Runtime Messages

During the auto-design process there may be many issues encountered due to input error, infeasibly design constraints, part shortages or other unexpected situations. To help the user navigate these issues runtime messages are generated. There are three levels of these:

In this section some additional information on each of the warning messages that could be encountered is provided to help with the troubleshooting process. Some runtime messages contain additional contextual information - here these are shown as variable but you will see variable replaced with its value when using the tool.

Isolator - Inputs

The following are errors associated with the file isolator input sheet.xlsx.

Could not find 'hooks' sheet in the file you uploaded. Please check you chose the correct file.

Error is raised when there is no hooks sheet inside the input file. The hooks sheet is required because it tells the code where in the excel file to find all the needed inputs. If the file is missing then you should download a new template and enter data into this.

Uploaded Input sheet version input_version does not match current version __version__. Download and use the latest input sheet to address this.

This is a warning (may result in failure but generally we are maintaining backwards compatibility) that a newer input sheet template is available. It is strongly recommended you are using the latest input sheets because

• Some of the newest features require the latest input sheets
• Company defaults may have also changed in the latest input sheets

Thrown if the file uploaded is not the format of the isolator input file. Check you selected the right file to upload.

CRITICAL: Geology picks should be strictly increasing. coal bottom depth is not greater than coal top depth. Please check Coal Picks inputs.

The coal picks in isolator input must be increasing order: Top,btm,top,btm of coals from well surface to TD. This is a critical warning and will terminate until you fix the input.

CRITICAL: Well Name must be 50 or less characters. Please enter a shorter name.

This error occurs if the well name is longer than 50 characters.

CRITICAL: Total Depth must be greater than the bottom of the deepest coal pick.

This error occurs if you have entered a total depth for the well that is shallower than the depth of the deepest coal pick.

Minimum coal exposure must be between 0% and 100%. You entered minimum_coal_exposure%.

This error occurs because a solution can only be be found for coal exposure between 0% and 100%.

Safety factor must be >= 0. You entered safety_factor

Safety factor/stand off is the setback of the isolation zone from the coal. This measurment must be positive.

Safety factor > 1.5 may result in errors. You entered safety_factor.

Occurs becase

• A saftey factor of this size would result in isolation zone closing in by >3m as you add higher packer counts there will be small zones
• A large safety factor results in very small isolation zones that cannot have packers placed inside with available parts

Min Number of Packers must be <= Max Number of Packers.

Min Number of Packers should be >= 2. You entered min_number_packers. Running with Min Number of Packers = 2

Max Number of Packers should be <= 40. You entered max_number_packers. Running with Max Number of Packers = 40

The two above errors summarise the result of all the checks performed on the input sheet (total up the errors described above). If any critical issues found then running will not proceed. You must fix these.

Isolator - Solver

"No feasible solution found for with limit of max_packers packers.

Based on the inputs no zones could be found with that number of swellable packers.

AlphaTally - Inputs

Uploaded Input sheet version input_version does not match current version __version__. Download and use the latest input sheet to address this.

This is a warning (may result in failure but generally we are maintaining backwards compatibility) that a newer input sheet template is available. It is strongly recommended you are using the latest input sheets because

• Some of the newest features require the latest input sheets
• Company defaults may have also changed in the latest input sheets

ERROR: It looks like the file you uploaded is not a valid AlphaTally input sheet. Please check the file you selected and try again.

File uploaded is not the format of the isolator input file. To fix you should check you selected the right file.

WARNING: Coal picks were not supplied. Please add these in starting in cell address: address .

You need to enter isolation ranges. If the Isolation Ranges sheet is missing you should download a new input sheet.

WARNING: Geology was not supplied. Please add geology information starting in cell address: address.

Occurs when coal geology information has not been provided. This data is need to calculate metrics such as isolation. If the Coal Picks sheet is missing you should download a new input sheet.

There were no part_type specified in the inputsheet.

Check to confirm there are no parts of part_type in inventory ie blank pups, to enter in the input sheet.

There may be a shortage of blank joints by blank_joint_shortage.

blank_joint_shortage is how many joints we think are needed for this tally less what is available. If there is a shortage you may need to use techniques to reduce part usage to overcome it.

There may be a shortage of slotted joints by slotted_joint_shortage.

slotted_joint_shortage is how many joints we think are needed for this tally less what is available. If there is a shortage you may need to use techniques to reduce part usage to overcome it.

CRITICAL: Isolation ranges should be strictly increasing. target_zone_bottom is not greater than target_zone_top. Please check isolation range inputs.

Occurs when there is an error in the isolation ranges entered into the Isolation Ranges sheet. Probably an error copying across from isolator tool wrong or making a manual edit or accidental typo.

