Template Attributes

In this section you can read about the different attributes: what effects they have and how to use them. On the different sheets of the Excel you can find a lot of types of attributes, some of them are cost related or opening/closing decisions. Some of the attributes can be used only if you have the specific module (User Roles and Modules).

Optimization Parameters and Constraints

Time Limit

Sheets on which it appears: Settings

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (in hours)

How it affects the model: The time limit of the optimization run measured in hours. If not specified, the model uses 1 hour

Optimality Gap

Sheets on which it appears: Settings

Possible inputs: number between 0 and 100 (in percentage), the smaller the optimality gap, the better the solution

How it affects the model: The optimization engine stops when a solution is found which is within this percentage of the best possible solution. The default is 0.01(%) when using Single Source and 0.001(%) otherwise.

Maximum # of Source Locations

Sheets on which it appears: Location Product, Customer Product Data

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: On Location Product sheet for locations where there is a Warehouse or a Production facility: The maximum number of source location per product and period that can serve a warehouse/production facility. For example if the maximum number of source locations is 10 for a warehouse location, then the inbound volume can only come from 10 different locations, which can be supplier, warehouse or production facility. On Customer Product data sheet for customer locations: The maximum number of source locations per product and period that can serve the Customer. For example if the maximum number of source locations is 10 for a customer location, then the inbound volume can only come from 10 different locations, which can be supplier, warehouse or production facility.

Maximum # of Destination Locations

Sheets on which it appears: Location Product

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: The maximum number of destination location per product and period that the supplier/warehouse/production facility can serve. For example if the maximum number of destination locations is 10 for a warehouse location, then only 10 different location (Warehouse/Production/Customer) can receive product from that location.

Available

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Warehouse, Warehouse Product, Inventory, Inventory Product, Transport Cost, Stepwise Transport Cost

Possible inputs: Binary: 1 or 0 (empty)

How it affects the model: To indicate that the Supplier, Warehouse, Production…etc., can be used by the model. Only Available without Force Open does not necessarily mean that the minimum and maximum capacity will be considered, in other words the constraint will be conditional. If both Available and Force Open attributes are defined then the constraints must be met. For example, if the Warehouse has minimum capacity (10000) and it is only Available and not Force Open, the inbound/outbound of the warehouse can be less than the minimum capacity (e.g.:5000) and the model will be feasible. But if the Warehouse is available and force open the inbound/outbound of the warehouse can not be less than the minimum capacity or the model is infeasible. Objects with {Curly Bracket} does not need Available attribute if single elements of the group have Available attribute.

Product Related Attributes

IsSKU

If there is a demand for the product, you must enter a 1 in the IsSKU column, otherwise the application will not treat it as a product.

IsUnion

In the InUnion column we identify the product groups to create the groups.

IsIntersection

The IsIntersection column is currently not in use. It is worth leaving empty.

SubProduct

In the SubProduct column can be used to specify element of a product group.

UOM

In the UOM column you can specify the unit with which a product is measured. The default/base UOM is used in all sheets that do not contain a UOM column.

UOM Equivalent

In the UOM Equivalent column, you can specify how many base units will fit into the new unit.

If the base unit is kg.

Product	UOM	UOM Equivalent
Product 1	tons	1000

If the base unit is tons.

Product	UOM	UOM Equivalent
Product 1	kg	0.001

Location Related Attributes

Dispatch from Warehouse

Sheets on which it appears: Location Period

Possible inputs: binary: 1 or 0 (empty)

How it affects the model: The attribute Dispatch from Warehouse indicates that all products in this location must be shipped out of this location via a warehouse. In other words they cannot be shipped directly from the production facility. If this attribute is not set, the model could allow shipping directly from the production facility.

Receive into Warehouse

Sheets on which it appears: Location Period

Possible inputs: binary: 1 or 0 (empty)

How it affects the model: The attribute Receive into Warehouse indicates that all products in this location must be received into this location via a warehouse. In other words they cannot be received directly into the production facility. If this attribute is not set, the model could allow receiving directly into the production facility.

Capacity Related Attributes

Minimum Capacity

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Production Routing, Warehouse, Warehouse Product, Inventory, Inventory Product, Transport Cost, Stepwise Transport Cost

Possible inputs: any number equal or greater than 0

How it affects the model: The minimum value of the inbound and outbound for Supplier, Warehouse…etc. Only with Available attribute the minimum capacity constraint is just conditional, in the sense that the model may close the facility, but if it decides to keep it open it will take the Minimum capacity into account. If both Available and Force Open attributes are defined then the constraint must be met. For example, if the Warehouse has minimum capacity (10000) and it is only Available and not Force Open, the model may close the facility, so effectively there will be no minimum capacity, and the model will be feasible. But if the Warehouse is available and force open the inbound/outbound of the warehouse can not be less than the minimum capacity or the model is infeasible.

Maximum Capacity

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Production Routing, Warehouse, Warehouse Product, Inventory, Inventory Product, Transport Cost, Stepwise Transport Cost

Possible inputs: any number equal or greater than 0

How it affects the model: The maximum value of the inbound and outbound for Supplier, Warehouse…etc. If it is defined, this constraint always must be met.

Cost Related Attributes

Fixed Cost

Sheets on which it appears: Location Period, Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Warehouse, Warehouse Product

Possible inputs: any number equal or greater than 0

How it affects the model: Fixed Cost is independent of the inbound or outbound volume. Fixed Cost remains the same no matter how much the volume is.

