PowerSolver User Guide

Welcome to PowerSolver

This guide explains how to use PowerSolver to solve your planning and scheduling problems. Whether you're assigning tasks to employees, scheduling shifts, or routing deliveries, this guide will help you get the best results.

Before You Begin

What You Need

Login credentials — Contact your administrator if you don't have them
Your data — Entities (things to assign) and values (resources to assign to)
Your rules — What constraints must the solution follow?

Choosing the Right Problem Type

If You Need To...	Choose This Problem Type	Variable Type
Assign tasks to people	Task Assignment	BASIC
Schedule employees to shifts	Employee Rostering	BASIC
Create class schedules	School Timetabling	BASIC
Schedule maintenance jobs	Maintenance Scheduling	BASIC
Route vehicles to customers	Vehicle Routing	LIST
Optimize cloud resources	Cloud Optimization	BASIC

Important

Vehicle Routing uses LIST variables (one vehicle visits multiple stops). All other types use BASIC variables. See Concepts Guide for details.

The 7-Step Wizard

PowerSolver guides you through 7 steps to define and solve your problem:

Step	Name	What You Do
1	Define Problem	Describe your problem and choose a type
2	List Entities	Enter the things that need to be assigned
3	Define Values	Enter the resources you can assign to
4	Define Constraints	Set the rules your solution must follow
5	Pinned Assignments	Lock specific assignments (optional)
6	Solver Settings	Set timeout and algorithm options
7	Review & Solve	Validate, review, and run the solver

Step 1: Define Your Problem

What to Enter

Field	Required	Description	Example
Problem Statement	Yes	1-2 sentences describing what you're solving	"I need to assign 20 development tasks to my team of 5 developers"
Success Criteria	Yes	What makes a solution "good"	"All tasks assigned, skills matched, workload balanced"
Problem Type	Yes	Select from the dropdown	Task Assignment

Tips

Be specific in your problem statement — it helps the AI advisor give better suggestions
Success criteria should mention your most important goals

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's a Problem	How to Fix
Choosing wrong problem type	Different types have different capabilities	See the table above
Vague problem statement	AI advisor can't help effectively	Be specific about quantities and goals

Step 2: List Your Entities

Entities are the things you need to assign (tasks, shifts, jobs, etc.).

Required Fields

Field	Description	Example
ID	Unique identifier	`TASK-001`
Name	Human-readable description	"Design homepage"

Optional Fields (Depend on Constraints)

Field	Used By Constraint	Description
Duration	`cost`, `time`	How long this takes (hours)
Required Skills	`skill`	Skills needed (comma-separated)
Priority	(display only)	High/Medium/Low
Deadline	`time`	When this must be done

Important

Optional fields are ONLY used if you define a constraint that references them. If you add "deadline" but don't create a deadline constraint, the deadline is ignored.

How to Add Entities

Option 1: Manual Entry

Click "Add Row"
Fill in the fields
Repeat for each entity

Option 2: Import from File

Click "Import from File"
Upload Excel, CSV, or JSON
Map your columns to PowerSolver fields
Review and confirm

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's a Problem	How to Fix
Duplicate IDs	Solver can't distinguish entities	Use unique IDs like `TASK-001`, `TASK-002`
Empty required fields	Validation will fail	Fill in ID and Name for every entity
Adding properties without constraints	Properties are ignored	Only add properties you'll use in constraints

Step 3: Define Your Values

Values are the resources you can assign entities to (employees, time slots, rooms, etc.).

Understanding Value Ranges

PowerSolver supports 1 to 4 value ranges (planning variables):

Variables	What You Define	Example
1	One value range	Developers
2	Two value ranges	Developers + Time Slots
3	Three value ranges	Developers + Time Slots + Rooms
4	Four value ranges	Developers + Time Slots + Rooms + Equipment

Required Fields

Field	Description	Example
ID	Unique identifier	`DEV-ALICE`
Name	Human-readable description	"Alice Chen"

Optional Fields (Depend on Constraints)

Field	Used By Constraint	Description
Skills	`skill`	What this resource can do
Capacity	`capacity`	Maximum workload
Availability	`time`	When available
Hourly Rate	`cost`	Cost per hour

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's a Problem	How to Fix
Not enough values	Solver can't find feasible solution	Add more resources or reduce entities
Skills don't match entity requirements	Skill constraint will always fail	Ensure values have skills that entities need
Zero capacity	Capacity constraint blocks all assignments	Set realistic capacity values

Step 4: Define Constraints

Constraints are the rules your solution must follow.

