the same number of leading spaces in their

names as the activity before them in the list.55. Cleaned up or fixed various GUIs and pickoptions.

Version 3.14 (June 2012)

Bug Fixes

1. The Scheduled Arrivals mode on the Patient Arrivals object sets the ApptTime label correctly again.2. Added getelapsedtime() command. This returns the amount of time that has passed since either the

model started, or the warmup time ended.3. Used getelapsedtime() in a number of utilization calculations and picklists including:

o Area Occupancyo Staff Group Utilizationo Group Member Utilizationo Object Stateo User-defined values and Custom Displays

4. If code is edited but does not have any template code in it, it is given "Custom Code" text automatically.

Version 3.12 (May 10, 2012)

Bug Fixes1. Fixed GlobalProcesses so that they do not throw exceptions when they occur2. It is no longer possible to import a model that was made in a different version3. The Help button on the Path Node's Parameters window now opens the correct help page for each tab4. Updated the comment header on several pickoptions so that GetRequiredGroup() is demonstrated5. Added some commands to the documentation6. Fixed syntax errors in the Activity Start Condition pick-option called "No Staff Currently Allocated to

Activities in List"7. Fixed syntax errors in "Stop or Resume Flow" pickoptions8. The GlobalProcess Parameters GUI no longer shows the "There is already an object named X"

message when it shouldn't

9. Fixed the getwarmuptime() command so that pick-options that calculations that are based on warm-uptime are more accurate.10. Fixed a bug with the numeric precision being set to 0 (which, in turn, caused other problems in a

model).11. Updated the Area Occupancy Level dashboard widget so that it is update when the model stops

running.12. GlobalProcesses now have global variables created to point to them when a model is opened.13. Changing the name of a Location in the model will now change most references to that Location in

Global Processes and Tracks.


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Version 3.1 (April 6, 2012)

New Features

1. Updated the Track Manager so that certain fields are disabled and/or cleared out when needed.2. Added SortModel() command and included the functionality in Tools|Maintenance.3. The ItemConveyor is no longer a roller conveyor by default. It is now a more abstract series of arrows.4. The help now includes commands that start with capital letters in the index pages.5. Added getobjecttype() command.6. Updates to model update code.7. Added checkbox to the Predecessor list in the Track Manager and Global Process Manager so that

users can easily enable/disable predecessor lists.8. Added "Dispatch Companions" pick-option to Message Received trigger.9. Added an arrow on the floor of the WaitingArea and WaitingLine so that the user can easily see what

direction the patients will be facing.10. Removed a lot of unnecessary fields from the Staff/Equipment/Transport Advanced Editor GUIs.11. Added "Create Activity for Multiple People" pick-option.12. Added getnumresources() command.13. Patients now record how long they had to wait for Locations or Resources to become available. This is

available in the output files.14. Added "Total Wait Times by Track" stacked bar-graph to the Dashboard.15. Added new 'scale' shape for Patient Processing objects.16. Added Infant Scale 3d shape (not yet available in the drop-down list).17. Added ClockTime column to output files.18. Updated Tutorial models.19. Added "Based on Location" and "Center Port connection" pick-options to some Advanced Functions for

tracks.

Bug Fixes

1. Put some 3d shapes back in that were missing from 3.0 (baby, baby in bassinet, man in bed, woman in

bed).2. Redesigned the "Based on Probability" pick-option so that the user can select the number of entries inthe array. This fixes an error that was reported frequently that said that the percentages didn't add upto 100.

3. The Excel import process no longer reports "Import Complete" if something didn't import correctly.4. Fixed the .csv and .txt files that are generated when a Track is exported. There were problems when a

file was exported, edited in Excel, saved, and then re-imported.5. The warning message in the Shift Schedule GUI about Groups and Members is no longer shown at

incorrect times.6. Fixed the ItemConveyor's GUI so that it highlights/de-highlights the selected conveyor section correctly.7. Fixed the Item objects so that their table shape is shown now.8. Changed the Item objects so that their default shapes are all color-changeable.

9.

Removed extra print statements.10. Fixed an exception that could occur when tasks were re-dispatched from Groups to members.11. Fixed an exception in the Experimenter results that occurred if all replications returned the same

number.12. Fixed the TaskExecuter (staff, equipment, transports) so that they can be preempted if they are kept,

but are idle.13. Fixed a bug that was causing Shift Schedules to not repeat correctly in some cases.14. Fixed a bug in the 2.7-3.0 model update code that was placing PatientProcessing objects at z-location

of 0, instead of whatever z-location they previously had.15. The Message/Item Destination field can now use its access variables correctly.


