Modeling multi-stage decision optimization problems
This work addresses the low acceptance of multi-stage optimization techniques due to modeling complexity, offering a domain-specific simplification for practitioners in optimization and management.
The paper tackles the complexity of modeling multi-stage decision optimization problems under uncertainty by proposing a simplification through meta models that can be instantiated in various programming languages, such as R, instead of extending existing optimization languages.
Multi-stage optimization under uncertainty techniques can be used to solve long-term management problems. Although many optimization modeling language extensions as well as computational environments have been proposed, the acceptance of this technique is generally low, due to the inherent complexity of the modeling and solution process. In this paper a simplification to annotate multi-stage decision problems under uncertainty is presented - this simplification contrasts with the common approach to create an extension on top of an existing optimization modeling language. This leads to the definition of meta models, which can be instanced in various programming languages. An example using the statistical computing language R is shown.