An Open Source Decision Support System for Facility Location Analysis

Abstract This paper introduces FLP Spreadsheet Solver, an open source spreadsheet based Decision Support System for Facility Location Problems. Structure of the spreadsheets, interface of the solver, and a Tabu Search algorithm implemented within the solver are described. An integer programming formulation of the underlying facility location problem is provided. Computational tests show that FLP Spreadsheet Solver can solve benchmark p-median and capacitated p-median instances to near optimality. The paper also includes a case study consisting of the application of FLP Spreadsheet Solver to a healthcare facility location problem.