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This topic provides a brief overview of the major analysis, data management and reporting capabilities provided by RENO.
You can also review an introduction to the Synthesis Platform and a list of what's new in the Synthesis version.
With RENO, you use the familiar and intuitive flowcharting concept to build models for the scenarios that you are trying to understand, quantify and/or simulate. The software provides a full array of building blocks for these flowcharts to serve different functions within the model. For example, conditional blocks allow you to define "If/Then" statements that trigger one response if the condition is met (TRUE) and another if it is not (FALSE). You can also define various types of resources that can be used in multiple locations and shared among analyses. For example, a RENO function stores an equation that allows you to compute output based on given input(s). You employ easy point-and-click and drag-and-drop techniques to use these components to build simple or complex flowchart models.
All equation-enabled windows in RENO provide "intelligent" features to help you save time and avoid errors when building equations. These include:
Function Selector: Press CTRL+SPACE while building an equation to view a list of recognized resources, keywords and functions.
Equation Editor: Press SHIFT+SPACE while building an equation to use RENO's Equation Editor to simplify the equation-building process.
Color-Coding: As you type, RENO automatically color-codes recognized resources, functions and operators to make it easy for you to spot typing errors, undefined variables, unmatched parentheses, etc.
Resource Preview: RENO provides a summary of the properties of each resource or function that you use in your equations and allows you to view/edit resources with the click of a button.
The Function Selector and Equation Editor provide instant access to the RENO internal functions, resources and predefined functions that you will use in the equations for your analyses. This includes:
User-Defined Resources: A list of the variables, RENO tables, RENO functions and static functions, RENO simulation definitions and models defined in the project, as well as any cell in any analysis workbook in the project.
RENO Internal Functions: A list of functions that instruct the software to insert specific information into the equation, such as the value passed from the previous flowchart block (in), the total number of simulations performed (sims_total), the maximum value in a table column (table_max), etc. These also include functions that insert simulation results from BlockSim diagrams within the project, once the diagrams have been simulated via a simulation definition. For example, you can insert the amount of time that the system was down (sr_downtime), the costs associated with preventive maintenance (sr_costs_total_pm), etc.
Predefined Functions: A list of built-in functions supported by the software. This includes:
Engineering functions such as Bessel, Error functions, etc.
Math and Trigonometry functions such as Sine, Derivative, Integral, Logarithm, etc.
Financial functions such as Future Value, Cumulative Interest Paid, Periodic Payment for an Annuity, etc.
Statistical functions such as the Weibull distribution, the Fisher Transformation, the Chi-Squared distribution, etc.
Logical functions such as IF statements.
RENO includes an integrated utility to help you validate and "debug" your flowchart models. This feature allows you to move through each step in a flowchart and watch the values as each block is executed. You can also watch the progress as the software automatically performs a specified number of simulations in "debug" mode.
RENO's Sensitivity Analysis feature allows you to vary one or two constants across simulation runs. For example, if you are analyzing potential investment strategies, you may wish to vary the number of years that you will be investing and/or the percentage of your income that will be invested to see how different inputs will affect the final results. Likewise, you may wish to generate reliability or availability results for a range of times in order to examine the equipment's behavior over time. Potential applications are limited only by your imagination!
Simply enter the starting, ending and increment values for the variable(s) and then RENO automatically varies the inputs and performs runs under each set of conditions.
The Multiple Analyses feature takes the sensitivity analysis capability a step further by allowing you to configure the software to automatically vary the specified variable(s) in order to determine the value that minimizes or maximizes a specified result. For example, you could use this feature to automatically determine the optimum amount of inventory to maximize profits or the optimum preventive maintenance (PM) interval to minimize costs. The results of each analysis can be displayed in the plot sheet, with the optimum value marked on the plot.
RENO can generate a wide variety of results for your analyses, including averages, sums, arrays, minimum values, maximum values, etc. Simply construct the flowchart model to generate the metrics of interest to you and then employ the software to use discrete event Monte Carlo simulation to execute the model. For models without random variables, a single execution will yield all results of interest. When random variables are present, simulation (repeating the model analysis multiple times) can be utilized. Results are presented in a variety of ways, including:
During the Simulation: You can configure the RENO Simulation Window to display a specific result of interest while the simulation is running and watch the variation as the analysis progresses.
In the Simulation Results Explorer: The Simulation Results Explorer displays the full results of the simulation in Excel®-compatible spreadsheets that present the data in an organized fashion and make it easy to explore, copy/paste or export results of interest to your reports or customized analyses.
In the Flowchart: After a flowchart has been analyzed/simulated, the values for all result storage blocks are displayed directly within the chart. You also have the option to show the last values for other constructs, if desired.
In the Plot Sheet: RENO's integrated plots provide a graphical display of your simulation results with the click of a button. You can choose to display the data for any result storage block in the flowchart. The Plot Setup allows you to completely customize the "look and feel" of plot graphics while the RS Draw metafile graphics editor provides the option to insert text, draw objects or mark particular points on plot graphics. You can save your plots in a variety of graphic file formats (*.jpg, *.gif, *.png or *.wmf) for use in other documents.
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