Variable Cost

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Warehouse, Warehouse Product, Inventory, Inventory Product, Customer Product Data

Possible inputs: any number equal or greater than 0

How it affects the model: Variable Cost depends on the volume of Supplier/Warehouse/Production. For example if the variable cost of a supplier is 10 and volume is 200, the total variable cost for the supplier will be 200*10=2000. There are 2 models for variable cost: Incremental and All Steps (see below). In the incremental model each capacity steps has its own variable cost:

Step	Minimum Capacity	Maximum Capacity	Variable Cost
1	0	100	10
2	100	500	20
3	500	1000	30

If the actual flow is 1000 the total variable cost with the Incremental model: 100*10+(500-100)*20+(1000-500)*30=100*10+400*20+500*30=1000+8000+15000=24000.

Variable Cost for all steps

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Warehouse, Warehouse Product, Stepwise Transport Cost

Possible inputs: binary (0 or 1), it should be 1 for all steps if you want to use this model.

How it affects the model: Variable Cost depends on the volume of Supplier/Warehouse/Production. There are 2 models for variable cost: Incremental (see above) and All Steps. This attribute indicates if the variable cost of the last step in use is applied for all units in all steps. It should be 1 for all steps (except the first) if you want to use the All Steps model. In the “All Steps” costing model all capacity step has a common variable cost, that is the cost of the last used step. On the Stepwise Transport Cost sheet the attribute works with the same logic for Cost Per UOM.

Step	Minimum Capacity	Maximum Capacity	Variable Cost	Variable Cost for all steps
1	0	100	10	1
2	100	500	20	1
3	500	1000	30	1

If the actual flow is 1000 the total variable cost with the All Steps model: 1000*30=30000

Closing Cost

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Production Routing, Warehouse, Warehouse Product

Possible inputs: any number equal or greater than 0

How it affects the model: The cost of closing the Supplier / Supplier Product / Production / Production Routing / Warehouse / Warehouse Product. If the Supplier/Warehouse/Production has closing cost in the given period the closing cost is considered active, then the closing cost will be added to the total cost of the Supplier/Warehouse/Production. The closing cost is active if the Supplier/Warehouse/Production was opened in the previous period but in the given period is closed. Additionally, within a Supplier/Warehouse, every product also has its own closing cost. If a product was active in the previous period but becomes inactive in the current period at a given location, the closing cost of the product is added to the total cost of the Supplier Product / Warehouse Product. Similarly, in Production Routing, each BOM can have its own closing cost. If a BOM was active at a given location in the previous period but becomes inactive in the current period, the BOM’s closing cost is added to the total cost of the Production Routing. For example if the supplier has closing cost (10) in period 2 and in “period 1” the supplier was opened but in “period 2” the supplier is closed, then the closing cost for the supplier will be 10.

Opening Cost

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Production Routing, Warehouse, Warehouse Product

Possible inputs:any number equal or greater than 0

How it affects the model: The cost of opening the Supplier / Supplier Product / Production / Production Routing / Warehouse / Warehouse Product. If the Supplier/Warehouse/Production has opening cost in the given period and the opening cost is considered active, then the opening cost will be added to the total cost of the Supplier/Warehouse/Production. The opening cost is active if the Supplier/Warehouse/Production was closed in the previous period but in the given period is opened. Additionally, within a Supplier/Warehouse, every product also has its own opening cost. If a product was inactive in the previous period but becomes active in the current period at a given location, the opening cost of the product is added to the total cost of the Supplier Product / Warehouse Product. Similarly, in Production Routing, each BOM can have its own opening cost. If a BOM was inactive at a given location in the previous period but becomes active in the current period, the BOM’s opening cost is added to the total cost of the Production Routing. For example, if the supplier has opening cost (10) in period 2 and in “period 1” the supplier was closed but in “period 2” the supplier is opened, then the opening cost for the supplier will be 10.

Open/Close Related Attributes

Force Open

Sheets on which it appears: Location Period, Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Production Routing, Warehouse, Warehouse Product, Inventory, Inventory Product, Transport Cost, Stepwise Transport Cost

Possible inputs: binary (0 (empty) or 1)

How it affects the model: Indicates if the Supplier, Warehouse, Production, Inventory…etc. must be opened. The minimum and maximum constraints depend on the Force Open attribute. If the Force Open attribute is 1 then the constraints must be met but if the attribute is 0 then the constraints are just conditional. For example, if the Warehouse has minimum capacity (10000) and it is only Available and not Force Open, the inbound/outbound of the warehouse can be less than the minimum capacity (e.g.:5000) and the model will be feasible. But if the Warehouse is available and force open the inbound/outbound of the warehouse can not be less than the minimum capacity or the model is infeasible.

Force Close

Sheets on which it appears: Location Period, Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Production Routing, Warehouse, Warehouse Product, Inventory, Inventory Product, Transport Cost, Stepwise Transport Cost

Possible inputs: binary (0 (empty) or 1)

How it affects the model: Indicates if the Supplier, Warehouse, Production, Inventory…etc. must be closed.

Open as Group

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Supplier Product, Production, Production Routing, Warehouse, Warehouse Product

Possible inputs:binary (0 (empty) or 1)

How it affects the model: This attribute is always declared over a curly bracket period group, like {2025}. This means that the model will either open or close this Supplier, Warehouse, Production for all the periods in the group. This prevents the model from opening a supplier, warehouse, production for only a couple of the periods, and be closed for the rest of the periods. Furthermore, inside a Supplier or Warehouse, a product can also be declared as a group for some periods, preventing it from being open for only a few periods. Similarly, in Production Routing, BOMs can be defined to either be open or closed within a specific period group.

Limit Openings

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Production, Warehouse

Possible inputs: binary (0 or 1), it should be defined for a period group

How it affects the model: Indicates whether the supplier/warehouse/production can be set to open at a location in a given period group. It should be defined for a period group.

Maximum Openings

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Production, Warehouse

Possible inputs:any number equal or greater than 0, it should be defined for a period group

How it affects the model: Limit how many times the model can open a supplier/warehouse/production in a certain period group, it is considered only if the Limit Openings attribute is set to 1. It should be defined for a period group. For example if the supplier’s Limit Openings attribute is set to 1 and the Maximum Openings attribute is 1 for a period group then the supplier can be closed and then opened once in the period group.

