Build and baseline
Watch the build, read what it found, recover when it stops, then solve your baseline and check it reads like your business.
Where: New Model→Solve→Solve for your baseline
Step 3 builds the model from the design you signed off; step 5 solves it for the first time. That first answer is your baseline: the plan the model picks on today's numbers, labelled with your own goal. Every what-if is compared with it.
Watch the build
Building the structure shows a progress bar and an elapsed clock, and the build's live progress in place of the sub-line. It moves on by itself when it lands; you can leave and come back.
| Title | Means |
|---|---|
| Building the structure | "Building the structure, generating sample data, running the checks." |
| Designing your model | "Reading your workbook's rows to design the model." After Build it from the workbook (step 4): "Translating your workbook into the model's structure and data." |
| The design is drafted | The design waits for your sign-off, and nothing is built yet. "Next confirms the design." Review the design |
| The design is confirmed | "Your workbook is being mapped into it at Load data. Nothing is built until you build on your own rows there." |
| The structure is built | Built. "Next confirms the design." |
| The build stopped | See When the build stops. Next says "The build stopped. Previous returns to the inputs." |
A percentage shows once the build reports its stages; until then the bar pulses. It stops at 95% until the build lands. Next says "Next unlocks when the build lands." A build can't be cancelled.
If part of the model had to be built a second way, a note says so: "Built with the older model builder, because" and the reason, "The model is complete; tell us if anything looks off."
Read what the build found
Under the build, WHAT THE BUILD FOUND lists four readouts, each with a one-line standing. Click one to fold it open. Checks and Independent review start open.
| Readout | Shows | Before it has run |
|---|---|---|
| Where your data lands | Which of your columns the model took (Bound · your data), which it couldn't place (Unbound · needs attention) and why, and where sample values still stand in (Still sample data) | "After you load your data" |
| Checks | The proof ledger: every structural check the build ran, as wanted against got, by Check and Part of the model. Its banner reads "9 of 9 checks passed · verified in a fresh session", "9 of 9 checks matched on sample numbers" or "Checks not passing · 7 of 9 passed" | "Ready once the model is built" |
| Independent review | A second opinion on the built model against your description. See below | "Ready after the checks" |
| Your brief vs the model | "What your brief asked for, and whether it is in the model": each thing it read marked in the model, not in the model or not compared, then Left out, on purpose, "Read, but not mapped to anything the model does", and "Plans like yours usually have these. Do you need them?" marked usually, often or sometimes. It doesn't change what was built | — |
A model whose description already gives prices, quantities and limits drafts its design for your sign-off first, then builds on those figures once you click Accept the design. It records no checks and no review: after the build, those readouts say "No checks were recorded for this model" and "The independent review did not run on this model". See Review the design.
The independent review
The review reads the built model against your description and scores it. It's advisory; it never blocks the build, and it runs in the background, so its seal fills in when it's ready. Its scores and lists are described on Credentials.
Here, at the build, you act on what it found missing. On a missing item, Add it rebuilds the model with it as a new version ("Added. The model was rebuilt with it as a new revision."). If it needs your words first, it's filed for you in the Develop zone (Change a model). Leave it out dismisses it, and Undo brings it back.
The full record of checks and reviews is on the model's Credentials.
When the build stops
The build stopped says which stage, in plain words:
| It says | Usually |
|---|---|
| "Writing the model from your brief did not come together on this attempt." | Passing; Build again |
| "Writing the model from your data did not come together on this attempt." | Passing; Build again |
| "The model was built but did not pass its checks." | The inputs need a look |
| "A profit model needs a selling price for everything it sells…" and the items | "Give their selling prices at Clarify, or choose to meet demand at the least cost." |
| "The first solve stopped before it finished." | Build again |
When the data check rejected the model, the screen counts the errors and lists them. If the same errors come back: "The same errors came back, so this is not a passing fault: the inputs need a change before another build." Otherwise: "Build again usually gets past this; if it keeps stopping, the inputs need a look."
- Build again reopens Clarify with your answers and builds again.
- Previous goes back to the inputs: "the build runs again from there."
