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How can I customize Lambda Predict reports to meet my particular
needs?
Lambda Predict
provides a variety of print-ready reports for your analysis,
including Failure Rate, Parts List, Pi Factors, etc. If your
needs are not met by these pre-defined reports, you can
customize their appearance and also build and manage your own
custom report templates.
Custom report templates can be
created and/or modified on the Templates page of the Reports
window, accessed by selecting Print then Reports
or Print Preview then Reports from the File
menu.
To modify an existing custom
report template, click Load Template and select the
desired template in the window that appears.
To create a template, click
New Template. The Selected Fields area will be cleared. You
can then add fields to the template by selecting them from the
Available Fields/Parameters area. The first level items in the
hierarchy identify the type of report (e.g. Project,
MIL-217, etc.). The second level items are the tables and the
third level items are the fields within each table. Tables are a
collection of fields; fields include data entered by the user
and intermediate and final calculation results. You can select a
third level item (field) and use the
>> button to add it to the template or select a second
level item (table) and use the >>> button to add all of
its associated fields to the template.
Once you have added the desired
fields, you can change the order in which they will be displayed
in the report using the Up/Down arrows. Click Save As to
save the report template. New templates are automatically added
to the Report Selection panel on the Selection page of the
Reports window for use in creating reports. In addition, their
appearance can be modified on the Customize page of the Reports
window. This page allows you to specify attributes such as
justification, font, color, chart appearance and paper size and
margins for any pre-defined or custom report template.
Should I use FMEA Hierarchy or the FMEA Worksheet in
Xfmea/RCM++?
Many
analysts who have been doing Failure Modes and Effects Analysis
(FMEA) or Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis
(FMECA) are accustomed to viewing and editing FMEA information
in a tabular or spreadsheet format.
Xfmea
and RCM++
fully support this data entry approach, including the ability to
type directly into worksheet cells, navigate from cell to cell
at the click of a button, easily add or delete records, select
ratings from built-in menus, etc. (See the
Tool Tips in Reliability HotWire Issue 70 for
information on the latest enhancements to the software's
Worksheet view.)
The
software also offers the FMEA Hierarchy view, which is a simple
format that is easy to learn and use and is configurable to meet
your needs. The hierarchical view is capable of presenting a
great deal of information in a small space, making it easy to
scan through the analysis to look for a specific record, a
trend, etc. Relationships among functions, failures, effects and
causes are apparent at a glance, without the need to scroll back
and forth across the screen. This view can also make it easier
to copy/paste sections from one analysis to another, re-order
descriptions, link or attach related files to sections of the
analysis, and so on.
The FMEA Hierarchy and FMEA Worksheet views are shown next as
an example of the two complementary display options offered by
the software (with sample data that is not intended to be
realistic).
Of course,
using one view does not preclude using the other one. You can
switch between the views with the click of a button, so it's
easy to use the view that best suits your current task!
There are
numerous ways to configure the FMEA Hierarchy to meet your
particular display preferences. On the Hierarchies page of the
User Setup, you can choose to hide or show a variety of columns,
from Record Numbers to Cause Classifications to Risk Priority
Numbers. You can also choose whether or not to display icons in
the FMEA Hierarchy and whether the "branches" of the
hierarchical tree will be expanded by default (i.e. shows
the full analysis) or collapsed (i.e.
shows only the portion of the analysis that you've selected
to show). On the Settings (2) page of the User Setup, you can
select to use colored text in the Description column of the FMEA
Hierarchy for increased ease in differentiating record types.
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