The upgrade includes a completely new reporting engine and more power and versatility for the graphics generator. The enhanced Analysis Reporting Module includes a pivot table based analysis tool that draws data directly from the mining model, including calendar databases, and user-defined expressions. This is a significant benefit because the module understands the nature of the data and manages issues such as weight-averaged fields, resources and activities automatically. The updated graphics engine now associates 3-D solids with each database record, instead of the more traditional extruded polygons.
The spatial accuracy of the new solids opens up many more possibilities. Users can now use a topographical surface or other triangulations to define the starting point of the schedule, by automatically assigning appropriate pre-schedule values. “XPAC 7.12 has a new look, but it’s not just a facelift,” said Alun Phillips, Runge’s product manager for scheduling solutions. “It delivers some fundamental advances in scheduling software. The combination of accurate spatial data and powerful 3-D geometry opens up some tremendous opportunities and the new reporting tool cuts down hours of work to just minutes.”
Like a modern browser, XPAC 7.12 has a tabbed user interface, which gives the user greater control of more data sets. It is optimized for multiple monitors and adjusts its behavior to make the best use of any monitor configuration. XPAC 7.12 also lets users personalize the workspace. www.runge.com.au