|
LAST UPDATE: July 21, 2006 |
|
Version 1.0
|
Version 1.0 |
Exploration & Well Abandonment Modules - Drillhole
plugging costs do not calculate correctly when multiple holes are open
at one time for Exploration Drillholes (Exploration) or Monitor Wells (Well
Abandonment).
This problem occurs due to the minimum hours calculation. It occurs
when:
1) the calculated plugging (abandonment)
hours per hole is less than 2 hours;
and
2) you enter a number greater than 1
in the "Max Holes Open at One Time"
If the total hours to plug all of the holes is greater than 2 hours,
then the model incorrectly ignores the minimum 2 hour/hole requirement
(1 hr. move to/setup/tear-down + 1 hr minimum). If more than one hole
is open at one time, the model should determine if there is a minimum
of 2 hours per hole and, if not, multiply the number of holes by 2 hours
(e.g. 25 holes should require a minimum of 50 abandonment hours).
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Enter each hole that
will be open on a separate line.
Severity:
minor
Impact:
very minor (unless large numbers of exploration holes are left
open at one time)
|
All Modules -
When User Mix 5 is selected as the seed mix, revegetation material costs
are not calculated.
This problem occurs due to the fact that the range used to match the
costs with the selected seed mix has an error.
It occurs when User Mix 5 is selected even though a material cost is
shown for this seed mix. on the Materials Costs worksheet.
User Mix 5 is calculated from the Seed Mixture worksheet. It then appears
on the Materials Costs worksheet as a calculated value. When this seed
mix is selected in one of the worksheets, the model looks in the wrong
cell for that value and enters an null value.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Use one of the other
User Seed Mixes. If you need to use the Seed Mixture worksheet to calculate
the seed mix costs, do so but then enter the same cost in one of the other
User Seed Mix cost cells on the Materials Costs worksheet and select that
seed mix in the other spreadsheets.
Severity:
minor
Impact:
very minor because other User Seed Mix options can be used.
|
Pits Module - Revegetation
material costs are not carried forward to the Cost Summary worksheet.
This problem occurs because the revegetation option for pit berms was
added to Version 1.0 at the 11th hour and the link to the Cost Summary
worksheet was not modified. This ONLY affects material costs.
The total labor and equipment costs for both earthworks and revegetation
activities are carried forward into the respective cells in the Earthworks
section of the Cost Summary worksheet. This means that no revegetation
equipment or labor costs will appear in the Revegetation section of the
Cost Summary worksheet. However, these costs are included in the Total
Operations & Maintenance Costs line of the Cost Summary worksheet.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Use the Material Cost
cell in one of the **Other rows (under either the Earthworks section or
Revegetation section) of the Cost Summary worksheet to include the Revegetation
Materials costs from the Pits worksheet. You DO NOT need to transfer the
Revegetation Equipment or Labor costs from the Pits worksheet. Although
this somewhat inelegant, the bond will calculate correctly using this
work-around.
Severity:
minor
Impact:
minor if work-around described above is used.
|
Sediment & Drainage Control
Module - Diversion Ditch revegetation costs are not carried forward to
the Cost Summary worksheet.
This problem occurs because the revegetation option for Diversion Ditches
was added to Version 1.0 at the 11th hour and the link to the Cost Summary
worksheet was not modified. This ONLY affects Diversion Ditch revegetation
costs. The Sediment/Evaporation Pond revegetation costs do carry forward
properly.
None of the revegetation costs (labor, equipment and material) for Diversion
Ditch are carried forward into the respective cells in the Revegetation
section of the Cost Summary worksheet.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Use the cells in the
**Other row under Revegetation section of the Cost Summary worksheet to
include the Diversion Ditch revegetation costs from the Sediment &
Drainage Control worksheet. Although this somewhat inelegant, the bond
will calculate correctly using this work-around.
Severity:
minor
Impact:
minor if work-around described above is used.
|
Cost Summary Module - Indirect line item costs are not removed
from the Subtotal Add-On Costs line when line item check boxes are unchecked.
This problem occurs when a user tries to remove line item indirect costs
by unchecking the check box next to line item in question. The formula
in the Subtotal Add-On Costs cell is referring to a hidden cell that does
not subtract the unchecked line items. The
indirect cost adjustments for Small Plans and Private Land bonds costs
do work properly.
Because all of these indirect costs are required on public lands in
the U.S. and private land in Nevada, this problem will only affect bonds
calculated for projects on private lands outside the state of Nevada and
projects outside the U.S.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: None available in the model. The user can take the
total indirect costs from the Total Operations & Maintenance Costs
line and then add appropriate indirect costs manually.
Severity:
minor
Impact:
moderate because this may affect overseas projects and projects
outside of the U.S.
|
Exploration Roads & Pads Module - When using
the user override option for regrade volume, the costs are doubled.
