Autogenerate

To model a supply chain a user needs to provide predefined inputs, however some of these inputs can be autogenerated by the system based on user requirements.

Calculate Distance

User may calculate distance for any source destination pair in transportation policies table. User may provide which method to use to calculate distances:

• Straight line plus circuity factor: Here system calculates straight line distance based on haversine formulae and add circuity factor to it. Circuity factor is defined in model setup parameters.
• Google web service: User must provide google API key to use this service, here system sends distance request to google web service and then populate actual distances.

User also has option to populate distance for all the records in transportation policies or just the records with no distance populated.

Note

Please ensure all the locations are geocoded properly before using this option.

Groups

User may create/update/delete groups using this option. Groups are required to model constraints on the same set of item/location/mode/period.

A group can be of 5 types:

• Item
• Facility
• Customer
• Mode
• Period

Create New Group

User may create a new group using this option, it requires user to input the following:

• Name: A unique name which should not be same as of any item/location/period/mode. Also, user cannot use “All” as a group name
• Group Source: User can choose group source as the type of group user wants to create. It can be of 5 types listed above
• Group Members: User can choose group members based on available members pane.

Update Existing Group

User may add/remove group members of an existing group. User cannot change group name or group type using this option.

Delete

User may delete an existing group from the model, however it will NOT check the model recursively to find out if you have any existing reference of the same group.

Sourcing Policies

User may generate sourcing policies by proving some inputs. Before generating sourcing policies, user must ensure that it has populated item, location and demand table. There are 3 types of sourcing of sourcing policies:

• Production: It specifies what items are produced at which facilities. It will create all the combinations for selected item filter and source filter.

* Interfacility: It specifies what interfacility transfers can happen for which items. It creates all combinations for item, source, and destination filter. User also has option to populate interfacility sourcing for only those source item combination which already exists

* Customer Sourcing: It specifies which customers can procure what item from which facility. It creates all combinations for item, source, and destination filter, it will also check demand table and generate sourcing policies for only those item-customers which are present in demand table. User also has option to populate customer sourcing for only those source item combination which already exists

Generate Periods

User may generate multiples periods based on model horizon and the intervals required.

Start and End Dates are derived from model setup parameters, user needs to define how it wants to split model horizon (Days/Months/Quarter/Year) and in how may intervals.

Inventory Policies

System will populate inventory policies table based on data provided in sourcing policies table. It will extract all unique item source combination and populate the same in inventory policies table. User must ensure that the data is populated in sourcing policies table to use this functionality.

Transportation Policies

System will populate transportation policies based on unique source destination pair in sourcing policies table. User may also input number of modes required for each lane and then name those modes.

By default, transportation policies are populated with distance based on haversine formulae and circuity factor.