Compare Optimization Scenarios

It is often desired to compare the output of two or more scenarios in order to conduct what-if analysis.  This can show, for example, the effect that a business constraint has on the final output metrics, or the tradeoffs being made between two different objective functions.

To get started, after all the scenarios you wish to compare have finished to successful execution, select any of them in the list of scenarios within the correct Scenario Library.  Then click Scenario Analysis -> Compare Scenarios from the Selected Scenario drop down menu or from the right click menu.

 

 

You will begin with a blank canvas with options at the top:

Scenarios/Versions - select the scenarios and versions of each that you wish to compare.  You can use the filter box at the top of the drop down list to filter to just scenarios that are of interest for comparison.  Note that you can select any combination of different scenarios, or even different versions of the same scenario.  Only scenario/versions with successful run are shown, and older version may not appear if they were purged.

Chart/Table - choose to view the results as either a chart or table.  A chart is the better choice for analysis of a smaller number of combinations of scenarios, analysis variables and metrics.  Otherwise, a table is usually preferable.

Analyze By - select the main analysis variable, or the default "Overall Analysis".  The Overall Analysis selection will summarize results aggregated to the level of the full scenario output.  This list shows all attributes and data elements selected in the various scenario settings except those with too many unique values.

Metrics to Analyze - choose the metric(s) you wish to analyze.  All metrics created in the scenario settings are available.  Note that is you are displaying as a chart, no more than five selected metrics will be shown at once.

Go - click this button to refresh the window with the analysis results.

 

Results will be similar to the following examples of a chart and tabular output: