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                SPC TENNIS INSTRUCTIONS
        =======================================

SPC Tennis is a "Windows" programme which should be useful to
anyone who is studying Statistical Process Control. A ball is 
fired from a launcher, bounces once, then lands on a target scale.
A small amount of random variation is built in to the launch 
velocity and the bounciness of each ball.  The programme can draw
histograms and Shewhart Control Charts from a database of the 
landing positions of the balls.

There are three modes of operation, (to change mode select NEW
from the FILE menu).

1. Normal or "File" mode.
-------------------------
In this mode the parameters which control the variation of the 
velocity of balls and the way they bounce on the floor are 
controlled by a programme which can be kept on file. Normally 
these programmes would be prepared in advance by a teacher, and 
some examples are provided (the VPROGx.VAR files). The purpose of 
this mode is to show students how different types of variation 
look when displayed on control charts. The student can try to keep 
the balls landing as close as possible to the target value of 
500 by moving the launcher.

The landing position of any balls fired are also stored 
in the file.

2. Funnel Experiment Simulation.
--------------------------------
This is a simulation of Dr W. Edwards Deming's funnel 
experiment which demonstrates some basic points about the 
nature of variation.

3. Game Mode.
-------------
The game should give the user some experience in trying to 
identify special causes of variation using a control 
chart. It should also let the user see the effects of 
changing the centring of a process and give some sense of 
when to recalculate control limits. Instructions for the game
are available from the menu bar when in game mode.  (You can
cheat in this mode, hold down the CONTROL key, then hold down
key X)


            The Windows Environment
        =======================================

Using "SPC Tennis" should be fairly intuitive to anyone who is 
familiar with the Windows environment. If you use Windows 
programmes regularly, go on to the next section. For those who 
are new to Windows, here are a few general points.

COMMAND BUTTONS
To invoke the action of a command button on the screen such as 
the "Start" button on the Main Window, click on it with the 
mouse. (move the screen pointer to the button then press the 
left hand mouse button once). If you do not have a mouse, hold 
down ALT while typing the small underlined letter on the 
button's caption. (from now on this will be called ALT + 
letter). If the button has a dark line around it, the button can 
be clicked by pressing the ENTER key on the keyboard. In many 
windows or dialogue boxes, it is possible to exit or close down 
the window or panel be pressing the ESC button on the 
keyboard.

MENUS
To use the menus at the top of the main screen (e.g. File, 
Calculate, Control etc.) open the menu by clicking the menu 
heading with the mouse or press ALT + letter. Then "mouse click" 
on the command you want, or press the underlined letter, or use 
the up and down arrow keys until the command is highlighted then 
press ENTER.

SCROLL BARS
Scroll bars are mainly used to bring different results into 
view. If the small scroll box is at the top or left hand end of 
the scroll bar, the first result will be displayed, if the 
scroll box is at the bottom or right hand end, then the last 
result will be displayed. To move a scroll box with a mouse 
proceed as follows:

Drag it with the mouse (i.e. move the pointer to the box 
then press and hold down the left mouse button. Move the 
mouse and release the button at the point you want the 
scroll box to stop). You can also click on the small arrows 
at the ends of the scroll bars to make a small change or 
click on bar itself to make a larger change.

To move a scroll box without a mouse:

Keep pressing TAB until the Scroll Box flashes (you have to 
look closely).

Use the up or down arrow keys, or the Page Up or Page Down 
keys.

TEXT BOXES
Text boxes are usually used to enter a number such as the Launcher 
Position in the Main Window or to enter text such as a File Name 
in the Open or Save As panel. To change what is in Text 
Box, first make the text box active by:

a) clicking on it with the mouse, or

b) press ALT + the underlined letter of the nearest caption, 
or

c) keep pressing TAB until the flashing cursor is seen in 
the box.

once the box is active, use the backspace or delete keys to 
remove the old text or number, then type in the new number. You 
can also drag the mouse across the old text or number to 
highlight it, then enter the new value.