This problem occurs when a user tries to use the override value for regrading
volume in the first user input table. This problem occurs because an error in
the model assumes that the override volume applies to both the road and pad
regrading portions of the calculation, thereby doubling the total volume.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-arounds: Either do not use the user override or input 1/2 of the
desired volume. If you use the second option, you can check the Total Volume
column in the Regrading table to make sure the model is using the correct
volume.
Severity:
minor
Impact:
minor if work-around described above is used.
|
Well Abandonment Module - Costs for inert
material placement in Monitor Wells are not included in the Cost Summary
at the top of the page.
This is an error in the Cost Summary at the top of the Well Abandonment
module. The labor and equipment costs for inert material placement are not
included in the summary table.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-arounds: Manually add these costs from the Well Abandonment
(Monitor Wells) module to the cost summary in the Other line in Section A of the
Cost Summary Page
Severity:
minor
Impact:
minor if work-around described above is used.
|
Project Information Module - After selecting
region other than first region, user cannot see other region names.
This was caused when extra rows were inadvertently added to the range during
final edits to Version 1.0. If a user selects a region below the first
region, all other regions above that selection will scroll up and no longer be
visible when re-entering that box. However, if the user scrolls up in the list
(using the scroll bar on the right side of the dropdown menu or arrow keys), the regions above
will become visible and accessible for selection.
The "#N/A" entries in the bottom rows are irrelevant. Only those
cells with actual region names and descriptions are valid.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-arounds: Scroll up in the dropdown menu using the scroll
bar on the right side of the menu or the up/down arrow keys.
Severity:
very
minor
Impact:
very minor
|
User Data File - After importing User Data
#VALUE errors appear in calculation cells even after the user selects a
"Region" and Labor Zones.
There must be an entry for at least one Zone and Zone Rate for each Region
Used in each of the three labor classifications (Equipment Operators, Truck
Drivers, Laborers). The model requires a non-blank entry in the Labor Zone for
each Labor Category in the Labor Rates Module:
 .
This may be modified in the next release.
Work-around:
In the Standard Cost Data file, these zones are already entered. If
you want to use your own cost data using the CostDataUSR.xls file, then
you need to enter this data in that file before importing it to the
Model. The example below shows the Zone Adjustments for the Power
Equipment Operators in the User Cost data file. The Zone is defined as
"none" and the adjustment is $0.00. This will create a dropdown option
of "none" with a $0.00 adjustment in the Labor Rates Module of the SRCE
Model once you reload the User Data cost file. You only need to enter
this for one zone, but you must enter at least one zone for each of
the labor categories (Power Equipment Operators, Truck Drivers and
Laborers).
Severity:
minor
Impact:
minor if work-around described above is used.
|
Exploration Roads & Pads Module - Regrade
volumes are overestimated.
This problem occurs because of an error in the volume calculation for the
road portion of the total regrade volume. The formula should be:
Total Regrade Volume = (Road Cross-Sectional Area x Road
Length) + (Drill Pad Cross-Sectional Area x Total Drill
Pad Length)
where: Road Length = Total (Road+Drill Pad) Length -
Total Drill Pad Length
Drill Pad = Total (Road+Drill Pad) Length - Road Length
Unfortunately, the current formulas do not correctly calculate the
Road Length [i.e. they do not subtract the Total Drill Pad Length
from the Total Length (Road + Total Drill Pad)]. This will cause
the regrade volume to be overestimated by the difference of the Drill
Pad Cross-Sectional Area and the Road Cross-Sectional Area
times the Total Drill Pad Length. Depending on the difference in
the width of the road and the drill pad, and the total length of the
Drill Pads, this overestimate may or may not be significant. The greater
the road length and smaller the number of drill pads, the smaller the
overestimate will be. Also, if the underlying slope is fairly gentle,
the overestimate will be smaller.
For example, using the following inputs the total volume overestimate
is approximately 20%:
Total Length (Roads+Drill Pads) = 2100
Width of Road = 19
Number of Drill Pads = 12
Size of Drill Pads = 30 x 75
Original (underlying) slope = 56%
Ungraded slope = 1.3H:1V
Cut Slope = 70%
When these inputs were used for an actual small exploration bond cost
estimate, it resulted in a 14% overestimate of total costs, but the
total road + pad length was nearly 1/2 drill pads.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-arounds: Enter the road portion and total drill pad portions for
each roads/drill pad segment on separate lines as shown below:
In some cases, the total cost increase will not be significant enough
to justify this effort.
Severity:
moderate
Impact:
minor, but annoying if work-around described above is used.
|
Error Message on Startup - A warning message
stating "This file contains macros with and expired or revoked
signature..." or a dialog box opens on startup stating "A
certificate (signing or issuer) has expired" appears when the model
is opened.
First: The code signing certificate WAS renewed. It has NOT been revoked.
This problem occurs because Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, does
not include a Timestamp option in VBA for office applications. Time
stamping allows your computer to check to see if the certificate was
valid when the code was signed. Since Microsoft does not have this
option, your computer looks to see if the code signing certificate is
currently valid. Since the certificates are good for one year, the
certificate officially expired on March 20, 2006. When the certificate
was renewed (before March 20), we were issued a new certificate number.