Under a stopped build, Let's get this unblocked explains the cause and offers Apply fix & rebuild or Edit the brief. With no fix to apply, the button reads Try the build again: it rebuilds with your Clarify answers. See Model home.
Stops that building again won't fix
| It says | Do |
|---|---|
| Cut off part way, "Nothing you chose was lost." | Build again |
| "A smaller part of your workbook may fit: map one business unit and build that." | Pick a unit, then Map unit instead (step 4 opens). Or use the second button, which opens Help & support with the details filled in to ask for more room |
| "The workbook was refused before a model was built." | Correct the workbook as the reasons above say |
| "Building again on the same numbers ends the same way": no plan meets every rule | Change the numbers the check points at |
| A model file that didn't import | Upload the file again: a new model, same name. The stopped one stays in the library |
Download your model, described
Your model, described gives you the model as documents to share: "A workbook and a PDF that describe this model the way you would explain it to a colleague". Before the build they describe the design; after it, every assumption and where it came from, the open questions, where each of your numbers lands, and the baseline result.
- Download the workbook (
.xlsx) and Download the PDF. - Also as text (Markdown): always the design record.
- File names follow the model and its version:
Harbor-Point-Bakery-model-design-rev2.xlsxbefore the build,…-assumptions-workbook-rev2…after.
It's at the foot of Review in step 3, under Your baseline in step 5, and on the model home's Model Design step. A model built from a workbook also offers your inputs here; see Start from a workbook.
Solve for your baseline
Your model is the last look before the solve: "Everything is in place. Next solves the baseline."
| Fact | Reads |
|---|---|
| DATASOURCES | Sample data, your dataset or workbook, or Your data |
| TOPOLOGY | 6 objects · 4 links; the model diagram is underneath |
| OBJECTIVE | Your goal in your words; else Best objective, Lowest total cost, or As set in the model file |
| BASELINE | TBD until it's solved |
- Click Solve for your baseline. Solve for your baseline? asks first: "The card fills in when it lands; you can leave the page while it runs."
- Click Solve. Solving the baseline shows a progress bar and the elapsed time, which survives a reload. A model built from a workbook also counts rows as they load.
- It lands on The baseline is solved: "The baseline is on the record. Next reads it back." Click Next.
Stop cancels the solve. The model goes back to built but not solved, and Your model offers the solve again. On a solved model, Solve again solves on the data as it stands now and replaces the baseline.
| It lands on | Means |
|---|---|
| The plan is empty | "The model solved, but its best plan is to do nothing: nothing is made or sold.", and why: no selling prices, every item costs more than it sells for, or no demand to meet |
| The solve stopped | It says why. "Previous returns to Load data; the solve runs again from there." |
| "The solve landed without a baseline." | Solve again |
Read your baseline
Your baseline asks "Does this read like your business?" The figure is labelled with what you typed
under What to optimize, such as Weekly profit. Below it, when the solve returns one, a sentence says
what the plan does, and THE NUMBERS IT TRACKS lists up to eight measures the model carries from here
on, each with its unit.
A cost of $0 means nothing had to be served: "no demand was owed, so the cheapest plan makes and sells nothing. If the demand must be met, go back to Clarify and say so; the baseline then carries a real cost."
If it doesn't read right, click Needs correcting, say "What reads wrong?" ("Overtime should be capped at 16 hours; the baseline uses 40") and click Send back. "The model returns to Clarify with your note on the record; edit anything, then build and solve again."
Go to Model Overview ends the wizard and opens the model home. The Base scenario is ready for what-ifs.
On a model built from part of a workbook, "Built on your data:" above these screens names the slice, with Load the rest; see Load your data.
Limits
- The build's bar stops at 95% until it lands.
- THE NUMBERS IT TRACKS shows up to 8 measures.
- Money shows in the currency the model states.
Related
- Review the design: the sign-off before the build
- Load your data: the step before the solve
- Credentials and Validation: the model's standing trust record
- Model home: where the model lives after the wizard
Load your data
Choose what the baseline solves on: the sample data, your own datasets bound table by table, or a workbook mapped straight into the model.
Start from a workbook
Build a model straight from your Excel workbook: check how eode read each sheet, agree the reading, and later edit the model's inputs in your own sheets.