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INTRODUCTION
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About the User Manual
This user manual has been written as a guide to understanding how DynaRoad works and what
the basic logics behind the features of DynaRoad are.
We recommend you go through the example project demos and tutorials provided with the
software to get to know the basic functions and to familiarize yourself with the user interface.
For more information on every feature of DynaRoad, we have added a helpful “View info”. The
view info elaborates on the features on the screen and tells you how to use them. Use this
manual together with the assistant and view info so that they complement each other.
The View info is open by default and is located in the lower right corner of your screen. It can
be closed at any time and accessed again through the “Help-menu” or by opening the start
page (F1).
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Table of Contents
1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 5
1.1 Installation .................................................................................................................. 5
1.2 What’s New in DynaRoad 5.3 ....................................................................................... 6
1.3 Keyboard Shortcuts ..................................................................................................... 7
1.4 User Interface Overview............................................................................................... 8
1.4.1 Toolbars ............................................................................................................... 8
1.4.2 Menus ................................................................................................................ 10
1.4.3 Title and Status Bars ........................................................................................... 12
1.4.4 Assistant and View Information ............................................................................ 12
1.4.5 Program Modes and Use Process .......................................................................... 13
2 TEMPLATE DATA ......................................................................................................... 15
2.1 Template File ............................................................................................................ 15
2.2 Units ......................................................................................................................... 16
2.3 Task Types ................................................................................................................ 17
2.3.1 Source and Destination Types .............................................................................. 17
2.3.2 Haul Costs .......................................................................................................... 18
2.4 Calendars .................................................................................................................. 18
2.5 Resources and haul resources .................................................................................... 19
2.6 Crews ....................................................................................................................... 20
3 PROJECT DATA ............................................................................................................ 21
3.1 Project Properties ...................................................................................................... 21
3.2 Project Locations ....................................................................................................... 21
3.2.1 Road Lines .......................................................................................................... 21
3.2.2 Areas .................................................................................................................. 22
3.2.3 Intersections ....................................................................................................... 22
3.2.4 Usage Breaks ...................................................................................................... 22
3.3 Tasks and Quantities ................................................................................................. 23
3.3.1 Cuts, Fills and Soil Replacements .......................................................................... 27
3.3.2 Borrow pits, Disposal Areas, Stockpiles and Crushing Plants ................................... 27
3.3.3 Splitting and Combining Tasks .............................................................................. 28
3.4 Importing Locations and Tasks from Excel .................................................................. 29
3.4.1 Importing Tasks on Road Lines ............................................................................ 29
3.4.2 Importing Tasks in Areas ..................................................................................... 31
3.5 Sum Tasks and Construction Zones ............................................................................ 31
3.6 Milestones ................................................................................................................. 32
3.7 Haul Planning ............................................................................................................ 32
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3.7.1 Haul Optimization Rounds .................................................................................... 33
3.7.2 Troubleshooting Haul Calculation .......................................................................... 34
3.7.3 Surplus and Deficit Material .................................................................................. 34
3.8 Project Scheduling ..................................................................................................... 36
3.9 Project Execution and Control ..................................................................................... 38
3.9.1 Entering Actuals .................................................................................................. 38
3.9.2 Importing actual hauls from haul server ................................................................ 39
3.9.3 Controlling the Project ......................................................................................... 39
3.9.4 Removing Actuals ................................................................................................ 40
3.10 Exporting to Primavera P6 ........................................................................................ 40
3.10.1 Exported Items .................................................................................................. 40
3.10.2 Troubleshooting ................................................................................................ 42
4 VIEWS ........................................................................................................................ 44
4.1 Mass Haul View ......................................................................................................... 45
4.2 Mass Curve View ....................................................................................................... 46
4.3 Time-Location View ................................................................................................... 47
4.4 Gantt View ................................................................................................................ 48
4.5 Resource View ........................................................................................................... 49
4.6 Map View .................................................................................................................. 50
4.7 Control View .............................................................................................................. 51
4.8 Text Reports ............................................................................................................. 52
4.8.1 Hauls by Source and Destination .......................................................................... 52
4.8.2 Hauls Between Construction Zones by Source and Destination ............................... 52
4.8.3 Mass Surplus and Deficit Reports .......................................................................... 52
4.8.4 Weekly Report by Source and Destination ............................................................. 52
4.8.5 Actual Weekly Report .......................................................................................... 53
4.8.6 Haul Costs by Source and Destination ................................................................... 53
4.8.7 Mass Flow Report ................................................................................................ 53
4.8.8 Mass Usage Report .............................................................................................. 53
4.8.9 Mass Summary .................................................................................................... 53
4.8.10 Haul Distance Distribution .................................................................................. 54
4.8.11 Crew Report ...................................................................................................... 54
4.8.12 Resource Cost Report ........................................................................................ 54
4.8.13 Haul Resource Report ........................................................................................ 55
4.8.14 Summary Cost Report ........................................................................................ 55
4.8.15 Completion Degree Report ................................................................................. 55
4.8.16 Refining Report ................................................................................................. 55
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1 INTRODUCTION
DynaRoad is a project management software for large scale infrastructure construction projects
with additional tools for mass haul planning. The software features the following modules:
DynaRoad Plan: Planning projects with mass haul starts with planning the project’s mass
balance and construction zones. A balanced mass haul plan avoids surplus and deficit material,
and makes it possible to find optimal locations for crushing plants, disposal areas and borrow
pits. Project schedule and related issues are not taken into account when working with
DynaRoad Plan.
DynaRoad Schedule: The project schedule is planned based on task quantities, resource needs
and availabilities, production rates, dependencies, calendars and various constraints such as
milestones and the project deadline. Projects with mass haul also benefit from DynaRoad
Schedule’s hauls: the timings of the source and destination tasks are taken into account unlike
in DynaRoad Plan, and so are their production rates, temporary detours and stockpiling. The
resulting haul plan is realistic and most importantly realizable in practice.
DynaRoad Control: Once the project execution has started, it is important to monitor and
control that the progress meets the plans. Task actuals are entered into DynaRoad Control and
compared to the planned tasks, which enables efficient execution control. DynaRoad Control
also calculates a forecast so that future problems may be avoided. Haul actuals can also be
monitored to ensure that material is being used efficiently.
All modules feature a graphical user interface with several views into the project data, printing
capabilities, undo, redo, online view help and process assistants.
DynaRoad is Copyright © DynaRoad Oy 2005-2014, Dynamic System Solutions Oy 2000-2005.
For additional copyright messages, see the About box in the program’s Help menu. The installer
contains the program’s end-user license agreement.
The best way to contact DynaRoad support is to send e-mail to [email protected]. The
mailing address and phone numbers are listed on the company’s web page at
http://www.dynaroad.com/.
1.1 Installation
Software and hardware requirements for DynaRoad are:
Pentium 4, AMD Athlon 64 or later processor (SSE2 instruction set required).
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512 MB RAM (recommended: 1 GB).
Screen resolution 1024x768 or higher.
Microsoft Windows XP SP3 or later.
Microsoft Office Excel 95 or later (not Starter version).
Internet Explorer 6.0 SP3 or later.
Windows Installer 3.0 or later.
Some free hard drive space (~200 MB).
DynaRoad is installed by following the instructions below. If an older version of the program is
installed on the computer, it is upgraded during the installation process if the new version is
installed in the same directory. The installer will associate the program with DynaRoad project
files (*.dr5), so double-clicking the files will open them. The program supports project files
saved with DynaRoad 5.0.0 and newer.
Run the installer, “DynaRoad-5.3.7.msi” and follow the instructions of the setup until
the program is installed on your computer.
When you start DynaRoad, you will see a message about the license missing. It is
possible to use DynaRoad Plan and Schedule modes for 30 days before registration.
After this, save and print functions are disabled.
In the Activation dialog, give your Activation key and press Activate. You can open the
Activation dialog from the menu by selecting Help – Activate...
Close the DynaRoad program and start it again. This completes your registration.
If you do not know your Activation key and you have a license, ask for the key from
If you do not have a license, you can get information about purchasing from
You can refer your IT-support to http://www.dynaroad.com/install/ for further installation
instructions, and information about floating licenses and license server installation.
1.2 What’s New in DynaRoad 5.3
The most significant new features in DynaRoad 5.3 compared to DynaRoad 5.2 are:
Export from DynaRoad to Primavera (section 3.10).
Improved license management system, which supports floating licences.
Intersections can now be shown and created in Map view.
Combined all task data sheets into one and improved Gantt view task list.
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1.3 Keyboard Shortcuts
Ctrl + N New
Ctrl + O Open
Ctrl + P Print
Ctrl + S Save
Ctrl + A Select All
Ctrl + C Copy
Ctrl + V Paste
Ctrl + Y Redo
Ctrl + Z Undo
Ctrl + F Find
Ctrl + W Close window
Ctrl + F2 Print preview
Del Delete/Remove
F1 Help start page
F2 Edit cell
Ins Add a new “Other task”
Ctrl + Shift + Q Select mode (normal mode)
Ctrl + Shift + A Pan mode
Ctrl + Shift + S Split tasks mode
Ctrl + Shift + X Haul creation mode
Ctrl + Shift + D Dependency mode
Ctrl + Shift + C Notes mode
Ctrl + Shift + Z Zoom mode
Ctrl + 0 Zero zoom
Ctrl + + Zoom in
Ctrl + - Zoom out
Alt + 1 Mass haul view
Alt + 2 Mass curve view
Alt + 3 Time-location view
Alt + 4 Gantt view
Alt + 5 Resource view
Alt + 6 Map view
Alt + 7 Control view
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1.4 User Interface Overview
Figure 1: Main Window
1.4.1 Toolbars
Project views, data sheets and reports toolbar (A in Figure 1): Icons in the vertical toolbar open
different views into the project data in the pane marked with “M”. The top seven buttons open
the different graphical views: Mass Haul View (keyboard shortcut: 1), Mass Curve View (2),
Time-Location View (3), Gantt View (4), Resource View (5), Map View (6) and Control View (7).
Creating and editing basic project data, such as tasks, resources, locations and calendars, is
done through the Data Sheets. Text Reports (the lowest button) include information on hauls,
mass usage, and costs. Time-location, Gantt, and Resource views are only available in Schedule
and Control mode. Control view is only available in the Control mode. See Section 4 for more
information about project views.
Standard tools (B): New (keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+N), Open (Ctrl+O), Save (Ctrl+S), Print
(Ctrl+P), Print preview (Ctrl+F2), Copy (Ctrl+C), Undo (Ctrl+Z), Redo (Ctrl+Y).
View manipulation tools (C): Select mode (keyboard shortcut: S), Pan mode (P), Zoom mode
(Z), Default zoom (Ctrl+0), View properties, Notes (N), Active Road Line, Active View Filter and
Control Week.
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In Select mode, items visible in the view can be selected and manipulated by left-, right- or
double-clicking and by drag and dropping. Holding down the Ctrl key and scrolling the mouse
wheel zooms the view. Holding the Ctrl key and clicking + and - also zoom the view. Just
scrolling the mouse wheel without holding down the Ctrl key scrolls the view vertically. Holding
down the left mouse button and moving the mouse in the pan mode scrolls the view, as does
holding down the middle button in the Select mode. In the zoom mode, right-clicking zooms out
and left-clicking zooms in. Selecting an area zooms to the selected area.