The zone resulting from isolation range inputs target_top m and target_btm m results in an integer interval of zone_size m. Please check this is not the result of a typo.

Raised to reduce chance of an uncaught typo. The coal ranges are typically a 2 decimal place number so it is unlikely to be an integer. This error occurs when the number is an integer because this was most likely due to a typo.

CRITICAL: Coal picks should be strictly increasing. pick_b is not greater than pick_t . Please check Coal Picks inputs.

The coal picks in Coal Picks sheet must be increasing order: Top,btm,top,btm of coals from well surface to TD. This is a critical warning and will terminate until you fix the input.

CRITICAL: Well Name must be 50 or less characters. Please enter a shorter name.

This error occurs if the well name is longer than 50 characters.

CRITICAL: ecp_external_name min depth must be less than max depth.

Occurs if the maximum depth specified for the ECP is less than the minimum depth because this results in a negative zone size.

CRITICAL: ecp_external_name ideal depth must be >= min depth ( ecp_min_depth m) and <= max depth (ecp_max_depth m).

Occurs if the ideal ECP depth is not inside the zone create by the min and max depths. This can be corrected on the Main sheet of the input file.

The ecp_external_name min depth (ecp_min_depth m) to max depth (ecp_max_depth m) is tight and may cause issues.
You may want to expand this slightly and increase the weighting of hitting the ideal depth by reducing the number in 'Delta to ideal ecp_external_name depth' in the 'Advanced' sheet (you could try using 0.3 as a starting point).

Occurs when the zone for ECP placement specified is tight which may make it hard to find a good solution. It is recommended to use a larger zone and use a smaller number for Delta to ideal ECP depth on Advanced sheet.

CRITICAL: rathole min depth must be less than max depth.

Occurs if the maximum depth specified for the rathole is less than the minimum depth because this results in a negative zone size.

CRITICAL: rathole ideal depth must be >= min depth and <= max depth.

Occurs if the ideal rathole depth is not inside the zone create by the min and max depths. This can be corrected on the Main sheet of the input file.

The rathole min depth ( rat_min_depth m) to max depth ( rat_max_depth m) is tight and may cause issues.
You may want to expand this slightly and increase the weighting of hitting the ideal depth by reducing the number in 'Delta to ideal rathole depth' in the 'Advanced' sheet (you could try using 0.3 as a starting point).

Occurs when the zone for rathole placement specified is tight which may make it hard to find a good solution. It is recommended to use a larger zone and use a smaller number for Delta to ideal rathole depth on Advanced sheet.

CRITICAL: total depth must be equal to the bottom of deepest isolation range. You entered isolation_ranges_deepest_btm as btm of final isolation range and TD as total depth.

Occurs if total depth does not equal the deepest value in the input for isolation ranges in Isolation Ranges sheet.

Swell Packer length entered is quiet long. Please check SP_lengthm is correct.

Occurs if the swell packer length entered is longer than 0.8m. This is to help prevent typos, if you are actually using swell packers larger than this then contact us so we can adjust the threshold.

Swell Packer large length entered is quiet long. Please check SP_large_length m is correct.

Occurs if the swell packer length entered for the second variation of swell packer is longer than 1m. This is to help prevent typos, if you are actually using swell packers larger than this then contact us so we can adjust the threshold. Note that not all users will see this value in their input sheet. If you're interested you can talk to us about the benefits using two types of packers can have.

The two above errors summarise the result of all the checks performed on the input sheet (total up the errors described above). If any critical issues found then running will not proceed. You must fix these.

AlphaTally - Solver

There seems to be a shortage of parts. Tally will attempt to solve but you may need to try increasing/decreasing the number of isolation zones or increasing/decreasing the interburden exposed weighting.

An initial process is completed to determine required part counts. This error is thrown if based on initial settings there was a shortage of joints. The process will continue with the full inventory of joints to attempt to find a solution. Ways to address this error are the methods to reduce the relevant part count (look at the estimate and see which part type is causing the issue).

WARNING: There is a shortage of blank joints.

Not necessarily an issue but if the tally isn’t satisfactory or you want to try get a better one implement the methods for reducing the usage of the part type in question

WARNING: There is a shortage of slotted joints.

Not necessarily an issue but if the tally isn’t satisfactory or you want to try get a better one implement the methods for reducing the usage of the part type in question

The 2 errors above relate to - unable to fill this zone with the correct part type. This can be because the target above/below is close to this zone. If these errors persist then the best way to resolve is choose a different set of isolation zones (higher/lower count of swell packers).

Feature feature_above to feature_depthm is too small. Consider merging/expanding.

Occurs when a small zone is causing troubles finding a way to complete it with the available parts.