Limit Closings

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Production, Warehouse

Possible inputs: binary (0 or 1), it should be defined for a period group

How it affects the model: Indicates whether the supplier/warehouse/production can be set to close at a location in a given period group. It should be defined for a period group.

Maximum Closings

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier, Production, Warehouse

Possible inputs: any number equal or greater than 0, it should be defined for a period group

How it affects the model:Limit how many times the model can close a supplier/warehouse/production in a certain period group, it is considered only if the Limit Closing attribute is set to 1. It should be defined for a period group. For example if the supplier’s Limit Closing attribute is set to 1 and the Maximum Closings attribute is 1 for a period group then the supplier can be opened and then closed once in the period group.

Initial Status Closed

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier Product, Production, Production Routing, Warehouse Product

Possible inputs: binary (0 or 1), it should be set for the first period and first step

How it affects the model: Indicates whether supplier/warehouse was closed for the given product before first period of the model. Set for the first step and the first single period. If this attribute is 1 then the supplier/warehouse is closed for the product in the first period. A supplier initial status is closed when all supplier single product combination has Initial Status Closed. For example, a supplier is available for only one product, and has initial closed attribute for that product and also an Opening Cost attribute:

Product	Supplier	Period	Available	Opening Cost	Initial Status Closed
Carrot	Supplier_1	Period_1	1	10	1

In that case if the model uses Supplier_1 in period_1 the supplier should be opened, so the supplier will have Opening Cost for the first period. Similarly, in Production Routing, it is possible to specify whether each BOM was closed before the first period. Furthermore, for Production, the initial status closed can also be defined for the entire location.

Rate Card Related Attributes

Rate Card is only available in the Network Design Advanced Module.

Rate Card Drop Size

Sheets on which it appears: Location Product, Transport Cost, Customer Product Data

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0

How it affects the model: Rate Cards can be specified for Supplier/Warehouse/Production on Location Production sheet, for Customer on Customer Product Data sheet and for lanes on Transport Cost sheet. Drop Size is the size of the packages that are carried with the Supplier/Resource/Lane/Customer Rate Card transport mode, this data is used for decide which rate card band should be used.

Drop Size Lower

Sheets on which it appears: Rate Cards

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0

How it affects the model: Drop Size Lower is the lower bound of the drop size for the given Rate Card band in the Rate Card UOM.

Drop Size Upper

Sheets on which it appears: Rate Cards

Possible inputs: any number greater than or equal to 0 (0 means unlimited)

How it affects the model: Drop Size Upper is the upper bound of the drop size for the given Rate Card band in the Rate Card UOM.

Distance Lower

Sheets on which it appears: Rate Cards

Possible inputs: any number greater than or equal to 0

How it affects the model: Distance Lower is the lower bound of the distance-based rate for the given Rate Card band in the distance UOM.

Distance Upper

Sheets on which it appears: Rate Cards

Possible inputs: any number greater than or equal to 0 (0 means unlimited)

How it affects the model: Distance Upper is the upper bound of the distance-based rate for the given Rate Card band in the distance UOM.

Rate Card From

Sheets on which it appears: Rate Cards

Possible inputs: a location or location group defined on the Locations or Location Groups sheet

How it affects the model: Rate Card From is the initial location of the zone for the given Rate Card band. Zone-based Rate Card bands require both a Rate Card From and Rate Card To location or location group.

Rate Card To

Sheets on which it appears: Rate Cards

Possible inputs: a location or location group defined on the Locations or Location Groups sheet

How it affects the model: Rate Card To is the destination location of the zone for the given Rate Card band. Zone-based Rate Card bands require both a Rate Card From and Rate Card To location or location group.

Inventory Related Attributes

Inventory is only available in the Tactical Planning Module.

Minimum Inventory Cover and Maximum Inventory Cover

Sheets on which it appears: Warehouse Product

Possible inputs: any number greater than or equal to 0

How it affects the model: The number of next periods that throughput (outbound) covers. The attributes “Minimum Inventory Cover” and “Maximum Inventory Cover” describe the fraction of the next periods throughput (outbound) that must be or can be held as inventory. Minimum Inventory Cover is handled as a minimum capacity constraint but it is not replacing minimum capacity for inventory or the target inventory, it is just an addition. For example, if a warehouse has Inventory Cover (2) in period_1 and in period_2 that means that period_1 inventory should cover period_2’s and period_3’s outbound volume. If the outbound of period_2 and period_3 is 2, then the inventory should be greater than 2+2=4. If the planning horizon ends at period_3, then the inventory of period_2 will be twice the outbound of period_3. (Assuming that the next periods are behaving similarly to the last one.) We can distinguish four different cases in the calculation:

We can distinguish four different cases in the calculation, described with Minimum Inventory Cover:

1. Multi period model and the inventory cover is greater than 1:

Inventory coverage coefficients:

Product	Warehouse	Period	Minimum Inventory Cover	April	May	June
Carrot	Warehouse_1	March	2	1	1	0
Carrot	Warehouse_1	April	1.5		1	0.5
Carrot	Warehouse_1	May	3			3
Carrot	Warehouse_1	June	2			2

With these inventory volumes will look the following:

Product	Warehouse	Period	Minimum Inventory Cover	Volume	Closing Inventory
Carrot	Warehouse_1	March	2	10	(1*20)+(1*30)=50
Carrot	Warehouse_1	April	1.5	20	(1*30)+(0.5*40)=50
Carrot	Warehouse_1	May	3	30	(3*40)=80
Carrot	Warehouse_1	June	2	40	(2*40)=80

When there is Inventory Cover specified for the last period (June) or the inventory coverage of previous periods’ number goes beyond the horizon (May) the closing inventory is calculated based on the last period’s outbound (40).

