Describe your business
Tell eode what to optimize, what must not break and how your business runs, attach your data, and answer RIA's questions before the build.
Where: New Model→Basic→Describe your problem
Describe your problem is step 1 of the New Model wizard. You say what to optimize, what must not break, and how the business runs, in your own words. Step 2, Clarify, then asks about whatever your description left open.
Fill in the description
The screen has three rows: "Add one or more of these. Anything you leave out, the next step asks about." Click Add on a row to fill it in. Once filled, it shows a green summary and Edit.
| Row | Put in it |
|---|---|
| Describe your goals | "The thing to maximize or minimize, and any hard limits you already know: an overtime cap, a service level, a budget." |
| Describe your business | "Sites, lines, products, suppliers, customers, the calendar you plan on, and the constraints that bite." |
| Upload or select relevant datasources | Data that shows how you operate: demand, capacity, costs, bills of material, last quarter's plan. See Attach your data. |
Fill in at least one row, then click Next.
Say what to optimize
Describe your goals opens two rows of its own:
- What to optimize: "The one number the model should push". Complete the sentence
I want toMaximize or Minimize, then say what in your words: "profit across all three stapler models next quarter". Maximize is picked to start with. Your words become the label on the solved number at step 5. - Hard limits: "What must not break while it does". Finish the sentence "Hard limits I'm aware of in my model are that": "each line can run at most 16 hours of overtime a week, and Line A only runs the heavy-duty model". Soft preferences go in the business description instead.
The button reads Save with one row filled and Finish with both.
Describe the business
Describe your business is one box: "What does the business make or move, who does it serve, and what limits the plan? Write as much as you like." Numbers you write here count: a description that states prices, quantities with their units, and limits ("at most 60 oven hours a week") gives eode enough to build on your figures. One without numbers is built on generated sample data until you load yours; see Review the design.
Attach your data
Open Upload or select relevant datasources:
- Upload new datasets and attach them to this model opens the Import Data window from Datasets. Import every file the model needs in one go: they become one dataset. When the import finishes, the window closes and the dataset is attached. See Import data.
- Select data from previously connected datasets opens Select datasets: every dataset you can
see, newest first, each with
3 resources · 1,250 rows · Imported. Tick one: "Choose one dataset. To use several, combine them into one upload: import them together and they become one dataset."
A model reads one dataset. Attach two and Next refuses: "Only one dataset can be read into a model today, and this model has 2 attached", naming them; keep one, or import the files together. With a dataset attached, step 2 reads it first and shows you how; see Start from a workbook.
| You see | Means |
|---|---|
| "No datasets yet. Use "Upload new datasets" on the previous screen." | Nothing on your Datasets tab yet |
| "Could not load your datasets:" and a reason | The list didn't load; go back and open it again |
| "this dataset has no tables to build from" | Add a resource on the dataset's page, or import it again |
Attach a design document
Drag a .pdf or .docx onto the RIA console's message box. It shows Parsing doc…,
then a chip with the file name and its length. The document stays with the conversation and RIA reads it on
every turn. Add a note in "Add context for the design doc (optional)…", or send with the box empty.
Build model on the chip builds a model straight from the document, named after the file, without the
back-and-forth. The X removes it from the conversation.
Leave Describe
Next reads what you wrote (Reading what you told me), then goes on:
- to the reading of your data, if a dataset is attached;
- to RIA's questions, if your description leaves something open;
- straight to the build, if there's nothing to ask.
Come back and change nothing, and Next moves on without rebuilding.
| Next refuses with | What to do |
|---|---|
| "couldn't read your brief just now — the extraction service didn't answer. Your brief is fine; retry in a moment." | Click Next again |
| "…name them in the brief, or answer Clarify's names question, then build again" | Name your products in the description |
| A missing permission | Ask the model's owner or an organization admin for contribute access |
You also land back here with a line above the screen after you reject a design: "Design rejected:" your reason, "Change what you told me here, or your answers on Clarify; Next builds again with your reason in mind."
Set how closely RIA questions you
Where: New Model→Clarify
The Clarify intro, A few questions before I build, asks How closely should I question this?
| Pick | Says | Rounds after the first |
|---|---|---|
| Light | "One round of questions, then build." | none |
| Moderate (default) | "Up to two rounds: the questions, then any follow-ups." | up to one |
| Intense | "Keeps asking, up to six rounds, until nothing is left to clarify." | up to six |
The first round is already drawn up when you see the dial. After two follow-up rounds, only required questions are asked. Your choice is kept per model in this browser.
