What is the recommendation system?
The recommendation system in FoxStock helps officers and members identify which items are most needed across the logistics network. By analysing stockpile current levels and desired target levels, the system suggests items that should be prioritized for restocking or redistribution and advises on transport route options.
Setting up the recommendation system requires having a logistics network with at least one hub network configured. If you haven’t set up a logistics network yet, please refer to the Create a logistics network guide. If you haven’t set up a hub network yet, please refer to the Create hub networks guide.
How does it work?
An aspect of FoxStock we haven’t talked about yet is the concept of targets. More specifically, network targets and stockpile targets. In essence, targets are desired levels of stock for stockpiles and networks. By setting targets, officers can define how much of each item they want to have in their stockpiles and networks.
For a detailed explanation of targets and how to set them up, please refer to the documentation on stockpile targets, network targets, and network-specific targets (preferred).
The use of stockpile targets and network targets is generally discouraged in favour of network-specific targets, since they allow for more constrained control. Stockpile and network targets are, by design, meant to trickle up and down the logistics network hierarchy, which can end up “contaminating” other parts of your logistics network with unwanted target levels.
You should only use stockpile and network targets if you are absolutely sure that the target levels of a particular stockpile does not change, whatever the context. We do not believe such a scenario is even possible. As such, these two feature might be deprecated in the future. Your feedback is welcome!
Read more about network-specific targets in our guide on network-specific targets.
Using our previous hub network example:
Let’s take an item such as Basic Materials. If we set a target of 1000 units of Basic Materials on the Forward Base stockpile, and a target of 0 units on the Main Port Storage stockpile, the recommendation system will analyse the current stock levels of Basic Materials in both stockpiles and recommend actions to achieve these targets.
Read more about targets in our guide on targets!
In this case, if the Forward Base has only 200 units of Basic Materials and the Main Port Storage has 1000 units, the recommendation system will suggest transporting 800 units from the Main Port Storage to the Forward Base to meet the target.
If the Main Port Storage has less than 800 units, the system will recommend restocking the Main Port Storage from external sources to ensure that the Forward Base can reach its target. Or if the Rail Hub Storage has Basic Materials, it will advise on taking from both.
You should also define the flow direction of your network targets to only allow incoming or outgoing stock, so the system doesn’t start recommending moving items out of the frontline to the backline! Read more about flow directions in our guide on targets.
All in all, the system advises on moving low-stock items to where they are needed most, based on the targets set by officers.
How to set it up?
To set up the recommendation system, you need to define targets on your hub networks. Follow these steps:
Navigate to the Networks page
Go to the Networks page from the left navigation bar. Select your organisation from the dropdown at the top-right corner if you belong to multiple organisations.
Select a Hub Network
From the list of networks, select the hub network you want to set up the recommendation system for. Hub networks are typically used to aggregate stockpile data and set targets for the recommendation system.
Set network-specific targets on the destination stockpiles
Don’t know what network-specific targets are? Or how to use them? Read our guide on network-specific targets first!
In the hub network’s detail view, navigate to the “Targets” tab. Here, you can define target levels for various items across the stockpiles contained within the network. Using our example, we want that the Forward Base always has a minimum of 1000 units of Basic Materials, and it should take them from the Main Port Storage and/or Rail Hub Storage.
To do that, in the “Targets” tab, scroll down until you see Stockpile: Forward Base. Open the section, and click on “Add.” A new row will appear, click on “Select an item” and select the item you want to set a target for (in our case, Basic Materials). Then, on the right of the item icon is a field with a number. Enter the desired target level (1000). Finally, click on “Save” at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
Repeat the same process for all stockpiles you want to set targets for in this hub network.
Do not forget to set the flow direction for the targets to ensure items are moved correctly between stockpiles! In our example, the flow direction should be Push Only or Sink for the Forward Base stockpile.
What did I just do? Now, you, others, and the recommendation system know that the Forward Base should always have at least 1000 units of Basic Materials. If the stockpile goes below that level, the item will be flagged as needing restocking. However, we aren’t done yet! For the recommendation to fully work, you also need to tell it where to get the items from.
Set network-specific targets on the source stockpiles
Now that you have defined where items need to go, you also need to define where they should come from. In our example, we want the Main Port Storage and/or Rail Hub Storage to provide Basic Materials to the Forward Base.
You can do so by setting a network-specific target of 0 units of Basic Materials on both stockpiles, in the same hub network. There are two ways to do that:
- Manually, by repeating the same process as before, but this time on the Main Port Storage and Rail Hub Storage stockpiles, setting a target of 0 units of Basic Materials. This way, the recommendation system knows that these stockpiles should provide items to other stockpiles in need.
- Semi-automatically, by clicking on the “Pull” button below the Forward Base targets. This button will automatically create the necessary network-specific targets on all stockpiles in the hub network that do not already have an entry for it. It sets their target levels to 0 for the selected items, indicating that they should supply these items to the Forward Base as needed.
In the Semi-automatic method, be careful as it will create targets on all stockpiles in the hub network that do not already have an entry for the selected items, which might not always be desired.
The number “0” as a target level is arbitrary here. It simply indicates to the recommendation system that it can take all items from that stockpile to supply others. You could set any other number as well, as long as it is less than the target level of the destination stockpile.
The “Save” button below each stockpile target section only saves the changes made in that section. To ensure all your changes are applied, remember to click the main “Save all” button at the top of the Targets tab after setting up all your targets. If you forget to click “Save all,” or click on “Save” for individual sections only, your changes will not be saved!
Do not forget to set the flow direction for the targets to ensure items are moved correctly between stockpiles! In our example, the flow direction should be Pull Only or Source for the Main Port Storage and Rail Hub Storage stockpiles.
That’s it! You are done! Now, the recommendation system is set up and will start analysing stock levels and targets to provide recommendations on item transfers.
How to use it?
Read more on that in our guide for members on Using the recommendation system!