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Analyzing Links

If activities and other objects are the backbone of the schedule, then the can be said to be the muscles – they’re the ones that make everything possible, including float calculations. Analyzing the health of your links can be done in the Links view of the Layout Manager. For example, links that are redundant can be viewed, hidden, or faded on the canvas, and links that are convoluted (i.e. intersecting or overlapping) can be identified and filtered for. Instructions for both are provided below.

Steps

Redundant Links

  1. Click Schedule > Open Layout Manager from the menu bar.
  2. To choose a different layout, select it in the list and click Apply.
    1. If the layout on the canvas contained unsaved changes, a warning will open. To save, click Cancel and see [bookmark postid=”12654″ anchor=”creating”]Creating New Layouts[/bookmark]. Otherwise, click Apply, Discard Changes. The canvas will update with the network of the selected layout.
  3. Choose the Links view.
    1. To spotlight a link on the canvas, select it in the list.
    2. To hide a redundant link on the canvas, check the box under the Hide column next to the link.
    3. To fade a redundant link on the canvas, check the box under the Fade column next to the link.
    4. To delete a redundant link on the canvas, select it in the list and click Delete.
  4. Click Save or Close to both save and close the manager.

NOTE: Deleting a link is permanent to the schedule and will apply across all layouts.

Convoluted Links

  1. Click Schedule > Open Layout Manager… from the menu bar.
  2. To choose a different layout, select it in the list and click Apply.
    1. If the layout on the canvas contained unsaved changes, a warning will open. To save, click Cancel and see [bookmark postid=”12654″ anchor=”creating”]Creating New Layouts[/bookmark]. Otherwise, click Apply, Discard Changes. The canvas will update with the network of the selected layout.
  3. Click the Links view.
  4. Click the down arrow button next to Viewing and choose Convoluted Links.
  5. Click the up and down arrows next to Filter our scores < to filter the list of convoluted links.
    1. To spotlight a link on the canvas, select it in the list.
  6. Click Save to close the manager. Otherwise, any threshold entered will not be saved.

Notes

Links View

Redundant Links

Any and all redundant links will show up in the list. As links are selected in the list, the canvas will scroll to their location and they will spotlighted in yellow. For more info, see [bookmark postid=”9346″ anchor=”redundant”]Treating Redundancies[/bookmark].

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Column Definition
Hide Controls whether or not to hide or show the link on the canvas.
Fade Controls whether or not to fade the link on the canvas
Description A description of the link defined by the object it’s emanating from and merging into.
Convoluted Links

A convoluted link is simply a link with a geometry that yields a high or less-than-perfect score. As links are selected in the list, the canvas will scroll to their location and they will spotlighted in yellow. The Filter out scores will determine which links show up in the list below. Any links with a score above the threshold will show up. By default, the threshold is equal to 0, which means all links whether convoluted or not will show up at first. As the number increases, the number of links displayed will likely decrease. For more info, see [bookmark postid=”12479″ anchor=”link-scoring”]Link Scoring[/bookmark]. The value set here for the threshold will also be used in the Statistics view.

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Column Definition
ID A number used internally to identify the link.
Predecessor The object the link emanates from.
Successor The object the link merges into.
Type A label for categorizing links. The designation is for supplemental information; it has no bearing on actual schedule logic or calculations. For more info, see the [bookmark postid=”5568″ anchor=”logic”]Logic Types [/bookmark]section in Creating FS Links.
Lag A way to enforce a minimum gap. For more info, see [bookmark postid=”5574″ anchor=”link-offset”]Adding Link Lags[/bookmark].
Geometry The physical shape of the link. A link can bend vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, in eight different combinations. NetPoint makes use of a scoring system to identify the best possible geometry for a link. For more information, see [bookmark postid=”5572″ anchor=”scoring”]Link Geometries[/bookmark].
Score A point value based on how many grids the link passes through, or if it crosses over other objects or overlaps with other links, for example. For more information on scoring, see [bookmark postid=”12479″ anchor=”link-scoring”]Link Scoring[/bookmark].
Global Displays

Any changes made here will ONLY apply to the layout on the canvas currently being viewed, NOT to any previously stored layouts.

Column Definition
Hide links with gap more than (Days) An option for hiding links based on how much gap they have.
Links between lanes An option for hiding, showing, or fading links that span between swim lanes. For more info, see Setting up Swimlanes.