Constraint Levels

Level	Color	What It Means	If Violated
Hard	🔴 Red	Must be satisfied	Solution is invalid
Medium	🟡 Yellow	Should be satisfied	Significant penalty
Soft	🟢 Green	Nice to have	Minor penalty

Available Constraint Rules

Rule	What It Does	Required Properties
`unassigned`	Penalize unassigned entities	None
`skill`	Match required skills	Entity: `skills`, Value: `skills`
`capacity`	Don't exceed capacity limits	Value: `capacity`
`cost`	Minimize total cost	Entity: `duration`, Value: `hourlyRate`
`balance`	Distribute workload evenly	None
`time`	Respect time windows	Entity: `deadline`, Value: `availability`
`no_conflict`	Prevent overlapping assignments	(Built-in)

How to Add Constraints

Click "Add Constraint"
Select the constraint type (hard/medium/soft)
Choose the rule
Select which variable it applies to
Set a weight (higher = more important)
Click "Save"

Constraint Weight Guidelines

Weight Range	When to Use
1-10	Low priority soft constraints
10-100	Normal priority constraints
100-1000	High priority constraints
1000+	Critical constraints (consider making hard)

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's a Problem	How to Fix
Too many hard constraints	No feasible solution possible	Convert some to medium/soft
Missing required properties	Constraint can't work	Check property requirements
All constraints same weight	No prioritization	Vary weights based on importance
No unassigned constraint	Entities may be left unassigned	Add hard/medium unassigned constraint

Step 5: Pinned Assignments (Optional)

Pinned assignments are pre-set and won't be changed by the solver.

When to Use Pinning

✅ An employee has already confirmed a shift
✅ A task must go to a specific person
✅ A meeting is already booked in a room
✅ Partial solution from previous run should be kept

How to Pin Assignments

In Step 2, check the "Pinned" checkbox for the entity
Select the pre-assigned value from the dropdown
The solver will respect this assignment

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's a Problem	How to Fix
Pinning too many entities	Limits solver flexibility	Only pin what's truly fixed
Pinning creates conflicts	May cause infeasible solution	Check that pins don't violate constraints

Step 6: Solver Settings

Configure how long and how the solver should run.

Time Limit

Problem Size	Recommended Timeout
Small (< 20 entities)	30 seconds
Medium (20-100 entities)	60-120 seconds
Large (100-500 entities)	180-300 seconds
Very Large (500+ entities)	300-600 seconds

Tip

Longer timeouts generally produce better solutions, but with diminishing returns. Start with the recommended time and adjust based on results.

Algorithm Options

PowerSolver automatically selects the best algorithm. Advanced options include:

Setting	Default	Description
Construction Heuristic	First Fit Decreasing	How to build initial solution
Local Search	Tabu Search	How to improve solution

For most problems, the defaults work well. Only change these if you have specific needs.

Step 7: Review & Solve

Validate Your Problem

Before solving, PowerSolver checks for:

✅ At least one entity defined
✅ At least one value in each value range
✅ At least one constraint defined
✅ Required properties present for constraint rules
✅ No invalid JSON syntax

What PowerSolver Will Reject

Issue	Error Message	How to Fix
No entities	"entities array is required"	Add entities in Step 2
No values	"valueRanges object is required"	Add values in Step 3
No variables defined	"variables array is required"	Check problem type selection
Missing targetVariableId	"Constraint X missing targetVariableId"	Edit constraint and set target variable
Invalid variable type	"Unknown variable type: X"	Use `basic` or `list`

Running the Solver

Click "Validate JSON" to check for errors
Review the JSON preview
Click "Solve Now"
Watch progress in real-time
Wait for completion or click "Stop" for partial result

Understanding the Solution

After solving, you'll see:

Job ID: job-1736234567890
Status: COMPLETED
Score: 0hard / 0medium / -450soft

Assignments:
  Task-001 → Alice + Monday 9:00
  Task-002 → Bob + Monday 9:00
  ...