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16. The Message/Item Destination field can no longer use "patient's location" as a drop-down list. (But thelocation can still be selected in the Advanced Functions.)

17. Fixed a bug in the PatientQueuing object that was causing a single patient to be "released" multipletimes.

18. Updated/clarified some tooltips throughout the GUIs.19. Fixed a bug in the Custom Arrivals that was causing extra patients to arrive if two time periods started

at the same time.20. Users no longer need to press "Apply" in order to have the PatientArrivals Parameters GUI recognize

the difference between two arrivals in the Appointments tab.

Version 3.0 (January 30, 2012)

New Features

1. The PatientQueuing Layout tab has been updated to be easier to use and to allow the user to specifythe direction that rows of chair face.

2. Added "Milestone Times (by Track)" dashboard widget.

3. Various improvements to graphics and animations .

4. Updates to the default Entrance Criteria that will allow patients who have a room reserved to safelyenter objects that are upstream of their reserved room without negative consequences.

5. Shortened the default list of milestones.

6. Added password-based login.

7. Added user audit log support.

8. Added Object Tracker GUI (Tools|Debugging|Object Tracker).

9. Placing a new object on a Display that is acting as a floor will automatically create a selection setnamed after the Display (if needed) and will add the newly-created object to the set.

10. Multiple staff that are required to be at the same node in a path will spread out.

11. Changed the behavior of the Appointment and Custom Arrivals tables in the GUI so that the user canuse the arrow keys while editing time cells.

12. Removed unnecessary pick-options from several pick-lists throughout the software.

13. Added many new pick-options throughout the software.

14. Fixed problem of equipment being deallocated too early in a MoveEquipment>Process activity, and yetit's state is still utilized.

15. Improved patient overhead display.

16. Added activity start times to patient's Paramters GUI for ongoing activity display.


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17. An open Patient GUI now displays the patient correctly, no matter where it is in the model.

18. Patient Destination can now be a specific location as well as an Area.

19. ItemArrivals now have batch arrivals as part of their interarrival time.

20. Itemtype field for ItemArrival's interarrival time mode can now be an expression.

21. New icons and splash-screen graphics.

22. New "Patient Rounds" pick-option for Custom Activities.

23. Floors are hidden by default for many location types.

24. Modified floor and object colors for improved color separation.

25. Lightened area block colors in order to read the area names in the Flowcharting GUI.

26. Removed "Group" from the default name for equipment and transport groups.

27. Patient Classification tab, originally implemented as part of the Patient Arrivals object, has been movedto the Track Manager. This serves to better organize settings that belong to patients in the model, andalso fixes a bug that would sometimes cause multiple arrival objects with individually configured PCItabs to conflict.

28. The previously required action of making manual connections from Path nodes to patient locationobjects has been supplimented with a check box on the object's properties. You may still create manualconnections between objects and Path nodes, including group objects.

29. Added check box for “Arrival at time 0” on the Interrarrival Times tab .

30. A new Item Conveying object has been added to the Library of Objects.

31. Added a new Patient Processing object shape: Bathroom.

32. The Stop Watch icon on the toolbar has had its features expanded. Click the Stop Watch now opens asmall dropdown window of available runtime options for the model. Here you will find the model Starttime definition, the model Warmup Period length and the model total run length.

33. Some error messages related to Activity IDs and names have been removed in favor of silently fixingthe warnings rather than displaying an error pop up every time.

34. Display objects:

A time Display object will be created automatically for new models, located in the upper righthand corner of the grid.

New pick options for the Display object have been added to support different time displayformats.


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Management of Display objects has been moved to a new drop down menu element in thetoolbar, to the right of the run speed slider. From here you may create new Display objects andmore easily manage existing ones.

Display objects now have a non-selectable option added to their Properties tab

35. Changed the name of the EmergencyBed to Gurney. Only new instances of objects with this shapeshould be affected.

36. Replaced the Allocate/Deallocate Activity types with the more flexible “Custom” activity type. Oldmodels that used Allocate/Deallocate, should not be affected.

37. Elevators:

The Elevator object has been redesigned and renamed “Elevator Bank” to allow a Group ofelevators to work together more seamlessly.

Elevators now take into account the size of the traveler and the anything it is holding todetermine how much space travelers take up.