The wrench button opens view properties, which is used for a) filtering shown hauls based on
task types, locations, quantities and timings; b) selecting shown locations; c) selecting shown
columns in Gantt View; d) selecting whether weekends, holidays, milestones, sum tasks, task
types, usage breaks and locations are shown. Time-related filters are only relevant for Schedule
and Control users.
Textual notes can be added to graphical views using the notes tool. Notes can include links to
the web or to other files on the computer. Notes can be dragged to any position in the view and
their colors and visibility settings are customizable.
The map tools are used for adding, removing or adjusting the background PDF image of the
Map View. The map functionality is described in detail in Section 4.6.
The drop list next to the map tool buttons specifies the shown location. Other locations (e.g.
intersecting road lines) can be shown at the same time using view properties. The second drop
list specifies the selected view filter, which filters the shown tasks according to various criteria,
such as location, type or resource. View filters are created in the Data Sheets or directly from
the drop list.
The control week1 box, which is rightmost in the view toolbar in Figure 1, is used in Schedule
and Control modes. Weekly text reports use control week as the reporting week, graphical
views use it as the current date of the project when comparing actual and planned progress. In
the Control mode, the time-location view’s task forecasts are calculated starting from the
control week.
1 DynaRoad uses ISO 8601 weeks, which start on Monday. Week 1 is the week with the year’s first Thursday in it. Year
numbers are Gregorian.
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Project tools (D): The buttons from left to right are New tool, New Task tool, Remove tool
(keyboard shortcut: Del), Split tasks (T), Create hauls (H), Dependencies (D), Plan mode,
Schedule mode, Control mode and Calculate hauls.
New areas, road lines, intersections and usage breaks can be added to the project using the
New button. New tasks and sum tasks (Section 3.5) are added using the New task button,
which has a selection for the kind of a task to the added. The Remove tool removes the items
currently selected in the active view from the project. All these items can also be manipulated
and viewed through their respective data sheets.
Tasks can be split into parts with the Split tasks tool. Split tasks have the same layout and
dependencies etc. as the original task. Only their location and quantities are split in two parts
depending on the input in the Split Task dialog. The Create hauls tool creates manually planned
hauls between tasks, and the Dependencies tool creates dependencies between tasks. Hauls
specify, how mass is hauled from one task to another. Dependencies restrict task timings, so
that a preceding task must take place before its successors. Hauls and dependencies are
explained in more detail in Sections 3.3, 3.7 and 3.8.
The yellow pencil button changes the project to Plan mode, the clock with a small yellow pencil
symbol changes to Schedule mode, and the large clock symbol changes to the Control mode.
Program functions, available views and their contents vary according to the selected mode. This
will be further elaborated in later chapters.
Clicking the gray calculator button calculates the mass hauls in the project. See Section 3.7 for
details about mass haul calculation. Haul calculation takes some time, so hauls are not updated
automatically. Therefore the hauls should always be recalculated after changing the project
data.
Formatting tools (E): The formatting tools apply to items selected in graphical views. The tools
are: font face, font size, bold, italic, underline, font color, object color, sort ascending and sort
descending.
Drawing tools (F): The drawing tools are used in the map view to draw new road lines, areas
and intersections (Section 4.6).
1.4.2 Menus
Most of the functionality accessible through the toolbars is also available in the program menus
(G in Figure 1).
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File-menu: The general commands. 1) Project: New, Open, Close, Save, Save As; 2) Printing:
Print, Print to file (PDF or EMF), Print preview, Print Setup; 3) Importing and exporting data
to/from the project (Sections 2.1, 3.4 and 3.10) 4) Language; 5) Recent projects; 6) Send file
via e-mail. Sending e-mail requires a MAPI-compatible e-mail program, such as Microsoft
Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. 7) Exit. Exiting the program will prompt to save the changes
made to the open documents.
Edit-menu: The commands on editing are: 1) Undo (Ctrl+Z), Redo (Ctrl+Y); 2) Copy (Ctrl+C)
and Find (Ctrl+F), which works in Gantt view, Data Sheets and Text reports.
View-menu: In this menu it is possible to 1) toggle the Assistant and View info -windows
(Section 1.4.4); 2) toggle tool bars and status bar; 3) open views, data sheets and text reports
(Section 4); 4) zoom the active view; 5) edit view properties (Section 4); 6) toggle view content
smoothing. When view content smoothing is enabled, lines and other shapes are drawn with
smooth edges. This makes them look better, but also makes the program a bit slower. Text
smoothing depends on Windows settings.
Insert-menu: New items can be added to the project using the Insert-menu, similarly to the
New and New Task buttons in the toolbar (Section 1.4.1).
Project-menu: 1) Change to dependency, manual haul or note mode. 2) Change to Plan,
Schedule or Control mode. 3) The Auto Name Tasks command restores the station ascending
numbering of tasks with the same task types. The Pack Schedules command changes all tasks
to start as soon as possible without actually turning on the ASAP flag, and adjusts the resource
priorities of tasks based on the CPM2 latest start times. The command is useful when project
scheduling is started. 4) The Calculate Hauls command starts the haul optimization (Section
3.7). The Remove All Hauls command removes all calculated hauls, but leaves manual hauls be.
5) Removing all actuals or removing actuals in a specified time span (Section 3.9.4). 6) Project
properties (Section 3.1).
2 The Critical Path Method (CPM) is used for calculating the latest start time which does not cause the scheduling
constraints, such as the project deadline, to be broken. The calculation is done in a schedule where tasks start as soon
as possible, and have as short duration as possible given the project’s crews and their production rates. The order is
then calculated so that the task with the earliest latest start time becomes the highest priority, unless it has less
important predecessors.
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Window-menu: Several views, reports and data sheets can be open simultaneously. The
Window-menu allows switching between open views (Ctrl+Tab), and arranging open views with
the Cascade, Tile horizontally, Tile vertically and Arrange icons commands.
Help-menu: 1) Start Page (F1) opens the Assistant and View Info windows. 2) Support opens
the system’s e-mail program with a mail template addressed to DynaRoad Support. 3) Check for
Updates searches for DynaRoad updates on the Internet. 4) About DynaRoad displays copyright
messages and DynaRoad version number.
1.4.3 Title and Status Bars
The status bar is shown in the bottom of the program window (H in Figure 1). Moving the
cursor over a button, the status bar shows what the button does. The status bar also shows in
what phase the current process is. By selecting a group of tasks from the view, the status bar
shows their summed quantities.
The right status bar (I in Figure 1) displays the date, station or coordinates of the cursor
position in graphical views when applicable. The title bar (J in Figure 1) displays project name,
file name and the name of the active view.
1.4.4 Assistant and View Information
DynaRoad contains a planning assistant for support in using the program through the phases of
the project (K in Figure 1). Clicking on blue text in the assistant performs actions in the
software. Navigation links to the previous, next and start pages (F1) of the assistant are
provided at the bottom of the assistant. All the functions in the assistant are also available in
the normal user interface.
The planning assistant is available when there is no project or the project is in the Plan mode.
It contains a step-by-step guide for checking the template data, importing quantities and
planning the project’s mass haul. The Schedule and Control assistants are available in the
Schedule and Control modes respectively, and they contain similar step-by-step guides for the
modules.
To get familiar with DynaRoad, the planning assistant also contains a planning demonstration,
in which the user is guided through an example project. The planning demonstration is started
from the start page of the planning assistant when no projects are open.
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The View Info window describes the contents of the open view and provides quick links to
available actions (L in Figure 1). This makes it easier to find the most common functions, and
reduces the time spent reading this manual during daily program use.
1.4.5 Program Modes and Use Process
As mentioned earlier, program use takes place in three modes: Plan, Schedule and Control. If
the mass haul module has not been purchased, the Plan mode is missing, and all haul related
functionality is not available in the Schedule and Control modes. The use process of the
software is outlined in Figure 2.
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Figure 2: Use Process Overview
Plan Mode Plan mass balance and minimize haul distances
Import Quantities Create a new project based on a template file. Check template
information. Import bills of quantities from Excel to all road lines and
areas.
Plan Hauls Define usage breaks and road connections. Calculate hauls. Add crushing
plants, recalculate. Add borrow pits and disposal areas, recalculate.
Minimize mass surplus, deficit and haul distances. Analyze results using
views and reports.
Define Construction Zones Divide the project into independent construction zones. Analyze effects on
mass balance and haul distances.
Schedule Mode Schedule tasks and hauls, plan resource usage
Enter template data Enter project deadline, calendars, resources, crews and task type
dependencies where different from the template file. Make all tasks start
as soon as possible.
Add stockpiles and start
scheduling
Add stockpiles, also for crushing. Combine small tasks and split large
ones to make scheduling easier. Correct road connections, usage breaks,
borrow and disposal timings. Calculate hauls and re-schedule so that
mass can be hauled cheaply. Compare to Plan.
Add constraints
Constrain resource usage to avoid peaks. Add milestones and other
schedule constraints based on traffic arrangements and other physical
and logical constraints. Reschedule and calculate hauls as necessary.
Control Mode Monitor progress, controlling to meet the plans
Enter actuals and analyze
deviations
Collect information on actual progress for both tasks and hauls. Enter
them to DynaRoad. Compare actual progress with planned one, review
forecasts to analyze the effects of deviations. Steer the project to avoid
problems later.
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2 TEMPLATE DATA
DynaRoad project data can be divided into two main categories: template data and project
data. Template data is mostly independent of a specific project, and can thus be reused in
several projects. It defines how actual project data behaves. For instance, the calendar of a
task defines the daily working hours and holidays. Typical calendars involve 8 hours of work per
day and weekends off. Once the calendar has been created, it can be used in most tasks in the
project, and by using a template file (Section 2.1), in future projects as well. This section of the
manual describes the template data needed in DynaRoad projects.
In the user interface, all template data items can be created, modified and removed in the data
sheets menu, which can be opened either from the data sheets icon in the left toolbar, or from
the view menu.
Project data includes items such as task quantities, project locations and road connections.
These vary in each project, so the data is not reusable. Project data is further discussed in
Section 3.
2.1 Template File
The reusable template data can be imported from a template file. Any existing DynaRoad
project can be used as a template. The first opportunity for importing a template file occurs
when creating a new project: the program displays a template selection dialog. A default
template (“default.dr5”) is shipped with DynaRoad. When you are planning your first project,
you can use it as the project template, and in later projects your own customized files. If you
choose Cancel in the template selection dialog, a blank project will be created.
When importing a template at project creation time, all calendars, resources, crews, haul costs
and task types are imported from the template file.
Even after the project has been created, data from other projects can be imported using the
File/Import/Template function. In the import dialog, choose the template data you wish to
import and click Next. It is also possible to import tasks from other projects at this stage, so a
list of tasks in the template file is shown. Click Import to import all selected items. The program
will warn if some data is being overwritten.
