Attribute Selection

Telecom Environment

Attribute Selection

Before you can run a network model simulation, you must select at least one Performance attribute on the Attributes palette. The Attributes palette (Figure 3.10) displays icons representing attributes in the performance attribute hierarchy.

Figure 3.10: Attributes Palette

Different icons are used to identify different types of performance attributes. For example,

is used to denote a Distributional attribute and

indicates a Scalar attribute. Unique icons are not yet available for Ratio or Capacity attributes.

To include an attribute in your simulation, position the cursor over the attribute's icon and click the left mouse button. A red box appears around the icon to indicate its selection. (Note that, even though an attribute has been selected in the Attributes palette, it is of no value to your simulation if none of the equipment models in your paths contain that attribute.) Once an attribute is selected (sometimes referred to as activated), you can access the attribute's control panel through its pop-up menu. Its control panel provides options for saving path traversal values of this attribute calculated during a simulation in a SAS data set. There is also an option to change the size of the temporary buffer used to store the most recent values of this attribute so you can display more values in plots of this attribute.

One attribute icon in the Attributes palette always has a "$" drawn on it. This indicates that the attribute is being used as the cost measure when calculating paths through the network. The optimum (shortest) path between two points in a model network is the one exhibiting the lowest cost. You can change which attribute is used as a cost attribute through the pop-up menu on the attribute's icon.

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