Graphical User Interface (GUI) / Web Form

There are numerous ways ACE build models and applications. One common way is through Graphical User Interface (GUI), which is a program interface or Web form that takes advantage of the computer or browser's graphics capabilities to make the models and computing systems easier to use. These customized GUIs are usually coupled with prewritten models such as an mathematical optimization program behind it. Well-designed graphical user interfaces can free users from learning complex modeling languages, computational terminologies and command syntaxes.

In addition to their visual components, graphical user interfaces also make it easier to move data from one application to another. ACE GUIs usually include standard formats for representing model, data, text and graphics. Because the formats are well-defined, different programs that run under a common GUI can share data. This makes it possible, for example, to copy a model created by a spreadsheet program into a modeling language system.

ACE either has in-house codes for GUI and Web form templates or develops customized graphical user interfaces for our clients. Besides GUIs and Web forms, ACE models can be a graph, a flow chart, a network, a spreadsheet, a set of mathematical equations, or high-level mathematical representations of problems that people find reasonably natural or convenient. ACE also utilizes and helps distribute a large number of third party GUIs, modeling tools and systems.

• Customized Graphical User Interface (GUI) / Web form
• Graphical Equation Editor
• Modeling Languages and Systems
• Spreadsheet Modeling
• Low-level Instance Language Representation
• Programming Languages
• Procedural Languages
• Web Forms and Applications

But no matter how the GUIs and models look like, they will ultimately be converted into internal standard instances that are efficient to be transmitted over the network and universally taken by all standards-compatible computational tools.

For example, the term "mathematical programming" is often used as a synonym for “optimization” to mean the minimization or maximization of an objective function of many variables subject to constraints on the variables. Models may be categorized as linear or nonlinear (by functions), continuous or discrete (by variables), deterministic or stochastic (by parameters) etc. Models can also be formulated in various GUIs, Web forms, or more strict mathematical modeling systems such as AMPL, GAMS and Spreadsheet. But ultimately a standard Optimization Services instance Language (OSiL) representation is generated that can represent any types of optimization models and the same OSiL instance is taken by all standard optimization solvers. Therefore users are not locked to modeling and computing products that belong to a single vendor.

ACE have created many standard GUI templates that can be used in certain commonly occurring problem situations. However, still many other quantitative problems are unique simply because every organization has its own restrictions, limitations, and goals. ACE has strong expertise in custom modeling and consulting.

Although model building is an integral part of ACE products and services, it is still more of an art than a science. Successful GUI and model building comes with experience and practice at relating real world situations to models and customer needs.