[esp-r] Re: Fwd: ESP-r why didn't we think of this earlier???

[Chris Jones]

Jon
You're the greatest!

At 12:29 PM 10/5/2006, Jon Hand (clcv10) wrote:

>This is one of those "why didn't we think of this earlier"
>approaches....
>
>Someone asked the following question:
>
> > I just have another quick query with regards to ESP-r. I'd like to
> > copy an
> > operations file (lighting, equipment and occupant gains) from one
> > zone to
> > another. Is this possible or will I have to re-input the data all over
> > again for the new zone?
>
>We answered the question with some directions about how to copy
>zone operations files or point to a common file. A true GEEK answer.
>
>
>BUT WHAT IF WE TOOK IT LITERALLY....a user is part way through
>attributing an office building model and about to start the
>definition of
>occupancy and lighting schedules in a new office which is almost the
>same as one that was previously defined.
>
>What if  one of the first options given to the user was
>to import patterns of air flow schedules and/or casual gains
>from other zones? What if it gave the option to do a literal copy of the
>data or scale it for the volume and/or floor area of the new zone?
>And what if it took about six button clicks to do it?
>
>Actually, what if the user could import the air flow schedules from
>one zone and the casual gains from another? What if they could do one
>or the
>other or both to make it even more flexible to reuse existing
>information? Oh, and for QA purposes it should force you to
>edit the documentation of the new zone's schedule so everyone
>would know how/why/when this was done.
>
>That would be great. It would cut down on errors from using a
>calculator and then editing period data. It would cut down
>on the time needed to attribute a sequence of zones which are similar
>in use but slightly different in form. It would encourage reuse of
>relevant information from other project. I can think of several projects
>where this would have saved a lot of time and frustration.
>
>Drum roll.....its now real and is being tested. Ok, it took 12 ckicks
>(but
>no typing other than the changes in documentation to and 4 clicks
>were to confirm zone names) to import both flow schedules and
>casual gains and scale them for the new zone. Elapsed time less
>than a minute.
>
>I hope to get it past the formal testing and into the source code
>distribution ASAP.
>
>SO THE NEXT TIME someone poses a question, lets have a think
>about a useful evolution rather than a geek answer.
>
>-Jon Hand
>
>
>
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Chris Jones
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