Activity types

The activity type manager allows to define the activity types which are used in your organization, their internal structure and which resources they might allocate. The activity types are the basis for working on activities in the different modules of PeakTMS.

The activity type list view

The list view provides you with an overview over all currently registered activity types. You can use the table headers to define filters or to change the column width and order. Pressing the column chooser icon will give the possibility to add additional columns, e.g. about the change history.

Overview registered resource types

Definition of general information

A general information section contains the following information.

General attributes of resource types

Name

Defines the label of the activity type shown to the user in the application

Manual id

A clear unique technical name is specified, which should not be changed later. It is uses to address a data pools in other technical modules like reports, email content, tms rules, rest api

Calendar index

Defines the vertical hierarchy of the activity, when rendered together with other activities on the same resource.

Display attribute

From the dynamic atttributes one attribute has to be selected which is used to specify the name of the activity. Mostly a TEXT, ID or COMPOSE attribute is used therefore. If nothing is selected, then a standard name field is offered for activities.

Description

Description of the nature of the activity

Used in assign resource list

Whether instances of this type can be listed in the assign resource panel.

Log change?

If activated, then than all changes on the resources will be logged and provides as history

Allow splitting?

Activities can be split in two 2 activities, thereby all they are cloned instead of copied. The parameter defines if this function will be made available.

Allow relation?

Whether the activities of this type can have relationships to other activities.

Earliest start option

Specifies how to deal with the earliest start field of an activity. Ignore (no action), warning or error (prevents start date smaller than the earliest start) are the possible options.

Latest end option

Specifies how to deal with the latest end field of an activity. Ignore (no action), warning or error (prevents end date bigger than the latest end) are the possible options.

Project option

INVISIBLE (no input), OPTIONAL and MANDATORY are the possible options for including projects into activities. Being part of a project has influence on the permissions of the activity.

Location option

Location is a special attribute which defines if an activity belongs to one of the Locations. A resource either cannot have a location (Invisible), an optional location (Optional) or a mandatory location (Mandatory). The location is used for filtering and grouping activities in the activity manager and chartview as well as to define location-based user rights.

Data pools

Definition into which data pool the activity belongs. The assignment to data pools indirectly steers which user groups will have access to the activitys of this type. While multiple selection is possible it is best practise only to assign one data pool. Otherwise, the matrix between user groups and activity types might become very complex.

Icon

The system allows to specify icons from the font awesome icon library. Note that only free icons can be included. Please look here for relevant icons: https://fontawesome.com/

Default columns

From the available attributes the user can select a set of ordered attributes which will be the base for display of activitys of this type in tables. Additionally, it is based for the tooltip description of a activity.

Composite unique

In the section dynamic attributes it can be specified that they must be unique. In case compose unique is activated than the combination of the attributes marked "unique" must be unique when saving activities.

Definition of dynamic attributes

Additionally to the general information, each resource type can have a set of dynamic attributes which are used to describe the resource. Attributes are grouped into named groups. Each attribute has a type which defines the input method and the data type of the attribute. Please refer here for available attribute types: Dynamic attributes types.

Example of dynamic attributes of a resource

In this area you can declare:

Dynamic attribute groups

They are used to group the attributes in the resource type input masks. They also define the layout in which the attributes are displayed.

Dynamic attributes

They are used to describe the resource. Each attribute has a type which defines the input method and the data type of the attribute.

The examples below show how fields are positioned in the input mask based on the definition of attribute groups and attributes.

Example, position attributes within a group

Example, position attributes within a group

Adding / Editing an attribute group

Groups can be added through clicking on the corresponding icon . If there is already at least one group clicking on it and selecting in the context mene "Add group above" or "Add group below" will add a new group as well.

The properties of a group can be edited directly in the table.

Name

Name as it appears on labels and column headers.

Manual Id

Logical name as it might be used to address the field in reports, email, Rest API or Rules engine. This property should not be changed once given.

Columns

The columns of a group split the mask into several columns in which attributes can be placed.

Pressing the button in a row deletes the attribute group including all attributes within the group.

Adding / Editing an attribute

Attributes can be added through clicking on the corresponding icon . Alternatively, if there is already at least one attribute clicking on it and selecting in the context menu "Add attribute above" or "Add attribute below" will add a new attribute as well.

Name

Name as it appears on labels and column headers.

Manual Id

Logical name as it might be used to address the field in reports, email, REST API or rules engine. This property should not be changed once given.

Datatype

Specific data type of the attribute

Columns

Specifies the relative width of the attribute within its group, through defining how many columns of group columns are "occupied".