CHECK BOXES
A check box is a small rectangular box with a caption beside it. 
If the box has a cross or tick in it this means that the box has 
been selected and the action indicated by the caption will be 
carried out. To change the condition a check box, click on it with 
the mouse or press ALT + letter.

OPTION BUTTONS
Option buttons are small circular buttons set in groups of two 
or more. Only one button of the group can be selected at a time. 
To change which one out of the group of buttons is selected, 
click on the new selection with the mouse, or keep pressing TAB 
until a small box is seen round one of the captions then press 
the left or right arrow keys.

WINDOW POSITION
The screen position of windows and panels can be 
changed. Use the mouse to drag the title bar at the top of the 
window. It is often useful to move the windows so that a part of 
each window is visible on the screen. This allows rapid 
switching between the windows by clicking with the mouse on any 
part of the window.

WINDOW SIZE
The size of some windows can be changed. Use the mouse to drag 
one of the borders or one of the corners of the window. To make 
the window fill the screen, click on the small box near the top 
right hand corner of the window. Clicking the same box will 
return the window to the previous size.


        ======================================= 
                 The Main Window
        =======================================

Note: The Main window can be changed in size or maximised.

Balls are fired from a "Launcher" - the balls bounce once on the 
baseline and their final landing position is recorded. If you 
are trying to keep the process "centred", the idea is to get as 
many balls as possible to land as close as possible to the "500" 
mark. There is random variation built in to the actual launch 
velocity and the amount of "bounce" of the ball. The final 
landing position is influenced by the random variation factors, 
and the launcher position.


To move the launcher, simply drag it to the left or right 
with the mouse (put the mouse pointer over the launcher, press
the left mouse button and hold it down, move the launcher to the
new position then release the button).  Clicking on the '5' or '1' 
buttons in the Launcher Position frame moves the launcher by 5 or 
1 units.

To move the launcher to an exact position:

1) Use the mouse to click on the white box inside the 
Launcher Position frame, or keep pressing TAB until the 
flashing cursor is seen in the box.

2) Use the Delete or Backspace key to edit the number to the 
new value, or delete the old value and type + or - then a 
relative value (i.e. to change from 1000 to 800 you can 
either type in 800 or -200)

3) Click on the Move button or press ALT+m. You can press 
ENTER on the keyboard instead if the button has a dark line 
around it.

The Launch Position uses the same units as the Landing Position. 
i.e. an increase of 100 units of the Launch Position will 
increase the average Landing Position by 100 units (if all other 
factors remain unchanged).

You can fire balls singly or in batches. The batch size is 
determined by the option buttons in the "Shots" frame. To change 
the batch size, click on one of the small circles with the 
mouse, or press TAB repeatedly until a small box is seen around 
one of the option numbers, then press the left or right arrow 
keys. (You can change the number of shots allocated to the buttons
by double clicking in the "Shots" frame).

To actually fire the balls click on the "Start" button , or 
press ALT+s on the keyboard briefly, or, if the button has a dark 
line round it, press ENTER.

The Main window includes a Menu system to make use of the other 
features of "SPC Tennis".


THE FILE MENU IN THE MAIN WINDOW CONTAINS:
------------------------------------------

NEW
This selection allows you to select one of the three modes, 
restarting from shot no 1. If you select "File" mode with 
settings retained, this keeps the existing Variation and Shot 
Set-up values and the Variation Programme.

OPEN
Opens a previously saved variation file. Files with data from 
real processes can also be opened into SPC Tennis for analysis. 
See the file TECHNICAL.TXT for more details.

SAVE
Saves all results, the variation and shot settings and the 
variation programme. If you want to save just the settings and 
variation programme with no results, create a New File with
settings retained , then save the file before firing any shots.
Note that you cannot Save in Game, or Funnel Experiment modes.

SAVE AS
Same as Save above except the user is prompted for a name for 
the file. 

EXIT
"SPC Tennis" is closed down.


