The Cost to serve experiment uses the data of the optimized scenario, which is the result of the Network optimization experiment. If there is no optimized scenario to work with, the Cost to serve experiment will run the Network optimization experiment to obtain the result. This result will then be used to estimate the transportation costs.

The Solution strategy parameter of the Cost to serve experiment settings defines if the experiment will use the existing Network optimization result or trigger the Network optimization experiment execution to later use its result.

• Periods — the Network optimization experiment considers all periods (this also refers to the Optimization + Cost to serve strategy), while the Cost to serve experiment considers just one period defined in its Experiment duration parameter, regardless of the complete dataset provided by the Network optimization experiment.
• Objective members — both experiments have the same set of objective members. The Network optimization experiment allows a user to disable objective members. This setup will be considered by the Cost to serve experiment in case of the Optimization + Cost to serve strategy.

  As for instance, if we disable the Production cost objective member in the Objective Members table, and run the Cost to serve experiment with the Optimization + Cost to serve strategy, the Network optimization experiment will be triggered to run without that objective member. However, the Cost to serve experiment will consider all the default objective members (regardless of the table setup) while processing the obtained result.

• Non-transportation costs — such costs are not considered. As for instance, a site's Closure cost value is not considered, since such site will be closed at the beginning of the selected period. As a result, it will not be able to take part in the product delivery process.
• Products — only the demanded end products are considered. The components that are used to produce an end product are not part of the equation. Expenses on obtaining, transporting, etc. such components are not considered.
• Deliveries — the experiment considers only the deliveries that fall within the starting and ending dates of the defined experiment duration period. If a delivery is sent or is received beyond the boundaries of the selected period, it will be ignored. The data on such delivery will not be present in the experiment result.
• Product flows — in case several product flows are available, the experiment will choose the one with the largest product amount to calculate the transportation expenses in the next leg.

  A product flow is a supply chain setup from the product source to the customer. Having several product flows means that a customer can be served from multiple sources. In this case the experiment can either consider all product flows (if required) or pick one based on the size of the product flow.

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