FlexSim Healthcare 4.0 Released

FlexSim Healthcare version 4.0 was released April 10, 2013. You can download the software by log in to your user account at: http://www.flexsim.com/account/login/

The following is information about the new release:

FlexSim Healthcare 4.0 Installation

There is no upgrader from Flexsim HC 3.x to FlexSim Healthcare 4. FlexSim
Healthcare 4 installs in its own directory, so you can safely install FlexSim
Healthcare 4 on a system concurrently with previous versions. ie. Flexsim HC 3
can coexist with FlexSim Healthcare 4.

If you previously had installed FlexSim Healthcare 3.x and you are now
installing version 4.0, you will have a new password file installed. Password
files are not shared between major version of FlexSim HC. As a result, new
accounts should be created for users of HC 4.0.


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FlexSim Healthcare 4.0 Installation Instructions

1. Extract the installer file from the .zip archive to a temporary location.
You will get a single .exe file.
2. To install the program, double click the installation .exe. The installation
will begin. Follow the installation instructions. You may need to press the
Allow button on Windows Vista, 7 or 8 to run the installer.
3. After installation is complete, double click the FlexSim HC 4.0 icon
to start the program.
4. You will be prompted for a username and password to run the software. The
default username is admin, the default password is admin.
5. It is recommended that you change the default username and password
immediately. Go to File>Login Options>Change Password to make that change.
Additional information concerning username and password management can be
found in the User's Manual (Help>Users Manual).
6. As an alternative to changing the password, you can disable User
Verification by selecting File>Login Options>User Verification from the
main menu.


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License Activation

1. Have your license activation ID on hand. It is a license code similar in
appearance to this example ID:

abccompany.com03-ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-HCSTD3.1

You can look up your activation ID at our website. To do so, log in to your
FlexSim Account at http://www.flexsim.com/account/. Visit the "my licenses"
page containing your licenses at http://www.flexsim.com/account/licenses/.
Expand the "Flexsim HC" folder to view your activation ID. Highlight your
activation ID and copy with Ctrl-C.
2. From within FlexSim Healthcare 4, go to Help>License Activation. The
License Activation window will open.
3. Enter the activation ID (paste using Ctrl-V) and press the "Activate"
button to submit your activation ID to the activation server.
4. Wait for a complete response indicating success.
5. FlexSim Healthcare 3 should now be fully licensed according to your license
type (standard, educational, or runtime).
6. Call FlexSim Technical Support at (801)-224-6914 with questions or
problems, or visit http://www.flexsim.com/support/ to open a support
request.


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Upgrading Models

Models built with Flexsim HC FlexSim Healthcare 3.x will continue to work in
FlexSim Healthcare 4.0.

Call FlexSim Technical Support at (801)-224-6914 with questions or problems, or
visit http://www.flexsim.com/support/ for email support.


