A while back there was a thread going around about a tool for cleaning up
unused schedules in a model. For me, this seemed like a very good idea
because I usually end up with a bunch of junk in the schedules folders
which makes it difficult and cluttered for calibration and especially for
reviewing a model which has sat untouched for a year. I recently had the
opportunity to create this tool, and I thought I would share it in case
anyone else finds it helpful.

It should be fairly straight forward to use, but a few details on operation:
- I've run this on many of my projects without problems, but until you've
used it enough to trust, I would always work on a backup copy just in case.
The tool allows you to save the updated file as a new name to facilitate
this. Use at your own risk!
- The program also searches the .pdr file to see if schedules are used in a
parametric run. It won't delete schedules used in any of the subsequent
runs. For this reason, you might see a smaller list of unused schedules in
the tool compared to the eQuest Quality Control Reporting option.
- You will be allowed the option to not delete any of the unused schedules.
If you choose to not delete a weekly or annual schedule, it will also not
delete any week or day schedule which depends on these.
- It only works on the ..SCHEDULE-PD keywords used by eQuest, so it
currently won't pick up any schedules created with the ..SCHEDULE keyword
for those who use this when manually editing the .inp file.

I'm attaching Bill's original post to credit him with the idea.

Aaron

Does anyone know if such a tool exists?

I would like to be able to "clean up" a model by removing schedules
(annual, week, day) and perhaps other inputs (utility rates,
performance curves) that are not used in the model. Perhaps this would
be an Excel macro that searches an input file and then asks for user
confirmation before deleting the unused schedules/curves etc.

If this hasn't already been created, this would be an excellent way
for some intrepid engineer/student/geek to earn some street cred.

~Bill

William Bishop, PE, BEMP, BEAP, LEED AP