38. Added the ability to view and edit the number of active locations in an Area via the Flowcharting tool.

39. Due to limited and often misunderstood functionality, the Allocate Patient check box on all activityproperties has been removed and replaced with additional picklist option under the AdvancedFunctions. Only affects new models, older models will have that feature preserved.

40. Added increased appearance customization options to Staff members and Patients.

41. Added new pickoptions (including options to add/remove accessories from a patient)

42. New options to the Staff Requirement table on the track manager, including the new "Keep" feature

43. Extensive revisions to the code behind the scenes for all the activity types which should improve patientstate management and runtime performance.

44. Added a terminateactivity() command that is a more complete way of forcing an activity to be completedvs finishactivity() which wasn't intended to be used in this manner.

45. Improvements to the way repeating activities work.

46. Added an Advanced Function for using an expression to define the item/message destination.

47. Integration with the FlexSim 5 Engine.

48. New undo (Ctrl-z) /redo (Ctrl-y) capability.

49. New debugging capabilities, including:

50. An in-line, step-by-step Flexscript debugger. Just go to the code editor and click in the left margin to seta break point.

51. More strict syntax rules for Flexscript, including parameter cardinality and type checking.


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52. An event log that lets you see all events that have fired in the model, filter those events, export them tocsv, etc.

53. An event list that gives you a view of the list of pending events.

54. A Flexscript code profiler that lets you see what Flexscript functionality is being called, how often, andhow much time is being taken up.

55. A new Animation Creator that allows you to create movable sub-components of objects as well ascustom animations for those sub-components.

56. New .skp 3D file import capability, for using files from Google Sketchup and Google 3D Warehouse.

57. Improved 3D refresh rate.

58. Improved compatibility with ATI, NVIDIA, and integrated graphics cards.

59. New software-based licensing using Flexnet.

60. Faster and more seamless compiling process, with no creation of a new FlexSim instance.

61. Fixed compiling issues for Windows Vista and Windows 7

62. More detailed, navigable and configurable Experiment reporting, with additional histogram andcorrelation plots.

63. Support for png, ico and gif texturing on 3D objects, allowing transparency without requiring the .tmpand .tpg files.

64. New all-in-one code editor with tabbing and an apply button.

65. Improved interface for defining Conveyor layout.

66. Fixed AVI Maker for Windows Vista and Windows 7.

67. New and improved xml save features, allowing multiple developers to work on the same modelsimultaneously, as well as better integration with version management systems.

68. Various improvements for advanced modelers and developers.

69. Much more intuitive manipulation of objects in the 3D view.

70. Users can now click on objects below the grid plane.

71. Improved support for traversing window controls with the keyboard.

72. Improved Find/Replace in Tree feature.

73. Improved refresh rate on table views.

74. Fixed a crashing issue with auto-completion hints.


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75. Fixed a bug with renaming labels.

76. Fixed an issue with spline points being invisible if the 3D view has a black background.

77. Several new Flexscript commands for string parsing.

78. You can now Ctrl-Tab to switch between open windows.

79. FlexSim's 3D view now has a "hover" highlight so you can see what object is under the mouse.

80. More descriptive exception handling.

81. Added TASKTYPE_STARTANIMATION, TASKTYPE_STOPANIMATION, andTASKTYPE_FREEOPERATORS.

82. Animation of the 3D View continues while panning/zooming.

83. Various minor fixes and improvements

Bug Fixes

1. Fixed a bug with the Global Processes (formerly Global Activity List) that sometimes allowed activitiesfrom previous runs of the model to stay active in subsequent runs, causing unexpected activities to takeplace.

2. Changed the name of the “Pass to” property on Group objects to “Task Assignment Strategy” for clarity.

3. The AVI maker now warns users to of Microsoft Vista and Windows 7 to switch to the “Basic” or“Classic” theme during recording, as special window effects and transparencies can cause performanc eissues.

4.

User Events can now accept the “00:00:00” time string formatting in the First Event Time property field.

5. Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause a Milestone to be created from the “select or add new option”if it was selected from the Milestone drop down menu.

6. Increased consistency of object properties tabs; the Stats tab is now correctly displayed for all objectsand any objects that had a General tab, it has been renamed to Visuals.

7. Fixed a bug with the Output files option that could cause a crash when trying to write to a file that hasnot been opened yet.

8. Fixed a bug in Staff Groups OnResourceAvailable trigger that incorrectly managed a Staff member'sreturn to home base functionality when carrying more than one Item.