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2.2 Units
The program has two kinds of units: those related to mass haul and those not. Mass haul units
are modified in the Project Properties dialog, which can be opened from the Project menu or
from the Data Sheets icon in the left toolbar.
DynaRoad uses the following mass haul units: cut unit, fill unit, crush unit and haul unit. The
cut unit (for example bank cubic meter/yard, “bcm/bcy”) is used by default in cuts, the fill unit
(compacted cubic meter/yard, “ccm/ccy”) is used in fills, the crush unit (often metric tonne or
ton) is used in crushing plants and the haul unit (loose cubic meter/yard, “lcm/lcy”) is used in
haul resources. The unit used by a task is defined by its source or destination type, the task
type. Task types’ units can be freely changed to suit the calculation standards of your
preference. The production rate of the crew assigned to a task is defined in the unit of the task.
When hauling mass between two tasks, the mass quantity is converted from the source unit to
the destination unit using the source type’s conversion coefficients.
Source type bcm to ccm bcm to tonne
Aggregate 1 2.3
Cut 1.6 2.7
Figure 3. Example of conversion factors in Source types data sheet
For instance: when mass is hauled from cut to fill, and the related units and conversion factors
are as shown in Figure 3, one bank cubic meter of cut material becomes 1.6 compacted cubic
meters in the fill. Another example, where mass is hauled from cut to fill through a crushing
plant: when taken to a crushing plant, one bank cubic meter first becomes 2.7 tonnes, which
equals 17.13.27,2 bank cubic meters of aggregate, which then becomes 1.17 ccm in the fill
(factor bcm ccm for aggregate is 1 in the example).
Units that are not related to mass haul are modified in the Units data sheet. They are used in
task types, and consequently in crews and “Other tasks”. Other tasks are tasks not related to
mass haul.
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2.3 Task Types
Each task in DynaRoad has a task type. For instance, a task named “Bridge over Road 7” may
have “Bridgework” as its type. The task type specifies the task’s unit, and default name,
dependencies, color and font. Dependencies between task types are translated into
dependencies between tasks of the corresponding types. This makes it much easier to schedule
a project, especially when using a template file, since most of the technical dependencies are
created semi-automatically. Type dependencies are also used to determine the draw order in
the Mass Haul View (Section 4.1), so they need to be specified even if project scheduling will
not be done.
Task types are edited in the data sheets called “Source types”, “Destination types” and “Task
types”. The first two are used for tasks related to mass haul, i.e. cuts and fills, and the latter is
used for task types that are unrelated to mass haul.
2.3.1 Source and Destination Types
Source and destination types are only relevant for projects which involve mass haul.
Tasks with hauls are either sources (cut, borrow pit); destinations (fill, disposal area); or both
(soil replacement, stockpile, crushing plant). Destinations always have a destination type, which
includes the information as normal task types, and additionally the suitable source types and
their refining costs. When it is possible to haul a certain type of source material to a certain
type of destination, the source type must be made suitable for the destination type. For
instance, “Rock Cut (Class 1)” is suitable for “Rockfill”. When a source type is made suitable in
the destination type, the destination type will automatically be listed in the source type’s
suitable destination types.
An additional refining cost is involved when the source material is refined before use at the
destination task, for instance when lime stabilizing clay soil for use in road layers. When the
clay is taken to disposal, stabilization cost not required. In this case, the refining cost can be
modeled by entering it directly to the suitability row. When additional resources or different
haul routes are involved in refinement, it is recommended to use a crushing plant (Section
3.3.2).
Cuts, borrow pits and soil replacements have a source type. Stockpiles and crushing plants do
not, since their source type depends on the source type hauled into them. Source type includes
the same information normal task types do, and additionally the kind of haul costs used
(Section 2.3.2), the aggregate types into which it can be crushed, suitable destination types,
refining costs and unit conversion coefficients (Section 2.2).
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2.3.2 Haul Costs
Haul costs are only relevant for projects which involve mass haul.
Haul costs are calculated based on the haul distance and the selected haul cost type of the
source type. Haul costs are modified in the Haul Costs data sheet and the related dialog by
double-clicking on the rows. The costs are specified as cost per one unit of mass hauled up to a
distance, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Haul Cost Properties
In haul calculation, costs are interpolated between the entered values. For instance, 1 bcm of
Rock hauled 125 meters would cost $0.3853. In views and reports however, haul costs are
shown without interpolation, that is, the 125 meter haul would cost $0.77.
It is recommended that haul cost per meter does not increase when the distance increases. If
this is not the case, it follows that it is more expensive to haul material directly than it would be
to dump the material in the middle of the haul, reload it, and then continue hauling (apart from
dumping and reloading costs, i.e. stockpiling).
2.4 Calendars
Calendars are only relevant for Schedule and Control modes.
3 Meters and dollars are used by default, but they can be changed in Project Properties (Section 3.1).
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Calendars specify the daily work hours and the holidays of tasks. Calendar properties are
modified from the data sheets. Calendars have a name, default daily work day lengths for
Monday through Sunday and exceptions to the default work day lengths, such as holidays. The
following exceptions, that is, work time definitions are supported:
Easter: Holidays on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and Ascension Day.
Holiday: Holiday during an explicitly defined timespan. Optionally the holiday can take place
every year within the same timespan. For instance, adding a holiday between December 25th
and 26th and enabling the Every Year flag, Christmas Days and Boxing Days would become
holidays.
Weekday Off: Some public holidays take place on a specific week day after a date. For instance,
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day can be created by adding a weekday off after the Monday following
January 15th.
Exceptional work times: Use when work day lengths need to be changed within a certain
timespan.
2.5 Resources and haul resources
Resources are only relevant for Schedule and Control modes.
Resources define the types of machines and people working on tasks. A group of resources
forms a crew (Section 2.6), which has production rates for task types and can be selected to
work on a task. That is, resources are not assigned to tasks directly but through crews. In
addition to name, resources also have an hourly cost, overall project constraints and sum task
specific constraints. Constraints restrict the number of resources in use simultaneously. Setting
the constraint to zero means resource use is not restricted. The constraints are enforced real-
time in the program, so that it is impossible to create a schedule where the resource constraint,
i.e. the maximum number of resources, is exceeded.
Notable exceptions to the resource constraints are borrow pits, disposal areas, crushing plants
and stockpiles. DynaRoad assumes that the resources working at these kinds of tasks are not
present all the time, but only when mass is being hauled to the task or away from it, and allows
resource constraints to be violated for these kinds of tasks.
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If a specific resource is known to be working on certain tasks, an identified resource can be
created and assigned to the tasks. DynaRoad will then make sure that those tasks are not
scheduled to take place at the same time. For instance, if an excavator resource with the
license plate number 313 is known to work on tasks “Cut 1” and “Cut 2”, it makes sense to
create a resource “Excavator”, an identified resource “313” and assign it to “Cut 1” and “Cut 2”.
Haul resources can be created in the Haul resources data sheet and assigned to source type
crews in Crew properties. Therefore, the amount of haul resources needed and related costs
can be calculated from the scheduled hauls in DynaRoad. For instance, a haul resource “Dump
truck 10m3” can be assigned to a sending crew “Landcut 40t”, which means that the dump
truck will automatically be assigned to haul masses from locations that the crew works on. The
required number of resources is then calculated based on the scheduled haul distances,
selected haul resources and their production rates.
2.6 Crews
Crews are only relevant for Schedule and Control modes.
Crews represent the groups of resources working on tasks. They specify the number of
resources, the basis of cost calculation and the production rate. The Crew Properties dialog,
which is opened from the Crews data sheet, contains an editable list of resources, haul
resources and their counts.
When the crew is working, count specifies how many units of the resource are allocated at the
same time. Notice that the count must be smaller or equal to the corresponding resource
constraints. If that is not the case, the resources are allocated, and the task start time is moved
to a time during which no resources of the violating type are used.
Cost is calculated either as a sum of the resource costs, multiplied by their counts, from
quantities processed by the crew or both. The crew’s unit price for the processed quantities is
set per task type. The production rate is also set per task type. It specifies how many units per
hour the crew can process. For instance, if the task’s quantity is 8000 bcm, and the production
rate of the crew is 100 bcm/hour, it will take 8000/100 = 80 hours = 10 eight hour work days
to complete the task. The number of hours per day depends on the task’s calendar.
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3 PROJECT DATA
After the template data has been put into DynaRoad, it is time to enter the project data. Notice
that it is possible to modify the template data even after entering project data. Project data
consists of the locations in which the construction takes place, the tasks that need to be
completed, and related properties such as road line intersections and task quantities. Once the
project data has been input, it is time to plan the schedule and hauls.
In the user interface, all project data items can be created, modified and removed in the data
sheets menu, which can be opened either from the data sheets icon in the left toolbar, or from
the view menu.
3.1 Project Properties
The Project properties dialog is opened from the Data Sheets or Project menu. In addition to
general textual information about the project, the company logo, project start time, deadline,
default calendar and mass unit names (Section 2.2) are edited in the dialog. Tasks cannot be
scheduled to start before the project start time. The company logo is shown in the upper left
corner in all views. New tasks are assigned the default calendar, and changing the default
calendar later will affect all tasks which are set to use the default calendar in the Task
Properties dialog (Section 3.3).
The begin and end stations of the project’s main road line can also be modified in the Project
Properties dialog. They can also be edited in Road Line Properties dialog, which is opened from
the Locations Data Sheet, or by double-clicking road lines in views.
3.2 Project Locations
The tasks in construction projects are typically bound to locations. In DynaRoad, locations are
either road lines or areas, and tasks are always positioned on one of them.
3.2.1 Road Lines
Road lines are linear locations, the accurate position on a road line is specified by a station
between the road line’s begin and end stations and a distance from the road line. In DynaRoad,
one station is one distance unit, which is meter by default. The distance is interpreted as the
distance of traveling from the center of the road line to the accurate position. The project
always has at least one road line, the main road line, which is automatically created to new
projects.
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Road lines are modified in the Locations data sheet. Road lines and areas have more color
options than most items in DynaRoad. The normal color is used in most places; the progress
based colors are only relevant in Map View (Section 4.6).
Road lines can have station-wise (x, y)-coordinates. The coordinates are used in Map View for
drawing the road lines. Coordinates can be manually entered in the Road Line Properties
dialog’s Coordinates tab. The coordinates can also be pasted to the sheet on the tab from a
spreadsheet program by pressing Ctrl+V. They can also be imported from files in the VGP
format.
3.2.2 Areas
Areas are discrete locations, that is, they do not have stations. Areas may form hierarchies by
having sub-areas or sub-road lines when finer accuracy is required. Arbitrary geographical
polygon shapes can be bound to areas in the Map View (Section 4.6).
3.2.3 Intersections
Intersections are only relevant for projects which involve mass haul. Intersections are created
either in Intersection creation mode in Map view or using the New button in the toolbar. They
can be edited in the Intersections data sheet.
To haul mass from one road line or area to another, the program needs to know the distance
between the locations. This information is conveyed through intersections, which specify the
locations of both ends of the connection, and the distance to travel between the two locations.
For road lines the location also includes station. The intersection can be two-way or
unidirectional; two-way connections can be traveled in both directions.
