When I give eVSM demonstrations, I often get a smile at the sheer speed of mapping and analysis and with the comment that "You look like you have done this before". I thought about what functions I use for mapping productivity. eVSM maps and wizards all have a common data block for data entry and working with it can be really speeded up in v9 (and leter) if you know a few tips. So here goes..
Changing default units
Default time values in eVSM's mapping templates for variables like "cycle time" are typically in Seconds. What if you were mapping operations that typically take minutes. It would take you time to change the unit for each data block and you might make mistakes in data entry because you forgot to change the unit. The solution is an easy way to set the DEFAULT unit for a variable
Using mixed units for time
It could be that no single time unit works for a variable across the whole map and also that sometimes the input is in mixed time units (like 2 min's 45 sec's). The solution is to allow you to type in the unit with the value (like 2m 45s) and have the software interpret it automatically
Handling variable ranges
Some of the data values have variation in them, either from their real life value and/or in the estimation of that value. Since so much of waste is due to variation, you need to record the range on the map in many situations and separately decide what value in the range you will use for map analysis. We used to record the range using text on the side of the data block in the past, but now there's a functions that expedites it all for you
Variable value display
eVSM has 2 decimal places as a default for calculated values and in many situations this can make data fields overflow and also imply a map precision that is faulty. In the past you would have edited the decimal display setting in the name unit manager which takes a while to open, find the variable, make the setting, close the form. Now you can just right-click the variable and choose rounding options