2. Multi period model and the inventory cover is less than 1:

Inventory coverage coefficient will apply only to the next period and will have the same value as the Inventory coverage.

Inventory volumes will look the following:

Product	Warehouse	Period	Minimum Inventory Cover	Volume	Closing Inventory
Carrot	Warehouse_1	March	0.5	10	0.5*20=10
Carrot	Warehouse_1	April	0.5	20	0.5*30=15
Carrot	Warehouse_1	May	0.5	30	0.5*30=15

When there is Minimum Inventory Cover specified for the last period (May) the closing inventory is calculated based on the last period’s outbound (30).

3. Single period model and the inventory cover is greater than 1:

Inventory coverage coefficient will apply only to the single period and will have the same value as the Inventory coverage.

Inventory volumes will look the following:

Product	Warehouse	Period	Minimum Inventory Cover	Volume	Closing Inventory
Carrot	Warehouse_1	2023	2	10	2*10=20

When there is Minimum Inventory Cover specified in a single period model the closing inventory is calculated based on the current period’s (2023) outbound (10).

4. Single period model and the inventory cover is less than 1:

Inventory coverage coefficient will apply only to the single period and will have the same value as the Inventory coverage.

Inventory volumes will look the following:

Product	Warehouse	Period	Minimum Inventory Cover	Volume	Closing Inventory
Carrot	Warehouse_1	2023	0.5	10	0.5*10=5

When there is Minimum Inventory Cover specified in a single period model the closing inventory is calculated based on the current period’s (2023) outbound (10).

Maximum Inventory Cover is calculated in the same way as Minimum Inventory Cover in each case, but acts as a maximum capacity constraint for Warehouse Inventory.

Product	Warehouse	Period	Maximum Inventory Cover	Outbound volume	Max Capacity	Closing Inventory
Carrot	Warehouse_1	March	2	10	30	20 (Max. Capacity > Maximum Inventory Cover)
Carrot	Warehouse_1	April	2	10	10	10 (Max. Capacity < Maximum Inventory Cover)
Carrot	Warehouse_1	May	0.5	20	10	10 (Max. Capacity = Maximum Inventory Cover)

In every case the Minimum Inventory Cover acts in addition to minimum constraints. So, if there is also a Minimum Capacity specified, both Minimum Inventory Cover and Minimum Capacity will apply . The value for Closing Inventory depends on which of these two is higher.

Product	Warehouse	Minimum Inventory Cover	Outbound volume	Min Capacity	Closing Inventory
Carrot	Warehouse_1	2	10	30	30 (Min. Capacity > Minimum Inventory Cover)
Carrot	Warehouse_1	2	10	10	20 (Min. Capacity < Minimum Inventory Cover)
Carrot	Warehouse_1	0.5	20	10	10 (Min. Capacity = Minimum Inventory Cover)

In every case the Maximum Inventory Cover acts in addition to maximum constraints. So, if there is also a Maximum Capacity specified, both Maximum Inventory Cover and Maximum Capacity will apply . The value for Closing Inventory depends on which of these two is lower.

Product	Warehouse	Maximum Inventory Cover	Outbound volume	Max Capacity	Closing Inventory
Carrot	Warehouse_1	2	10	30	20 (Max. Capacity > Maximum Inventory Cover)
Carrot	Warehouse_1	2	10	10	10 (Max. Capacity < Maximum Inventory Cover)
Carrot	Warehouse_1	0.5	20	10	10 (Max. Capacity = Maximum Inventory Cover)

Minimum Inventory Cover and Maximum Inventory Cover are defined stepwise, and the Warehouse (Product) steps and the Inventory (Product) steps are independent.

Product	Warehouse	Step	Maximum Inventory Cover	Outbound volume
Carrot	Warehouse_1	1	2	10
Carrot	Warehouse_1	2	0.5	5

In this case the Closing Inventory will be 2*10 + 0.5*5 = 22.5, and this volume is allocated to Warehouse (Product) capacities according to the steps applied there.

Target (Inventory)

Sheets on which it appears: Inventory, Inventory Product

Possible inputs: any number greater than or equal to 0

How it affects the model: The target value of the inventory in a period. If the inventory is below or above the target inventory, the target is violated, and Target Violation cost should be taken into account. The total target violation cost depends on how much of the inventory is under or over the target (see below). The target inventory does not replace the minimum or maximum capacity constraints, but target inventory should be greater than the minimum capacity and should be less than the maximum capacity.

Target Violation Cost (Inventory)

Sheets on which it appears: Inventory, Inventory Product

Possible inputs: any number greater than or equal to 0

How it affects the model: The cost of inventory target violation for a warehouse during a period. If the inventory is below or above the target inventory, the target is violated, and Target Violation cost should be taken into account. The total target violation cost depends on how much of the inventory is under or over the target:

Warehouse	Period	Target Inventory	Target Violation Cost	Closing Inventory	Total target violation cost
Warehouse_1	Period_1	12	2	10	(12-10)*2=4
Warehouse_1	Period_1	12	2	12	(12-12)*2=0
Warehouse_1	Period_1	12	2	16	(16-12)*2=8

The target inventory does not replace the minimum or maximum capacity constraints, but target inventory should be greater than the minimum capacity and should be less than the maximum capacity.

Opening Inventory

Sheets on which it appears: Inventory Product

Possible inputs: any number greater than or equal to 0 (it sholud be defined for the first period and for the firt step)

How it affects the model: The inventory level at the start of the first period.

BOM and Production Routing

Bill of Material is only available in the Network Design Advanced Module. You can read more about how to use BOM and Production Routing in Bill of Material Groups.