Intersections can also be used to simulate temporary detours, which are useful for example to
get around usage breaks. Intersection timings are only relevant for Schedule and Control
modes, intersections are always active in Plan mode. The intersection can be used between
start and finish times. Intersection start and finish times can be directly selected from a
calendar or they can be bound to task timings. When dependency on task is selected, the start
or finish time is automatically updated from the finish time of the dependent task.
3.2.4 Usage Breaks
Usage breaks are only relevant for projects which involve mass haul. Usage break timings are
only relevant for Schedule and Control modes. In Plan mode, usage breaks are always active.
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Usage breaks are located on road lines and prevent hauls through them. They are created with
the New button in the toolbar or in the Usage Breaks data sheet.
Hauls are prevented between usage break start and finish times. Usage break start and finish
times can be directly selected from a calendar or they can be bound to task timings. When
dependency on task is selected, the start or finish time is automatically updated from the finish
time of the dependent task.
3.3 Tasks and Quantities
Tasks in DynaRoad are either cuts, fills, soil replacements, borrow pits, disposal areas, crushing
plants, stockpiles or other tasks. Other tasks are used when mass haul is not involved.
Quantities are always bound to tasks in DynaRoad. Tasks have a task type ( Figure 6), which
also specifies the type of the quantity as seen in Section 2.3. Tasks are located on a project
location, which can be either a road line or an area, possibly with a distance from the center of
the project location.
When located on road lines, the station span of the task is also relevant. The station span can
be specified in several parts, as seen in Figure 5. The station span parts may not overlap, but
there may be gaps between them. Parts may have different distances, quantities and center
stations. Each part is taken into account when calculating “by stations”-dependencies between
tasks. The center station is used for determining the station from where hauls originate (cuts),
or where the hauls end (fills). It should be the center-of-gravity of the quantity within the part’s
station span so that haul distances are calculated correctly on average.
Figure 5: Task Properties, Location Tab
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Task start time is modified in the Task Properties dialog’s General tab ( Figure 6). When the
start time is modified, the finish time is updated so that the duration is preserved. Modifying the
finish time changes the production rate coefficient (see Figure 8). When the “Use default
calendar” check is enabled, the selected calendar will always be that specified in the Project
Properties (Section 3.1). Checking “As soon as possible” (ASAP) forces the start time to stay as
early as possible given project start time and the task’s predecessors. Checking “Beginning of
day” allows the task to only start in the beginning of the day. It may be useful to disable the
check for some tasks, which have ASAP on and are scheduled by their predecessors.
Figure 6: Task Properties, General Tab
Tasks can start either from their low or high station. This determines the draw direction in the
Time-location view (Section 4.3) and “by stations” dependency calculation. Timing constraints
can be set for the start and finish times to specify the interval within which the task should be
scheduled. When the timing constraints are violated, little red flags are shown in the Gantt and
Time-location views.
Task dependencies are edited in the Task Properties dialog’s Dependencies tab ( Figure 7) and
in the Gantt and Time-location views (Sections 4.4 and 4.3 respectively).
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DynaRoad supports five types of dependencies between tasks: Start-Start, Start-Finish, Finish-
Start, Finish-Finish and By Stations. Finish-Start means that after the predecessor has finished,
the successor may start; other start/finish combinations work correspondingly. By stations
means that the predecessor must first finish a station before the successor may start at the
same station. By stations dependencies can only be created between tasks on overlapping
station spans.
Figure 7: Task Properties, Dependencies Tab
A delay (lag) may be associated with a dependency. For instance, if a Finish-Start dependency
has a minimum delay of five (5) calendar days, the successor can start five days after the
predecessor has finished. Maximum delays are not strictly enforced in scheduling: violating
maximum delays just causes red flags to be displayed in the Gantt and Time-location views.
Delays can be specified in either calendar days or work days (shifts): the former is useful for
physical delays such as concrete hardening: concrete does harden during the weekends, too.
The latter is useful for logical delays used for pacing work and adding buffers against
production delays.
Dependencies are automatically derived from task type dependencies (Section 2.3): if there is a
dependency defined between the task type of the predecessor and the task type of the
successor and the two tasks are in the same location (i.e. in the same area or in the same road
line with overlapping station spans), a by-stations dependency is automatically created between
the two tasks. This can be overridden by unchecking the “Derive predecessors” checkbox.
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Figure 8: Task Properties, Resources Tab
Resources are assigned to tasks through crews. The crew is selected from the drop list on the
Task Properties dialog’s Resources tab ( Figure 8). Identified resources (Section 2.5) are
selected on the same tab. If the selected crew does not have a production rate for the task
type of the task, a dialog prompting for it is displayed. The production rate shown in the edit
box next to the drop list shows the crew’s production rate multiplied by the production rate
coefficient, which is shown in its own edit box. It is recommended to keep the coefficient 1, but
if the task’s production circumstances are harder or easier than usually, it may be justified to
use production rate to model the situation. Another alternative is to create a new task type, and
specify a different production rate for it.
When DynaRoad schedules tasks, it makes sure that the resource constraints (Section 2.5) are
not violated. If there are not enough resources for a task for its duration, the task’s start time is
moved forward in time until there are. This situation occurs when another task has already
reserved the resources for itself. Resource priority determines the order in which resources are
allocated to tasks. The task with the highest resource priority number is priority number one,
and will be given the resources first (the higher the number, the more important the task is).
Dependencies affect the resource priorities, since tasks cannot be scheduled before their
predecessors. So if a predecessor has a worse priority than its successors, the successors will
be affected, too.
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Local stockpiles represent the possibility to temporarily pile mass close the task’s location. Local
stockpiles can be created for cuts and fills. The “days” edit box specifies how long the mass can
be kept in the local stockpile before it has to be used in the actual task. For instance, after
cutting rock, it may be possible to pile it next to the cut site before hauling starts. This gives
extra freedom for the fill site, since resources do not have to be present there at the time.
DynaRoad does not calculate costs or resources for local stockpiles; when that is required,
normal stockpiles should be used instead.
3.3.1 Cuts, Fills and Soil Replacements
All mass in cuts, fills and soil replacements must be hauled. Local stockpiles can be created for
cuts and fills. Soil replacements have two crews, one for cutting and the other for filling. These
sites are scheduled to be continuous so that the crews are present from task start to finish, and
the duration is calculated by dividing the task quantity with the production rate. Soil
replacement duration is calculated from the fill quantity and production rate, so care is required
when selecting the source crew.
3.3.2 Borrow pits, Disposal Areas, Stockpiles and Crushing Plants
Borrow pit, disposal area, stockpile and crushing plant quantities are maximums, so all mass
must not be hauled. The exceptions to this are stockpiles with the “Must use” flag and disposal
areas with the “Must fill” flag enabled on the General tab. This is useful for stockpiles that must
be used because of contract terms and for modeling noise banks as disposal area. The duration
of these types of tasks is not calculated from quantities, so the start and finish times must be
specified directly.
Zero quantity for stockpiles and crushing plants means unconstrained capacity. A non-zero
quantity is interpreted as the maximum total hauls into a crushing plant (or out from a crushing
plant, all mass hauled into a crushing plant is hauled out). For stockpiles, the quantity means
the maximum capacity at a time: after mass has been hauled out, more mass can be hauled in.
Crushing plants have a local stockpile by default. It means that aggregate can be stored next to
the crusher, so it does not need to be hauled out right away or be stored in a separate
stockpile. The local stockpile can be seen on the Resources tab of Task properties. It has a
zero day delay by default. The delay determines how long mass can be hauled after actual task
timing, so the default means the local stockpile is active throughout the duration of the
crushing plant.
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Unit cost may be associated to borrow pits and disposal areas. This reflects the cost of
borrowing or disposing material. The cost may also be negative, in case of selling the material.
Unit cost can also be specified for the crew, so care must be taken to avoid specifying it twice.
Notice that crews are not used in DynaRoad Plan.
Borrow pits have a “Delivery contract” flag on the General tab of the Task Properties dialog. A
delivery contract means that mass haul is included in the unit costs, so separate hauling costs
are not calculated.
Notice that good locations for these types of tasks can be found by optimizing hauls in
DynaRoad Plan (Section 3.7). However, if the locations are known, for instance from the
tender, the corresponding tasks should be created beforehand.
3.3.3 Splitting and Combining Tasks
If tasks on road lines are too long or large, they can be split into parts. There are two ways of
splitting: by station and by quantity. Splitting by station is done using the “Split Mode” tool in
the planning tools toolbar. It will split the selected tasks into two parts at the given station.
Splitting by location is useful when there is room for multiple crews that can work in different
locations at the same time, there are enough resources available, and there is a need to
shorten the time required to complete the work. Also if there is a “by stations” predecessor,
which delays only a part of the task’s station span, splitting the task by stations may be useful
for making the other part of the task to start earlier.
Splitting by quantity, which is done by right-clicking a task in a graphical view and selecting
“Split by Quantity”, also splits tasks into two, but keeps the station spans intact. This is useful
when the intent is to first complete a part of the work, and come back later to finish the work.
For instance, suppose there’s a 100 meter long cut between the stations 100 and 200. Cutting
the task at station 150 yields two tasks, one between stations 100 and 150 and another
between 150 and 200. It is possible to start both tasks at the same time, and thus halve the
time required to complete cutting between the stations 100 and 200. On the other hand,
splitting the task by quantity (so that each resulting task gets 50 % of the mass) yields two
tasks; both located between the stations 100 and 200. This can be interpreted so that the
intent is to first cut 50 % of the mass from the entire station spans, and come back later to cut
the other half.
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If there are many small and insignificant tasks of the same type located close to each other,
and it is likely that they are done with the same crew, it is a good idea to combine the tasks to
make scheduling easier. Combining is done by selecting several tasks in a graphical view
(Gantt, Time-location or Mass Haul View), right-clicking to open the context menu and choosing
“Combine Tasks”.
3.4 Importing Locations and Tasks from Excel
Cuts, fills, soil replacements and other tasks can be imported from an Excel file by choosing
Import -> Quantities from the File menu. Then select the file you want to import and click
Open. Importing requires that Microsoft Excel is installed on the computer. Borrow pits, disposal
areas, crushing plants and stockpiles must be created manually through the New task button in
the toolbar.
New road lines and areas can be created when importing tasks on them, or existing locations
may be used. When creating new locations, new tasks are created. When using existing
locations, the locations and quantities of the tasks on them are updated.
3.4.1 Importing Tasks on Road Lines
Tasks located on road lines are imported using station-specific bill of materials. The format of
the Excel file should match that listed in Figure 9. For further examples, the DynaRoad installer
copies example Excel files in the program installation folder’s subfolder “Data\1033\”.
The text “Station” should be in the leftmost column, followed by ascending station numbers on
the next rows. The row with the station text should also contain the task type names. If the
same name is repeated twice, the quantities on a station are combined. It is a good practice to
use the same type names in the Excel file and in DynaRoad. Each task type column then
contains the station specific quantities of the task type. The quantities must be formatted as
numbers in Excel, not as text.
