AIMMS (acronym for Advanced Interactive Multidimensional Modeling System) is a

prescriptive analytics Prescriptive analytics is a form of business analytics which suggests decision options for how to take advantage of a future opportunity or mitigate a future risk, and shows the implication of each decision option. It enables an enterprise to cons ...

software company with offices in the Netherlands, United States, China and Singapore. It has two main product offerings that provide modeling and optimization capabilities across a variety of industries. The AIMMS Prescriptive Analytics Platform allows advanced users to develop optimization-based applications and deploy them to business users. AIMMS SC Navigator, launched in 2017, is built on the AIMMS Prescriptive Analytics Platform and provides configurable Apps for supply chain teams. SC Navigator provides supply chain analytics to non-advanced users.

History

AIMMS B.V. was founded in 1989 by mathematician Johannes Bisschop under the name of Paragon Decision Technology. His vision was to make optimization more approachable by building models rather than programming. In Bisschop’s view, modeling was able to build the bridge between the people who had problems and the people helping them solve those problems. AIMMS began as a software system designed for modeling and solving large-scale optimization and scheduling-type problems. AIMMS is considered to be one of the five most important algebraic modeling languages. Bisschop was awarded with

INFORMS The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is an international society for practitioners in the fields of operations research (O.R.), management science, and analytics. It was established in 1995 with the merger of ...

Impact Prize for his work in this language. In 2003, AIMMS was acquired by a small private equity firm. This led to the creation of a partnership program, further technical investment and the evolution of the platform. In 2011, the company launched AIMMS PRO, a way to deploy applications to end-users who do not have a technical background. This was quickly followed by the ability to publish and customize applications using a browser so that decision support applications are available on any device. The company grew and was in 2017 recognized as a top B2B technology in the Netherlands, and was named one of the fastest-growing companies in the Netherlands for the second consecutive year.

AIMMS SC Navigator Platform

Along with a growing interest in embedded advanced analytics for

supply chain management In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) is the management of the flow of goods and services including all processes that transform raw materials into final products between businesses and locations. This can include the movement and stor ...

, AIMMS developed the AIMMS SC Navigator Platform to allow for supply chain analytics. It was launched in October 2017 with three initial cloud-based Apps: Supply Chain Network Design, Sales & Operations Planning and Data Navigator. In 2018 they added Center of Gravity and Product Lifecycle.

AIMMS Prescriptive Analytics Platform

The AIMMS Prescriptive Analytics Platform consists of an

algebraic modeling language Algebraic modeling languages (AML) are high-level computer programming languages for describing and solving high complexity problems for large scale mathematical computation (i.e. large scale optimization type problems). One particular advantage of ...

, an

integrated development environment An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source code editor, build automation tools a ...

for both editing models and creating a

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

around these models, and a graphical end-user environment. AIMMS is linked to multiple

solver A solver is a piece of mathematical software, possibly in the form of a stand-alone computer program or as a software library, that 'solves' a mathematical problem. A solver takes problem descriptions in some sort of generic form and calculates t ...

s through the AIMMS Open Solver Interface. Supported solvers include

CPLEX IBM ILOG CPLEX Optimization Studio (often informally referred to simply as CPLEX) is an optimization software package. In 2004, the work on CPLEX earned the first INFORMS Impact Prize. History The CPLEX Optimizer was named for the simplex me ...

MOSEK MOSEK is a software package for the solution of linear, mixed-integer linear, quadratic, mixed-integer quadratic, quadratically constraint, conic and convex nonlinear mathematical optimization problems. The applicability of the solver varies wide ...

FICO Xpress The FICO Xpress optimizer is a commercial optimization solver for linear programming (LP), mixed integer linear programming (MILP), convex quadratic programming (QP), convex quadratically constrained quadratic programming (QCQP), second-order co ...

, CBC, Conopt,

MINOS In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten ...

IPOPT IPOPT, short for "Interior Point OPTimizer, pronounced I-P-Opt", is a software library for large scale nonlinear optimization of continuous systems. It is written in Fortran and C and is released under the EPL (formerly CPL). IPOPT implement ...

SNOPT SNOPT, for Sparse Nonlinear OPTimizer, is a software package for solving large-scale nonlinear optimization problems written by Philip Gill, Walter Murray and Michael Saunders. SNOPT is mainly written in Fortran, but interfaces to C, C++, Pyth ...

KNITRO Artelys Knitro is a commercial software package for solving large scale nonlinear mathematical optimization problems. KNITRO – (the original solver name) short for "Nonlinear Interior point Trust Region Optimization" (the "K" is silent) – wa ...

and CP Optimizer. AIMMS features a mixture of declarative and imperative programming styles. Formulation of optimization models takes place through declarative language elements such as sets and indices, as well as scalar and multidimensional parameters, variables and constraints, which are common to all

s, and allow for a concise description of most problems in the domain of mathematical optimization.