THE CALCULATE MENU IN THE MAIN WINDOW CONTAINS:
-----------------------------------------------

Average
The "Calculate Average" panel  is opened. This allows 
calculation of the Average (mean) and standard deviation of 
all, or just some, of the individual shots. 

Enter the shots you want to include in the calculations into
the text boxes.  The latest shot is shown underneath the "To" 
text box. To enter this number in the box, just click on the 
number with the mouse.   

If you press the CALCULATE button, the Average, and the 
standard deviation will be shown in the dialogue box.  The 
standard deviation is calculated using the "unbiased" or "n-1" 
method.  The CLOSE or CANCEL button returns you to the Main Window. 

To display a Average line on the Run Chart (the record of results
at the right of the Main Window) click the "Show Average on Run 
Chart" check box before you click the CLOSE button. On the Run 
Chart, shot numbers and results which were included in the 
calculations are shown in white. 

Lines at 3 times the standard deviation can also be superimposed 
on the Run Chart.  These are calculated from the INDIVIDUAL 
results so this is the incorrect way to compute control lines.  
This feature is useful for demonstrating the superiority of the 
X-bar & Range system when the data used to calculate the lines 
contains special cause variation.

TAGUCHI LOSS
This window is based on Dr Genichi Taguchi's theory that the 
overall cost of losses due to poor quality is a quadratic 
function which increases as the square of the distance from the 
ideal or target value (in this case the target is 500). 
Individual results are used for the calculations, and then 
averages are displayed.


THE CONTROL MENU IN THE MAIN WINDOW CONTAINS:
---------------------------------------------

VARIATION
Selecting "Variation" brings up the Set Variation dialogue box: 
 
   NOTE:
   Teachers may want to deny students access to this box. To
   make this box not available, press CTRL X.  Pressing
   CTRL X again will allow access to the box.  If you 'Save' a
   file with the box not available, then the box will not be 
   available when the file is Opened again. 

The way that the random number generator affects the centring 
and dispersion of velocity and bounce factors is changed using 
this dialogue box. 

The text boxes in the 'Launch Velocity' and 'Bounce' sections  
show the current settings. To make a change, change a number  
in a box, then click the O.K. button. Values between 0 and 99
will be accepted. 

You can change the distribution of results by changing the entry
in the list box in these sections.  If you are using a mouse, 
click the small arrow in the list box then select one of the 
distributions. If you are not using a mouse, press TAB until the 
list box is highlighted, then use the up and down keys to select 
another distribution.

A variation programme can be set up which will cause changes to 
happen at pre-set shots. To enter a programmed change, use the 
"Programmed Variation Changes" section of the panel as 
follows:

If there is only one empty row on the table, click the "Edit 
Item" button. If all the rows already contain values, click 
the "Add Item" button. The "Edit Variation Programme Entry" 
panel then appears.

Enter the shot number at which you want the change to take 
place, then enter the new factors for bounce or velocity (0 to 
99) in the "Change To" section . It is not necessary to put an 
entry in every box in this section, boxes which are left blank 
will make no change to the relevant factor. The Clear Entry 
button will clear all the text boxes.

To get the cursor into a text box either

a) click on the box with the mouse, or

b) press ALT + letter on the keyboard, or 

c) press TAB to move to the next box.

Click the O.K. button to add the entry to the variation 
programme.

Instead of adding a new programmed change, an existing 
change can be edited as follows:

1) Highlight a cell in the row in the Programmed Changes 
Table by clicking on it with the mouse.

2) Click the Edit Item button.

A programme entry can be deleted completely as follows:

1) Highlight a cell in the row in the Programmed Changes 
Table by clicking on it with the mouse.

2) Click the Delete Item button.

If a programmed variation change is set for the next shot 
and a manual change is entered, the programmed change will 
be the one which takes effect. 

Note: If you want a very large number of changes which are 
regular in nature, it might be quicker to write the 
variation programme using a spreadsheet. Read the file 
TECHINCL.TXT.

SHOTS
This brings up the Shots Set-up dialogue box.