Product Created

Sheets on which it appears: Bill of Material

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0

How it affects the model: Product Created attribute defines how many final products can be made from the given amount of raw materials.

Product Needed

Sheets on which it appears: Bill of Material

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0

How it affects the model: Product Needed attribute defines how many raw materials are needed for the given amount of final product

Capacity Consumed

Sheets on which it appears: Production Routing

Possible inputs:any number greater than 0 (0 means unlimited)

How it affects the model: the amount of capacity consumed in one iteration of the given Bill of Material at the given Production, Location, and Period.

BOM Fixed Cost

Sheets on which it appears: Production Routing

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means no cost)

How it affects the model: the cost of the Bill of Material being in use at the Production for the given Period and Location. BOM Fixed Cost is independent of the inbound or outbound volume. BOM Fixed Cost remains the same no matter how much the volume is.

BOM Variable Cost

Sheets on which it appears: Production Routing

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means no cost)

How it affects the model: The cost of using one iteration of the given bill of material at the given production, location, and period. Compared to the Variable Cost in the Production sheet it differs in that the Variable Cost is the cost of one unit of volume (capacity consumed). So the proper interpretation is that, for example, producing a given BOM takes Capacity Consumed amount of hours (specified in the sheet Production Routing) and this creates a set of products (a given amount from each specified in the sheet Bill of Material). The Variable Cost in the sheet Production is the hourly wage the workers operating the machine have to be paid to carry out the task, while the BOM Variable Cost is the cost of using the machine for the given task once. BOM Variable Cost is inherently independent of the hours the task takes.

Transport Related Attributes

Stepwise costing is only available in the Network Design Advanced Module.

Speed

Sheets on which it appears: Mode of Transport

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means no speed defined)

How it affects the model: The average speed (distance/hour) of the give transportation type. It is used to calculate duration data if it is not given in the template.

Wiggle Factor

Sheets on which it appears: Mode of Transport

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined) in percentage

How it affects the model: Wiggle factor is used when the model calculates the straight distance between two locations.

Roundtrip

Roundtrip is only available in the Network Design Advanced and in the Sustainability and Risk Modules.

Sheets on which it appears: Mode of Transport

Possible inputs: binary (0 or 1)

How it affects the model: Indicates if the transport mode is used for roundtrip, you can read more about how roundtrip works in Roundtrip Functionality.

Maximum Road Distance To Retrieve

Sheets on which it appears: Mode of Transport

Possible inputs: any positive number in unit of distance

How it affects the model: When a lane is using a mode of transport for which maximum road distance to retrieve has been specified and the straight line distance between two points for the lane is greater than the maximum road distance to retrieve, then the ‘Retrieve Distance’ flag will automatically be set to 0 for those lanes, and straight line distances will be used instead.

Retrieve Distance

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost

Possible inputs: binary (1-active, 0 (empty)-not active)

How it affects the model: Indicate that the distance and duration needs to be retrieved from Location IQ (if this attribute is 1). If this attribute is active, then the Distance Data page will be visible and the distance can be calculated. Note that the distance and duration by road will be retrieved when this attribute is active. This attribute should be left inactive if road distances and durations are not desired, or the path between two locations cannot be calculated by road.

Average Load Size

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The average load size that can fit in a Mode of Transport at a lane and a product during a period. The Average Load size is used as a divisor to calculate the lane’s variable cost.

Transport Mode	From Location	To Location	Distance	Cost Per Distance	Cost Per Trip	Average Load Size	Minimum Cost Per Trip	Cost
Truck	location_1	Location_2	10	0	3	2	0	(10*3)/2=15
Truck	location_1	Location_2	10	0	20	2	0	20/2=10
Truck	location_1	Location_2	10	0	0	2	10	10/2=5

Cost Per UOM

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost, Rate Cards, Stepwise Transport Cost

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The cost per unit of measurement for a Mode of Transport at a lane and a product during a period. It is independent of the distance, the total value only depends on the volume. It works with the same logic as Variable Cost. It can be defined for each step for a lane on the Stepwise Transportation Cost sheet.

Cost Per Distance

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost, Rate Cards

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The cost per unit of distance for a Mode of Transport at a lane and a product during a period.

Cost Per Trip

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost, Rate Cards

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The cost per trip of this Mode of Transport at a lane and a product during a period.

Minimum Cost Per Trip

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost, Rate Cards

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The minimum transportation cost of this lane.

Calculate the lane basic cost

The transportation basic cost calculated by the following the volume of the lane * tranportation unit cost. There is two case when calculate the Transportation unit cost, in the first case, there is no Minimum Cost Per Trip defined (first row in the table below) and the second case is when Minimum Cost Per Trip defined. In the second case the transportation unit cost is the maximum of the Minimum Cost Per Trip and Variable+Fixed costs.

Transport Mode	From Location	To Location	Average Load Size	Cost Per UOM	Cost Per Distance	Cost Per Trip	Minimum Cost Per Trip	Distance	Transportation Unit cost
Truck	location_1	Location_2	2	10	4	20	0	15	10+((4*15)/2)+(20/2)=50
Truck	location_1	Location_2	2	10	4	20	60	15	50 (Fixed and Variable) > 30 (Minimum Cost Per Trip (60/2))
Truck	location_1	Location_2	2	10	4	20	120	15	60 (Minimum Cost Per Trip (120/2)) > 50 (Fixed and Variable)

Take Or Pay Volume

This attribute is only available in the Network Design Advanced Module.

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The volume of a Take or Pay contract. The “Take or Pay” cost is used when a customer/warehouse/production has a type of contract through which the customer/warehouse/production is forced to “take” a certain volume from a supplier/warehouse/production at a given cost or to “pay” the supplier if the agreed volume is not taken. Take or pay unit is calculated as the round up of the ratio of the Volume of the Lane and the Take or Pay Volume.