Station Task Type A Task Type B Task Type C
100 100 200
120 100 100 100
140 120 100 200
160 100 50 300
Figure 9: Station Specific Bill of Materials for Road Lines
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For instance, Task Type B has 100 units of material between stations 110 and 130 (the mean of
120 and the station on the previous and next rows). The task type (cut, fill etc.) in DynaRoad
determines the unit when imported, so the unit of a quantity in the Excel or XML file must
match the unit of the task type in the project file. Cuts are an exception, as the cut type is used
for converting the Excel quantities to the correct unit. For example, if the unit for a cut in the
bill of quantities is ccm/ccy (compacted cubic meter/yard) when it should be bcm/bcy (bank
cubic meter/yard), the quantity is automatically converted according to the factor given in the
DynaRoad template or project file.
Excel import consists of four (4) phases:
1. Match imported locations to project locations: Match the Bill of Materials Excel file with
existing locations in DynaRoad. To import the file on an existing road line, select it from the
drop-down menu. Create new road lines by choosing “Add” from the drop-down menu in
the “Mapped location” column.
2. Match imported units to project units: The imported units have to be matched with those in
DynaRoad. If Excel names match completely, the correct types are automatically selected.
To create new units, choose “New” from the drop-down menu in the “Mapped unit” column.
3. Match imported material types to project material types: The task types read from the Excel
file have to be matched to those in DynaRoad. If task names from Excel match completely,
the correct types are automatically selected. To create new task types (source or
destination types), choose “New source/destination type…” from the drop-down menu in
the “Mapped type” column.
4. The following quantities will be imported to the project: This page shows the imported
quantities listed by task type. If tasks are imported to an empty or a new road line, all
quantities from the Excel file will be listed. If there are existing quantities on the road lines,
these will be updated to the new quantities of the Excel file.
If the project has quantities on stations outside the station spans defined in the Excel-file, and if
the type and the road line of those quantities are chosen to be imported, these quantities will
be deleted. If this is not what you want, you can check the option "Don't remove quantities
outside the imported station spans".
The option to “Combine quantities within (stations)” allows adding a station span within which
imported quantities will be combined. As seen in Section 3.3, the task station span is often
specified in shorter parts to improve the accuracies of haul distance and dependency
calculation. The “Combine quantities within (stations)” specifies the length of the station span
parts created by Excel importing, or in other words, how many rows are combined as one.
Longer task location lengths will make calculations faster, shorter locations more accurate.
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3.4.2 Importing Tasks in Areas
Importing tasks in areas is very similar to importing tasks on road lines when it comes to the
user interface, except that the “Combine quantities” station span need not to be specified. The
“Connect imported areas to” selects the road line to which intersections will be created, not the
road line which will be imported. The intersections can always be modified later.
The format of the Excel file for areas should match that in Figure 10. The “Area” text should be
in the leftmost column, with the names of areas in the following rows. The same name may not
be used twice. The columns next to the area cell should be “Station” and “Distance”, which
specify the start station and distance from the intersection to the road line. Next after the
distance column, task types should follow. The quantities corresponding to the task type and
the area should be under the task type and right to the area.
Area Station Distance Task Type A Task Type B Task Type C
Area A 100 100 100 200
Area B 120 50 100 30 200
Area C 140 10 100 0 100
Area D 160 200 100 3000 50
Figure 10: Bill of Materials for Areas
3.5 Sum Tasks and Construction Zones
Sum tasks group tasks together. A task can only directly belong to one sum tasks at a time, but
sum tasks can form hierarchies, that is, sum tasks can be used for grouping other sum tasks
together. Various text reports (Section 4.8) group information based on sum tasks. Sum tasks
are shown as hierarchy levels in the Gantt View (Section 4.4), and as polygons covering the
included tasks in the Time-location View (Section 4.3), if the flag is set in the Layout tab of the
Sum Task Properties dialog. The dialog is opened by double clicking the Sum task.
Sum tasks can be created by selecting tasks in graphical views or the Tasks data sheet, right
clicking and choosing “Add to sum task”. To remove a sum task, select it in Gantt view or Tasks
data sheet and click the Remove toolbar button. This only removes the sum task; if the sum
task includes tasks, they are not removed and become part of the removed sum task’s parent
sum task.
A sum task can be marked “Construction zone”. This means that haul optimization will first try
to haul mass within the construction zone before hauling mass to or from another sum task.
The "Prevent external hauls" flag is an even tighter restriction: it completely prevents hauls
outside the sum task.
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Construction zones speed up haul optimization. By dividing the project into logical parts, they
also make it easier to manage the project. Construction zones should be planned so that
internal hauls are possible, which means that there are enough cuts for fills and fills for cut, few
if any haul obstacles such as waterways without bridges or traffic, and if subcontractors are
used, preferably the construction zone should be built by a few subcontractors. The last
condition makes organizing mass hauls as planned easier in practice.
3.6 Milestones
Milestones are used to constraint task timings to take place within specified intervals.
Milestones are modified in the Milestones data sheet. Violating milestone timings results in little
red flags being displayed in the Gantt and Time-location views (Sections 4.4 and 4.3).
3.7 Haul Planning
Haul planning in DynaRoad is done in two main phases: DynaRoad Plan and DynaRoad
Schedule. The purpose of Plan is to find good locations for crushing plants, disposal areas and
borrows pits, to minimize material surplus and deficit, and to detect cost and quality issues in
the road designs. Schedule is used for scheduling the hauls, which results in a realistic, feasible
and accurate haul plan which is synchronized to the task schedule.
Haul planning in both modes consists of two parts: manual hauls and haul optimization. Manual
hauls are used to force specific mass hauls when they are required despite not being optimal
according to DynaRoad’s calculations. Manual hauls are created using the “Haul Creation Mode”
tool in the planning tools toolbar, and dragging the mouse from a cut to a fill.
Haul optimization is started by clicking the calculator icon in the toolbar or by selecting
“Calculate Hauls” from the project menu. In Plan, the optimizer calculates shortest distances for
all possible hauls in the project based on source and destination type suitabilities (Section
2.3.1), calculates the costs for the distances based on the haul costs (Section 2.3.2) and
chooses the combination of hauls, which hauls as much mass as possible and minimizes the
total cost of doing so. Notice that construction zone internal hauls are calculated before
calculating external hauls.
In a project with actuals, haul calculation by default ignores actuals and calculates hauls as in
Schedule mode, so that you can compare the planned and actual hauls. Lock actual quantities
locks the actuals, so that haul calculation in an ongoing project does not change the already
finished quantities; only the remaining hauls are calculated.
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3.7.1 Haul Optimization Rounds
All mass haul
Mass haul within
construction zone A
Mass haul within
construction zone B
Figure 11: Mass Haul Calculation Rounds
Mass haul calculation is done in rounds with the internal hauls of the round preferred to
external ones at all cost. The calculation rounds in are shown in Figure 11.
Optimize hauls within each
construction zone
Ro
un
d 1
Optimize hauls within each
parent construction zone
Ro
un
d 2
Transfer leftover
material to next
optimization round
Optimize hauls between
all tasks with unhauled material
Ro
un
d 3
Transfer leftover
material to next
optimization round
Figure 12: Mass Haul Calculation Process
The haul optimization rounds proceed as shown in Figure 12. Round 1 is for optimizing internal
hauls within each construction zone. Material deficit or surplus is transferred to round 2 for
mass haul possibilities within parent construction zones.
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If you have more than one construction zone hierarchy level, the optimization proceeds
upwards in the hierarchy step by step until there are no more parent construction zones.
Finally, in round 3 hauls between all the tasks in the project with unhauled material are
calculated.
3.7.2 Troubleshooting Haul Calculation
In large projects, haul optimization sometimes results in an unnecessary load on your
computer’s memory and “calculate hauls” takes a long time or does not finish at all. This may
be due to the project having several aggregate stockpiles, which increases the number of
possible hauls. One solution to this is replacing the aggregate stockpiles with local stockpiles for
each task that will be used for crushing.
The steps are as follows:
Remove all current aggregate stockpiles
Create large enough stockpiles for each task that has materials for crushing (usually
only rock cuts) (Section 3.3)
Create a crushing plant next to each cut with a local stockpile
This will result in a significantly faster haul calculation. Remember to consider the effects of
these changes if crushed material and related resources are particularly important for your
project. A good practice is to study the mass summary, haul and resource reports (Section 4.8).
3.7.3 Surplus and Deficit Material
Surplus and deficit material are shown as hatched boxes in the Mass Haul View (Section 4.1)
and reported in detail in Mass Surplus and Deficit Reports (Section 4.8.3). Initial goal for the
use of optimization is to get all mass to haul, that is, to have a haul plan for all cuts and fills.
After that, the reasons for long haul distances should be analyzed and actions taken to prevent
them. The following actions may prove useful:
Actions for useful surplus material:
Use in new tasks or other projects
Change quality requirements
Change grade line (cut less)
Sell to third parties
Change slope steepness
Actions for surplus waste material:
Dispose more
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Change quality requirements
Refine
Landscaping
Change slope steepness
Actions for deficit material:
Procure from third parties
Change grade line (cut more or fill less)
Borrow more
Change quality requirements
After a good plan is created in Plan, it is time to schedule the project. In Schedule, the following
additional constraints are taken into account in haul optimization:
Hauls can only take place within the shared timespan of the source and destination,
that is, haul source and destination must take place at the same time. Stockpiles (local
or normal) allow the destination to start later than the source finishes.
Production rate is not exceeded, that is, the hauled quantity is constrained by haul
duration multiplied by the production rate both at the haul source and destination. If an
intended fill can receive faster than a cut can send, more resources can be used or the
cut can be split into parts; and similarly if the cut can send faster than the fill can
receive.
Stockpile capacity is not exceeded at any time.
Usage breaks affect possible hauls and haul distances. If a usage break prevents an
intended haul, create an intersection to get around the break.
Notice that crushing plants and stockpiles must also have a production rate for the source type
that is hauled out from them. For crushing plants, the source type changes from the cut type to
the crushed type.
The goal in planning hauls in Schedule is to create a schedule which is feasible for both the
tasks and the hauls, and that the hauls are as cheap as possible, that is, close to the Plan hauls.
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3.8 Project Scheduling
Project scheduling in DynaRoad is basically about choosing crews and finding good start times
for tasks. The purpose is to create a realistic, feasible schedule, in which mass haul is
inexpensive, resource usage is flat, task durations are realistic, tasks have contingency plans
when necessary4, and traffic and other external factors are taken into account. Dependencies,
resource constraints, milestones and other DynaRoad features are tools which help achieving
these goals.
Scheduling the project tasks starts by combining small tasks that are constructed by the same
crew and located close to each other. The timespans of intersections, usage breaks, borrow pits
and disposal areas need to be adjusted to match reality. If intersection or usage break timings
depend on task schedule, their timings should be bound to the corresponding tasks (Section
3.2.4).
The crew production rates and resource counts need to be checked. Once they are correct,
crews are assigned to tasks. A rule of thumb is to assign more or more efficient resources and
thus higher production rates to larger tasks, and slower crews to smaller tasks. Task durations
should be primarily calculated through their quantities and crew production rates to get realistic
durations. Production rate coefficients are justified when construction takes place in special
circumstances, but they should be used sparingly.