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Release Notes

--- FlexSim Healthcare 4.0 (April 9, 2013) ---
New Features
* Added the Recent Files menu option.
* Changed the Experimenter so that it performs multi-core experiments.
* Item objects can now have their connections edited in the Flowchart GUI.
* The order of an Area's downstream areas can be edited in the Flowchart
GUI. Double-click on an Area, the downstream areas can be dragged around
to change their connection order.
* The connection order of locations in an Area can also be edited.
* Arrival objects can now be stopped with the setnumlocations() command and
with the OnTimerEvent of Areas.
* Entirely new Dashboard and widgets and integration with Experiments.
* Added commands to handle the new bundle data type
* Floor plans can now be .dwg files.
* Layers on .dwg floor plans can be hidden/shown, or have their color edited.
* Floor Plan wizard now has a "Scale" field to make resizing the drawing
easier.
* Down and Resume functions for Interrupts and Shift Schedules have been
improved.
* Item/Message Destination and Item Created Trigger have been added to the
Global Process Advanced Function Editor.
* When an object name changes, references in patient tracks and global
processes are automatically updated.
* When an activity is renamed, Resource Requirements that refer to it are
updated.
* Models now pack their media by default.
* Added Lab and Workbench to Patient Processing objects' shapes.
* Revised shape lists for Item objects.
* Wait cursor is now shown during search/replace and Excel import/export.
* User Verification can now be disabled by the admin user.
* Implemented a new task sequence priority tiering system. A new request will
preempt an active request if the active request is in a lower tier.
Competing requests within the same tier will be executed according to
priority, higher numbers indicating higher priorities. Tiers follow
the pattern:
Tier 1 0-99
Tier 2 100-199
Etc.
* Added new staff states: Break1, Break2, Lunch.
* Added or improved keep/releaseresource() and reserve/releaselocation()
commands.
* Kept resources now have a colored square around their base - the color
matches the color of the patient keeping the resource.
* ElevatorBanks now update the OnArrival code on their nodes (assumes that the
nodes still have the default code).
* PatientProcessing objects are now shown with a base and a red border when
they are set to be unavailable in the FlowChart view.
* Added a button to the FlowChart view that toggles between Patient and Item
object views.
* Changed the default condition in the Travel To Home Base pickoption so that
staff don't go home if they are kept.
* PCI Table is now available for Excel import/export.
* Labels in the PCI Table can now be given lists or tables.
* Removed Elevator's default OnLoad code.
* Changed how travelers are placed in an Elevator.
* Fewer errors are shown now if the user reaches the model limit in demo mode.
* Advanced Function Editor GUI now ensures that there is default code when the
code edit button is pressed before the template button.
* Patient datasets in the Dashboard are automatically created/removed when
PCIs and Scenarios are created/removed.
* Track Resource tables now have a
option.
* Dashboard widgets that implement the Box Plot chart now have pop-up data to
show the actual values in the chart.
* There are now three kinds of reporting datasets: Patients, Resources,
Location. These are used in dashboard widgets so that they can record data
during experiments.
* PatientProcessing objects are now placed in WaitingForMaintenance state
until a staff member arrives to perform maintenance.
* Added Maintenance Start and End triggers to PatientProcessing object.
* The PatientProcessing maintenance table can have "patient" and "location"
used in the staff and time functions.
* Added a Box Plot graph for Patient Travel Distance and Area Census dashboard
widgets.
* New GUI and pickoptions for User-Defined dashbaord widget.
* Removed Tracks and Processes tabs from Track Manager and Global Process
Manager GUIs.
* When the Patient Destination function is reevaluated by the Entrance
Criteria, param(3) is set so that these reevaluations can be distinguished
from normal calls.
* Added buttons to GUIs that open Google 3D Warehouse so the use can search
for .skp files.
* Added the Desk to the library as a nice visual for models. (It can not be
used as a location - it is simply there for visuals.)
* Updated triggers tabs of GUIs to use newer, better-looking GUI controls.
* Updated Advanced Functions GUIs for Track Manager and Global Process Manager
to use newer GUI controls.
* Removed "Triangle" as a patient display mode.
* Added global preferences to show/hide the indicator boxes for Kept or
OffSchedule resources.
* Implemented new and improved task sequence handling behavior.
* Added "Custom Request Selection Process and Idle Staff Handling" pickoption.
* Added new 3D shapes and animation for patients. This includes patients with
slings, crutches and wheelchairs.
* Added new 3D shapes for locations including: Licac, and Phone.
* Added other shapes that can be browsed for including: clothes hamper, sink.
* Removed Connections and Members tabs from many resource and group GUIs
because the complicated connections schemes are no longer valid.
* Added Global Variable display to the Text object.
* Elevator travelers are placed randomly around the network node connected to
the Elevator while they wait. This helps the user see how many are waiting.
They are also placed randomly inside the Elevator.
* User's Manual now has a nice "Welcome to FlexSim HealthCare" page when it is
opened.
* Added "Node Value" experiment variable type.
* Added experiment variable type to activate/deactivate arrival modes on an
Arrival object.
* Added experiment variable to copy data from a Global Table to an Arrival
table.
* Changed the numbering scheme when activities are inserted between two
existing activities.
* Updated "Choose from a list of destinations based on various selection
criteria" pickoption.
* Census and Throughput are now tracked at each location and area by PCI.
* Added a lot of functionality to getcensus() and getthroughput() commands to
report the new tracking.
* Replaced old getcensus() and getthroughput() calls with gettrackcensus() and
gettrackthroughput() calls.
* Added Output tab to Experimenter to show the output and system console
output from experiment replication runs.
* The Experimenter now shows a message if any exceptions were reported during
experiment runs.
* New default background and grid colors.
* New background and grid colors available in the Background Color menu option
(right-click on the model).
* The getcensus() and getthroughput() commands can be used to get information
by PCI for locations, areass, and model.
* Activities created between two activities that already exist are assigned
numbers in a better way.
* Developed a standard down function for resources with many new options (i.e.
maxdelay, extendbreak, down/resume states, locations, variance, etc.).
* Improved random placement of staff at locations other than primary group,
and staff snap to non-primary group locations at model start if off schedule
* Colored floor shows for staff on break/lunch as well as offschedule now.
* Default priority for activities in Tracks and GlobalProcesses is 150.
* Old models have the activity templates for Tracks and GlobalProcesses
changed so that the default priority is 150.
* Added copyobjectcolor() command.
* Added "Resource Request Selection Policy" and "OnResourceIdle" fields to
Groups.