9. Fixed a bug when “Verbose” is checked when creating Model Documentation from the View menu thatwould cause the program to crash.

10. Fixed a bug that would incorrectly display an error message when clicking on a Spline point, aftercreating a new Path node that has a connection.


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11. Graphical display of reporting variables, such as Milestones, performance measures and Dashboardswill only be drawn if the value is greater than zero.

12. Fixed a bug that sometimes wouldn't allow the user to rename Model Layouts from the Utilities tool.

13. In the Experiment Manager, switched placement the “Replication: “and “Scenario:” fields for increasedclarity.

14. Fixed a bug when using the toolbar run control buttons (Stop, Run, etc.) with an Experiment running,that would cause random numbers preferences to be incorrectly set.

15. Fixed a bug that could cause a saved model with an Experiment defined, to have its start timeinterpreted incorrectly upon opening the model.

16. Fixed a bug in the Performance Measures tab of the Experiment manager that would causePerformance Measure names to not update when the Apply button is clicked.

17. Fixed a bug in the Experiment Manager that would cause a syntax error upon opening a saved modelthat had an experiment variable that used the XX replacement system.

18. Fixed a bug in Performance measure calculations that would not properly account for locations or staffthat were disabled as part of experiment variable. Calculations were being made based on the totalnumber of staff and locations, rather than the actual number available.

19. Fixed a bug that would require at least one Experiment variable to be defined if the desire was to simplyrun multiple replications of the model, as is.

20. Fixed problems found in updating v2.77 models to v3.0.

21. Fixed several minor bugs in user interfaces.

Version 2.771 (Sep 17, 2010)

New Features (v2.771)

1. Added the following picklist options for the Activity Finished Trigger:

2. Send Staff to Home Base

3. Occupy and Reserve Transport

4. Position Patient on Transport

5. Position Transport at Location

6. Added a new picklist option for the Process Location field titled: Reserve Location

7. Added a new User Condition to the Pass To field option that checks whether the candidate's "reserve"label is currently zero.


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8. The simulation minutes displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the screen now takes into accountthe user-defined simulation start time.

9. The ApptTime and ArrivalTime labels of a patient take into account the user-defined simulation starttime.

10. Added two new commands: getsimtime() and getsimstarttime()

Bug Fixes (v2.771)1. Fixed problem with Shift Schedules rolling over from one week to the next.

2. Fixed problem with patient overhead displays disappearing at the conclusion of a transfer activity.

3. Fixed the legend on the Milestone Chart of a patient's Properties window.

Version 2.77 (Aug 13, 2010)

New Features (v2.77)1. Added a new time series graph to dashboards for plotting patient attributes, object states, object

variables, and global variables over time.

2. A patient’s total distance traveled is now recorded automatically. Options have been added to showdistance traveled for both patients and staff in output files and dynamic dashboards.

3. Added a picklist option to the “Pass To” field of resource groups that selects resources in a round robinfashion according to their availability.

4. Added a picklist option to the Activity Started Trigger that allows the user to choose a resource used ina previous activity step for the current activity.

5. Added a direct link in the Help menu to the new community site created specifically for FlexSimHealthcare users.

6. Further refinements have been made in an effort to keep staff members from standing on top of eachother when multiple staff are performing independent process activities at the same location at thesame time. If multiple nodes are connected to the common location, then the staff member will travel tothe first, second, third etc. node connected to the location based on whether there are none, one, two,etc. active tasks underway respectively at the time the staff member is called.

7. Output data files can either use decimal points or decimal commas based on the country settings of thecomputer. In addition, both numeric and text label values can now be written to output files, and thereare several good examples for defining Custom Fields within the Output Data Settings interface.

8. Patient and Patient Processing object state profiles have been expanded to include more states (seeuser manual for more information).

9. The simulation start time can now be defined in minute resolution using Tools> Simulation Start Timemenu option.


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10. An option has been added to the Hourly Arrivals tab of the Patient Arrival’ s Properties window allowingthe user to specify whether patient arrivals are equally spread or randomly distributed across thehour. Previously, the arrivals were always distributed randomly across each hour.

11. All patient transfer activities now require the allocation of the patient prior to the start of the transfer.This will allow the user more control over when a transfer activity occurs in relationship to otheractivities that also require the allocation of the patient.

12. Revisions have been made to the online User Manual, including new tutorials.

13. An optometry chair has been added to the list of 3D shapes available for a Patient Processing object.

14. Two new picklist options have been added to the Activity Start Condition field which allows for theinclusion/exclusion of a specific activity completion.

