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.
Where: New Model→Build→Design drafted
Before anything is built, eode drafts a Model Design: the model in plain words, with the decision, what's in scope, the rules, what it assumed, where your data lands and what it left out. You confirm it one section at a time, then build it or send it back with a reason.
What happens after you sign off
Some models draft a design for your sign-off before building; others build first and ask you to check the design afterwards. The step rail tells you which: when the design waits for you, Build opens on The design is drafted — "Next confirms the design." — and once Next opens the card, the first row under Build reads Design drafted (Designing while a workbook is still being read). When the model built first, Build opens on The structure is built and Next goes to Check the design.
| You gave | What you see |
|---|---|
| A description without prices for what you sell | RIA asks for them on Clarify. Then the design waits for your sign-off. Build the model builds the structure and proves it on generated sample data (a few minutes), and you confirm the built design once more on Check the design with Accept the design. Step 4 offers Sample data, or your own?, or says there's nothing more to load. |
| A description that already gives prices, quantities with their units, and limits | RIA may still ask on Clarify. Then the design waits for your sign-off, with nothing built: Next opens Check the design, and Accept the design builds the model on your figures. Step 4 says This model did not ask you for data: "Create the baseline on the numbers your description gave". |
| A workbook or dataset | eode reads it first, then the design waits for your sign-off. Confirm and map your workbook maps your rows into the model at step 4. Nothing is built until you click Build and solve there (Load your data). |
Models brought in from a file under Advanced build first too: a model file has no design to sign off. See From description to model for why.
Read the Model Design
The page is Check the design, holding one card: Confirm the design before anything is built. "Your description has been read and the model drafted — nothing is built or solved yet. Review what landed, what wasn't used, and what was assumed; then confirm to build, or reject with a reason." For a workbook it starts "Your workbook has been read".
MODEL DESIGN is marked for your sign-off while something waits on you, or clean; its summary line says what: "1 assumed value to sign off · 2 sheets not used · 1 left out on purpose", or "everything came from your own inputs".
| Section | What it holds |
|---|---|
| DECISION | Your description, and "Goal:" with what you said to optimize |
| SCOPE | Counts like "3 products named", each list of names and where it came from ("from RIA's suggestions, which you took"), and "The model's objects, named in your terms". When a sheet holds more rows than the design names: "240 rows on Orders; the design names 40 of them" |
| Currency line | "Figures are shown in GBP (pounds sterling), as your brief says." Shown when your description or workbook names a currency other than US dollars. It labels the figures; nothing is converted |
| WHERE YOUR DATA LANDS | Which of your sheets feeds which part of the model, and how many rows |
| What we did not use | Columns and sheets left out, with the reason; "Orders: kept 238 of 240 rows — the rest did not import"; values lost to repeated rows |
| RULES | "Goal:", every rule in plain English, and the rule choices with where each came from |
| ASSUMED | Every value nobody gave, and why: estimated, standard default or approximate location. "Nothing assumed — every value came from your own inputs." When your workbook and RIA's reading disagreed, your workbook won, and it says how often |
| YOUR DATA | The tables the model reads, each tagged your data, filled in for you, sample data or to provide |
| WHAT IT DOES | What the model does. "You confirmed these in the interview and this build did not carry them:" lists answers it couldn't build, and "From your brief, set aside for now (not modeled):" the sentences it set aside |
| Checks line | "9 checks run once it is built", or after the build "8 of 9 checks passed" |
Long lists show five entries, then +3 more and Show less. An empty section says "Nothing more to show for this part."
Confirm each section
Click Confirm on each section's header; it reads Confirmed. The count under the card tracks you:
3 / 5 confirmed. While rule choices wait, RULES shows "2 to confirm below" instead. Answering the
last assumed value or rule choice confirms its section for you.
Answer what the card asks
Under the design, the card can ask for decisions, each only when it applies.
| Asks | When | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Rule choices from your brief, waiting for your word | Rules RIA read from your description, with your data attached | Each rule shows where it came from ("your brief, line 3", or "your brief does not say") and why. Confirm, Change… (or Answer…) to fill in a short form and Use this, or Leave this out: "the model is built without that rule." Confirm all (3) confirms every proposal at once. Form errors read "Fill in each part, with a number where one is asked." |
| "Plan one business unit, or all of them together?" | Your workbook names two or more business units | Pick one, or All business units together, then Use this. Until you do: "Until you choose, the model plans" the default, "a default you have not chosen." |
| Assumed values waiting for your decision | The draft assumed values | Approve, or Reject… and say why in Reject this assumed value?: "the reason is recorded, and the value goes back for a real number." Then Reject value. |
| "Planning horizon: I assumed 13 weeks from your brief's “weekly”" | You gave a rhythm but no count of periods. It can appear once you've approved the assumed number of periods | Keep 13 weeks, another span such as 26 weeks, or One combined period. Another span redrafts the design on the same model: "Rebuilding on the new horizon — proving it on test data first…" |
| A question built from the model's own numbers | The draft carries one | Pick an answer. Either answer confirms; your pick is recorded. |
Build, or send it back
When every section is confirmed and every question answered, click Build the model, or Confirm and map your workbook for a workbook. Next carries the same label.
| Until then, it says | Do |
|---|---|
| "Confirm each section on the card first." | Confirm the rest |
| "Confirm, change or set aside each rule choice from your brief first." | Answer each rule choice |
| "Answer the question on the card first." | Pick an answer |
| "The design is not on this screen yet." | Wait for Loading the design… to finish |
Something is wrong… asks Reject this design?: "Nothing is deleted: the design goes back a step with your reason recorded, and the reason steers the next attempt. Say what was wrong." Type the reason ("e.g. these are not our locations; the demand sheet is stale") and click Reject design. You land back on Describe with your reason above the screen.