Consecutive tasks in the same station span should be scheduled to proceed at approximately
the same speed. This enables schedule compression by starting succeeding work at early
stations while the preceding work is still being completed in late stations. Notice that dependent
tasks should often start from the same station (either start or finish) in order to enable
schedule compression. This is illustrated in Figure 13: the green tasks on the left start from the
low station while the first red task on the right starts from the high station. Durations of all four
tasks are equal, but the second green task finishes earlier than the second red task, and there
is a buffer delay between the green tasks.
4 For instance, suppose there are cuts sensitive to weather conditions in the project. The predecessors of landscaping
works close to the cuts should be constructed early, so that the bad materials can be hauled to landscaping instead of
disposal areas.
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Figure 13: Effect of Start Station
Before considering start times, it may be revealing to make all tasks start as soon as possible,
either by setting the ASAP flag on for all tasks, or by choosing “Pack Schedule” from the Project
menu. The latter action does not set the ASAP flag on; instead it just changes the start times. If
dependencies have been specified for task types, this should give a good initial situation for
schedule planning.
Task start times are picked by first determining the locations where work can start based on
physical constraints, then setting the largest, riskiest or most critical tasks or their predecessors
to start first. In earthworks projects large rock cuts are typically important, and they are often
preceded by topsoil removal. The number of tasks that can be constructed simultaneously
depends on the available resources, so using resource constraints and setting resource priorities
to tasks based on their importance is a useful tool here. Once the starting tasks and the
number of tasks being constructed at the same time have been decided, Finish-Start
dependencies are created to specify the intended work flow of the crews. This procedure is
repeated until all tasks have been scheduled.
Once the initial version of the schedule has been created, its feasibility is analyzed. Schedule
constraints such as milestones specified in the tender and restrictions due to traffic
arrangements need to be added to the project. For earthworks projects, mass hauls are
planned (Section 3.7) and their feasibility is evaluated.
To correct the problems identified during analysis:
Modify task start end to compress schedule or affect task locations at given times.
Split tasks when predecessors delay parts of them.
Combine adjacent tasks of the same type done with the same crew to ensure work
continuity and crew flow.
Delay starting fills if suitable cuts have not yet been started.
Tim
e
Station
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Change crews, resource constraints or task start times if resource usage varies greatly.
Add dependencies between tasks when their timings violate physical or logical real
world constraints.
Add more resources to tasks to meet timing constraints, milestones and project
deadline.
3.9 Project Execution and Control
In controlled projects, work is performed continuously according to the project plan, and
construction costs will build up evenly during the construction process. Lack of progress
monitoring and control will cause unfinished work to accumulate and result in extra work and
hurry towards the end of the project.
DynaRoad Control is a tool for collecting information on actual task and haul progress,
comparing the actuals to the plan, forecasting future progress and to re-plan the schedule if
adjusting construction activities to meet the old plan becomes infeasible.
3.9.1 Entering Actuals
DynaRoad needs to know the start time, finish time and constructed quantity for task actuals.
For haul actuals, the source and destination tasks need to be identified, so the corresponding
locations and task types need to be known.
Before entering actuals, change the project to Control mode using the clock symbol in the
toolbar, or choose “Control Mode” from the Project menu.
For earthworks related tasks (that is, cuts, fills and soil replacements) actuals are entered in the
Actuals dialog, which is opened by double clicking tasks in graphical views, or by opening the
task context menu by right clicking on them and selecting “Edit actuals”. In the actuals dialog,
the task actual is first entered. Haul actuals are entered to the currently focused task actual by
clicking “Add Actual Haul”. When haul actuals are added to a cut, a task actual is automatically
added to the corresponding fill. Once all work has completed in the task, mark the task finished
in the actuals dialog.
For Other tasks, the actuals dialog is embedded in the Task Properties dialog as the Actuals tab.
Entering task actuals is done in the same way as for earthworks tasks.
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3.9.2 Importing actual hauls from haul server
Actuals can also be imported from Topcon Sitelink3D or iCON haul server. This feature requires
actuals license option. To configure a DynaRoad project to use a haul server, go to the Project
Properties dialog and press "Configure haul server". Select the server type and click "next".
Enter the server information and click "next". Choose the right project and press "Finish".
If you are using Sitelink3D server, the next step is to import project information from
Sitelink3D. Select File / Import / Sitelink3D Project Information. Match the materials and
resource types to their DynaRoad equivalents. Now you are ready to import hauls.
Select File / Import / "Actual hauls from Sitelink3D/iCON". Now you can see the imported hauls
on a map and a grid. DynaRoad automatically maps imported hauls to tasks if it finds suitable
sources and destinations. You can also manually select source and destination tasks for each
haul. Press "next" to proceed to haul combining page, where you can combine multiple similar
hauls to single hauls within a given combination time interval. Press "Finish" to import the
actual hauls to DynaRoad.
When you have new hauls in the server and import hauls again, DynaRoad remembers which
hauls you have already imported and does not re-import those. You can always choose Project
/ "Remove all actuals" if you want to re-import all hauls from the haul server.
3.9.3 Controlling the Project
Once actuals have been entered, they are shown as a dotted line in the Time-location view
(Section 4.3). Forecasts are made visible by choosing “Show forecast” in the task context menu,
which is opened by right clicking the task line. Forecasts are calculated by assuming that the
task continues after the date of the last actual, but no earlier than the current control date. The
forecast production rate is calculated as a weighted average of the planned and the actual
production rate. The weight depends on the completion degree of the task: when 0% finished,
only the planned rate is used, when 100% finished, only the actual rate is used.
The following should be checked:
Planned tasks have started.
Started tasks progress as planned: not too slow or too fast.
Tasks planned to be finished really are finished.
Delayed tasks don’t disturb other tasks.
Material quality matches plans.
Mass has been used as planned.
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The primary reaction to deviations should be to control the project to meet the plans. This is
achieved by using more resources, working longer hours and other management actions. If
using the old plans is not practical or feasible, schedule and hauls should be re-planned and the
effects on costs and total schedule analyzed. A plan is not useful if it is not up-to-date.
3.9.4 Removing Actuals
You can remove all actuals from the project by selecting “Remove All Actuals” from the Project-
menu. You can also remove actuals from a specified time span by selecting “Remove Actuals in
Time Span…” from the Project-menu and by specifying the time span. This function removes all
actuals that overlap with the specified time span.
You can also remove individual actuals from tasks by using the Actuals dialog.
3.10 Exporting to Primavera P6
Projects can be exported from DynaRoad to Primavera P6. When exporting, the project is first
converted to an XML format file, which can then be imported to Primavera P6 Project
Management5. The XML file contains the most important project items such as task names,
timings, dependencies, sum tasks and resources, but some items, such as hauls, costs and task
colors are not exported.
To export a project from DynaRoad, you must be in Schedule mode or Control mode. Choose
“Export -> Tasks to Primavera XML” from the “File” menu. Then enter a name for the XML file
and click “Save”. To import the project, start Primavera P6 Project Management and choose
“Import” in the “File” menu. Then select the “Primavera PM - (XML)” import format and click
“Next”. Enter the name of the XML file you saved in DynaRoad and click “Next”. In “Import
Project Options”, you can either choose to create a new project or update an existing one. Only
update projects that you have previously imported from DynaRoad. In “Update Project
Options”, click “Modify” and select “Update Existing” in all data types, then click “OK” and
“Next”. Finally, click “Finish” to import the project.
3.10.1 Exported Items
The following DynaRoad items are exported:
5 Instructions in this section are given for Primavera P6 Project Management Release 7.0, Service Pack 3, details may
vary depending on Primavera version.
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Tasks: exported to Primavera activities. Activity IDs are arbitrary numbers created by
DynaRoad, which stay constant between exports. This helps Primavera match activities
when updating projects by re-importing them from DynaRoad. Activity names are equal
to task names in DynaRoad.
Dependencies: to Primavera relationships. Finish-finish, finish-start, start-finish and
start-start dependencies are exported as-is. By stations dependencies are exported as
finish-start dependencies with the lag adjusted correspondingly. All dependency delays
in DynaRoad are converted to the predecessor’s calendar time to match the way
Primavera calculates relationship lags.
Calendars: to Primavera’s global calendars. The DynaRoad default week is exported as
the standard week and holidays and other work time definitions as exceptions.
Calendars are assigned to resources and activities imported from DynaRoad.
Units: to Primavera’s admin category units of measure.
Task types: to Primavera material resources, grouped under “DynaRoad Materials”.
Each task type is exported several times, once for every calendar in DynaRoad. Material
resources are assigned to activities, with the DynaRoad quantity in “Budgeted Units”
and DynaRoad production rate in “Budgeted Units / Time”. Actual progress is exported
similarly. The unit of measure of the resource allocation is set according to the task
type’s unit. Task types are also exported to Primavera activity codes and assigned to
activities according to tasks’ main task types.
Resources: to Primavera nonlabor resources, grouped under “DynaRoad Resources”.
Each resource is exported several times, once for every calendar. Resources are
assigned to activities, with the duration in work hours in DynaRoad as “Budgeted
Units”, and the work day length multiplied by the number of resource units as
“Budgeted Units / Time”.
Sum tasks: to Primavera work breakdown structures (WBS), so that the sum task
hierarchy in DynaRoad is preserved in Primavera. WBS codes are arbitrary numbers
created by DynaRoad, which stay constant between exports. WBS names are equal to
sum task names in DynaRoad.
Locations: location names are exported to Primavera activity codes. Task stations are
exported to user defined fields “Start station” and “Finish station”.
Crews: to Primavera nonlabor resource roles.
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Actuals and forecasts: actuals for material resources are exported according to actual
quantities in DynaRoad. Task statuses (started/finished), the corresponding dates and
completion degrees are exported to Primavera activity statuses. The finish dates for
started activities are DynaRoad forecasts. The same values are exported to nonlabor
resources. Notice that the units percent complete calculated by Primavera may differ
between the nonlabor and material resources, since nonlabor resource values include
forecasts.
3.10.2 Troubleshooting
Exporting a DynaRoad project to XML fails if:
An item does not have a name, since Primavera does not accept empty names. In this
case, DynaRoad gives an error message and opens the properties dialog for the invalid
item so that you can enter a non-empty name.
A task has too large a production rate; the maximum production rate in Primavera is
roughly one hundred million units per time. In this case, DynaRoad gives an error
message and opens the task properties dialog so that you can enter a smaller
production rate.
The file or folder is read-only, you don’t have write-permission to it or it is otherwise
not writable. In this case, select another folder for the XML file.
If exporting the project to an XML file succeeds, but importing it to Primavera fails, Primavera
outputs log files which help determining the reason. The log file names are
project.xml.SummaryImportLog.txt and project.xml.DetailImportLog.txt, where project is the
name of the XML file. Please send the log files, the XML file, the corresponding DynaRoad
project file and the Primavera and DynaRoad version numbers to [email protected].
Scheduling the imported project in Primavera using “Tools -> Schedule” may yield different
results compared to DynaRoad. This is because not all scheduling related information is
transferred in the export-import process. Examples are resource constraints, as soon as possible
flags, beginning of day flags and task priorities.
