Download Manual - Albion Software

Overview: What the Deluxe Balancer is. What
it does.
Note: The full Deluxe Balancer Users Manual (Version 6),
by Dr. Jean C. Piquette can be found in your Ship It! software installation. See the full user manual for any chapter
references in this section.
A ShipIt database reflects the movement of products that
take place on a real railroad.-- Products moving from shippers to consignees. But if your shippers produce products
faster than your consignees can accept them, or your consignees request deliveries faster than your shippers can produce them, your database will grind to a halt in fairly short
order. Your database is out of balance. The Deluxe Balancer
is a software program that helps ShipIt users correct such
imbalances.
While the primary function of the Deluxe Balancer certainly
is the automatic balancing of your database, it also does
much, much more! For example:
i) The Deluxe Balancer will determine whether you
have the right mix of cars needed for your database. -- See
the description of the car mix report in Chapter V. Also see
Chapter IV for ways you can use the Deluxe Balancer to
help change the car mix, if you don't like what you see.
ii) The Deluxe Balancer will also tell you if you are
running the right number of trains, and will break down the
needed number of trains for you division-by-division. -- See
Chapter VII.
iii) By studying the industry report and the product
report, described in Chapter V, as well as the divisional net
flow report and divisional product report, described in
Chapter VII, you will be amazed at the insights you will get
about the flow of products in your database! For example, if
you have a complex coal operation where coal is produced in
several divisions and consumed in several other divisions,
these reports will help you see exactly what the flow of
products is, carload-by-carload, from where these carloads
are produced to where they are consumed. Of course there is
no problem if you have several complex product flows
besides coal. -- The Deluxe Balancer will break down the
flow of products for every one of your products and industries!
iv) And if you would like, much of the detailed
information about your database produced by the Deluxe
Balancer can be conveniently exported into a spreadsheet. -See the description of the "spreadsheet export files" in
Chapter V.
And these are just a few of the many capabilities of the
Deluxe Balancer that go well beyond just balancing.
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The Deluxe Balancer is written in the scientific programming language FORTRAN. It is the kind of mathematical
program that scientists and engineers call a pure "number
cruncher". For example, it computes the rate at which your
shippers are producing each shipment and the rate at which
consignees are requesting these products. If the rates don't
match, the Deluxe Balancer will adjust the frequencies and
the empties values in your database to try to get the numbers
to match. The Deluxe Balancer also checks the number of
carloads going into each siding, and adjusts things so that
those carloads will fit.
If it is mathematically possible to balance your database, the
Deluxe Balancer will drive your database into balance, no
matter how badly out of balance things are at the start.
Chances are, though, it won't be possible for the Balancer to
balance your database on the first try. That is because, even
if you try your best to add industries, shippers, consignees,
and products to your database carefully, it is almost a given
that you will set things up in a way that things simply cannot
be balanced. There is no reason to feel badly about that. A
ShipIt database can be very complex. (That's because ShipIt
reflects the real world so well!) But, generally speaking, it is
beyond the capacity of the human mind to set up such a
complex mathematical system in a way that it can be brought
into balance.
But not to worry! If the Deluxe Balancer finds that it cannot
automatically drive your database into balance, it will create
several reports that you can use to change your database so it
is possible for the Balancer to bring it into balance. And
explaining how to do that is what much of this users guide is
about.
Before running the Deluxe Balancer, you should know that it
is assumed that your ShipIt database has already been created. So go ahead and follow the instructions in the ShipIt
users manual for setting up your database. -- Get all your
divisions, towns, industries, products, shippers, consignees,
etc., etc. set up "by the book" first. Do your best not to create any problems while doing this. -- The worse the shape
that your database is in when you start using the Balancer
the harder your job will be in correcting things when using
the Balancer. For example, make sure the Orphan Industries
report is blank!
And just so you know, the Deluxe Balancer is not a panacea
(cure-all) for every problem that might come up in a ShipIt
database. If you have set up your car routes incorrectly, have
set up your "default staging destinations" improperly, have
created an "impossible" situation where trains cannot reach
an industry to switch it due to limited setout direction, etc.,
etc., the Deluxe Balancer certainly will not help fix those
kinds of problems. But when your Deluxe Balancer "grade"
is good enough, and you've eliminated all the "discrepan-