What are Network Optimisation simulations?

All about the Network Optimisation experiment type in the Simulations section

Introduction

Network Optimisation is an experiment type within the 7bridges simulations feature. This experiment type allows customers to create simulations that make optimised demand fulfilment decisions for your customer orders as shipments from the fulfilment locations in your network. It's a way of running 'what if' scenarios on your customer demand fulfilment.

At a high-level the simulation engine optimises over the following dimensions:

• Which Logistics Service Provider (LSP) account and service to use for a demand fulfilment (shipment)
• Which location to ship the demand items from
• How relaxing due dates affects cost and service level

 

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What outputs are given?

For each simulation in an experiment you can download a CSV file with the full output data for that simulation. It shows the demand items and how they were fulfilled; both originally and in the simulation you ran.

 

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How to get access?

Currently only customers on Optimise Advanced have access to Freight Load Optimisation experiments. If you would like to get access, please discuss with your Customer Success Manager.

 

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Setup needed to run Network Optimisation simulations

There are a few things that are needed to be able to run these simulations:

1. Fulfilment Locations added

The simulation engine uses the Fulfilment Locations that are setup in the Locations section of the 7bridges software. Please make sure you have added all of your fulfilment locations in this section.

In order to match the origin address on shipments within the software to a configured Fulfilment Location (in the Locations section), you must have a city, postal code and country for each Location entry.

2. Rate cards added and configured

Rate cards must be uploaded to the Providers section and then configured to be ready for use in simulations. If you have uploaded the valid rate card to the providers section then it will be automatically configured for use in simulations. If you are not seeing the account number in the list when creating a simulation please raise a support issue specifying as much detail as possible about the experiment, simulation and account.

 

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How to run a Network Optimisation simulation

1. Navigate to the Simulations section in the 7bridges software.
2. Click the button to create a New experiment.
3. Click the button to Choose Network Optimisation.
4. You now have to choose or upload the input data for the simulations, there are a few options here:
   1. Select data from within 7bridges by choosing a date range, set of Provider accounts and fulfilment locations. This will then prepare a set of demand data based on the invoice and shipment data that has already been standardised in the 7bridges software.
   2. Upload data into the 7bridges software by downloading the template file and populating it with the demand data you want to experiment with. Be sure to populate all columns in the demand data file before uploading and continuing.
5. When you have chosen the input data, click the Next button.
6. The software will now calculate the demand data before proceeding to the next step; this will ensure the demand data has enough rows for a suitable simulation bit not too many that would result in the simulation taking too long to complete. If it completes successfully then you can proceed. If not then you will need to adjust the input data settings
7. The experiment is now complete and you can setup your first simulation
8. Choose the settings you want to apply (see more detail on these below) and then select the Provider accounts to use in the simulation. Only accounts that have been configured fully will be ready for use in simulations.
9. If you are an Optimise Intermediate or Advanced customer you can also choose to use Market Insights rate cards in your simulation.
10. You will also see how many simulation credits you have remaining, 1 simulation uses 1 credit.
11. Click the Run simulation button to start the simulation engine with the settings you have created.

The simulation engine will now take the input data and run the first simulation according to your settings. You can see the status of the simulation at any time on the experiment page (this is the page you see after creating the experiment and first simulation). You can also expand each simulation row to see more details:

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Simulation settings

When creating a simulation in a Network Optimisation experiment there are a number of options you can choose. These apply constraints or controls to the simulation engine.

Fulfilment location allocation

Activating this allows you to choose which fulfilment locations are allowed to be used in fulfilling demand shipments.

Shipping method selection

This allows the simulation engine to choose a different shipping method than the original one in the demand data. When deactivated, it's a way of exactly matching to the original shipping method name. This has great interplay with 'respect due dates' as that determines if the shipping method selected by the simulation engine needs to arrive by the due date or not.

Respect due dates

If deactivated, the simulation engine has the most flexibility and can deliver shipments later than their previous delivery date.

 

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Market insights

An additional element to use in Network Optimisation simulations, Market Insight rate cards can give you a cross section of the market and allow you to try out potential rate cards that you may be able to access through a procurement exercise. 

Find out more about Market Insight rate cards here

 

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How to get support with simulations