How to Create a What-If Scenario in EDGEBIC

To create a what-if scenario in EDGEBIC by User Solutions you open a saved quote's scenario view, click to create a new scenario, name it after the lever you are testing, set its production parameters, and save. A scenario is a named variant of a quote's simulation: same product and quantity, deliberately altered conditions. It uses the same finite-capacity engine and writes nothing to the production schedule. The control is the 📊 Scenarios action on a quote row.

For the strategy behind comparing alternatives, read what-if scenarios explained. This task is documented behavior of EDGEBIC, and the full task library is in the how-to hub. To control how aggressively a simulated job competes for capacity against existing load, see how to set a scenario priority level.

Before You Start

• The quote is saved and has been simulated at least once. The base simulation is your comparison baseline.
• You know which single lever you want to test (a second shift, weekend work, a later start), so the scenario isolates one variable.

Step 1: Open the Scenario View

On the Quote tab, select the quote you want to explore, then click 📊 Scenarios. The What-If Scenario Analysis view replaces the quote list. Use ← Back to Quotes to return. The left panel lists existing scenarios; the right side has Scenario Parameters and Comparison Analysis tabs.

Step 2: Create the Scenario

Click Create New Scenario above the scenario list. On the Scenario Parameters tab, fill the Scenario Information group:

Step 3: Set Production Parameters

Configure the Production Settings group for the lever you are testing:

Keep it to one lever so you know what bought any improvement.

Step 4: Save, Then Simulate

Click Save Changes to store the configuration. Then select the scenario and click Run Simulation to produce its results.

What Each Production Setting Is For

The Production Settings group is a set of levers, and a good scenario changes one of them at a time. Weekend Production: opens weekend shift hours, useful for a weekend-push scenario. Priority Level (1-10): biases how hard the simulated job competes for capacity against the existing load, so a higher value tests treating this as a rush that pushes ahead of other work. Parallel Processing: with Max Parallel Centers: lets the routing's parallel paths run concurrently, capping how many machines run at once. Custom Start Date: with Start Date: pins the earliest start, which models a material-arrival delay or any known future gate. Left unticked, the scenario starts from the current datetime, matching the base quote simulation so your comparison is fair.

Worked Example: The Standard Baseline

Before you test anything, build the baseline. Acme's Widget-A quote simulated at start July 20, end August 14, cost $9,230. You open 📊 Scenarios, click Create New Scenario, name it Standard, add no overrides, and click Save Changes, then Run Simulation. It returns end August 14 and cost $9,230, matching the quote. This "do nothing" scenario looks redundant, but it is the reference every other scenario is measured against, and it documents what the baseline looked like at the moment the decision was made. Every later lever (a second shift, a weekend push, an outsourced step) becomes a scenario built beside Standard, so the comparison charts have something honest to compare against.

What Changes When You Save

Saving stores the scenario's parameters. Running the simulation stores its dates, hours, and cost. Neither touches the production schedule, the quote, or the routing. The scenario respects your real capacity data (holidays, per-day and monthly overrides) and adds only its own changes on top.

Scenario or Quote Edit: Which Do You Reach For?

The line is simple. Edit the quote when the truth changed: a new quantity, a new date, a new negotiated price. Build a scenario when you are exploring an alternative you may not adopt: a second shift, weekend work, an outsourced step, a later start. A scenario stores its own dates, hours, and cost separately, so you can line up "Standard versus Expedited versus Outside Vendor" and choose with numbers rather than instinct. If you find yourself cloning a quote just to test one production condition, that clone is what a scenario is meant to replace.

Scenarios also stay tidy because they belong to one parent quote. The comparison charts compare siblings of the same quote, not across quotes, and a scenario simulation is discarded after its numbers are read, so nothing you try here can leak into the production plan or another quote. That containment is what lets you experiment freely: two to four scenarios per quote (the baseline plus one per realistic lever) is the practical range.

How to Check It Worked

The new scenario appears in the left panel with a status. After Run Simulation, the Simulation Results group fills with Estimated Start Date:, Estimated End Date:, Lead Time:, Total Hours:, Estimated Cost:, and Profit Margin:. Only a simulated scenario can join a comparison.

Common Mistakes and Gotchas

• Creating is not simulating. A new scenario has no results until you run it. Click Run Simulation before expecting numbers or a comparison.
• Scenarios run forward only. A scenario always starts at its start date and reports the finish. A backward quote's finish-by framing does not carry into its scenarios, so compare end dates to the customer date yourself.
• A scenario is not a commitment. It updates the quote only when you apply it, and even then it does not change real capacity or the routing. Follow through in the real data before you rely on the promise.
• Too many levers at once. A scenario that changes three things hides which one helped. Isolate one variable per scenario.

Because scenarios are cheap and harmless, the temptation is to build many. Resist it. A wall of scenarios that each change several things is harder to read than three that each isolate one lever, and the comparison charts reward clarity over volume. Decide the two or three alternatives you would actually execute, name each after its lever, and build only those.

The most common first lever is adding capacity. See how to add an extra shift in a scenario for the capacity-override step.