Creating and Modifying Models

Creating models

You choose Model from the Maintain menu to create a new model. This opens the Maintain Model dialog box where you can define a model. You can create an entirely new model, or you can create a model based on an existing model.

Process for creating models

Follow these general steps to create a model.

1. Create and name the database object that stores the model definition.

2. Specify the financial data item or items whose data the model will calculate.

3. Define equations and associate them with the values of the financial data item's dimensions. For more information, see "Model Equation Syntax".

4. If necessary, specify model options that determine the processing order for simultaneous equations. For more information, see "Specifying how simultaneous equations are solved".

5. Compile and save the model. For more information, see "Compiling and saving models".

Specifying how simultaneous equations are solved

A simultaneous equation occurs when an equation in a model indirectly depends on itself as the result of the dependencies among other equations in the model. A dependency occurs when the expression on the right-hand side of the equal sign in one equation refers to the assignment target of another equation.

You control how simultaneous equations are solved by selecting options in the Model Options dialog box. The model options enable you to specify the following:

• The solution method to use

• The factors to use in testing for convergence and divergence

• The maximum number of iterations to perform

• The action to take if an equation diverges or fails to converge

Compiling and saving models

When you have created the model, you must compile and save it. You can then include the compiled model as part of solve and group solve definitions and apply it to worksheet data.

Modifying models

You choose Model from the Maintain menu to modify a model. This opens the Maintain Model dialog box, where you can choose the model that you want to modify. From this starting point you can perform the following functions:

• You can give a model a new name.

• You can delete a model from your personal database. As an administrator, you can also delete a model from the shared database by deleting it from your personal database, and then distributing this change to the shared database.

• You can move a model to a new position in the list of models maintained by the system.

• You can change the equations that are associated with each value of the model's base dimension values. Note that if you modify the equations associated with a model, you may need to modify the option selections that govern how simultaneous equations are solved.

• You can view a list of the dependencies between the model's base dimension values and see how dimension values are grouped.

• You can change model option selections.

Related information

For more information about working with models, search for the following topics in the Financial Analyzer Help system:

"Creating Models"

"Defining Equations for Dimension Values"

"Deleting Models"

"Moving Models"

"Renaming Models"

"Specifying Model Options"