IBM Decision Optimization on Cloud Python Client samples

IBM Decision Optimization on Cloud (DOcloud) allows you to solve optimization problems on the cloud without installing or configuring a solver. We handle the connection so that you can jump into coding faster.

This documentation describes the IBM DOcloud Python Client samples.

The Python Client samples demonstrate how to use the Python Client to submit a problem to the IBM Decision Optmization on Cloud service.

Requirements

This library requires Python version 2.7.9 (or later), or 3.4 (or later).

Install the library

Before you run the samples, you must install the IBM Decision Optimization on Cloud Python Client.

    pip install docloud

Sample contents

The sample consists of an archive which contains a directory called examples containing two subdirectories, models and trucking. The models/ directory contains the OPL .dat and .mod files. The trucking/ directory contains the following sample files :

• truck_basic.py contains the code for running the basic trucking sample
• truck_more_options.py contains the code for running the trucking sample with more options
• trucking_json.py contains the code for running the trucking sample with JSON streaming
• model.py contains namedtuples and classes to define the problem
• factory.py contains a problem factory for the samples
• multijob.py contains the code for running multiple jobs concurrently using the same model, but with different data.

Dependencies

These third-party dependencies are installed with pip

• requests
• enum34
• six

License

This library is delivered under the Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004 (see LICENSE.txt).

To run the basic sample

• Paste your base URL and API Key (clientID) in the truck_basic.py file
• In a command prompt, navigate to the examples directory that contains the subdirectory trucking and type: python trucking/truck_basic.py

You can see the solution in the results.json file. Here is an extract of the sample results:

{
  "Result" : {
    "totalCost" : 29750.0
  },
  "OutBoundAggregated" : [ {
    "spoke" : "A",
    "hub" : "H",
    "truckType" : "BigTruck",
    "quantity" : 727
  }, {
    "spoke" : "B",
    "hub" : "H",
    "truckType" : "SmallTruck",
    "quantity" : 335
  }, {
    "spoke" : "B",
    "hub" : "H",
    "truckType" : "BigTruck",
    "quantity" : 669
  }, {
    "spoke" : "C",
    "hub" : "H",
    "truckType" : "SmallTruck",
    "quantity" : 308
  }, {
    "spoke" : "C",
    "hub" : "H",
    "truckType" : "BigTruck",
    "quantity" : 699
  }, 
.
.
.

To run the sample with more options

• Paste your base URL and API Key (clientID) in the truck_more_options.py file
• In a command prompt, navigate to the examples directory that contains the subdirectory trucking and type: python trucking/truck_more_options.py

As well as the solution results file, you can also see the log from the solve engine in the solver.log file.

To run the sample with JSON encoding

• Paste your base URL and API Key (clientID) in the truck_json.py file
• In a command prompt, navigate to the examples directory that contains the subdirectory trucking and type: python trucking/truck_json.py

You can see the solution in the results.json file.

To run multiple job requests from the same model with different data

• If you are using Python 2, install the futures package to run this sample. Type: pip install futures
• Paste your base URL and API Key (clientID) in the multijob.py file
• In a command prompt, navigate to the examples directory that contains the subdirectory trucking and type: python trucking/multijob.py

Trucking sample project description

A shipping company uses a dispatching system to schedule its truck fleet. The dispatching system collects orders from the order management system, assigns the orders to trucks, and schedules the departures and deliveries. Its functions include generating bills of lading, loading tables, route maps for the drivers' GPS, and departure time-tables. It also updates the order management system with projected delivery windows, which in turn, informs the recipients. Currently, the assignment of orders to trucks, which defines the truck routes, is done heuristically, using a set of business rules that the company has found to be effective in the past. However, the VP of Operations believes that substantial cost savings and on-time performance improvements might be achievable with a more systematic routing algorithm. The company's Operations Research department has created such an algorithm using IBM Decision Optimization on Cloud. The IT department now has been tasked to deploy this routing algorithm integrated in the dispatching system.

A shipping company has a hub and spoke system. The shipments to be delivered are specified by an originating spoke, a destination spoke, and a shipment volume. The trucks have different types defined by a maximum capacity, a speed, and a cost per mile. The model is to assign the right number of trucks to each route in order to minimize the cost of transshipment and meet the volume requirements. There is a minimum departure time and a maximum return time for trucks at a spoke, and a load and unload time at the hub. Trucks of different types travel in different speeds. Therefore, shipments are available at each hub in a timely manner. Volume availability constraints are considered, that is, the shipments that will be carried back from a hub to a spoke by a truck must be available for loading before the truck leaves.

The assumptions are:

• exactly the same number of trucks that go from spoke to hub return from hub to spoke
• each truck arrives at a hub as early as possible and leaves as late as possible
• the shipments can be broken arbitrarily into smaller packages and shipped through different paths