Answer RIA's questions
One question per screen: "Question 1 of 5. Skip what you do not know." Each is marked REQUIRED or OPTIONAL, and Why this? says why it's asked. Each question is also a row in the step rail; click one to jump to it. A row turns green once answered.
| Answer with | How it works |
|---|---|
| Options | Tick one. A question that takes several keeps every tick. |
| The answer box | Type. "One sentence is plenty…" Clear empties it. Ctrl/⌘+Enter moves to the next question. |
| Suggest Answer | RIA drafts an answer from your description for you to edit (Drafting… while it works). Only on questions with an answer box. |
| Use what the brief says: and a quote | Your description already answers it; one click fills the box. |
| Not needed | Settles the question with no answer, and says what that does: "Not needed: nothing is added, and the model is built from your description as it stands." Where it leaves part of the model out, it says what, e.g. "Not needed leaves shelf life out of the model: stock then never expires and nothing is written off." The rail row is struck through. |
| Add your own | On questions with options. "Know something the brief didn't say? A rule, a limit, a target. It rides into the build as a clarification." Type in "One line…", then Add or Enter. Your line becomes the answer; untick it to keep the words out, × removes it. |
Suggest Answer only uses what your description says. Where it says nothing, the box stays empty and nothing is ticked: "Your description does not say, so nothing is suggested. Type your own answer." A question that wants a figure says "Your description gives no figure for this, so nothing is suggested. Type the figure." An optional question ends "…or leave the question open." Not needed is always yours to pick. If RIA can't draft one: "RIA couldn't draft an answer. Type your own."
Questions you may be asked
| Question | When | How to answer |
|---|---|---|
| Names (rail Names: products, Names: places, Names: customers) | Your description, with no data attached, doesn't name what you sell, where, or to whom | One per line, or separated by commas. Use RIA's suggestions: fills in its own. "RIA does not make names up for you: it suggests, and the names you choose are the model's." No Not needed. A plan across several places needs at least three customers. |
| Selling prices | You chose to maximize profit and nothing gives the prices | One box per item (0.00). $1,995.00 reads as 1995 and 12,50 as 12.5; another currency or a word reads as no price. Or tick "Meet demand at the least cost instead", which switches the plan to lowest cost. Next waits for every price or the switch. |
| Something the model can't represent yet | Your description asks for something the model can't build yet | Leave it out: build without it and list it as left out, or Describe it: add how it works, then build and say how in the box. |
| Base scenario | Your workbook holds two or more scenarios | Pick the one the plan is built on. Picking one other than the workbook's saved default recalculates the workbook first (Recalculating the workbook for your pick). No Not needed. |
Questions about something the model can't represent can also come back from the build, if it needs your answer to go on: "Nothing is built until you answer."
A profit model can't take more than 20 items with no price. Past that, Next refuses and asks you to attach a sheet with each item's selling price at Describe, or to meet demand at the least cost instead.
Finish the round
Next becomes Skip on an optional question you haven't answered, and Finish answering on the last one. Once no required question is open, Skip all remaining optional questions drops the rest and finishes the round. Finish answering shows Checking whether anything else needs clarifying; then a new round starts at question 1, or the build starts by itself with no further click.
| Message | Means |
|---|---|
| "Answer this one, or mark it as not applicable." | A required question is open |
| "Answer the required questions first, or mark them as not applicable." | Finish answering with required questions still open |
| "Finish answering first; I check whether anything else needs clarifying." | You tried to move on before Finish answering |
| "Couldn't save the answers. Try again." | The answers didn't reach the server |
| "The build did not start." | Click Finish answering again |
Until the model is built, your answers are saved to it as you go, including words typed but not yet sent: the line above the questions reads "Answers save as you go.", and Saving answers… while it writes. If a save fails, it shows the reason and Retry saving, and the line reads "Your latest edits are saved in this browser only." Open Clarify from the rail on a model with no questions and it says Nothing to clarify: "Everything I need is in what you gave me. Next builds the model." While a build runs it says Nothing more to clarify.
Change your answers later
On a built model, click Clarify in the rail. Your answers walks every answer: "The model is built on these answers. Change one and it is rebuilt on the new answer; Next without a change goes on to the build." Change one and click Finish answering; Change your answers? asks before the rebuild.
An older workbook model waiting for its base
A workbook model imported before this screen existed may stop on Which scenario is the base?, with a card marked Waiting on you. Pick scenario opens Pick the scenario to import: each scenario with where it was found, a Suggested chip on the likeliest, and Import name as Base.
Limits
- A description under 40 characters raises no questions.
- Suggest Answer gives up after 60 seconds.
- A profit model takes at most 20 items without a price.
- One dataset per model.
- A design document can be up to 10 MB; its text is read up to 200,000 characters. A conversation holds up to 5 documents and 500,000 characters; past that, the oldest is dropped.
Related
- New model: the wizard as a whole, and the advanced imports
- Start from a workbook: what happens when you attach data
- Review the design: the next step
- From description to model: why eode asks what it asks
New model
Start a model from a description, a workbook or a model file you already have, and find your way around the five-step wizard.
Review the design
Read the Model Design eode drafts from your description or workbook, confirm it section by section, answer what it asks, and build it or send it back.