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Controls

Controls overview

Controls are parameters which could be changed during model optimization. Simply speaking: “While playing with controls we want to achieve best objectives without violating the constraints”.

Example.
Objective: to maximize the profit over the next five years.
Constraint: Debt/Equity =< ⅕ for each month.
Control: Number of sales managers 5-30 with rate of change not more than 4 per month.
Control: Monthly investments 0-18000$.

Then AIMES will find the best combination of monthly investments (in range 0-18000$) and number of sales managers (in range 5-30 hiring not more than 4 per month) that will give maximal profit over 5 years without making the Debt/Equity ratio more than 1:5 at any moment.

Add control

Prerequisite to create controls. Controls could be created only for a valid model. AIMES software considers a model valid if a scenario of the model could be calculated without errors. Simply speaking the sequence of users actions should be:

  • Create your model design and fill it with data;
  • Go to Scenarios view and create at least one scenario;
  • Calculate this scenario by clicking on the triangle located to the right of scenario name;
  • In the pop-up menu there will be a “Calculation success” message.
  • Only now AIMES software “knows” that model contains no errors and allows users to set up controls.

To set up controls:

  • Go to the Optimization view.
  • In the scenarios menu on the left there will be a list of successfully calculated scenarios. Left click on one of them to select it for the optimization process.
  • At the main area right below the toolbar several horizontal segments will appear. The most left of them will be blue. These segments are called an Optimization stepper. Stepper is a visual tool representing several steps of setting up an optimization process. If you hover the mouse pointer over any of these segments the step name will pop-up above the segment (Add objectives, Add constraints, Add controls, Priorities and Algorithms). When you open the Optimization view the Add objectives step opens by default. You may add objectives first and then proceed to adding controls. But you can also add controls first. To do it hover the mouse pointer over the second left segment of the Optimization stepper. A note Add controls” will appear. Left click on the segment. Another way to get to adding controls step is to click on the blue button (marked Next*) on the right.
  • At the main area named Add control an option to Add formula or python nodes will appear.
  • Left click on the field with the + sign.
  • A drop-down list of all formula and python nodes of your project will appear.
  • Click on the name of the node which contains the data which you want to constrain. If the drop-down list is too long just start typing the name of the desired node in the field with a + sign. The drop-down list will be filtered for the node names containing letters you type.
  • A blank table from the selected node will appear in the main area.
  • Hover the mouse pointer over the blank cell in the table and click on the cell.
  • Two bars with a notice Fill in the value will appear in the cell. In the upper bar you may set the upper limit for the values in the cell. In the lower bar you may set the lower limit for the values in the cell. It is not obligatory to set both upper and lower limits. You may set only one of them.
  • Right click on the upper or the lower bar and a pop-up menu will appear. Another way to summon this pop-up menu is to click on the pictogram of a drop-down list to the right of the Select control notice in the cell.
  • The following options are available for setting up limits:
  • for upper limit: “equal or less than”;
  • for lower limit: “equal or more than”;
  • While setting upper and lower limits for the control we may also set the rate of change (ROC) in the same menu. ROC could be set either in absolute numbers or in percentages. For example: if we set ROC=5% that means the value in this node can not grow faster than by 5% per the project time period (month, quartal, year, etc depending on the project time period).
  • To set up the duration of the control period, hover the mouse pointer over the control bar. Two vertical bars will appear at the left and right edge of the control bar. Hover the mouse pointer over one of those bars, left click and drag the control border to the right or left to the desired time period.

Edit control

To change a control duration, hover the mouse pointer over the control bar. Vertical “handle”-bars will appear at both ends of the control bar. Drag those handles to the desired time period to change the constraint duration.
To edit the control limits (min, max) or their rate of change right click on the upper or lower part of the constraint bar. Then change the desired options in the summoned pop-up menu. For details of options see the Create control section.

Delete control

To delete a control right click on it. Then click on the Delete control menu item in the summoned pop-up menu. Another way to delete a control is to select it (left click on constraint bar and it will get a blue frame) and then press the Delete button on your keyboard.