IVONNE: an interactive network model-building system

Abstract

Fast and efficient mathematical programming routines have been developed for network flow problems, but due to their complexity the average manager or lay analyst does not possess the mathematical or programming background required to construct the models or use the solution technology available. This problem is solved here by the development of an interactive network generating system designed to create, update, and solve a singla-commodity network with only a minimal knowledge of network structure and only a rudimentary mastery of computer terminal use. This is accomplished through the interactive use of a set of FORTRAN programs which lead the user, step-by-step, through the construction of the network by a series of queries, and which links with GNET, a machine independent FORTRAN program for the solution of capacitated network flow problems.