Take Or Pay Fixed Cost

This attribute is only available in the Network Design Advanced Module.

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The cost of a Take or Pay contract. It is intended to model Take or Pay contracts, where a fixed price is paid regardless of the exact volume. A typical example is a rail car, where you pay for transporting the car itself, regardless of its load.

Take or Pay works as follows:

Transport Mode	From Location	To Location	Take or Pay Volume	Take or Pay Fixed Cost	Volume of the Lane	Calculated Units	Calculated Total Cost
Rail	location_1	Location_2	100,000	9,000	250,000	round up: 250,000/100,000=2.5 (3)	3*9,000=27,000

In contrast, in Stepwise Transport Costing, min and max capacities determine the cost. Cost bands are defined, with each band having a variable cost that is multiplied by the volume within that interval. Read more about Stepwise Transport Cost here: Transportation Stepwise Costing Data Table.

Base Case Lane

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost

Possible inputs: binary (0 or 1)

How it affects the model: This transportation lane is active in base case. When you want to use the base case lanes, the Enforce Base Case Constraints on Control Panel option should be selected.

Base Case Volume

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Cost

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The volume of this transportation lane in base case. When you want to use the base case lanes, the Enforce Base Case Constraints on Control Panel option should be selected.

Distance

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Trip Data

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The travel distance (miles or km depending on the input) for this lane.

Duration

Sheets on which it appears: Transport Trip Data

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: The travel duration (in hours) for this lane.

Max Difference

Sheets on which it appears: Mode of Transport

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined) in percentage

How it affects the model: The maximum transported volume difference from the other roundtrip lanes of the transport type. You can read more about how roundtrip works in Roundtrip Functionality.

Customer Related Attributes

Demand

Sheets on which it appears: Customer Product Data

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means there is no demand)

How it affects the model: The amount of demand for each customer, location, product and period combination. This amount should be fulfilled at least in the given Minimum Fulfillment Rate.

Lead Time

Sheets on which it appears: Customer Product Data

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: Lead time is maximal amount of driving time between your last resource and your customer. It is basically the time taken to complete your last mile and it does not consider the times in the rest of your network.

Selling Price

Sheets on which it appears: Customer Product Data

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: Selling Price for a customer, location, product, period combination. It is considered as a revenue.

Customer	Product	Demand	Selling Price	Inbound Volume	Revenue
Customer	product_1	3	5	3	3*5=15

Minimum Fulfillment Rate

This attribute is only available in the Network Design Advanced and in the Tactical Planning Modules.

Sheets on which it appears: Customer Product Data

Possible inputs: any number between 0 and 1 (0.5 means 50%)

How it affects the model: This amount should be fulfilled at least in the given Minimum Fulfillment Rate. When you want the model to take into account, the Allow Unfulfilled Demand on Control Panel.

Minimum Lead Time Adherence

Sheets on which it appears: Customer Product Data

Possible inputs: any number between 0 and 1 (0.5 means 50%)

How it affects the model: This attribute determines what percentage of demand for a given customer, location, product, period combination must be fulfilled within the lead time. For Infeasibility Analysis it can happen that you need to relax both “Lead Time” and “Minimum Lead Time adherence” to get the model feasible.

Customer	Product	Demand	Minimum Lead Time Adherence	Volume within lead time	Volume outside the lead time
Customer	product_1	10	0.6	6	4

Custom Objectives Related Attributes

Custom Objectives are only available in the Network Design Advanced and in the Sustainability and Risk Modules.

Type

Sheets on which it appears: Custom Objectives

Possible inputs: String (cost or revenue)

How it affects the model: Custom objective is Cost or Revenue type.

Include in Model Objective

Sheets on which it appears: Custom Objectives

Possible inputs: binary (0 or 1): 1 means included in the Model Objective

How it affects the model: Indicates whether this Custom Objective is to be included in the Model Objective by default.

Scaling Factor

Sheets on which it appears: Custom Objectives

Possible inputs: any number greater than 0 (0 means not defined)

How it affects the model: A factor that converts the Custom Objective from its natural unit to the base monetary unit of your model.

Refundable with Limit

Sheets on which it appears: Custom Objectives

Possible inputs: Possible values 0, 1 or 2

How it affects the model: * 0: No limit on the refundable part (Payable = total debits - total credit). In this case you need to create a cost type and a revenue type custom objective and use positive numbers as input in any sheets in the template where there is an input column for this custom objective. * 1: Refundable up to a zero balance, you never get any money back (Payable = max(0, total debit - total credit)). To model this, you need to create only a cost type custom objective and use positive numbers as input for debit and negative numbers as input for credit in any sheets in the template where there is an input column for this custom objective. * 2: Refundable up to a zero balance, after you will pay a penalty for the extra credits: Payable = absolute value of (total debit - total credit). To model this, you need to create only a cost type custom objective and use positive numbers as input for debit and negative numbers as input for credit in any sheets in the template where there is an input column for this custom objective.

Count Constraint Attributes

Count Constraints are only available in the Network Design Advanced and in the Sustainability and Risk Modules.

Minimum # of Open Locations

Sheets on which it appears: Location Product

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: This attribute enforces a constraint for the minimum number of locations (from the given location group) where at least one product (or product from the given product group) is present. Curly bracket notation must be used to denote location groups, products can be denoted in curly bracket groups or individually (for instance {Location Group}, Product or {Product Group}). Note that imposing a minimum number of open locations does not force associated resources to open, i.e. a location may be opened without any active resources.

Maximum # of Open Locations

Sheets on which it appears: Location Product

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: This attribute enforces a constraint for the maximum number of locations (from the given location group) where at least one product (or product from the given product group) is present. Curly bracket notation must be used to denote location groups, products can be denoted in curly bracket groups or individually (for instance {Location Group}, Product or {Product Group}).

