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B. Rozsenich, S. Tauböck, M. Bruckner, S. Emrich:
"MoreSpace: Development of a Data Independent Model Structure";
Vortrag: MATHMOD 2012 - 7th Vienna Conference on Mathematical Modelling, Wien; 14.02.2012 - 17.02.2012; in: "Preprints Mathmod 2012 Vienna - Full Paper Volume", F. Breitenecker, I. Troch (Hrg.); Argesim / Asim, 38 (2012), S. 381 - 382.

Summary: The Institute for Analysis and Scientific Computing was intended to create a model to simulate the
lecture room reservation at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna). This model called MoreSpace is
intended to find and test strategies to increase the efficiency of the lecture room booking by enhancing the
utilization of lecture rooms on one hand and the utilization of the capacity on the other hand. The first version of
the MoreSpace model was realized in the simulation language Enterprise Dynamics (ED). The part that calculates
the time students need to change lecture rooms was implemented in the object oriented programming language
JAVA. The topic of this paper is the reimplementation of the MoreSpace model in the object oriented programming
language JAVA. It sounds easy to re-implement an already existent simulation model by using another
programming language. But in this case it is far more than a simple re-implementation. The aim of the project is to
create a more generalised tool that can be used for optimization of facility management in general. The same tool
should be able to be used at any university, e.g. the Technical University of Vienna but also in other companies as
well. The fact that every company and university has different input data to handle is increasing the complexity of
the new system. The achieved results of the software should also be stored in a database. This should be made
possible by using only one general data structure which is implemented once and used for all future applications.
The data structure has the ability to store different input data in one general scheme. This fact guarantees a flexible
but tough basement on which the implemented modules are based.
Essential components of MoreSpace: MoreSpace consists of two essential components: the scenario and the
experiment. The scenario includes all input data which initializes the database. So whenever some input data
changes, the whole scenario changes and the database is initialized again with the new input data. To grant the
consistency of the stored data, data used by different scenarios will not be overwritten. A scenario contains several
user defined experiments, at least one default one. The experiment is used to work with the input data. The user
creates an experiment, selects the input data, defines ranges and co-domains and runs the experiment. The results
are stored in the database. The setting of the experiment is done using a dynamic graphical user interface that
allows a dynamic setting of user - defined parameters. Every result stored in the database and created by an
experiment is reproducible by showing the defined parameters and settings. The results of the experiments in one
scenario are also comparable because the input data is provided by the scenario. The focus of this new
development of this workflow is on the fact, that the data import, the build - up of the graphical user interface, the
creation of the parameters and the initialization of MoreSpace are done by opening a new scenario dynamically.
This means that the system is setup up by itself without changing a single line of java code. The system operates
the same behavior as the principles of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) as explained in [1] concepts. Model
objects are the parts of the application that implement the logic for the application´s data domain. Views are the
components that display the application´s User Interface (UI). The User Interface (UI) is created by the model
data. Controllers are the components that handle user interaction, work with the model
Setup the system: The implementation of a dynamic application like MoreSpace, with a general data structure
legal for different input data requires a dynamic interface between data base and user interface. The core of the
program, including the data structure, the implementation of the JAVA classes and the JAVA interfaces for the
importer of the different data, written in JavaScript are implemented by the programmer. After the programmers
work is done, the dynamic custom process of the tool, comprised the import of different data to the uniform data
structure is done by an analyst. The analyst does not need to know anything about object oriented programming
languages like JAVA, he/she only needs to supply the correct data for the interfaces . This is done by a script called
importer, written in JavaScript using and invokes the defined classes written in JAVA. After depositing the
JavaScript importer in the directory structure of MoreSpace, launching MoreSpace imports the new data and the
User Interface for the new requirements is setup by the tool dynamically.
This project is supported by "ZIT - Die Technologieagentur der Stadt Wien GmbH".