Some fields in Primavera, for instance activity code values, have a maximum length and have to
be unique. DynaRoad automatically shortens names to meet the length requirements and
appends numeric suffixes to names and identifiers to avoid duplicates.
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Task durations and finish times in Primavera may differ from DynaRoad for borrow pits,
disposal areas, crushing plants and stockpiles. This is because in Primavera, all activities with
resources must satisfy the units = units/time * duration equation for all resources. In
DynaRoad, the equation only holds for tasks where the work is continuous, i.e. cuts, fills, soil
replacements and other tasks, and other task kinds’ time spans may be freely specified. Notice
also that DynaRoad’s Gantt view displays borrow pit, disposal area, crushing plant and stockpile
bars based on haul timings, which may cause visual differences.
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4 VIEWS
DynaRoad has two kinds of views: graphical views (Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6) and
text reports (Section 4.8). Graphical views visualize specific parts of the project data and allow
direct modification of shown items. Text reports report details but do not allow modification.
Text reports can be copy pasted to a spreadsheet program and thus used as source data to
further presentations. When a certain view is active, the view info window shows brief
instructions on view usage.
All views can be printed using printers installed to Windows. Printing is done either by clicking
on the printer button in the toolbar, or by selecting “Print” from the File menu. Often it is a
good idea to use print preview before printing. Print settings are modified using the “Print
setup” button in print preview. Paper margins can be set, as well as the number of pages in
graphical views. In the text reports, the required number of pages is automatically calculated
and cannot be modified. If problems occur when printing, select “Print as image”. For example,
the project map can contain multiple image layers that the printer cannot process properly.
Selecting “Print as image” bypasses that processing by sending the printer a simple image
instead. Note that this can cause the printing to slow down and images and fonts to look
slightly rougher, especially at the edges.
Graphical views share scrolling, zooming, panning, window positioning and view properties (the
wrench icon in the toolbar) tools as explained in Section 1.4. Hover the mouse cursor over
items in the views to show tooltips, which reveal details about the item. Double click an item to
open the item properties dialog. Right click an item to open the item’s context menu, which
contains shortcuts to related actions. Multiple items can be selected either by pressing down the
left mouse button and dragging the selection area over the desired items, or by keeping the Ctrl
key down and clicking on the wanted items.
To filter shown tasks in graphical views, which can be created in the View Filters data sheet or
directly from the active view filter drop list by selecting “<Create New…>”. Tasks can be filtered
by their location, task type and resources. These are convenient, since new tasks which fulfill
the selected criteria will automatically be included in the filtered view. If more than one criterion
is enabled, all criteria must be fulfilled in order for the task to be shown according to the filter.
Additionally it is possible to force specific tasks to be included in or excluded from the view
filter.
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Road lines and areas can be stacked, which means that road lines that are parallel, can be
viewed simultaneously on top of each other. This makes it easier to examine and plan the
works to be done on that same location. An example is building a highway and a local road next
to the highway in the same project. Road lines and areas can be stacked in both the mass haul
and time-location views. To stack locations, go to the “Shown locations” tab in view properties,
first make sure that all preferred locations are checked in the “Shown” column, and then check
the boxes in the “Stacked” column.
Locations can also be scaled. To be able to view road lines or areas that have a proportional
difference in size, they can be scaled bigger or smaller to better fit the view windows. Locations
are always scaled with respect to the active road line.
4.1 Mass Haul View
The mass haul view shows task quantities and the mass haul plan. The road line is in the
middle of the view, cuts are above the road line and fills and other tasks below. More than one
road line and area can be displayed at once by making them visible in the view properties.
Selecting one or many tasks in the Select mode shows the sum of their quantities in the status
bar.
The boxes representing tasks are filled with hatched color when their hauls have not been
planned and in solid color when they have. In the Control mode, haul planned parts of the
boxes which do not have actual hauls are shown in solid white color. Task box edges are drawn
with the color of the task’s sum task.
Disposal areas, crushing plants, borrow pits, stockpiles and intersections are shown in the upper
and lower edges of the view; mass sources at the bottom and destinations at the top.
Double clicking tasks or road lines opens their property dialog. The task property dialog can be
opened for several tasks at once by selecting them and choosing “Modify” from the context
menu. Double clicking on an intersection changes the active location to the other location of the
intersection. The active location can also be changed from the drop list in the filtering tools
toolbar.
When hauls have been calculated, the mass haul plan is shown by right clicking a task and
selecting “Show Hauls”. All hauls are shown by right clicking an empty part of the view and
selecting “Show All Hauls”. Hauls are filtered according to task types, locations, haul quantities
or haul time spans by using view properties.
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Tasks can be added to new or existing sum tasks, milestones or view filters using the task
context menu, which is opened by right clicking on the task. The context menu also has
functions for changing the task’s start station, splitting the task by quantity and removing the
task. When multiple tasks of the same task type have been selected, they can be combined
using the context menu’s “Combine Tasks” action.
Tasks can be split into parts using the split tool in the planning tools toolbar. Once the split
mode has been activated, a split line is shown under the mouse cursor. Clicking the left mouse
button opens a “Split Task” dialog, which shows tasks located at the selected station and allows
splitting them into two parts. Clicking on the Select icon or on the split mode icon again returns
to the Select mode.
Manual hauls between tasks are created using the manual haul mode. When the manual haul
mode is active, pressing the left mouse button down on top of a cut, then keeping the button
down and dragging the mouse cursor to a fill will open the “Create Haul” dialog, which allows
creating manual hauls between the two tasks. Notice that the hauls are shown in the task
location part accuracy level. Returning to the Select mode, works in the same way as in the
splitting tool.
4.2 Mass Curve View
Mass curve view shows the cumulative sum of the selected quantities in the visible road lines.
Several locations can be shown in the same way as in the mass haul view. The cumulative sum
is calculated left to right, that is, from the road line’s low station to high station. Zero level is
shown in the middle of the view. Blue areas in the upper half of the view have a mass surplus
and red areas in the lower half of the view have a mass deficit. View filters affect the mass
curves so that only tasks shown according to the active filter are summed in the curve.
Curves are added in the View properties window by double clicking the last, empty row of the
“Mass Curves” tab and selecting the source and destination types to be summed in the curve.
Separate curves should be created for different types of quantities. For instance, rock cuts and
rock fills should form one curve, land cuts and landfills another.
Mass curves are a way of examining the mass balance of the project. A heuristic for
determining boundaries for construction zones is to look for stations in which the mass curve
crosses the zero level. However, the map of the project, Plan hauls and thus usage breaks, road
connections and other specific features of the current project should also be taken into account
when planning construction zones.
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4.3 Time-Location View
Time-location view shows the tasks’ schedule and locations at the same time, which makes it
effective for planning the project schedule. Time is displayed vertically and location (stations)
horizontally. Tasks are diagonal lines drawn from their start station and start time to their finish
station and finish time, that is, lines are descending when the task starts from its low station
and ascending when from its high station.
Task lines are filled with the white color when they lack a haul plan. In the control mode, tasks’
actual timings are drawn with dotted lines. Forecasts, when shown by choosing “Show
Forecast” from the task’s context menu, are drawn with dashed lines.
The location-wise work sequence is clearly visible in the time-location view. Tasks taking place
at the same time in the same place appear as crossed lines, which makes it easy to detect the
situation, and rethink the plan in case only one work phase at a time fits to the location.
Mouse cursor location, station and date are shown in status bar in the bottom right corner of
the view. Sum of the selected tasks’ quantities is shown in the left status bar, in the same way
as in the mass haul view.
Task modification, filtering, splitting and other functionality also work in the same way as in the
mass haul view. The effects of changing the start station are clearest in the time-location view.
The time-location view also supports creating dependencies in the dependency mode, which is
activated from the planning tools toolbar. In the dependency mode, blue circles are shown at
the beginning, middle and end of task lines. Dragging the mouse from circle to circle while
holding the left mouse button down creates a new dependency. The beginning circle causes the
corresponding dependency type to be “Start”, the middle circle “By stations” and the end circle
“Finish”. For instance, dragging from an end circle to a beginning circle creates a Finish-Start
dependency. Dependencies can be shown as arrows by selecting “Show Dependencies” from
the task context menu.
Task start time is changed in the Select mode by dragging the task line from the task’s start
station (upper end of the line). Similarly, the duration is changed by dragging from the task’s
finish station. Notice that changing the duration changes the production rate coefficient, so it
should be used with care; changing the selected crew is preferable (Sections 3.3 and 3.8).
While dragging the task line to change the task’s start time, the effects of the changes are
shown with color-codes in the background as follows:
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Gray: The project start time or preceding dependent tasks prevent starting the task so
early.
Red: Task would violate its own timing constraints, milestones, project deadline or a
maximum delay specified in a dependency.
Yellow: The task would cause timing constraint violations in its successors.
Green: The new task timing will affect succeeding tasks’ timings without causing further
timing constraint violations.
The same color-coding is used when dragging the task line to change the task’s duration,
except that the gray area indicates that the task’s finish time can’t be earlier than its start time.
Red flags are shown to indicate violations of task timing constraints, milestones, project
deadlines and maximum delay dependencies. The reason for the violation is shown in the
tooltip, which is visible when hovering the move over the red flag.
Task lines are labeled with task name labels. The contents of the label are modified in task
properties’ layout page. Task name label positions are changed by directly dragging the labels
along the task line.
Tasks can be modified to be shown as normal lines (as default) or as task boxes. Some tasks
have a long duration and cover large areas of the project, so showing tasks as boxes in the
time-location view can be more illustrative. To show a task as a line, box or both, go to the
layout tab in task properties and check the boxes “Show task line” or “Show task box”.
Sum tasks are shown as small boxes at task line beginnings, if sum tasks are set visible in the
view properties. Sum tasks can also be shown as polygons by enabling the “Show sum task
area in time-location view” check in the Sum Task Properties dialog’s Layout tab. The sum task
properties dialog is opened by double clicking on sum tasks in the view, or through the Tasks
data sheet.
Milestones are drawn as horizontal black lines, whey they are specified by locations. Usage
breaks are drawn as gray boxes covering the usage break station and timespans.
4.4 Gantt View
Gantt view displays a list of tasks in the project in a sheet in the left side of the view, and the
timespans of the tasks in the graphical bar area on the right side of the view. Gantt charts are
easy to read and widely known, so they are useful for communicating schedules to project
stakeholders.
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Depending on the view properties, tasks in the sheet are shown hierarchically according to the
sum task hierarchy. Lower hierarchy levels can be hidden and shown by clicking on the
hierarchy column cells, or by selecting “Expand/Collapse Tree” from the task context menu.
Several task properties are shown in separate columns of the sheet. Most values can be directly
modified in the cells. Shown columns and their order are changed from the view properties. You
can also change the order of columns by clicking and dragging the column headers.
