Banding is used to draw a range of acceptable values around the trace.  This can be useful in situations where the objectives of a recommendation can be achieved through varied conditions, as long as conditions stay within a minimum and maximum.  In this sense, bands are a helpful way to visualize the seasonal flexibilities (wide band) and rigidities (narrow band) associated with recommendations.

Bands are set equal to the trace until adjusted by the user.  Subsequently, bands are always bounded by the trace such that an upper band can never be drawn below the trace and a lower band can never be drawn above the trace.  Upper and lower bands are drawn individually for each combination of System and State.

Figure 14.  Upper and lower banding buttons.


Drawing is initiated by clicking either the upper or lower band buttons associated with the main plot (Figure 14).  When the cursor is moved to the main plot window it will appear as intersecting vertical and horizontal lines with an orange circle in the middle.  Bands are drawn through a series of left clicks.  A left double click will save the new band.  Alternatively, left clicks followed by a right click will open a menu with options for saving or discarding the drawn, but unapplied, points (Figure 15).

Figure 15.  Use of banding to show acceptable ranges.  Upper band is above the trace.  Lower band is being drawn below the trace.  Points entered can be saved or discarded via right click menu options.


Bands are overwritten when redrawn.  Bands, like traces, are repeated seasonally based on state and can therefore be drawn for a maximum of one year (to allow for that entire annual pattern to be repeated without overlap).  When drawing, a vertical line is displayed one year after the earliest point.  The orange circle in the middle of the cursor will not pass beyond that line, which is a visual indication that any points drawn to the right of the line will not be accepted as part of the band.  Existing bands are displayed or hidden in accordance with the “Plots – …Display Options – Display Banding” menu option settings.  Existing bands can be removed by entering band points that fall wholly below the trace for upper bands or wholly above the trace for lower bands.