Since we released Analytic Solver V2022 and RASON V2022 last December, we've been hard at work on enhancements to both products. We've actually shipped three "point releases" of Analytic Solver, V2022.01, .02, and .03 -- but we haven't made any formal announcements until now. As most of our customers know, Analytic Solver Cloud version is updated automatically for everyone, while for Analytic Solver Desktop version, you just need to visit Solver.com and login, click the Download option that appears in the top blue menu bar, and download and run our SolverSetup program.
Multi-Dimensional Modeling in Analytic Solver Cloud
In Analytic Solver V2022.02, released on June 17, we completed the (rather challenging) engineering work to enable all the features of Multi-Dimensional Modeling that have been available in Analytic Solver Desktop for some time, to work in Analytic Solver Cloud version. You can use these features effectively in models where decision variables and/or constraints are "indexed over" more than two "dimensions" -- for example a set of products, set of regions, set of time periods, and so on. (When there are just two dimensions that infrequently change, most users find that simply placing one dimension on the rows, the other on the columns of a worksheet works well. But when there are more dimensions, or when their sizes or elements frequently change, these Multi-Dimensional Modeling features can be a huge help.) Here's an example Product Mix model in Excel for the Web:
As with all Analytic Solver major features, you'll find a variety of example models available to help you learn, by simply choosing Help - Examples. There are currently six multi-dimensional Optimization example models, and four multi-dimensional Simulation example models. Multi-Dimensional Modeling offers a very rich set of capabilities, including dimensions defined over sets of values in cell ranges or Pivot Tables, and cubes that compute values across multiple dimensions. You can also use a parametric dimension to run multiple optimizations, simulations, and/or calculations, systemically varying a parameter value -- and collect results in a computed cube. To learn more, please read the full chapter on Dimensional Modeling in the Frontline Solvers User Guide -- available in PDF form at Help - User Guides.
More Enhancements Coming Soon!
We usually ship two major releases per year, and 2022 is no exception. Watch this blog for news about Analytic Solver V2022.5 as well as further releases of Analytic Solver, Solver SDK, and RASON, later this year!