Minimum # of Open Suppliers

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: This attribute enforces a constraint for the minimum number of locations (within a location group) where at least one supplier (from the given supplier group) is present. Curly bracket notation must be used to denote location and supplier groups (e.g. {Location Group}, {Supplier Group}).

Maximum # of Open Suppliers

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: This attribute enforces a constraint for the maximum number of locations (within a location group) where at least one supplier (from the given supplier group) is present. Curly bracket notation must be used to denote location and supplier groups (e.g. {Location Group}, {Supplier Group}).

Minimum # of Open Productions

Sheets on which it appears: Production

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: This attribute enforces a constraint for the minimum number of locations (within a location group) where at least one production (from the given production group) is present. Curly bracket notation must be used to denote location and production groups (e.g. {Location Group}, {Production Group}).

Maximum # of Open Productions

Sheets on which it appears: Production

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: This attribute enforces a constraint for the maximum number of locations (within a location group) where at least one production (from the given production group) is present. Curly bracket notation must be used to denote location and production groups (e.g. {Location Group}, {Production Group}).

Minimum # of Open Warehouses

Sheets on which it appears: Warehouse

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: This attribute enforces a constraint for the minimum number of locations (within a location group) where at least one warehouse (from the given warehouse group) is present. Curly bracket notation must be used to denote location and warehouse groups (e.g. {Location Group}, {Warehouse Group}).

Maximum # of Open Warehouses

Sheets on which it appears: Warehouse

Possible inputs: Positive integers

How it affects the model: This attribute enforces a constraint for the maximum number of locations (within a location group) where at least one warehouse (from the given warehouse group) is present. Curly bracket notation must be used to denote location and warehouse groups (e.g. {Location Group}, {Warehouse Group}).

Ratio Constraint Attributes

Ratio Constraints are only available in the Network Design Advanced and in the Sustainability and Risk Modules.

Minimum Ratio

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier Ratio, Production Routing Ratio, Warehouse Ratio, Transport Ratio

Possible inputs: Positive real number

How it affects the model: This attribute can be used to enforce a constraint on the minimum ratio between the volume at an entity (or group of entities) and a comparison group of entities. Curly bracket notation must be used when denoting groups. The minimum ratio constraint is conditional on whether the entity, the location, and the period are single, otherwise the constraint is imposed in absolute sense. All constraints can be modeled as absolute if the respective entities are set to Force Open. The table below shows some examples of ratio constraints which can be modeled using this attribute:

Product	Warehouse	Location	Period	Product 2	Warehouse 2	Location 2	Period 2	Minimum Ratio
{All Products}	Location_2	Location_2	2024	{All Products}	{LDC}	{LDC}	2024	0.25
Thin-Film	Location_3	Location_3	2024	{All Products}	Location_3	Location_3	2024	0.35
Thin-Film	Location_4	Location_4	2024	Thin-Film	{LDC}	{LDC}	2024	0.65
{All Products}	{US LDC}	{US LDC}	2024	{All Products}	{Global LDC}	{Global LDC}	2024	0.75
{All Products}	{US LDC}	{US LDC}	{2024-2030}	{All Products}	{Global LDC}	{Global LDC}	{2024-2030}	0.45

Row-by-row explanation of the table above:

1. Location_2 must account for a minimum of 25% of the total throughput for All Products across all LDCs. (Conditional constraint)

2. The Thin-Film product must account for a minimum of 35% of All Products throughput at Location_3. (Conditional constraint)

3. Thin-Film throughput at Location_4 must account for a minimum of 65% of the total Thin-Film throughput across all LDCs. (Conditional constraint)

4. US LDCs must account for a minimum of 75% of All Products throughput across all Global LDCs. (Absolute constraint)

5. US LDCs must account for a minimum of 45% of All Products throughput across all Global LDCs over the period group 2024-2030. (Absolute constraint)

Maximum Ratio

Sheets on which it appears: Supplier Ratio, Production Routing Ratio, Warehouse Ratio, Transport Ratio

Possible inputs: Positive real number

How it affects the model: This attribute can be used to enforce a constraint on the maximum ratio between the volume at an entity (or group of entities) and a comparison group of entities. Curly bracket notation must be used when denoting groups. This attribute can be applied in the same was as the Minimum Ratio, please refer to the explanatory table above for more details.

Transport Navigator Attributes

Transport Navigator attributes are only available in the Transport Navigator Module.

TN Time Limit

Sheets on which it appears: TN Settings

Possible inputs: Positive integer value (in seconds)

How it affects the model: Sets the maximum time allowed for the Transport Navigator solver to run. The solver will return the best solution found once this time is reached.

Reference Date and Time

Sheets on which it appears: TN Settings

Possible inputs: Date and time formatted as YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

How it affects the model: Establishes the start point for all time-based calculations, with period start and end times defined relative to this reference point.

Include Week Number in Time Stamps

Sheets on which it appears: TN Settings

Possible inputs: 1 (include week number) or 0 (do not include week number)

How it affects the model: Determines whether week numbers are shown in the time stamps for arrival times, departure times, and time windows in the application.

Reset Duty Time at Depot

Sheets on which it appears: TN Settings

Possible inputs: 1 (reset duty time at depot) or 0 (do not reset duty time)

How it affects the model: Controls whether a vehicle’s duty time is reset when it returns to a depot, impacting compliance with duty time constraints and route planning.

Volume UOM

Sheets on which it appears: TN String Settings

Possible inputs: String representing a volume unit of measurement (e.g., m3, L)

How it affects the model: Defines the unit of measurement for all volume-related inputs and calculations in Transport Navigator.

Weight UOM

Sheets on which it appears: TN String Settings

Possible inputs: String representing a weight unit of measurement (e.g., kg, lb)

How it affects the model: Defines the unit of measurement for all weight-related inputs and calculations in Transport Navigator.