The "Options For Number of Shots" text boxes affect the 
Shots Options in the main window. For example, if you want 
to be able to fire a batch of 200 shots with one button 
click, change one of the boxes to 200.

The "Display Speed for Single Shots" scroll bar will change 
the speed that a single shot moves across the screen. 
Multiple shots always go as fast as the computer will allow.

NOTE: There is a shortcut method to bring up the Shots Set-up 
dialogue box, double click inside the "Shots" frame in the main
window.

SPECIFICATION LIMITS
The Specification Limits panel allows lines to be 
superimposed on the Run Chart and on the Histogram.  These lines 
can be dragged using the mouse.  When the 'symmetrical' box is
checked, the lines will always be the same distance from 500.  
When the 'Fixed Width' is checked, the lines will stay the same
distance apart when they are dragged.

The Ncs box beside the run chart shows the number of non-
conformities. This is the number of balls which are outside 
the specification limits.

GAME
When you are in the Game mode, you can select the Game Control
panel with this menu option.


THE CHARTS MENU IN THE MAIN WINDOW CONTAINS:
--------------------------------------------
REFRESH SCREEN
This simply redraws the main window.  This may be necessary after
another application has covered the main window.

RUN CHART
The Run Chart is the record of results shown on the right hand
side of the main window. The Run Chart is toggled on and off by 
selecting this menu item. If there are more shots than can be 
shown in the chart, a scroll bar at the right hand side of the 
window becomes visible. This allows scrolling to see the landing 
position of any of the shots.

CONTROL CHARTS
This opens a panel which allows you to choose the type of 
chart to be displayed. You can select between a Moving Range 
chart and Xbar and Range charts with various subgroup sizes. For 
more details of the control charts, see below.

HISTOGRAM
This opens the Histogram window. For more details see below.

TABLE
This shows the Results Table for Individual Shots. 
 
The user can write notes alongside the results, however, the 
Launch Position is automatically recorded every time it is 
changed. The user can also manually enter results, this allows 
all the features of "SPC Tennis" to be used on data generated 
elsewhere.

To write or edit a note or change or enter a landing position, 
proceed as follows:

1) Highlight the shot number by clicking with the mouse in 
any cell in the appropriate row in the table, then click on 
"Edit Entry", or

Click on "New Entry". This produces a new entry after the 
present last shot. This can be used for manual entry of data. 

2) Enter or edit the result or note in the text box. 
Integers between -10000 and +10000 can be entered for results. 
Press TAB to move from the Result box to the Note box.

3) Click the "OK" button in the Edit Note dialogue box.
 

All or part of the Results Table can be placed on the Windows 
clipboard. This allows the results to be "pasted" into a Word 
Processor or Spreadsheet for further calculations or printout. 
To copy all or a part of the table on to the clipboard proceed 
as follows:

1) Highlight the section you want to copy by dragging the 
mouse pointer from one corner of the section to the opposite 
corner. If you want the whole table to be copied, make sure 
that only ONE cell is highlighted.

2) Click the "Copy" button or press ALT + o on the keyboard.


        =======================================
                    Control Charts
        =======================================

This window is for showing Shewhart control charts for the 
landing position of the ball. If there are more results than can 
be shown in the chart at one time, the scroll bar at the bottom 
of the window becomes active. This allows scrolling to see any 
of the results.

 
Note: The Control Chart window can be changed in size or 
maximised.

ADD LINES
Control lines can be added to the charts. Proceed as follows:

1) Click the Add Lines button of the Control Charts 
window, this opens the Calculations for Charts dialogue box.

2) Enter the subgroups which you want to be included in the 
calculations in the "From" and "To" text boxes. Use 
individual shot numbers in the boxes - any shot in the 
subgroup will do. If the number contained in the message 
immediately below the "To" text box is the one you want to enter 
into the box, just click on the message with the mouse. If 
you click on the message below the "From" text box, the subgroup 
immediately after the shot number in the message is entered into 
the box.

