Our Models Know
How to Change
Aware™ Technology
Answers to "Questions to Ponder"
"How many alternative models are implicit in a single user defined model, and how many of those alternatives will provide meaningful analysis that the original model does not provide?"
One answer to this question is depicted below.
Our 1st Financials software embeds the Aware™ technology into its easy-to-use spreadsheet interface to provide the computational engine for the product's financial graphic displays.
The financial spreadsheet used to build the 1st Financials product contains a model with just 5 input cells and 14 formula cells.
There are more than 100 different ways that this initial model can be automatically reconfigured by the Aware™ technology when users enter values anywhere into the model. This includes entering values into formula cells.
As a result, users get the benefits of at least 100 alternate models while the developers only had to define a single model with just 5 inputs and 14 formulas. (In real product development terms, this model development step took only a few hours to implement and test. Less than a day out of the total product developmet was dedicated to the financial model.)
This analytical leverage, i.e., 100 to 1, represents a greater breadth of analysis than the single original model alone can provide. That is, you can enter values into all 14 formula cells for any period of data (any column) and the model will reconfigure itself to calculate a valid result without loosing the original formulas. You cannot do this in Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, or Quatro Pro but you can using the Aware™ technology as the computational engine for your modeling applications.
The following screen shot depicts the "Model View" from the 1st Financials software. The product uses the familiar and easy-to-use spreadsheet paradigm to interface with the user. Initially, using a streamlined data entry screen, the user only needs to enter Cash, Total Assets, Equity, Sales and Income and all of the remaining variables are calculated using formulas. Subsequently, on any screen, the user can enter a value in any cell and the Aware™ technology computational engine will reconfigure the model to calculate a valid result by automatically accessing any one of the more than 100 alternative model forms stemming from the original model. Users are not even aware that the Aware™ technology is at work. All they know is that they can enter values anywhere they want to and get valid analytical results. The sophistication of the technology remains hidden and only the ease-of-operation is perceived.
1st Financials -- Model View: You can enter a value anywhere in the 1st Financials model. The model, using the Aware™ technology, then automatically reconfigures the model to an alternate form and calculates a valid result. All of this is invisible to the users who simply enters values where ever they desire. You cannot achieve these productivity gains for both developers and users without the patented Aware™ technology.
Try to get your mind around this...
"Knowledge is Power and our models know more than any
others you've ever used."