Approve a workbook mapping
Some workbooks pause on Approve the mapping instead: Approve the workbook mapping before anything is built. It shows each sheet the model reads, with its measure and number of periods, and how each of your columns becomes part of the model. "Nothing is built until you approve; naming an axis here is the one decision no later check can make for you."
- A column it couldn't place has a select: map it to a part of the model, Leave it out of the model (drop), or Combine its rows (sum). Add a note in "what are these values? (recorded)".
- Context for the numbers may ask a few questions, one at a time: "Your answers are recorded with the mapping and sharpen how its numbers are read." Answer, or Skip: leave this one unanswered, then Record 2 answers. Approving doesn't wait for them.
- Approve & build starts the build. Until every column is placed: "Name every unmapped dimension (or consent to drop/sum it) first."
If an earlier approval stopped, the card says where ("Your last approval stopped at the build, so nothing was built"), lists The mapping still blocks:, and shows Not built yet — here is what to do next.
Check the design after the build
After a build lands, the design comes back for you to check against what was built. Click Next, or Check the design in the rail: "Read each part and confirm it. Nothing is accepted until you do."
| Section | Shows |
|---|---|
| DECISION | Your words, "for reference". Nothing to confirm |
| SCOPE | What the model names, each with a count; periods with their names or "one planning bucket" |
| WHERE YOUR DATA LANDS | "Demand from Orders · 240 rows to load", and Not used with each column and why. Without data: "Built from your description. Nothing from a sheet lands until Load data." |
| RULES | The goal and each rule, with "from your words:" and the quote |
| ASSUMED | Each value, why, and your consent; or "Nothing was assumed." |
| YOUR DATA | Each table, whether it's needed, and its source |
| WHAT IT DOES | What the model does, "Not yet" for what it doesn't, and what was set aside |
When the design came from part of your data: "RIA read part of your data to propose this design:", then how many rows of each table. "Load data reads every row of each table you bind to the model." When the build on sample data still fails something, What still fails in this design sits above the sections, before you accept, and says what in plain words ("The independent review does not pass it."). Once accepted, it reads Ready, with what still fails.
Give each section a verdict: Confirm, or Needs correcting, which asks "What needs correcting in this section?" ("Line A only runs the heavy-duty model; the design has it running all three"). "Your notes are listed on Review; Next rebuilds with them."
Then Next:
- Accept the design when every section is confirmed. You move on to Load data while the build finishes.
- Rebuild with these notes when you wrote a note. The model goes back to Clarify and builds again (Rebuilding with your notes).
A section that changed after you confirmed it says what changed, then "Confirm it again." Leave a section undecided and it says "Confirm every section first, or say what needs correcting." On a model you sent back before, What you asked to be corrected lists your notes, newest first, then "Last sent back" with the date: "This is what you wrote, not what the model did with it. Check the parts below and say so again if any of it is still wrong."
Look over the whole step
Review in the rail is a read-only index of step 3. It opens with where the design stands, such as "This design is accepted. Change a section and rebuild, or go on.", then every section with Confirmed, Needs correcting: and your note, or Not confirmed yet, each folding open. Below are Your model, described and AFTER THE BUILD, the four readouts. Nothing is decided here: until the design is accepted, Next says "Confirm the design first, on Check the design."
See how it's built
How this is built (for modelers), at the foot of the card, folds open the mechanics: Rules and how they are encoded, Where your data lands, Checks, Build record (state, elapsed time, the goal, the model's size) and Limitations. Nothing in it needs your sign-off.
Models with no Model Design
A model built before the Model Design existed has no card. Check the design shows its older record instead, with Your decision; see Credentials.
The design on the model home
Where: Overview→Model Design
Step 2 on the model home, Model Design, folds open to the same card, read-only, when the model has a Model Design record; otherwise it says "No Model Design record for this model yet." Its caption says where the design stands: confirmed, auto accepted, edited, pending, waiting on your confirmation, not composed yet or no record.
- A model paused for you says why, with Review the design: "Nothing is built yet. Review the Model Design and confirm or reject it to continue.", "Your data was read. Review what landed and accept it, or send it back." or "The structure is built. Review the design record and accept it to finish."
- On a built model, "The structure is accepted. Sending it back re-opens the questions with your answers kept." Send back asks "What was wrong? (e.g. the capacity sheet had last year's numbers)"; Send back with this reason reopens the wizard at Clarify.
- Your model, described sits under the card; see Build and baseline.
Related
- Describe your business: the step before
- Build and baseline: what the build found, and the solve
- Credentials: the model's full build record and proof ledger
- Change a model: change the design after the wizard
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.
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.