Period Start

Sheets on which it appears: TN Periods

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in hours)

How it affects the model: Specifies the start time of the period as an offset in hours from the Reference Date and Time (see: Reference Date and Time on TN Settings sheet).

Period End

Sheets on which it appears: TN Periods

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in hours)

How it affects the model: Specifies the end time of the period as an offset in hours from the Reference Date and Time (see: Reference Date and Time on TN Settings sheet).

Mode of Transport

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: String matching a defined mode of transport from the Mode of Transport sheet

How it affects the model: Determines the transport mode used for routing from the warehouse. The associated speed is used in drive time calculations if no actual drive times are provided.

Maximum Duty Time

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in minutes)

How it affects the model: Sets the maximum allowable duty time before a layover is required. Duty time includes driving, unloading/loading, and waiting times.

Maximum Drive Time

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive integer value (in minutes)

How it affects the model: Defines the maximum driving time before a mandatory layover is required.

Minimum Layover Duration

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive integer value (in minutes)

How it affects the model: Sets the minimum duration of a layover.

Maximum Layover Duration

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive integer value (in minutes)

How it affects the model: Defines the maximum allowable duration of a layover.

Cost Per Stop

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive real value

How it affects the model: Adds a cost for each stop made along the route.

Cost Per Dispatch

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive real value

How it affects the model: Applies a cost for each vehicle dispatched from a warehouse.

Cost Per Layover

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive real value

How it affects the model: Applies a cost penalty for each layover during a route.

Cost Per Hour Late

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive real value

How it affects the model: Applies a cost penalty for each hour a vehicle arrives outside the customer’s specified time window.

Maximum Distance between Stops

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive real value

How it affects the model: Restricts the maximum distance allowed between two consecutive customer stops on a route.

Reloading Time Warehouse

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in minutes)

How it affects the model: Defines the reloading time needed at a warehouse before a vehicle can depart for the next route.

Maximum Number of Stops per Route

Sheets on which it appears: TN Locations

Possible inputs: Positive integer value

How it affects the model: Limits the number of customer stops allowed per route before a vehicle must return to the warehouse.

Reduced Capacity Per Stop

Sheets on which it appears: TN Vehicles

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in volume UOM)

How it affects the model: Reduces the available volume capacity of the vehicle after each stop to account for inefficiencies such as packaging or palletizing for multiple deliveries.

Vehicle Capacity Weight

Sheets on which it appears: TN Vehicles

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in Weight UOM, see: TN Settings)

How it affects the model: Sets the maximum weight that the vehicle can carry.

Vehicle Capacity Volume

Sheets on which it appears: TN Vehicles

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in Volume UOM, see: TN Settings)

How it affects the model: Sets the maximum volume that the vehicle can carry.

Has Sleep Cabin

Sheets on which it appears: TN Vehicles

Possible inputs: 1 (yes) or 0 (no)

How it affects the model: Indicates whether a vehicle has a sleep cabin, allowing it to take layovers anywhere instead of requiring a specific rest location.

Cost Per Distance

Sheets on which it appears: TN Vehicles

Possible inputs: Positive real value

How it affects the model: Adds a cost per kilometer or mile traveled.

Cost Per Day

Sheets on which it appears: TN Vehicles

Possible inputs: Positive real value

How it affects the model: Applies a fixed daily cost for using the vehicle.

Cost Per Hour

Sheets on which it appears: TN Vehicles

Possible inputs: Positive real value

How it affects the model: Adds a cost for each hour of duty time for a vehicle.

Grouping Code

Sheets on which it appears: TN Vehicles

Possible inputs: String value

How it affects the model: Matches vehicles with customers that have the same grouping code (see: Grouping Code on TN Customer Product sheet), allowing selective assignment of vehicles to specific customer groups.

Demand

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: Positive real value

How it affects the model: Specifies customer demand per product. If used, UOM conversion for volume and weight must be set. Alternatively, use Demand Volume and Demand Weight directly.

Demand Volume

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in Volume UOM, see: TN Settings)

How it affects the model: Defines the demand per product by volume.

Demand Weight

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in Weight UOM, see: TN Settings)

How it affects the model: Defines the demand per product by weight.

Service Time

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in minutes)

How it affects the model: Sets the required service time at each customer stop.

Time Window Start

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in hours from the associated TN Period start)

How it affects the model: Sets the earliest allowed arrival time at the customer location.

Time Window End

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: Positive real value (in hours from the associated TN Period start)

How it affects the model: Sets the latest allowed arrival time at the customer location.

Is First Stop

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: 1 (yes) or blank (no)

How it affects the model: Forces the customer to be the first stop on the assigned route.

Is Last Stop

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: 1 (yes) or blank (no)

How it affects the model: Forces the customer to be the last stop on the assigned route.

Grouping Code

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: String value

How it affects the model: Assigns customers to specific vehicle types with matching grouping codes (see: Grouping Code on TN Vehicles sheet).

Serviced by Warehouse Location

Sheets on which it appears: TN Customer Product

Possible inputs: String value (warehouse name)

How it affects the model: Determines the warehouse location responsible for servicing the customer’s demand.

Customer Name

Sheets on which it appears: TN Fixed Routes

Possible inputs: String value (must match a customer name)

How it affects the model: Defines the customer that must be visited as part of a fixed route.

Location Name

Sheets on which it appears: TN Fixed Routes

Possible inputs: String value (must match a warehouse name)

How it affects the model: Specifies the physical location where the vehicle must stop on the fixed route.

TN Period Name

Sheets on which it appears: TN Fixed Routes

Possible inputs: String value (must match a TN Period name)

How it affects the model: Assigns the fixed route stop to a specific Transport Navigator period (see: TN Period sheet).