15. The picklist option titled "Choose from a list of areas" for the Patient Destination field is now extremelypowerful with its list of selection rules. This option also allows for the continuous reevaluation of thePatient Destination field whenever downstream locations become available.

16. The optimization tool called OptQuest is now available as an optional add-on to FlexSim

Healthcare. To learn more, follow this link: http://www.FlexSim.com/products/optquest

Bug Fixes (v2.77)

1. The “Entrance Criteria for Next Patient” field for a Patient Queuing object wasn't being checked when apatient to be escorted to another location defaulted to traveling unattended to the Patient Queuingobject when no staff member is available. This has been corrected so that now the entrance criteriamust be met before travel to the queue is allowed.

2. Fixed problem where defining a Repeat Interval for an activity on a patient track would cause errors atthe time the patient exited the model. It is now possible to stop a repeating activity with thefinishactivity() command now as well.

3. Added exception handling when staff are not correctly defined, or broken references appear as a resultof using “same as above activity” or “previous from group” staff selection options.

4. Time series dashboard graphs now take into account simulation start times as defined by the Tools >Simulation Start Time menu option.

5. Corrections have been made to the stop time field on the main toolbar so that it will correctly display thestop time defined in a model immediately after opening the model. The stop time field will also continueto display a stop time in dd:hh:mm format (if so entered in that format) rather than convert it intominutes. As before, the stop time needs to be entered in terms of any offset to the start time as definedin Tools > Simulation Start Time.

6. The Move Equipment/Transport Process activities have been updated to use the same travel rules asthe Process activity in terms of how the staff choose between multiple path nodes connected to alocation to travel to, and whether to offset travel from a node to a patient within a location.

7. Fixed problem with th e vertical scroll bar in the track manager’s activity list box. The scroll bar no longer jumps when selecting activities at the bottom of a long list.


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8. Fixed the “Patient Rounds” picklist option in the Activity Finished Trigger. Equipment (if used) are now allocated properly before the start of the rounds.

9. HC based states are now updated on staff members when they are called by Item Class objects forprocessing and/or transporting purposes. Previously, HC states were only updated on staff memberscalled as part of a track activity.

10. Fixed a problem that could occur in the unlikely event that two or more transfer activities were spawnedsimultaneously for the same patient. Now a check is made to ensure that only one transfer activity canoccur at a time for the same patient.

11. All patient transfer activities now require the allocation of the patient prior to the start of the transfer.This will allow the user more control over when a transfer activity occurs in relationship to otheractivities that require the allocation of the patient directly.

12. When an activity is added/removed from the activity list in the Track Manager, it now correctlyrenumbers any "Assigned Activity ID" fields as needed.

13. PatientProcessing objects that are reserved for the patient's return, now correctly transition from a"Blocked" or "Occupied" state to a "Holding For Patient" state.

14. Fixed problem with updating old models occurring on one or two user's computers where the main viewpanel would become unresponsive.

Version 2.75 (May 31, 2010)

New Features (v2.75)

1. Added a Multi Line Text Box widget to dashboards.

2. Added a new option for the Patient Destination field called "Choose From List of Areas" which willchoose from a list of areas based on one of two user-defined selection rules: "First Available Location"or "Fewest Occupied Locations".

3. Added a new option for Activity Started/Finished Trigger called "Assign Staff Based on Patient's CurrentArea".

4. Added a new option for Activity Finished Trigger called "Record Staff Used by an Alternate Group".

5. Added a new option for the Send To field of Item Class objects called “Based on Patient ’ s Location”.

6. Previously it was necessary to refresh connections in the model by reopening the Flowcharting tool andclosing it after a new object was added to the model, or the area of an object was changed. From nowon, if a new object is created in the model or an object's area is set to an existing area in the model thatalready has connections established in the Flowcharting tool, the object is automatically connectedaccording to the connections associated with its new area.

7. The Auto Connect button found in the side bar of the Flowcharting tool was replaced with a RefreshConnections button.

8. Added a Stop/Resume Arrivals to the Down/Resume Functions for Shift Schedules.


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9. A simulation start time can now be defined globally in Tools> Simulation Start Time instead of on eachof the Shift Schedules as was necessary previously.

10. You can now define a simulation stop time on the toolbar using 00:00:00 format taking into account amodified simulation start time.

11. The warmup time and simulation run time defined in an Experiment now t

FlexSimHC 5.0 UserManual

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