Small isolation zones have very limited space to put the two required packers. Particularly when packers can only be placed on pin ends this can be tricky.

Occurs when and isolation zone is too small meaning two packers are unable to be fit inside the zone to seal the top and bottom side. A change to the isolation zones is required.

There is a shortage of blank joints. You should consider merging some coal ranges so fewer blank joints are required. Parameters are being adjusted to try to recover. Expect higher pup usage.

This is an error thrown with more certainty that the part usage at the start. To handle this parameters from the advanced tab are automatically adjusted to try find solutions given the current requested ranges.

You should also consider editing ranges:

There is a shortage of slotted joints. You should consider splitting some coal ranges so fewer slotted joints are required (or effectively you achieve better isolation given you need to use more slotted pups anyway). Parameters are being adjusted to try to recover. Expect higher pup usage.

This is an error thrown with more certainty that the part usage at the start. To handle this parameters from the advanced tab are automatically adjusted to try find solutions given the current requested ranges

You should also consider editing ranges:

Looks like there are not enough slotted pups available. If there are more you should measure some up and add them to the input sheet. If not it could be beneficial to reduce the number of isolation zones (this increases the average exposed zone sizes and can help reduce the slotted pup usage).

Occurs when there are many small exposure zones but not many small slotted pups.

AlphaTally encountered an error, please report this: error

This error occurs due to an unhandled error inside the application. It is likely another error was the cause of this error. Any other reported errors may help to resolve this error.

AlphaTally - ECP/ACP

Specified region ecp_min_depth to ecp_max_depth may be too tight to fit ecp_external_name length of ecp_length. Consider relaxing the min/max depth specification.

Potentially expand the ECP placement region (likely by making the minimum depth shallower) if this error causes issues with the solution.

Could not find a solution for ecp_external_name placement inside ecp_min_depth to ecp_max_depth m. Please expand this region slightly and try again.

Occurs because the ECP zone specified was too tight to place the assembly inside of.

The Input Base Tally contained only input_tally_ecp but expected it to contain ecp_parts_list. Either remove input_tally_ecp or complete the assembly to match ecp_parts_list.

Occurs when using Input Base Tally sheet and only specifying part of the ECP assembly in this sheet. In this sheet either the entire ACP assembly needs to be included or none at all.

AlphaTally - Rathole

There seems to be a shortage of blank parts resulting in the target rathole not being reached. You can try strategically expanding the size of the coal ranges (to use more slotted parts) and reduce the interburden size needing to be filled with blanks.

Occurs when there are not enough blank parts remaining to reach the zone specified for the rathole. Approaches to address this

• expand the size of the coal ranges (to use more slotted parts)
• reduce the number of isolation zones (resulting in more total exposed section)
• allow a larger zone for the rathole (increase rathole Max Size on Main sheet)

Short of rathole due to part shortage. Either increase the max rathole size or increase the size of the exposure zones (by adding more zones or by expanding the zones to increase slotted part usage thereby saving the blank parts to be used to reach the target rathole depth).

Occurs when there are a shortage of parts. Approaches to address this are

• increase the max rathole size
• increase the total size of the exposure zones (by adding more zones or by expanding the zones to increase slotted part usage).

The requirement to fit rat_min_blanks blank joints at the bottom of the well (shoe track) results in no exposure of btm coal interval. Reconsider these specifications.

Occurs when the specified number of joints required at the rathole results in a section too long which fully overlaps the deepest exposure zone. To address this

• relax the requirement on the number of joints needed at the rathole
• increase the depth of the max rathole depth (decrease rathole min size)
• reduce the depth of the top of the deepest exposure zone.

The requirement of a rat_min_blanks joint shoetrack is being ignored (and replaced with 1) to honour the btm coal interval. If you would prefer to isolate this in favour of honouring the shoetrack requirement then you should alter the isolation intervals so there is no thin exposure zone above the shallow rathole.

Occurs when it is not possible to fit the specified minimum number of joints at the rathole.

AlphaTally - Hooks

Hook for variable is missing on hooks tab and is required.

The hook excel tab does not specify where this variable is located. Easiest fix is to download a fresh input sheet.

Please check that hook for variable in Hooks sheet references the correct cell and that data is entered correctly for variable in cell cell_ref (or the updated hook reference cell).

The cell that the hook points to is missing data. To debug this issue check the variable in Hooks sheet to see the cell it is referencing. Then check the value in the referenced cell has been entered correctly.

AlphaTally - Account Errors

user is not on the authorised list of users for this tool. Please contact us if you should be.

This is an error with your account setup. Contact Endla to resolve.

user is not authorised to upload back test data.

The functionality to upload historic well data is only accessible for Endla admin accounts.