Time in Astro Scheduler Engine

Time is a unique resource to scheduling problems. Because the properties of time, in the context of Astro Scheduler Engine, are universal and predictable, time provides a common factor by which all resource and task assignments may be defined and communicated. Astro Scheduler Engine internally manages time as an all-accommodating resource that is required of all tasks. The actual amount of time required for each task is determined by various user-defined attributes of tasks and resources.

Astro Scheduler Engine treats time as a universal entity applied consistently to all tasks and resources. For this reason, Astro Scheduler Engine is not recommended for schedule planning problems that require the use of a relativistic notion of time.

Astro Scheduler Engine maintains one time convention and there is no concept of time zones, with some exceptions. You may choose to interpret Astro Scheduler Engine time as being in any time zone that is convenient to the problem. For example, if you use Astro Scheduler Engine to solve a planning problem where all the resources and tasks will be contained in a factory in Waterbury, CT, then Astro Scheduler Engine time can be considered to be Eastern Standard Time (EST), or possibly Eastern Daylight-savings Time (EDT) in the summer months. If however, the planning period is over a long period of time involving resources and tasks all over the world, then a more universal time conjunction should be adopted.

Functionalities that are impacted by the local time of the machine running Astro Scheduler Engine are resource buffer times and the current time indicator on the gantt view of the schedule. If you are using either of these features it is recommended that the machine be running in UTC.

Whenever a STK scenario is used in conjunction with Astro Scheduler Engine, all times reported by STK will be in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). In such a case, you should be careful to ensure that all times entered into Astro Scheduler Engine are also in UTC.