Trade-Off Analysis
This page explains how to use the Trade-Off Analysis functionality in the SC Navigator. This feature allows the user to examine how the final results, such as the total costs, are affected by changing various parameters in the model. For example, you can examine the change in the total cost for different number of warehouses by using the chart on the page. Moreover, it is also possible to find the sweet spots when comparing two objectives. For example, you can find the number of warehouses for which the total cost and the carbon emissions are as low as possible.
How to use this functionality
Trade-Off Analysis involves running multiple scenarios in which a predefined parameter is varied within a specified range. Based on the optimized results obtained for each value, we can perform comparisons and examine the impact of the parameter on the model. The analysis is described by the following steps.
After opening the SC Navigator app and loading the input data which you want to examine, you can open the Trade-Off Analysis page from the workflow.
When you open this page and no input data has been provided yet for the Trade-Off Analysis, a dialog page will show up.
X-axis Type: you can choose from a selection list which option you would like to examine. The options are: Number of (in Network Design Advanced Module) and Maximum Allowed Value, Minimum Required Value, Weight factors (in Sustainability and Risk Module).
X-axis Value: After you have selected the X-axis type, you need to specify which option you want to examine (you may select only one from the list). If you selected Number of, the available options at that point are: Locations, Suppliers, Productions, Warehouses.
For Maximum Allowed Value, Total Physical Cost or any Cost type custom objectives can be selected.
For Minimum Required Value, Total Physical Revenue or any Revenue type custom objective can be selected.
For Weight factors, Total Physical Cost, Total Physical Revenue or any custom objective can be selected.
Start Value: The value from which you want to start the examination. If the selected X-axis type is Number of, then the Start value should be a positive integer. If the selected X-axis type is Maximum Allowed Value, Minimum Required Value, or Weight factors, then the Start value can be any number greater than 0.
# of Steps : The value of the number of steps to be considered after the start value (the last step will be calculated based on this value)
Step Size : This value will be added to the value of the previous step. If the selected X-axis type is Number of then the Step size should be a positive integer. If the selected X-axis type is Maximum Allowed Value, Minimum Required Value, or Weight factors, then the Start value can be any number greater than 0.
Stop Value: The value until which you want to perform the analysis. It is calculated as follows: start value + (number of steps * step size).
# of Needed Runs: The number of jobs to optimize for the analysis.
In this example the number of productions will be different in the resulting scenarios. The number of productions will be changed between 1 and 3 and given the step size of 1, the number of productions will be 1, 2, and 3, respectively in the 3 scenarios. If any of the input data is not correct, the cell of the wrong data will be highlighted in red and the Run button will not be visible.
After defining the input data, you can click on the Run button which gets visible only when all of the input data is specified properly. The number on the button shows how many jobs will be run. Or, if you want to run the analysis later, you can close the dialog page by clicking on the Cancel button; the defined data will be there anytime you will open the dialog page.
After clicking on the Run button and started running the jobs, on the status bar and also on the title of Trade-off Analysis chart, you can track how many scenarios have been finished so far.
Moreover, on the Trade-Off Analysis page, the points representing the completed scenarios are displayed on the chart.
After all scenarios have been finished, the chart will display as many points as the total number of scenarios run during the analysis.
If a job was infeasible its dot will highlighted in red and also the tooltip will inform you about it on the cart.
By default, the y-axis displays the Total Cost if the selected model objective is Minimize Cost and in all other cases it displays the Profit. However this can be changed by clicking on the
and selecting Set Y Axis For Chart on the chart. Moreover, you can also configure what the secondary y-axis should show.
For example, if you select the secondary y-axis to show the carbon emissions, the chart will look as follows:
If you want to examine one of the result datasets, you can load the result dataset by right-clicking on the result point on the chart, which can be associated either with the primary y-axis value or with the secondary y-axis value.
When you load the selected result dataset, you will see the results of the optimization, in the same way as when you load a Results data.
If you want to open the input data you should click on the Setup and Run button.
Or you can also check the input data by clicking on the
After optimization the input data will be read-only.
If you want to save the created Trade-Off Analysis you can click on the page action icon
and select Save Trade-off Analysis Results Data.
In this case a dialog page will show up and you can define the name of the Trade-Off Analysis result.
If you want to create a new Trade-Off Analysis scenario, you can click on on the page action icon
and select Create new Trade-Off Analysis.
In this case the Input Data dialog page will show up.
Load Trade-Off Analysis data
Besides loading the data for a single scenario you can also load the data from a previously conducted analysis, meaning only the data on the Trade-Off Analysis page, so, the chart and its corresponding input data. You can open the list of the saved Trade-Off Analyses by clicking on the Trade-Off Analysis Results button on the status bar.
After clicking on the Load Trade-Off Analysis Data, a dialog page will show up where you can select which Trade-Off Analysis data you want to load.
Delete Trade-Off Analysis data
On the Data Management page you can delete Trade-Off Analysis results, just like any other data. You can read more about deleting data on the Manage Data.
Select the Trade-Off Analysis result dataset you want to delete by ticking the corresponding checkbox in the Mark for Deletion column in the Results Table.
Once you have selected the rows you want to delete, you can then proceed with their deletion by clicking the
icon in the lower right corner.
When you delete a Trade-Off Analysis result dataset, all the created case files related to the deleted Trade-Off Analysis will be deleted.