Sample: Custom scenario providers and parallel execution

This sample describes how to run simulations using custom scenario providers and key performance indicators (KPI) against different formatted scenarios, and shows how to create a scenario provider to execute a large number of scenarios in parallel.

Time required

20 minutes

Prerequisites

You must have Rule Designer installed to use this sample.

Check that the sample server is started before you use this sample. For more information about starting the sample server, see Starting and stopping the sample server.

Description

The sample defines custom scenario providers to read data from sources other than Excel, which is the default format for storing scenarios.

It also shows how to execute scenarios in sequence and how to execute them in parallel.

Sequential execution: only one scenario can execute at a time, and after that scenario is finished, the next is executed.
Parallel execution: uses multiple processing elements simultaneously to execute a simulation. This is accomplished by breaking the simulation into independent parts, which are then solved concurrently, or in parallel.

You run tests and simulations on rule projects by defining usage scenarios and KPIs. You then use KPIs to evaluate the performance of a simulation.

This sample shows you how to:

Define a custom scenario provider that gets data from sources other than Excel.
Compute custom KPIs and store the results of the simulations in a database.
Define a parallel scenario provider that inherits from the provider that retrieves data from a database.
Compute custom KPIs that support parallel execution using a parallel scenario provider.

In this sample, you define custom scenario providers that handle the different data:

RandomData: Generates random data for a given number of scenarios.
HistoricalData: Reads data from a Derby database.
ParallelHistoricalData: Reads data from a Derby database and executes simulation parts in parallel

To demonstrate the new custom scenario providers, you create simulations in Decision Center.

The key features of this sample include:

Defining a custom scenario provider by implementing IlrScenarioProvider.
Defining a custom parallel scenario provider by implementing IlrParallelScenarioProvider.
Defining custom KPIs by implementing IlrKPI.
Defining custom KPI results by implementing IlrKPIResult.
Defining custom parallel KPIs by implementing IlrKPIResultAggregator.
Defining the viewer and editor corresponding to the provider in Decision Center by implementing IlrScenarioSuiteResourcesRenderer.
Defining a custom viewer for a KPI in Decision Center by implementing IlrScenarioSuiteKPIRenderer.
Creating simulations in Decision Center using the custom scenario providers.
Viewing a DVS project in Rule Designer.