Finite and Infinite Scheduling 

Use

You can define if the system is not allowed to exceed the capacity of the resource (finite scheduling) or whether it can schedule any number of operations simultaneously on a resource (infinite scheduling) during detailed scheduling. When performing finite or infinite scheduling, you must select a corresponding scheduling mode in the detailed scheduling strategy and define in the resource whether the resource should be scheduled finitely or infinitely. You use the finiteness level to define for different applications if resources should be scheduled finitely or infinitely.

Features

The following table provides a summary of how the system behaves in the case of a finite or an infinite resource when you use a finite or infinite scheduling mode.

 

	Finite Scheduling Mode	Infinite Scheduling Mode
Finite Resource	The system considers the resource load. It only executes scheduling when there is sufficient capacity. The system creates alerts in the case of resource overload.	The system does not consider the resource load. The system creates alerts in the case of resource overload.
Infinite Resource	The system does not consider the resource load. The system does not create alerts in the case of resource overload.

 

Finiteness Level

You can define if a finite resource should be scheduled finitely or infinitely by different applications. To do this, you specify a finiteness level at the resource. In the settings for the application (for example, in the strategy profile or in the heuristic settings) that is to schedule the resource, you define the finiteness level as follows:

·        If you want the application to schedule the resource finitely, enter a finiteness level there that is greater than or the same as the finiteness level of the resource

·        If you want the application to schedule the resource infinitely, enter a finiteness level that is smaller than the finiteness level of the resource

If possible, select values in multiples of 100 for the finiteness level so that you can define additional interim values later. To gain a better overview, you can define short texts for the usage of the finiteness levels at the resource.

The maximum possible value is 9999. If you specify this value in the application, all finite resources will be scheduled finitely, regardless of their finiteness level. If you specify the value 0, the application finitely schedules the finite resources that are not assigned a finiteness level or that are assigned the level 0.

The resource R1 is scheduled in Production Planning (PP) (for example, in the production planning run) and in Detailed Scheduling (DS) (for example, in the DS planning board). The resource should be scheduled infinitely in PP and finitely in DS.

You specify the finiteness level 200 at the resource R1, for example. In the PP strategy profile, you define that resources with a finiteness level smaller than or equal to 100 should be scheduled finitely and in the DS strategy profile you enter 200 for this value. PP schedules infinitely on R1, while DS schedules finitely.

Alerts for Resource Overload in Infinite Scheduling

A resource overload, which can be displayed in the alert monitor for finite resources, can result from infinite scheduling. You must use a corresponding PP/DS alert profile for this purpose. In the resource, you define the maximum duration of a resource overload before the system recognizes it as such and generates an alert.