A Flexible Tool for Scenario Analysis of Network Demand

This is another in a sequence of papers reporting on the development of innovative methods and tools for estimating demand requirements for network supply capabilities. An extension of the demand estimation methodology, this paper focuses on steps required to assess the adequacy of performance of candidate networks by means of an integrated tool. The steps include mapping units in a scenario to units in the associated database to determine their aggregate demand, developing an appropriate logical network with computational constraints dictated by the scenario, and calculating inter-unit demand of the units in the logical network. Because of the complexity of the end-to-end process, assuring repeatability while facilitating rapid exploration of issues is a challenge. Earlier tools implementing this process were fragmented and prone to error, requiring significant analyst effort to accomplish even the smallest changes. To address these limitations, the process has been implemented in an easy to use, integrated tool. This allows complete flexibility in manipulating data and promotes rapid, but repeatable analyses of tailored scenarios.