Mandatory

Whether the attribute is mandatory for input.

Unique

Whether the attribute value must be unique over all resources of this type. Not available for all data types.

Copy

The flag defines if the attribute value is copied when copying a resource.

Settings

Depending on the data type different special settings are available in . If there is no icon, then the data type doesn't support special settings.

Pressing the button in a row deletes the attribute.

Definition of field write permissions

The application allows to define for each attribute of a resource type the field write permissions. This is done in the field permission area. Field write permissions can be assigned directly to a user group / user or based on existing data values of other attributes. Finally, also the rules engine code snippets can be used to define complex rules for field write permissions.

info

If for attributes no specific field write permission is defined, then the default behavior is that all users with access to the resource type can edit the attribute.

Adding / Editing a field write permission

When adding a new field write permission, follow this process:

1. Select the attribute for which the permission is defined. Alternatively you can also choose All to define a permission for all attributes of the resource type.
2. If applicable select in Based on an attribute which is used to define the permission based on its value. If no attribute is selected, then the permission is defined for all resources of this type.
3. Select the user group or user for which the permission is defined.
4. If a Based on attribute is selected, then select the value of the attribute for which the permission is defined.

The picture below permits the group Administrator to have write permissions on the field "Calibration interval", if fuel type is Electric or Petrol.

Definition of field write permissions

Definition of resource assignments

For each activity type it can be defined which resources can or have to be assigned to activities of this type. The assignment can be defined for each resource type. Thereby the resource type can be assigned several times with different roles. E.g. a resource type "Employee" could be assigned as "Operator" and "Supervisor". For each assignment a minimum and maximum number of resources can be defined. The system will check the assignment rules when saving an activity.

Additionally, rules can be defined to reduce the number of possible resources for assignment. E.g. only resources with a specific attribute value can be assigned to an activity.

Definition of possible resource assignments

Resource assignment properties

Name

Name of the resource type which can be assigned

Role

Role of the resource (E.g. operator, supervisor etc). Must be unique within the activity

Min amount

Minimum amount of assigned resources to this role when creating an activity.

Min amount

Maximum amount of assigned resources to this role.

Editable?

Whether new resources can be created directly within the activity (Currently only in old TMS application)

Copy?

Whether resource assignments are copied when copy the activity.

Max occurrences

Just information: How many activities can be assigned to resources of this type at the same time.

Resource assignment rules

In some cases, it is necessary to validate parameters of a resource against certain requirements in an activity. A typical example would be a set of skills an engineer needs to possess to conduct a certain test.

Pressing the button will show the existing rules and provide options to add or remove rules.

Generally following rules can be defined for resource assignments:

• Valuelist / Multiselect in resource against valuelist / Multiselect in activity: The resource has a valuelist attribute which must match the valuelist attribute of the activity. E.g. the skill of an engineer must match the required skill of the activity

Restring test benches to only match the neccessary skills field of activity

• Valuelist in resource against valuelist in other resource: The resource has a valuelist attribute which must match the valuelist attribute of another resource assigned to the activity.E.g. could the assignment of a test bench reduce the possible engineers to only those which have the skills to operate this test bench.
  

  Restring engineers to those who can operate the test bench

• Valuelist in resource directed to another resource: A resource contains a value list which addresses direct a resource type which also can be assigned to the activity. E.g. a sensor can have a valuelist "built in" which leads to a parent resource type "Test bench" which can be assigned to the activity. In this case it could be checked that only sensors which are build in an assigned test bench will be assigned. Additionally, it can be triggered, that when assigning a tesbench also all "build in" sensors will be assigned automatically.

Activate assignment of sensors, if the referred test bench is assigned.

Validation options:

• IGNORE: No validation is done
• WARNING: A warning is shown to the user, but the assignment is still possible
• PREVENT: The assignment is not possible

Display config

The section "Display config" allows to define how the activities of this type will be displayed in the different scheduling views such as resource scheduler, project plan or activity scheduler. The display config is based on the dynamic attributes of the activity type. Based on its value, the appearance in the scheduling views can be changed. E.g. the color and icon of the activity can be changed based on a valuelist attribute.

Thereby up to 3 different display configs can be defined, which combinations can lead to different renderings.

This activity is rendered based on its different status

For each combination following properties can be defined:

Background color

The background color of the activity in the scheduling views

Text color

The text color of the activity in the scheduling views.

Header color

The text color of the activity's first line.

Selected color

The color of the activity when selected in the scheduling views.

Icon

The icon of the activity in the scheduling views can be uploaded.