Optimization software e.g. solvers and modelling systems, expose software and vendor specific
interfacing mechanisms to client applications e.g. decision support systems, thus introducing close
coupling. The ‘Optimization Service Connectivity Protocol’ (OSCP) is an abstraction of the interfaces
to optimization software, which is aimed primarily at simplifying the process of integrating
optimization systems into software solutions by providing an abstracted, uniform and easy to use
interface to such systems, regardless of system or vendor specific requirements. This paper presents a
high-level overview of OSCP including descriptions of its main interfaces, and illustrates its use via
examples.