Bug Fixes
* Changed CheckLocationAvailability() so that it checks a Queuing Area's
maxcontent variable correctly.
* Added a default activity to some of the Next Activity picklist options.
* Fixed Process > Send Item activity so that it calls the Item Created trigger
* Periods in Custom Arrivals that overlap or are defined out of order are
handled better.
* Custom Arrivals repeat intervals have been improved.
* Improvements to pickoptions and GUIs.
* Global Settings can now be accessed when in trial mode.
* Popups work in template windows again.
* Number precision is now handled better when switching between modeles.
* Bitmap on Edit Schedule button no longer disappears randomly.
* CloseOutputFiles() is now called correctly when a single run ends because of
a finish time.
* Fixed a bug in importing/exporting of Patient Track and Global Process .fst
files.
* Changing a track's shape no longer prints useless information to the Output
Console.
* Updated Patient Queuing areas so that they are chair and bed layout is
easier to edit. Old models will need to be updated manually.
* New dashboard widgets are always placed above the others.
* Fixed a bug that was causing staff to go to their homebase when they reached
a 'Break' task.
* Various small fixes to dashboard widgets.
* Experimenter's "Go To Scenario" button now works correctly.
* Track Manager's Advanced Functions GUI is kept up-to-date when different
tracks are selected.
* Fixed an exception in the Object Tracker that was thrown if an Alternate
Group was connected to another Group.
* Fixed a bug that was preventing staff member from taking task sequences from
their tasksequence queue in priority order.
* Various GUI updates.
* Wall posts are now drawn centered along the wall.
* Floor Plan GUI now shows all 5 types of image files that it can support.
* Old Milestone stacked bar chart now resets the throughput values at the end
of the warmup time.
* Various pickoption fixes.
* Fixed the Rounds pickoption so that it doesn't throw exceptions when
equipment isn't used.
* Patient Milestone dashboard widget GUI now keeps its milestone list more in
sync with the model's master list.
* Patient Wait Times dashboard widget no longer allows Groups and their
Members to be selected at the same time.
* Updates to command documentation.
* New blocks in the FlowChart view should never be hidden behind other blocks.
* A user can now select "none" in the PatientProcessing maintenance table.
* The Recent Models menu is empty when FlexSim Healthcare is first installed.
* Patient Processing object no longer change state when they are in the
OffSchedule state when the processing time finishes.
* PatientProcessing objects no longer use the Blocked state.
* PatientProcessing objects now treat the Interrupted state like OffSchedule
when maintenance is needed.
* Fixed some problems in the User Events GUI.
* All attempts to Copy/Paste in the FlowChart GUI are now ignored.
* Saving Default Workspaces works better now.
* Time displays should not show X:010 or X:60 anymore.
* Time displays are not rounded to the nearest minute
(real clocks don't round, this shouldn't either).
* The "Patient's Name" display mode no longer shows extra information over a
patient's head.
* Fixed syntax errors in many pickoptions.
* Converted workbench.wrl to a .3ds file to avoid reported crashes.
* Triggers should always have at least header text when the Edit Code button
is pressed.
* Staff, Equipment, Transports now clear their keepingpatient variable
correctly if they were kept by a Global Process.
* Removed "Add Table to MTEI" button from several GUIs.
* Created some new text displays and fixed others (divide by zero error).
* Consolidated default Entrance Criteria for PatientQueuing, PatientProcessing
and PatientExit into a function called DefaultEntranceCriteria().
* Fixed how Hourly Arrivals assign PCI so that the "row" variable can be used
correctly in the PCI function if there is a start time defined.
* All triggers should have header text added to them when an pick-option is
selected from the list.
* Logic Builder should be disabled by default, and can't be turned back on.
* The totals output file is now recorded when the box is checked.
* New activities in Tracks or Global Processes now have the same number of
leading spaces in their names as the activity before them in the list.
* Cleaned up or fixed various GUIs and pickoptions.