Therefore, Excel thinks this certificate is expired.
Fortunately, VeriSign (our certificate provider) has provided us with
a time stamping work-around that will allow us to include a time stamp
with any future versions. In the meantime you need to follow these
steps:
IF YOU SEE AN EXCEL WARNING LIKE THIS:
It means you will have to change the Macro Security setting in Excel
to do this:
1. Then select the "OK" button to close
this dialog box.
2. Select the "OK" button on the next
dialog box. This will open the model with all macros disabled. It WILL
NOT work properly in this mode.
3. Open the Tools/Options menu in Excel
as shown:
4: Select the "Macro Security" button on
the "Security" tab:
5. Set the Security Level to "Medium" in
the Security dialog box. This will not automatically allow potentially
dangerous macros to run on your computer, but it will give you the
option to run ones that you know are safe (like the ones in the SCRE
model):
6: Close and restart the Model and Excel.
When you do: you will see the dialog box shown below. Proceed to Step 7.
IF YOU SEE THE FOLLOWING DIALOG BOX:
7: Select the "Enable Macros" button. As
stated above, the macros are safe as long has you have not tampered with
the file.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Set Excel Macro Security to
"Medium" as described above
Severity:
minor
Impact:
minor
|
Exploration Roads & Pads Module - Grading
and Revegetation Total Surface Area rounds to nearest acre.
The cell containing the Total Surface Area cell in the Grading
and Revegetation Table is set to round to the nearest acre. The surface acres
for each facility are rounded to the nearest 1/10th acre. This DOES NOT
affect any of the cost calculations and is therefore only a formatting issue.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Not necessary.
Severity:
Insignificant
Impact:
None.
|
Sediment & Drainage Control Module - A
Pond Info! message appears when the Liner
Type cell is left blank for sediment ponds.
This error message appears when a user leaves the Liner Type cell
blank. It DOES NOT affect the cost calculations and only causes the
earthwork correction factors, productivities and hours to be overwritten by the
error message.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Not necessary
Severity:
Insignificant
Impact:
None on cost calculations, very minor on formatting.
|
Exploration Module - A rounding function in
the calculations may cause slight deviations in cost per hole when
multiple holes are left open.
Because of the way the detailed volumetric and hour calculations are rounded,
the cost per hole can vary (and therefore the total as well) when more than one
hole is entered in the Max Holes Open at One Time cell. This may cause a
different total to be calculated if each hole is entered on a separate line
rather than including multiple holes on a separate line.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Because the rounding will only create minor differences,
in most cases none is needed. If needed, enter each hole on a separate line.
Because this may require significant extra work for a minor cost change, this
may not be justified.
Severity:
very
minor
Impact:
very minor.
|
Roads Module - A
Select Fleet message appears appears in the Regrading Costs table
when the regrade volume = 0.
This error message appears when the Regrade volume for a road or road segment
= 0. This could be the result of using a 0% original slope or by entering in 0
in the user override cell for volume in the first user input table. This message
DOES NOT affect the cost calculations.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Not necessary
Severity:
Insignificant
Impact:
None on cost calculations, very minor on formatting.
|
Foundations & Buildings Module -
The slab demolition cost in the summary table is not included in
the Demolition Subtotal and therefore does not get included in the Cost
Summary Module.
This problem is caused by an error in the formulas used to subtotal the
demolition costs at the top of the Foundations & Buildings module. Because the
Slab Demolition costs ARE NOT included in the Cost Summary Module either.
Therefore, this error WILL affect the final cost calculations.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Manually add the Slab Demolition labor and equipment
costs from the Cost Summary table at the top of the Foundations & Buildings
module to the Other line item in the Structure, Equipment and Facility Removal
section (Section D) of the Cost Summary Module. This can be done by copying the
numbers from the Foundations & Buildings Module or by inserting a formula in the
Other line item for both labor and equipment costs.
For example the formula for the Labor cell would be: ='Foundations
& Buildings'!C12
Severity:
Serious if work-around is not used
Impact:
Significant if foundations are included in the bond cost estimate..
|
Foundations & Buildings Module -
A Wall Type! message appears in the
Demolition Costs table when the Foundation Wall Type cell is left blank.
This error message appears in the Demolition Costs table when the Foundation
Wall Type cell is left blank. This message DOES NOT affect the cost calculations.
This will be fixed in the next release.
Work-around: Not necessary
Severity:
Insignificant
Impact:
None on cost calculations, very minor on formatting.
|
LAST UPDATE: July 21, 2006 |
If you're experiencing a problem with the SRCE
Model,
please fill out and submit a bug report form.
For suggestions, or requests for improvements, please use our
suggestion form.
Information on bug
reports and suggestions may be shared with the contributors to the
Nevada Standardized Unit Cost Project to assist us in future
development planning.
However, this information will not be shared with other parties or
used for marketing purposes.
|
