A Scenario in APS is the totality of the factory model. It contains all the data for the factory model, from Plants, Resources, Items and Inventories, to Jobs, Operations and financial information either entered manually or imported from the ERP. Different user types will have the ability to see and/or interact with different types of Scenarios.
There are three types of Scenarios that can be found in APS: Live, What-If, and Published.
Live Scenario: This Scenario is the current set of data that the scheduler is working with. In most cases, the Live Scenario has not yet been released to the shop floor and is in the process being changed or otherwise manipulated. An exception to this would be if the company has decided that the Gantt ought to be displayed real-time on the shop floor, somewhat negating the need for a Published Scenario.
What-If Scenario: The What-If Scenario is a direct copy of the Live Scenario. Within the What-If, any changes can be made (ie. adding plants, jobs, and additional resources) to help determine the effect those changes would have on the business were they to be pursued.
Published Scenario: The Published Scenario is a snapshot of the Live Scenario created for the benefit of those Users that can view the Published Scenario.
Changes within the Scenario are reversible through the Undo options, but deleting a Scenario cannot be undone without loading from a backup.