EMS - Scenarios

The central tasks of the Equipment Management System

The equipment manager (the user) starts the Equipment Management System (EMS) to organize devices, employees and room maps. The user is prompted for his login name before he can use the EMS tool.

On the left hand side all local materials are shown. These are the materials he can work on with the tools that are shown in the tool box below (see scenarios Opening a material with the default tool, Opening a material with a specific tool, Opening a tool). On the right hand side the remote material box is positioned where the user can see all materials that are registered in the registry. To work on a material, the user has to check it out first (see scenarios Checking in a material, Checking out a material). Changes made on the materials are only local until the material is checked into the registry. These changes can be discarded by releasing the original in the registry (see scenario Remove local changes) instead of checking in the material.

Creating new materials and editing them is one of the central tasks that is supported by the EMS tool (see scenarios Creating materials, Copying materials, Editing a device, Upgrading a device, Editing room maps, Editing an employee).

Materials that are no longer needed, can either be removed locally (see scenario Removing a local material) if they haven't been registered in the registry or removed from the registry if they are checked in (see scenario Removing a remote material).

To assign employees and devices to rooms in a room map, the user starts the device organizer (see scenario Organizing devices and employees inside room maps).

On a regular basis the equipment manager has to check for devices that need upgrading or need to be sorted out because they are too old (see scenario Checking devices).

Editing a device

The user opens the device he wishes to edit with the device editor. He clicks on the "Create Device Name ..." button to use the device name creator to create a valid name for the device (see scenario Creating a device name). Valid names consist of a department mnemonic, a device type mnemonic and a number. The device name creator ensures that the new name of the device is unique. To edit or add mnemonics, the user uses the value definer (see scenario Editing device or department mnemonics).

The device state is set to "In The Planning" at the beginning. As soon as the user changes the state to "Ordered" and saves the device, he can enter the purchase date and sign the purchase if he wants to. If the user decides to sign the purchase, his login name is entered. After saving the device, the state is automatically set to "Present". The user can upgrade the device as soon as it is necessary (see scenario Upgrading a device).

Furthermore the user can set the device class to "Low End", "Intermediate" or "High End" and enter a description of the device in the text field below.

The field "I36/U18" is automatically filled. It is based on a standard for buying and upgrading devices. Every 36 months, an intermediate device is bought and upgraded after 18 months.

Creating a device name

The user opens the device name creator from the device editor tool by clicking on the "Create Device Name ..." button. From the two combo boxes he chooses the department name mnemonic and the device type mnemonic that are appropriate for this device. After that, he clicks on the "Get Next Free Number" button, to get the next available number for this combination of mnemonics. Alternatively, he can enter a number manually. The "Ok" button is only enabled if the number is free for this name.

Editing device or department mnemonics

The user starts the value definer from the tool box. In the upper
combobox he can choose between editing a device mnemonic or a department
mnemonic. In the list the existing mnemonics are shown. After selecting
one of them the user can remove or change it. To change the mnemonic a
new name can be typed in the text field at the bottom of the tool. He
can enter a new mnemonic using this text field, too.

Upgrading a device

The user opens the device editor with the device to be upgraded.

Either the user inserts the current date by clicking on the "Upgrade Today"
button or he enters the upgrade date manually in the text field. The user
chooses if he wants to sign the upgrade with his username by clicking on
the "Sign Upgrade" button. To make the changes persistent the user clicks
the save button, which saves the date of the upgrade (only the last
upgrade date is saved).

Editing room maps

The user opens the room map he wants to edit with the room map designer.
He changes the size and name of the room map with the rename and resize tool
which he opens by clicking on the "Edit Room Map Properties" button
(see scenario Editing properties of room maps and rooms).

He adds a new room to the room map by clicking the "New Room" button
or selecting the entry from the "Actions" menu. He moves the room to
the desired location on the room map by dragging it with the mouse.

He edits the size and name of the room by using the rename and resize
tool (see scenario Editing properties of room maps and rooms). He can
change the size of the room by resizing it with the mouse, too.

If the user wants to take a closer look at the room map he can change
the view by changing the zoom level with the "Zoom" buttons.

Editing properties of room maps and rooms

The user starts the rename and resize tool to edit a room or a room map.
He changes the dimension and the name by using the text field and the
numberspinners. The user stores his changes by clicking on the "Store" button.

Editing an employee

The user opens the employee in the employee editor. All attributes are displayed
for editing. After having made the necessary changes, the user clicks on the "Save" button.

Organizing devices and employees inside room maps

The user opens the room map he wants to organize with the device organizer.

In the organizer the room map can be seen on the left hand side. The rooms
are displayed together with their state, which is either "empty", "okay",
"storage only" or "overfilled". The states are also indicated by different
background colours.

On the right hand side the depot shows the available devices and employees.
Only devices and employees that are registered in the registry are available
here. With the "Device" and "Employee" button the user switches between the
view for devices and employees. He uses the mouse to drag a device or employee
onto a room in the room map. To remove an employee or device from a room,
he drags it back onto the depot.

The employees are divided into two categories. A manager is represented by a
yellow icon and a team member by a brown icon. Managers need a bigger room
and cannot share their room with other employees. They are allowed to have any
number of devices in their room, while team members are only allowed to have
one device each.

By using the different "Refresh" buttons the user either updates the depot
only or the depot and the room map with the devices and employees currently
registered in the registry. Devices and employees which have been deleted are
removed, changed names are updated.

As in the room map designer, the user changes the view with the "Zoom" buttons.

Checking devices

To check regularly for devices that are too old or need to be upgraded, the user
uses the device checker centre. Here he can adapt the search strategy and search
for devices he is interested in. The search strategy adjusts the automaton that
performs the search. The search is initiated by the automaton itself, depending
on the date and interval in the strategy, or manually by the user with "Check Now"
in the "Actions" menu.

He chooses the search result he wants to have a look at and gets an overview of
the devices that have been found on the right hand side.