The order of the task rows in the sheet can be changed by sorting or moving rows. To sort all
tasks, click the column header and the arrow in the header. To sort only certain tasks, select
them and click the Sort (ascending or descending) button from the font toolbar. To move a
row, click the row number and drag it where you want it to be. This only affects the listing
order in the view, not task start times. It is possible to add and remove empty rows by choosing
“Insert/Delete Row” from the context menu, and insert other tasks by selecting “Create Task”.
Otherwise the context menu works similarly to the time-location and mass haul views.
The fonts used in the Gantt sheet are determined by the layout settings of the corresponding
sum tasks, task types, locations and tasks.
The graphical area displays a bar for each row in the sheet. Task start and finish times can be
modified similarly to the time-location view, that is, by dragging the bar at its beginning or end.
While dragging the task bars, time periods in the view background are color-coded similarly to
the time-location view. Dependencies are created and displayed in the same way as in the time-
location view. Red flags indicate timing constraint violations.
In the control mode, a thick red line is shown to indicate the progress of the tasks. A thin red
line is drawn at the control week. When the thick red line is on the left side of the thin red line,
tasks are late.
4.5 Resource View
Resource view shows the number of used resources as a function of time. The number of
resources is shown on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. Shown resources are
selected by clicking on the corresponding boxes in the resource legend. Only resources used in
the project are listed in the legend. View filters affect the resource counts so that only tasks
visible according to the active filter are summed in the counts.
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The resource view is useful for detecting when the resource use varies too much: often it is not
realistic to expect that a resource can leave the project site and return after a couple of days.
They will either stay at the site during few day gaps, or leave for a longer time, which increases
either costs, risks or both.
4.6 Map View
Map view visualizes road lines, areas, tasks and their scheduled or actual progress on top of a
map. New road lines and areas can be created by drawing them into the map, or the drawings
can be bound to existing locations.
Background maps are loaded from PDF (Portable Document Format) files. To load a map,
choose “Add map” from the map view’s context menu, or click on the “Show map” button in the
toolbar. The selected file will be embedded to the DynaRoad project file, so it is not necessary
to keep the original file intact. When adding a PDF file, coordinates of the map have to be
entered in the View properties dialog. Geographical maps usually have at least two coordinate
markers, that is, X marks with their coordinates written next to them. Locate two of the
markers in the dialog, the blue marker with the left mouse button and the red marker with the
right mouse button, and enter the marker coordinates to the respective edit boxes. It is easier
to position the markers accurately using the zooming sliders.
Zooming, panning and other view manipulation tools (Section 1.4.1) are useful for navigating
the map.
Areas and road lines can be drawn to the map using “Area drawing mode” and “Road line
drawing mode” buttons in the toolbar. Area polygons can be closed by right clicking, or by
clicking into the starting vertex which is marked with a filled green circle. After the polygon is
closed, it is assigned to an area by right clicking on the new polygon. Road line drawings are
finished by right clicking, and assigned to road lines with the appearing context menu. The
vertex coordinates are calculated based on the map coordinates. Pressing the Esc key cancels
drawing, pressing the backspace key erases the last added vertex. Clicking the active tool in the
bottom toolbar returns you to the Select mode.
Road line stations for the vertices are also calculated based on the map coordinates. DynaRoad
assumes that one unit in the coordinate space equals one station, that is, one length unit
specified in the Project Properties dialog. This assumption is also used in the map scale
indicator in the bottom left corner of the view. If a coordinate system, in which this assumption
is false, is used, the scale indicator should be disregarded, and station coordinates must be
entered to road lines without the help of the road line drawing mode.
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Existing vertices in both road lines and areas can be modified in the respective drawing modes.
Clicking on a vertex removes it, clicking on an edge adds a new vertex, and dragging a vertex
moves it.
Road lines can be changed to have a dynamic width. This is useful when the width of the road
changes along the road line, e.g. when adding a new lane. To change to dynamic width, go to
Road Line Properties and check the box “Use dynamic width”. To change the width of the road
line manually, activate road line drawing mode and then click and drag the edges of the road.
In the Plan mode, locations are drawn with the location color specified in Road Line or Area
Properties dialog’s General tab, or as the “Normal” color on the Colors tab. In Schedule and
Control modes, locations are color coded based on the progress of the tasks in them. The
progress is determined with respect to the control week.
View filters affect map view when filtering according to location is enabled. Then only the
selected locations will be shown, disregarding the selected station span.
4.7 Control View
Control view displays a list of task types in a sum task hierarchy in a sheet on the left side of
the view, and color coded location bars in the bar area on the right. The location drop list in the
filtering tools toolbar specifies the shown location, and view properties can be used for
displaying more than one location at a time. View filters can be used for filtering shown tasks.
The color coding gives a traffic-light view on work progress:
White: Work not started according to plan.
Blue: Work started and progressing according to plan.
Yellow: Work started but is progressing too slowly.
Red: Work should be started according to plan, but is not.
Green: Work finished.
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4.8 Text Reports
Text reports report details about the current project. They do not support data modification.
The contents of text reports are automatically updated after modifying project data in other
views. Hauls need to be planned in order for the haul related reports to make sense. Report
contents vary according to the program mode: in Plan, Plan hauls are used as source data; in
Schedule, task and haul schedules are taken into account; in Control, actuals are shown in
addition to the scheduled information. Text reports can be copy pasted to a spreadsheet
program such as Microsoft Excel by pressing Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C in DynaRoad and finally Ctrl+V
in the spreadsheet program.
4.8.1 Hauls by Source and Destination
The hauls by source and destination reports show all hauls of the current mass haul plan
grouped by haul source or destination. Hauls for the entire project are listed first, followed by
hauls for each sum task.
In Control mode, the report also includes information on actual hauls. When a task is marked
finished, its font color turns green. Actual hauls are shown in blue color.
4.8.2 Hauls Between Construction Zones by Source and Destination
The hauls between construction zones reports summarize all hauls between construction zones
grouped by source or destination. If the report is empty, there are no sum tasks marked as
construction zones or no hauls exist between them.
4.8.3 Mass Surplus and Deficit Reports
The mass surplus and deficit reports show the surplus and deficit of each task and its location.
A summary of the entire project is listed first, followed by the same information for each sum
task.
4.8.4 Weekly Report by Source and Destination
The weekly reports by source and destination are available in the Schedule and Control modes.
They report the hauls planned for the current control week. In Control mode, the reports
include information on task actuals. Actuals are displayed using a blue italic font.
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4.8.5 Actual Weekly Report
The actual weekly report is available only in the Control mode. It reports the hauled mass
during the control week and the week before it, and the total hauled mass up to the control
week. Hauls are grouped according to the haul cost types in the project. The report also shows
the deviation between actual and scheduled hauls, and displays an indicator when the deviation
exceeds 10%. Finally, individual actual hauls during the control week are listed and grouped by
sum tasks.
4.8.6 Haul Costs by Source and Destination
The haul costs by source and destination reports show both summary cost information and
detailed costs of individual hauls grouped by source types. The information is first listed for the
entire project, followed by information for each sum task separately. The sum task information
includes hauls to other sum tasks.
4.8.7 Mass Flow Report
The mass flow report shows the planned masses hauled at a daily level grouped according to
haul cost type. The daily hauled quantity, the cumulative hauled quantity and the weighted haul
distance are reported for each haul cost type. Planned quantities of other tasks are reported
categorized according to task type. Information for the entire project is listed first, followed by
information for each sum task.
The actual mass flow report reports the same information for actual hauls.
4.8.8 Mass Usage Report
The mass usage report shows the planned mass usage, that is, in which destination type each
source type is used, and the used quantity. The entire project is listed first, followed by each
sum task. If there are hauls planned between sum tasks, they are reported separately along
with the respective sum task. Deficit and surplus masses are the masses which do not have a
haul plan.
The actual mass flow report reports the same information for actual hauls.
4.8.9 Mass Summary
The mass summary report displays the total quantities of each task type in the project, grouped
by sum task. Total quantities in the whole project are also reported. This report is useful for
checking that all quantities have been imported correctly.
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4.8.10 Haul Distance Distribution
The haul distance distribution report shows the haul distances of the quantities of each haul
cost category (Aggregate, Earth and Rock). You may edit a source type's haul cost category in
the source type properties.
The first table shows the haul distance distribution of the whole project, followed below by the
distance distribution of the hauls within each sum task. Note that these hauls are only sum task
internal hauls, not hauls to or from other sum tasks.
Hauls are reported in five types, each in separate columns. The categories are:
Cut to fill (includes hauls to fills, disposal areas and stockpiles, as well as hauls to or
from soil replacements)
Cut to crushing (hauls from cuts to crushing plants)
Crushing to fill (includes hauls to fills, soil replacements and disposal areas)
Stockpile to fill (includes hauls to fills, soil replacements and disposal areas)
From borrow pits (hauls from borrow pits to any fill, crushing plant or stockpile)
Below the distribution table is the weighted haul distance and unhauled quantity for each haul
cost category. The first row shows the weighted haul distance for each type of haul, the second
row (bold) shows the weighted haul distance for the haul cost category in general.
In Control mode, the haul distance distribution report also includes the same information for
actuals hauls and quantities.
4.8.11 Crew Report
The crew report displays a list of the used crews, resources, their costs and tasks using them.
The sum of the whole project is listed first, followed by each sum task.
4.8.12 Resource Cost Report
The resource cost report displays resource costs for the whole project, followed by a detailed
cost breakdown including the tasks using the resources. The breakdown includes a separate
report for each sum task and each task type.
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4.8.13 Haul Resource Report
The haul resource report displays the used haul resources and their costs, with a breakdown of
costs for every haul resource and haul source. The report separates the haul costs for each sum
task and source type, and displays any unreported hauls. If there are unreported hauls it means
that 1) there is no haul resource given for the source crew, 2) the haul route is unsuitable or 3)
the haul distance is too great. The haul resource report may report that some hauls are too
long for the selected haul resource. These hauls have either been created manually or the
maximum haul resource distances have been edited but the hauls have not been recalculated.
Remember to recalculate hauls whenever changes are made.
4.8.14 Summary Cost Report
The summary cost report displays a summary of haul and resources costs, project and sum task
durations, and unhauled mass. Costs for the entire project are listed first, followed by costs for
each sum task. The total cost is the sum of haul and resource costs. Resource costs are
calculated from the unit and hourly prices of used resources and crews. Excess mass is the
unhauled cut masses in the project, and deficit mass is the unhauled fill mass. Notice that
disposal and borrow masses are not considered to be excess or deficit. Unhauled mass is the
sum of excess and deficit masses.
In Control mode, information on actuals is also reported.
4.8.15 Completion Degree Report
The completion degree report shows the actual and planned quantities of task types, first
sorted according to sum task and then for the whole project. Source types are shown first, then
destination types and last other task types.
The actual vs. planned comparison is done on the task level. If a task completes to over 100%,
the sum of actual and remaining quantities for the task type are greater than the planned
quantity. Similarly, if a task completes with an actual quantity below 100%, the sum of actual
and remaining will be smaller than planned.
4.8.16 Refining Report
The refining report shows the refining costs sorted by sum tasks. This is the only report that
shows refining costs. They are however taken into account in the haul calculations. The
reported refining costs are the ones entered into source and destination types. Crushing plant
costs are not included.
