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Helping
you get connected.... |
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December 2006 |
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IN
THIS ISSUE |
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1. Going back to
Brazil
!
2. 'Did you know?'
3. Special
'Did you know?'
IAs
4.
'Quotable Quotes'
5. January
Training
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Testream/CS
Training
January 2007
Classes are now
forming!
AcquiData,
Inc.
Suite
445
400 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY
11530
Phone:
516-408-3585 Fax:
516-408-3586 www.acquidata.com
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Another successful
installation in Brazil!
The 'Christ the Redeemer' statue in Rio
de Janeiro is the most famous landmark in
Brazil.
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Testream/CS installed in another Klabin pulp
and paper mill...
During the month of December, Ajay Singal
(Manager of Field Engineering and Product
Development), flew to Corriera Pinto, Brazil to
complete the second successful Testream/CS
installation in a Klabin paper mill. Once he
returned home, I had an opportunity to interview
him about his
trip.
Isabella: First I
have to ask, how was Brazil?
Ajay: Brazil is a
land of natural beauty. Between the scenic
views, the beaches and the mountains, I did not
know where to look. The mill itself was very
neat, clean and organized.
Isabella: How did
the culture and language difference effect the
installation?
Ajay: The language
difference had a big effect on the
installation. The Testers did not
speak English, so in order to get anything
accomplished, I had to have a Translator.
There were some extra man hours spent
for this, but not too many. The culture
was very laid back. All the people at
the mill were extremely friendly and
helpful. They always took a team approach to
each project. We all worked together to get
the installation completed on- time and
successfully.
Isabella: What were
some of the issues you had during the
installation?
Ajay: The only
adjustment, I would not call it an issue, was the
the regional settings. Since Brazil follows
a specific date/time and number scheme format,
during the pre-installation, we prepared for
regional settings. It was not an issue at
all.
Isabella: Did they
have any suggestions for Testream that you thought
would benefit our US customers?
Ajay: One
improvement to the current Testream/CS system will
be making the Configuration Maintenance Utility
Program multi-lingual. With additional
Klabin installations and other international sites
on the horizon, making CMU multi-lingual now will
ease the transition later. Another
suggestion was to the data export
section. We will be modifying
CMU to enable a given test to be
exported to several 3rd party systems
simultaneously.
Isabella:
Do you
foresee another trip to Brazil in the future?
Ajay: Sure, we are
looking forward to adding to the current client
set up as well as other sites throughout South
America, Canada, Europe and Asia.
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Did
you know?
In Testream/CS' ReportWriter v
6.6.2, you can select which part of the Sample ID set to
view in your reports. If you do not want to see
the Tester's initials and the Report-Only
Qualifiers, you can simply set the values to 'False' and
they will not appear in your report!
In the latest version of
ReportWriter, an 'ask at runtime' report
will prompt the User to answer the search
questions one time and apply those answers
to multiple
controls.
You asked for it and
now you can do it - ReportWriter
now does X Bar and R
Charts!
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I didn't know IAs could do
that...
Interface Applications might be one
of the most under utilized programs is the Testream
family of software solutions. IAs offer many
user-definable features that can significantly enhance
the User's 'comfortability' with the
program.
Many of our technically savvy
customers
are using IA calculations to their fullest
potential, while others are not. What is an IA
calculation you ask...let me tell you
. An
IA calculation is one performed while the test
readings are being acquired within the IA. The
result of the calculation may be
saved in a separate Test Definition
within the IA. To create this Test Definition, use
the Configuration Maintenance Utility Program or
CMU.
When performing
calculations in an IA, occasionally you may need to temporarily store a
value in the IA, which will be used in the
calculation, but
may not necessarily need to be seen.
This value may be hidden in the
IA. In CMU, in the
Method Section of the Lab Server under the Screen Set Up
tab, there are 2 options available when defining the
method: 'Hide in IA' and 'Show if data is acquired'. These
two options may be selected for each column of
the method. Use these properties to 'clean up' the look
of your IAs. 'Hide in IA' will hide that Test Definition and any
values acquired for it in the IA. 'Show if data
is acquired' will only show the Test Definition if a
value is acquired.
You could use the 'Hide in IA'
option when converting grams to lbs. per ream
for a Basis Weight test. When the reading
comes in from the scale, it is acquired in grams.
This value may be stored in a hidden column in the
IA. The value is than multiplied by the conversion
factor, using a calculation/formula in the test
method. Later in this article I will show
you how to enter your own
calculations/formulas
. The final
result is the value in lbs. per ream. This is
the only value which needs to be seen and sent
to the database.
'Show if data
is acquired' could be used with an LW
AL300 instrument. Since the instrument may acquire many readings, your
IA could have 60 columns defined. All of the columns
do not need to be seen if they are not being used.
If you chose the 'Show if data is acquired' property for
your columns, only the Test Definitions which actually acquire values will
appear upon acquisition.
A commonly used IA calculation
is calculating the average of a
column. If your system has Average already
defined as a Statistic for ex. Statistic 1, it's
easy. When defining the columns in the
method, simply select the 'Running
Calc' as the Acquisition Type. A field
will appear for the formula. Simply enter
'A~STAT1~' as the formula. This tells the IA to
take all the readings is the first column (Column A) and
apply Statistic 1 to them. If you do not
have Statistics already defined, enter the formula
as follows for the running calc: AVERAGE
(A~START~:A~END~). Each column in the method is
referred to by a letter, for ex. Column 1 = A, Column 2
= B, etc. Define all subsequent calculations
accordingly.
****
If you would like more
information on IA Calculations any other materials in
this newsletter, contact Isabella Mitchell at imitchell@acquidata.com or (516) 408-3585
ext. 105.
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Quotable
Quotes
Problems are only opportunities in
work clothes.
Henry J.
Kaiser
Success is a journey, not a
destination.
Ben
Sweetland
The foolish man seeks
happiness in the distance, the wise man grows it
under his feet.
James
Oppenheim
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Training
A new Testream/CS class is forming for
January of 2007! This will be
the first class of the
new year! As always, the training class
will be held in our Garden City, New York
office. For
those customers covered by Support Services, the
class is free of charge.
To hold a seat for you, give
us a call or email us now at
imitchell@acquidata.com or (516)
408-3585 ext. 105.
Hope to see you there!
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