Specifying Resource Requirements for Triggering an Action

A Resource is something that has a limited supply (e.g., spare parts, fuel, skilled personnel, money) and is required in order for elements of the modeled system to carry out certain actions.

When triggering an Action element, you can specify that certain Resources must be available in order for the component to be triggered.  If the Resources are not available when the element is triggered, the Action trigger will fail.  

To define Resource Requirement for triggering an Action, press the Resources button in the Trigger dialog:

The following dialog will be displayed:

   Note: In order for this dialog to appear, you must have previously defined at least one Resource in the model.

You can add a Resource Requirement by pressing the Add button.

An Action trigger interacts with the specified Resource Stores when it is triggered, and can only have three types of interactions (specified in the Usage column):

   Spend (discrete): A discrete quantity of the Resource is required in order to complete the Action trigger. If the requested Resource quantity is not available, the trigger signal is “held”, and it waits for the Resource to become available. 

   Borrow (discrete): A discrete quantity of the Resource is required in order to complete the Action trigger. If the requested Resource quantity is not available, the trigger signal is “held”, and it waits for the Resource to become available.  If the Resource is available, the Action is triggered and the borrowed quantity is returned to the Resource Store.  (If the Action has no specified Delay, the Resource is effectively returned immediately.)

   Deposit (discrete): A discrete quantity of the Resource is created and deposited with the Store when the Action is triggered.

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