Planning with the vf:Vocabulary

I wrote a much longer version of this called Dependent Demand for a PLoP conference in 1997. This is the shorter version, but maybe still difficult to read because I am trying to qualify all the vf:Names. (I know, we have not decided on all of those vf:Names yet. When we do, I will come back and fix this.)

Basically, you traverse a graph of vf:ProcessTypes backwards from the last vf:OutputType, connecting vf:InputTypes with vf:OutputTypes that have matching vf:ResourceTypes. See Graph search algorithms.

Take each of the requests for quantities of vf:ResourceTypes as a demand and start the traversal.

Start:

• First check for onhand and available vf:Resources, or previously scheduled vf:PlannedOutputs, that are not yet allocated to any demand.

• Allocate any that you find to the highest priority demand (where highest priority usually means earliest delivery date). (In terms of some of our discussions here, those are soft allocations, known only in the computer system.)

• For demands that find no or insufficient available inventory or previously planned outputs, look for a vf:ProcessType that can create some. If you can't find a vf:ProcessType, suggest a purchase.

  • (Note: a vf:Recipe is not really a thing, it's just a graph. A requested vf:ResourceType may have one or more vf:ProcessTypes that can create some vf:EconomicResources of that type. Each of those vf:ProcessTypes may have vf:InputTypes the specify some other vf:ResourceTypes, and each of those vf:ResourceTypes may have vf:ProcessTypes that can create them, and so on, recursively, until you can't find any more creation vf:ProcessTypes. If you find more than one creation vf:ProcessType, you will need some way to select one.)

• If you find a vf:ProcessType,

  • then schedule a vf:Process of that type, with a vf:PlannedOutput of the required quantity of the demanded vf:ResourceType.
  • Then schedule vf:PlannedInputs for each of the vf:InputTypes of that vf:ProcessType, with their quantities scaled to the quantity of the planned output.
  • Then start over from the Start with each of those new vf:InputTypes as the demand.