Units of measurement A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude (mathematics), magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can ...

are natively supported in the language, and compile- and runtime unit analysis may be employed to detect modeling errors. Procedures and

control flow In computer science, control flow (or flow of control) is the order in which individual statements, instructions or function calls of an imperative program are executed or evaluated. The emphasis on explicit control flow distinguishes an ''imper ...

statements are available in AIMMS for * the exchange of data with external data sources such as

spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

and text files * data pre- and post-processing tasks around optimization models * user interface event handling * the construction of hybrid algorithms for problem types for which no direct efficient solvers are available. To support the re-use of common modeling components, AIMMS allows modelers to organize their model in user model

libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

. AIMMS supports a wide range of mathematical optimization problem types: *

Linear programming Linear programming (LP), also called linear optimization, is a method to achieve the best outcome (such as maximum profit or lowest cost) in a mathematical model whose requirements are represented by linear function#As a polynomial function, li ...

Quadratic programming Quadratic programming (QP) is the process of solving certain mathematical optimization problems involving quadratic functions. Specifically, one seeks to optimize (minimize or maximize) a multivariate quadratic function subject to linear constra ...

Nonlinear programming In mathematics, nonlinear programming (NLP) is the process of solving an optimization problem where some of the constraints or the objective function are nonlinear. An optimization problem is one of calculation of the extrema (maxima, minima or sta ...

* Mixed-integer programming * Mixed-integer nonlinear programming *

Global optimization Global optimization is a branch of applied mathematics and numerical analysis that attempts to find the global minima or maxima of a function or a set of functions on a given set. It is usually described as a minimization problem because the max ...

* Complementarity problems (MPECs) *

Stochastic programming In the field of mathematical optimization, stochastic programming is a framework for modeling optimization problems that involve uncertainty. A stochastic program is an optimization problem in which some or all problem parameters are uncertain, ...

Robust optimization Robust optimization is a field of mathematical optimization theory that deals with optimization problems in which a certain measure of robustness is sought against uncertainty that can be represented as deterministic variability in the value of the ...

Constraint programming Constraint programming (CP) is a paradigm for solving combinatorial problems that draws on a wide range of techniques from artificial intelligence, computer science, and operations research. In constraint programming, users declaratively state th ...

Uncertainty Uncertainty refers to epistemic situations involving imperfect or unknown information. It applies to predictions of future events, to physical measurements that are already made, or to the unknown. Uncertainty arises in partially observable or ...

can be taken into account in

deterministic Determinism is a philosophical view, where all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and consi ...

linear and mixed integer optimization models in AIMMS through the specification of additional attributes, such that

stochastic Stochastic (, ) refers to the property of being well described by a random probability distribution. Although stochasticity and randomness are distinct in that the former refers to a modeling approach and the latter refers to phenomena themselv ...

robust Robustness is the property of being strong and healthy in constitution. When it is transposed into a system, it refers to the ability of tolerating perturbations that might affect the system’s functional body. In the same line ''robustness'' ca ...

optimization techniques can be applied alongside the existing deterministic solution techniques. Custom hybrid and decomposition algorithms can be constructed using the GMP system library which makes available at the modeling level many of the basic building blocks used internally by the higher level solution methods present in AIMMS, matrix modification methods, as well as specialized steps for customizing solution algorithms for specific problem types. Optimization solutions created with AIMMS can be used either as a standalone

desktop application A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

or can be embedded as a

software component Component-based software engineering (CBSE), also called component-based development (CBD), is a branch of software engineering that emphasizes the separation of concerns with respect to the wide-ranging functionality available throughout a give ...

in other applications.

Use in industry

AIMMS Prescriptive Analytics Platform is used in a wide range of industries including retail, consumer products, healthcare, oil and chemicals, steel production and agribusiness. GE Grid uses AIMMS as the modeling and optimization engine of its

energy market Energy markets are national and international regulated markets that deal specifically with the trade and supply of energy. Energy market may refer to an electricity market, but can also refer to other sources of energy. Typically energy developm ...

clearing software. Together with GE Grid, AIMMS was part of the analytics team of Midwest ISO that won the

Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences The Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences recognizes excellence in the execution of operations research on the organizational level. About The award is presented annually by the Institute for Operat ...

of 2011 for successfully applying

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...

in the Midwest ISO energy market. In 2012, TNT Express, an AIMMS customer won the Franz Edleman Award for modernizing its operations and reducing its

carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...

. The AIMMS platform was also used by the Dutch Delta team to develop and implement a new method for calculating the most efficient levels of flood protection for the Netherlands and won the Edelman prize in 2013.

References

External links

AIMMS home page

AIMMS user forum

AIMMS blog: How-to, tips & tricks for AIMMS users

Comparison of modeling languages for optimization
{{Mathematical optimization software Computer algebra systems Mathematical optimization software Numerical programming languages Mathematical modeling Algebraic modeling languages Supply chain analytics Supply chain management Supply chain software companies