Formulae
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This page is part of the Workshop, one of three main sections of Tower Grove Feed. The other two are Setup and the Workbench. For an overview of the Workshop go to Workshop overview.
Contents |
Formulae Overview
This page presents a list of formulas (diets) that are available at the current control level. To get to the Workbench for a particular formula, click on the name of that formula. Or, you may create a new formula by clicking the New Formula button.
You may limit the formulas that are listed by using the Contains feature and/or selecting a specific species using the Species drop down box.
You can create a new formula based on an existing one by going into the Workbench and clicking the "Copy" button. Copy the formula with a new name (and code, if you use codes).
Many of the formulas are inherited from the System control level as model formulas.
You can restrict formulas to those you have changed or created (and thereby hide formulas from a higher level). Simply check the box that says "Show changed formulas only." Note that this box remains in effect if you change levels. So while you may see many formulas at a higher level, you will see no formulas at a lower level until you at least solve a formula at that level or otherwise make changes.
Another option in the header area is to select a report in the Report name drop down box. When the Report button is clicked for a specific formula, a prompt for the selected report appears.
You can change the number of formulas shown on the page by changing the Max lines value.
Formulae Page Fields
Formula Name
The name is the primary way to identify objects in Tower Grove Feed. No two objects of the same type in the same hierarchy can have the same name, no matter what the language. The same object can have different names in different languages. The name can be changed only by the owner of the object, but any user can make the first translation of a name into another language. Objects of different types may have the same name. For example, 'salt' can be the name of both a nutrient and an ingredient. (This is only an example, and, as this is not usually a good practice, Tower Grove Feed has not used the name 'salt' this way at the system level.)
Code
An arbitrary short name, abbreviation, or other ID that can be used as an alternative identifier of objects. The code can be used to group objects. By default, ingredients are sorted by code. For formulas and ingredients supplied by the system, Tower Grove Feed provides a systematic coding.
Batch Weight
Batch Weight is the weight the least-cost solution targets.
Status
The status of a formula is the result of the last formulation (the result of clicking the Solve button).
A status of Solution Pending means either that the formula has never been solved at the current control level, or that someone has made changes that affect the outcome at the current control level.
Species
A formula is created for a specific Species. The type of animal a formula is designed for. This may or my not correspond to a biological species. For instance, beef cattle and dairy cattle are the same biological species, but have different nutritional requirements..
Owner
Every object has an owner. The owner is a control level. When you create an object, the owner is the level you are at. An object may subsequently be moved to another level, using the Copy or move page.
Delete/Revert
The rightmost column may contain a button that says either Delete or Revert.
Delete
The delete button appears if your current control level owns the object. Clicking delete brings up the Delete page, from which you can eliminate the object completely. Deletion can't be done if other objects depend on the object you are trying to delete.
The delete button also provides a visual signal as to which objects your current level owns.
Revert
The revert button appears if changes have been made to an object at your current control level, but the current level is not the owner. Clicking revert brings up the Revert page, from which you can undo all changes made at the current level. Values revert to the values inherited from levels above your current level.
For formulas, the changes you revert are nutrient, ingredient, and ratio restrictions, as well any new ratios introduced at the current level. You also revert any changes to formula attributes (like dry matter only, rounding type, and optimum density usage).
For ingredients, the changes you revert are ingredient cost and nutrient values. You also revert any changes to ingredient attributes (like ingredient type, rounding, or cost units).
Notice that even though ingredient costs may be changed in the Workbench while working on one formula, the change affects all formulas that include that ingredient at your current level (and perhaps have other descendant levels that inherit your level's cost). Therefore, reverting a formula does not revert changes to cost. Costs can be reverted only by changing the ingredient itself.
Note that any single change can be reverted by simply blanking out the value and clicking Save. The revert button allows you to revert all changes to an abject at once.
The revert button also provides a visual signal as to which objects have changed.
Report
The Report button takes you to another page that corresponds to the report selected in the Report Name drop down box. On the report page, you are allowed to change default values for the generation of that instance of the report. Currently, you may select either the Solution Report, the Batch Report or Parametrics.
Workshop overview
The Workshop is one of three main sections of Tower Grove Feed. The other two are the Workbench and the Setup.
The Workshop provides access to the information you normally need in setting up formulas. By default, when you log in, you arrive at the formula list, which you can return to from other Workshop pages by clicking the Formulas tab. The formula list provides access to the Workbench where you can work on a particular formula.
The two other pages in the Workshop are the Ingredients and the Formula defaults pages. (Note: There are two additional tabs on the Workshop page, but these tabs take you to pages outside of the Workshop.)
The list of tabs in the Workshop are as follows:
Workshop tabs
Formulas
The list of formulas (diets) that you have access to at the current control level. To get to the Workbench for a particular formula, click on the name of that formula.
Ingredients
An editable list of ingredients. All formula ingredients must exist in this master ingredient list.
Defaults
The Formula Defaults page includes fields that control the solution calculation or the appearance of formulas.
Setup
The Setup area provides access to nutrients, species, control levels, ingredient types, user profile information, control level defaults, and the copy/move facility.
Workbench
This tab takes you to the last formula you were working on in the Workbench.
