Why am I limited to 100 Graphs in Minitab?
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written: 08/07/2012
last modified: 07/08/2024

QUESTION
I am trying to have Minitab automatically produce graphs by using SPC Office Buddy, but I get a warning from Buddy that I'm sending more than 100 dimensions to Minitab and a message from Minitab telling me my current limit is 100 graphs. How do I get more than 100 dimensions to process in Minitab?



ANSWER
Use the Tools - Options - Graphics - Graph Management - Maximum number of graphs option within Minitab to increase that maximum limit up to 200.



After you have changed that limit within Minitab, you will still see the warning about 100 dimensions within SPC Office Buddy. Since Buddy cannot read the Minitab settings it does not know you were able to change the limit, so it will continue warning you. Click the Yes button on the message that appears to continue and Minitab will receive all the data. If you send more than 200 dimensions at this point you will see the same message from Minitab as before, but the warning will tell you the maximum is 200 graphs.



WORKAROUND 1
The Prolink Charting package does not have a 200 dimension limit and is an option that can be added to SPC Office Buddy. The graphs that Prolink Charting produces are very similar to Minitab and, additionally, more statistical values become available for Excel Jobs once the Prolink Charting option is enabled. See the Excel Jobs > Using TAGs > Auto Match Tag Names > Statistics page of the SPC Office Buddy Help file for a complete list of the statistical values available within Buddy with and without the Prolink Charting option.

WORKAROUND 2
If you have more than 200 dimensions and you need to have graphs produced for all of them, you can set up 2 separate Excel Jobs within Buddy to cover the extra dimensions. Have the first Excel Job setup to display the graphs for the first 200 dimensions, then apply a Dimension Filter to decrease the dimensions displayed within SPC Office Buddy to 200 before running that Excel Job. Once that Job has finished running, setup a second Excel Job to display the graphs for dimensions 201 and above. Before running the second Excel Job you would need to apply another Dimension Filter so only dimensions 201 and above are displayed. Once both Excel Jobs are finished, you can create a Batch Job to automatically run both Excel Jobs with the correct Dimension and Record Filters applied.

Applies To

SPC Office Buddy v.4.2
SPC Office Buddy v.4.0
SPC Office Buddy v.3.4

Category

Reporting - SPC Office Buddy
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