Create Optimization Request - Transportation Smartbench

Use this page to create an optimization request for the selected Plan. The optimization may start immediately, or processing may not start until other optimization requests have completed.

In Transportation Smartbench, the Optimize operation is available on the following entity views:

Load view
Trip view
Shipment Leg view
Booking view
Optimization Request view, titled as New

In most environments, the Optimize operation must be performed only after the following operations are performed:

From Shipment Leg view, use the "Execute operations across pages" feature for the Attach to Current Plan operation.
From Shipment Leg view, use the "Execute operations across pages" feature for the Select for Optimization operation.
From Shipment view, use the "Execute operations across pages" feature for the Collapse Itinerary operation.
From Load view, use the "Execute operations across pages" feature for the Select Load’s Shipments for Optimization operation.
From Load view, select applicable rows and then update the Load Composition Approved column for all selected rows.

If the Optimize operation is triggered from the web UI or Transportation Smartbench, all shipments, loads, trips, bookings and dock commitments created or modified based on the results of the Optimization Request will have a Created By User ID or Last Changed By User ID equal to the ID of the user that triggered the Optimize operation. If the Optimize operation is triggered via API, the User ID assigned to transactions created or modified based on the results of the Optimization Request will be the User ID explicitly provided when the operation was invoked, if specified, else it will be the Created By User ID for the applicable Plan.

Note: Optimization requests can be accessed in Update mode only when the Status is Wait or Hold.

Plan

Plan ID: The Plan ID for the optimization request. This will default based on the Current Plan ID for the current user when the optimization request is created. Users can change the Plan ID to any in the list of authorized plans.
Description: The description for the selected load plan. This is not updatable from this context. It can be updated by authorized users from the List of Plans.
Eligible Shipment Legs: Displays the number of shipment legs currently in Selected for Optimization status for the selected plan. This number does not include other legs for the same shipment if these were not explicitly selected, nor does it include shipment legs attached to loads that are selected.

Note: This number could change by the time the optimization request is picked up for processing.

Request

Scheduled Date/Time: The scheduled date and time to be used when optimization is performed for this request. Expressed in time zone context of the system. It is editable when the optimization request is accessed in Update mode. If the Earliest Scheduled Date Source in the Optimizer Server Configuration is “MANAGER_DATE”, Optimizer uses the Scheduled Date/Time as the earliest time that a carrier can depart from the first stop for any load created by the optimization request.
Constraints Override File: This refers to the optimizer constraints file that will be used during optimization. Eligible entries are defined by the optimizer constraints table. This field is editable when the optimization request is accessed in Update mode. The optimizer constraints table in Transportation Manager refers to a location where the actual file is located. This will default to the value previously assigned during the current session. If the current plan specifies an optimizer constraints group ID, only the constraint override files attached to that optimizer constraint group will be displayed during optimization request creation. See List of Optimizer Constraints (Employee) / List of Optimizer Constraints Group (Employee).
Resource Project ID: The CEA resources having the same value as the request's selected Resource Project ID (RPID) will be used to evaluate loads and trips during optimization. All loads and trips that are created or modified by the optimization will be set to the RPID associated with the optimization request. When creating an optimization request, the RPID associated with the Plan is assigned to the optimization request, by default. For loads assigned to a trip, the RPIDs on loads do not have to be the same across all loads and also does not have to be the same as for the trip. Trip level RPID will be honored when assigning CEA Resources to a trip. A load level RPID that is different from a trip level value would be used only if the load is subsequently removed from the trip. Similarly, a booking may contain loads having different RPIDs although the booking itself does not refer to a RPID.
Optimizer Instance Group ID: Specifies the group of optimizer instances that should be used when optimizing. One instance from the group will be selected. A default will be established based on the optimizer instance group where the “Is Default” flag is True. At any time, a maximum of one optimizer instance group can be designated as the default. This can be modified when the optimization request is accessed in Update mode. Transportation Manager will not dynamically determine which optimizer instances are available at the moment when an optimization request is created. Any active Optimizer Instance Group ID will be accepted. Only active optimizer instance groups will be available for selection when triggering an optimization request. This field will be mandatory when active optimizer instance groups have been configured in Transportation Manager. See Optimizer Instance Groups.
Request Type: User-defined type for an optimization request. The default value is established from the current plan.

Filters

Note: A text tag of “(modified)” will be displayed next to an entity filter () icon as a visual cue to users that filter criteria is altered (that is, whenever currently applied filters do not match the filters of the currently selected search).

Include Eligible Loads: Indicates whether eligible loads should be selected to be used by optimizer's re-planning, trip and booking building strategies. If additional load filters are specified (either by selecting a saved load search or by using the load filter icon to apply ad-hoc filters), only loads that satisfy the selection criteria and meet fixed eligibility requirements will be selected. See “Select loads to be Sent to Optimizer” for fixed eligibility requirements.

Note: Filter criteria apply only to loads not currently attached to a trip or booking. Loads attached to trips or bookings are included when the corresponding trip or booking is selected for optimization.

Include Eligible Trips: Indicates whether eligible trips should be selected to be used by optimizer's re-planning and trip building strategies. If additional trip filters are specified (either by selecting a saved trip search or by using the trip filter icon to apply ad-hoc filters), only the trips that satisfy the selection criteria and meet fixed eligibility requirements will be selected. See “Select trips to be Sent to Optimizer” for fixed eligibility requirements.
Include Eligible Bookings: Indicates whether eligible bookings should be selected to be used by optimizer’s re-planning and booking strategies. If additional booking filters are specified (either by selecting a saved booking search or by using the booking filter icon to apply ad-hoc filters), only the bookings that satisfy the selection criteria and meet fixed eligibility requirements are selected See “Select bookings to be Sent to Optimizer” for fixed eligibility requirements.

Note: Filtering for optimization may not occur immediately. Selection of eligible loads, trips and bookings is one of the first steps performed when the actual optimization process commences. Optimization may not start immediately for the Optimization Requests being created by this operation if other requests are still active.