4.4.2. Defining new Cable Types

 

A Cable Type is the way of organizing different classes of cable along with their common specifications and characteristics. Similarly to Equipment Types (Defining new Equipment Types), it is possible that a customer has a type of a cable that is not contained in the IRM Cable Library. In this case, in order to best manage instances of that cable in IRM, it is necessary to create a new Cable Type. In IRM deployments, this is usually done early on in the project, and often by Planet Associates Professional Services personnel who have expertise in this area.

 

A new Cable Type can be  created from two places from the application's main screen:

 

Both actions open a new instance of the Cable Type Properties dialog with the General tab opened, but with only default data entered:

 

The only exception is that when creating a Cable type from the C&T tab the Category field will be pre-populated, while in the case of creation from the Object Grid, that field is also left empty by default. Once the data is entered, the new Cable Type object can be saved by clicking on the Save button, which closes the dialog and displays the new object in both the Category and Types Tree and the Object Grid.

 

The General tab is divided into accordion section, which group similar field/value pairs. Most of these are standard properties common for all Managed Object Types and Managed Objects, but there are some Cable Type-specific properties, like the Diameter and Weight per Unit of Length in the Characteristics group, which values are used for Pathway utilization calculations. Weight per Unit of Length defines the weight of the Cable expressed in lbs/kg per foot/meter of the Cable, which follows the assumption that Cable placed in a Pathway contributes a known amount of weight per linear foot/meter, which is used for Pathway utilization calculation, along with the value of the same-named property of any inner Ducts. For more details about Pathway utilization, see the following topic - Pathway Management.

 

The Cable Type Properties dialog is used to define all aspects of the new Cable Type definition and will be covered in more detail in the following sub-sections.