Tradeoff View
Your client doesn't want the fastest process. They want the one worth paying for. Tradeoff View plots each scenario so you can show where more capacity stops paying off.
What it shows
Each dot is a scenario. The Y axis is what you value, such as throughput. The X axis is what you pay for it, such as cost or capacity. Dots from a study are joined by a line, so a sweep reads as a curve.
Look for the bend. While the line climbs steeply, each step buys real improvement. Where it flattens, you're paying more for little gain, and that's usually the operating point to recommend.
Open it
You need at least two completed runs, and it's most useful with a study. You can open it two ways:
- Choose View tradeoff on a study, in the study's footer or in the What-if Runs list. The chart starts with that study.
- Choose View tradeoff for all N scenarios under What to try next on the Overview tab.
Tradeoff Analysis depends on your plan. See Plans and limits.
Pick your axes
Quodsi starts with sensible axes, and you can change both. The picker groups what you can plot. Levers holds the settings a study swept, and the other groups hold results: for the whole scenario, or for one activity, resource, entity, state, generator or requirement. For most outputs you can choose mean, min or max across replications.
| Client question | Y axis | X axis |
|---|---|---|
| How many nurses do we need? | Total throughput | The Capacity lever |
| What does better service cost? | Total throughput | Total cost |
| Does more staff cut waiting? | Average cycle time | The Capacity lever |
| Where's the limit on WIP? | Total throughput | Average entities in the process |
Read a point
Hover over a dot for the scenario's name and values. Click it for a detail card that lists its inputs, the two measures and its replication count. Open scenario takes you to that scenario's results.
Compare more than one study
The study picker at the top lets you overlay studies. Each study gets its own color. Add scenarios adds individual scenarios from other studies or standalone runs as an extra series.
Two notes may appear under the toolbar:
- X is constant across the plotted points. The points share the same X value, so pick another axis.
- No value on the current X or Y axis. A study or scenario can't be drawn on these axes, usually because it didn't sweep that lever. Pick a shared measure, such as Cost or Throughput.
Common mistakes
- Reading noise as a bend. With few replications, a small wiggle can be chance. Raise Replications before you defend a specific point. See Why one run can mislead.
- Sweeping the wrong setting. If the curve is flat from the start, you may be sweeping something that isn't the constraint. Check Flow Analytics.
- Stopping at the chart. Open the point you recommend and check its verdict. A cheap option that falls behind isn't an option.