3) To see how "SPC Tennis" calculates the position of the 
control lines, click the "Explain Calculations" button.

4) If you want control lines to be superimposed on the 
charts, make sure that the "Add Control Lines" check box is 
checked.

5) Click OK.

After calculations have been carried out, the subgroups which 
were included in the calculations are highlighted in red on the 
horizontal scale below each chart.

COLOURS
If you want a clear indication of the distance of each point on 
the chart from the average, click the "Colours" check box in the 
chart window. The display cycles through 2 different displays with 
colours.  One shows colours in the background and the other shows 
coloured points on the charts.  The colours indicate the following: 

  Green - Less than 1 sigma unit from the Average line.

  Yellow - More than 1 sigma unit but less than 2 sigma units 
  from the Average line.

  Purple - More than 2 sigma units but less than 3 sigma units 
  from the Average line.

  Red - More than 3 sigma units from the Average line.

The display which shows colours on the points of the chart also 
indicates runs.  Points where the previous 7 points are on the 
same side of the Average line have an 'R' beside them.

Any subgroup which contains a note is shown by a vertical dotted 
line. The first letter of the note is shown above the line and if 
the note contains an exclamation mark, the letter will be shown in 
blue. To see the whole note, click on the vertical line with the 
mouse.

TABLE
A table of results for the charts can be seen by clicking on the 
"Table" button. The table shows the shot number for the first 
shot in each subgroup, the landing position for each shot, and 
the X-bar and Range (or the Moving Range) calculations. If any 
shot in the subgroup contains a note, this is indicated in the 
"Group Starts" column. To see the note, click on the cell with 
the mouse

All or part of the table can be placed on the Windows clipboard. 
This allows the results to be "pasted" into a Word Processor or 
Spreadsheet for further calculations or printout. To copy all or 
a part of the table on to the clipboard proceed as follows:

1) Highlight the section you want to be copied by dragging the 
mouse pointer from one corner of the section to the opposite 
corner. If you want the whole table to be copied, make sure that 
only ONE cell is highlighted.

2) Click the "Copy" button or press ALT + o on the keyboard.

SCALE
When control lines have been applied to the charts, the 'Scale' 
button switches between two vertical scales. One scale always 
places the control lines in the middle of the charts, the other 
scale ensures that the maximum and minimum data points do not 
plot outside the chart.  This scale is useful when the data 
shows a high degree of instability.

MORE SHOTS
The More Shots button returns you to the main screen.

        =======================================
                The Histogram Window
        =======================================

The following buttons appear above the histogram chart.

CHANGE HISTOGRAM
The Change Histogram button gives control over the horizontal
scale and allows the histogram to be drawn with only a section 
of the results.

SPEC LIMITS
This allows access to the panel for setting the Specification 
Limits.  When limit lines are drawn on the histogram, they can be 
dragged to different positions using the mouse.

COLOURS
If you click the colours button, the histogram will show coloured 
zones which change at 1, 2 and 3 Standard Deviations from the 
Average. If the Indices box is open, then clicking the Colours 
button again will show zones based on Estimated Standard Deviation.

INDICES
This opens the Indices box.  If you use the mouse to click on the 
names or titles in this box then you will see details of how the 
indices are calculated.

MORE SHOTS
The More Shots button returns you to the main screen.

Note: The Histogram window can be changed in size or maximised.


        =======================================
            The Funnel Experiment Simulation
        =======================================

This is a simulation of Dr W. Edwards Deming's funnel 
experiment. To start this feature, pull down the "File" menu and 
select "New", then click on "Funnel Experiment Simulation"

This mode uses different scales from other modes. Zero is the 
target value and centre-zero scales are used. This mode is self-
documenting and I hope it requires no extra explanation. 

Note that it is not possible to save the results of this mode on 
file.

Steve Horn,
21 Benjamin Drive, Bo'ness, West Lothian EH51 0QS, United Kingdom
CompuServe 100116,3151
Internet steve@horn.demon.co.uk

11 January 1996