Score Component	Meaning
`0hard`	✅ All hard constraints satisfied — solution is valid
`-Xhard`	❌ X hard constraint violations — solution is invalid
`-Ymedium`	Y medium constraint penalties
`-Zsoft`	Z soft constraint penalties (optimization score)

Working with Solutions

Exporting Results

Format	Best For
JSON	Integrating with other systems
Excel	Sharing with stakeholders
Copy to Clipboard	Quick paste into documents

Solution Pages

Page	What It Shows
Solution View	Final assignments in table/calendar format
Insights	Constraint analysis and score breakdown
Explain	Why specific assignments were made

Limitations and Rules

What PowerSolver Can Do

✅ Assign entities to values based on constraints
✅ Handle 1-4 planning variables per entity
✅ Find feasible solutions (if they exist)
✅ Optimize for multiple objectives
✅ Handle hundreds of entities efficiently

What PowerSolver Cannot Do

❌ Mix BASIC and LIST variable types in one problem — Choose one approach
❌ Find solutions for over-constrained problems — If too many hard constraints conflict, no solution exists
❌ Guarantee optimal solution for very large problems — Within time limit, it finds very good (but possibly not perfect) solutions
❌ Use properties not referenced by constraints — Properties are only used if a constraint references them
❌ Change pinned assignments — Pinned entities are locked

Variable Type Rules

Problem Type	Entities	Variables	Type	Why
Task Assignment	Tasks	developer, timeslot	BASIC	Each task → one developer, one time
Employee Rostering	Shifts	employee	BASIC	Each shift → one employee
Vehicle Routing	Vehicles	visits	LIST	Each vehicle → multiple stops

Critical

Using the wrong variable type will produce incorrect results. Vehicle Routing MUST use LIST variables.

Troubleshooting

No Feasible Solution (Hard Score < 0)

Symptoms: Score shows -1hard or worse

Causes:

Too many hard constraints
Not enough values for entities
Conflicting requirements (e.g., task needs skill no one has)

Solutions:

Convert some hard constraints to medium or soft
Add more values (employees, time slots, etc.)
Check that value skills cover all entity requirements
Reduce the number of entities
Check for conflicting pinned assignments

Poor Optimization (High Soft Penalties)

Symptoms: Solution is feasible but soft score is very negative

Causes:

Timeout too short
Constraint weights not balanced
Conflicting soft constraints

Solutions:

Increase timeout
Review and adjust constraint weights
Prioritize which soft constraints matter most

Solver Too Slow

Symptoms: Takes very long, times out

Causes:

Too many entities
Too many values
Complex constraints

Solutions:

Reduce problem size
Simplify constraints
Increase hardware resources
Consider breaking into smaller sub-problems

Unexpected Assignments

Symptoms: Solution makes assignments you didn't expect

Causes:

Missing constraint
Wrong constraint level (soft instead of hard)
Properties not matching

Solutions:

Add constraint to enforce desired behavior
Change constraint from soft to hard
Verify property names match exactly

Getting Help

In-App Help

Click the ? icon on any step for context-specific help
Use the AI Advisor panel for suggestions
Review validation messages for specific errors

Documentation

Concepts Guide — Understanding the fundamentals
Quick Start — Step-by-step tutorials
Wizard User Guide — Screen-by-screen walkthrough

Support

Email: support@planningpowertools.com

Quick Reference

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+S`	Save problem
`Ctrl+Enter`	Start solving
`Escape`	Stop solving

Property-Constraint Reference (Standard)

Constraint Rule	Entity Properties	Value Properties
`unassigned`	(none)	(none)
`skill`	`skills` (array)	`skills` (array)
`capacity`	(none)	`capacity` (number)
`cost`	`duration` (number)	`hourlyRate` (number)
`balance`	(none)	(none)
`time`	`deadline`, `startTime`, `endTime`	`availability`
`no_conflict`	(uses timeslot variable)	(uses timeslot variable)

Property-Constraint Reference (Custom Properties)

When using custom properties, configure these fields in your constraints:

Constraint	Entity Property Field	Value Property Field
`skill`	`entitySkillsProperty`	`valueSkillsProperty`
`capacity`	`demandProperty`	`capacityProperty`
`cost`	`durationProperty`	`rateProperty`
`distance`	`entityLocationProperty`	`valueLocationProperty`
`preference`	`entityPreferenceProperty`	`valuePreferenceProperty`
`dependency`	`dependsOnProperty`	-
`unavailable`	`unavailableProperty`	-
`consecutive`	-	`maxGapHours`
`mutual_exclusion`	`groupProperty`	-
`same_value`	`groupProperty`	-
`different_value`	`groupProperty`	-

Example: To use requiredResourceType on entities and resourceTypes on values:

entitySkillsProperty: "requiredResourceType"
valueSkillsProperty: "resourceTypes"

→ See Also: Wizard Guide - Custom Properties Reference for complete details.

Score Quick Guide

Score	Status	Can You Use It?
`0hard/...`	Feasible	✅ Yes
`-Xhard/...`	Infeasible	❌ No — fix hard violations first