Exercise 16: Adding sub-totals with Collections

For this exercise we shall return to the WiMAX-DSL02 model, so please close the results, switch back to the Editor, close WiMAX-DSL15 and re-open WiMAX-DSL02. Save the model as WiMAX-DSL16.

You may recall that one of the pre-defined Results views for this model was called Network Aggregation, and showed capital expenditure as a stacked column for all resources in the model.

1. Have a look at the Network Aggregation view now.

As you can imagine, this would quickly get too detailed if the number of resources increased. Instead, it is conventional to categorise these costs and just show a few sub-totals at the highest level.

We will make a simple change in the Editor to enable such an approach.

2. Scroll the view so that you can see the DSL equipment, and press <Ctrl> to select both the DSL shelf and DSLAM chassis resources.
3. Scroll the view if necessary to see the WiMAX equipment and keep <Ctrl> pressed while selecting WiMAX access sector and Base-station site.

Show/In a New View

4. Right-click Base-station site and select Show/In a New View. A new view is created showing just these four icons (which still relate to the same underlying data).

Arrange Visible

5. Select Arrange Visible from the Elements menu and accept the default options in the Arrange Elements dialog. (Experiment with these options in the main view of a copy of the model if you have time later.)

Rubber-band

6. Click and drag on the view background to ‘rubber-band’ a selection around the DSL elements. Just these two icons should be selected.

Collection

7. Click the button on the toolbar and then click again within the view. A Collection element is created, with links to the two DSL elements, and a shaded rectangle drawn around them (‘colour block’).
8. Move the Collection icon alongside the DSL elements and rename it as DSL equipment.
9. Repeat the process for the WiMAX elements.

Select elements

10. Open the Draw dialog and, in the Elements tab, select the four resources mentioned above.
11. Switch to the Graphs tab and select Capital Expenditure.
12. Click OK to draw the graph.

Asterisks for Collections

13. Draw the same chart again, but this time select DSL equipment and WiMAX equipment, which you will find shown with an asterisk in the list of Available elements.
14. Compare the totals with the previous graph – they should be the same!
15. Go back to the Editor and select Colour Block from the icon menu for WiMAX equipment if you have time for some cosmetic changes!