Analytica User FAQs

Training and Consulting Help

How can I learn more about using Analytica?

• Work through the Analytica Tutorial. You can open it as an Adobe PDF document from inside Analytica by selecting Tutorial from the Help menu. The Tutorial is designed to help you learn the basics of navigating and running a model, and building a new model.
• Attend a 2-day in-person training course. See Analytica training for dates, locations, and contents.
• Buy a Quick-start package: This gets you 4 hours coaching and help from an Analytica expert, via web-conference, phone, and email, at your convenience. The coach can give you tips, translate a spreadsheet into Analytica, review your model, and help you over obstacles.
• Review example models included with Analytica and others found within the Analytica Wiki.
• Attend Analytica User Group webinars.
• Watch for training articles posted to the Analytica Wiki.

Where can I find a consultant to hire for Analytica model building?

• Lumina can refer you to an modeling consultant to help you build a model, or build it for you. Lumina has a few experts available, and can refer you to one of our affiliates -- all of whom we have certified as Analytica experts. Call us at 650-212-1212 to discuss your needs.

Can you help me re-code an existing Excel spreadsheet?

Yes. Lumina and its affiliated consultants have a lot of experience translating Excel models into Analytica. Send us your spreadsheet in confidence, and we'll be glad to give you a quote.

I am a consultant with Analytica modeling experience. Can Lumina help put me in touch with potential clients?

Yes. Please call us at 650-212-1212 to discuss what you can offer. If you are experienced with Analytica, and have expertise in a particular domain, you may be eligible to join our Affiliated Consultants Program. We can then refer clients with appropriate needs.

How can I distribute my Analytica application for others to view or use?

There are several ways to make your Analytica models available for others to review or use:

• The Analytica Player is available free and lets users view and run Analytica models. Users can change inputs and generate results. They cannot modify the model structure or save model changes. You or your users can download a free copy of the Analytica Player.
• Analytica Power Player: When your end users need to save inputs, access databases, etc.
• Analytica Web Player (AWP): AWP lets people view and run models via a Web browser running as Web applications. You can upload models onto a server, and control access to them. AWP is currently in early testing. Please contact Lumina if you want to learn more.
• Analytica Decision Engine (ADE): For custom front-end user-interfaces or web apps.

Application Integration

How can I import data from Excel into Analytica?

Use either Copy/Paste (to copy the data once), or OLE linking for a hot link that will propagate any changes from Excel to Analytica. Set up a 2-D table in Analytica having the same number of cells as your Excel source, then Copy/Paste or Copy/Paste link.

How do I access data in an external Database?

Use DbQuery and related functions in Chapter 21 of the Analytica User Guide. You'll need Analytica Enterprise.

To query data from an OLAP server, such as Analysis Services, you'll need Analytica 4.0 Enterprise and will use the MdxQuery function.

How can I call an external application from my model

• Use OLE linking for external applications that support it, such as Microsoft Office.

• Use the new (to Analytica 4.0) RunConsoleProcess. It provides a general facility to call an external application, pass it data directly or via a file, let it run in parallel or wait for it to return and get results via a file.

• Analytica does not currently provide a direct COM, .NET or Java object interface. But, ADE does provide an API for COM and .NET.

About ADE

The Analytica Decision Engine (ADE) is sold as a separate product from Analytica. It allows you to make use of an Analytica model from the backend of a custom application, such as one written in a programming language like a Visual Basic, or from an web application using a technology such as Active Server Pages (ASP).

Using ADE from Java

The Analytica Decision Engine (ADE) exposes the full functionality of the Analyica Decision Engine with COM and ActiveX Automation programming interfaces (APIs). Calling ADE from a Java program requires a third-party component called a Java-to-COM bridge. There are several such products on the market, such as [http:www.ezjcom.com EZ JCom], [http:j-integra.intrinsync.com J-Integra], [http:www.nevaobject.com Java2Com], [http:danadler.com/jacob JACOB], [http:www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/bridge2java Interface Tool for Java], [http:www.jniwrapper.com Comfyj], and many others. Lumina does not have a recommendation on which bridge to use.

We highly recommend the use of ADE 4.0 (as opposed to ADE 3.1), even while it is still in beta, when doing this. Changes to the COM interface in 4.0 increase the interoperability in ways relevant to this integration.

Installer Issues

Error 1607: Unable to install InstallShield Scripting Runtime.

If you experience this error during the installation of Analytica, please visit this InstallShield Page, which describes the steps for resolving the problem:

Error 1608: Unable to create InstallDriver instance, Return code: -2147024894

To resolve this problem, see this InstallShield page, which describes the possible causes and remedies.

Memory Issues

See:

• How To Access More Memory
• Managing Memory and CPU Time for large models
• Profiling Time and Memory Usage

Basis Application Issues

Windows in Analytica open slowly in Windows Vista

When you open a window inside Analytica, such as an object window, diagram, etc., a small animation occurs that makes it appear that the window is expanding from a point. Normally this animation flashes by in less than 1/10 of a second. However, when you have the Windows Aero color scheme selected in Windows Vista, this small animation runs in slow motion and takes several seconds.

Other aspects of Analytica's speed are not impacted. For example, evaluation of models is not slower.

To avoid this problem in Windows Vista, simply change the color scheme to any of the color schemes other than Windows Aero. To change the color scheme, follow these steps:

• Right click on the desktop, select Personalize (This jumps to the Control Panel → Personalization dialog).
• Click on Window Color and Appearance
• Select Open classic appearance properties for more color options
• In the Color Scheme list, select anything other than Windows Aero.

Analytica Expression FAQs

(In progress -- two things need to occur. Common questions need to be collected here and organized, and then answers need to be added. Feel free to contribute to either aspect)

Array Abstraction

• How do I access a single row of an array?
• How do I represent a square matrix?
• How do I re-index an array, exchanging one index, I, for another of the same length, J?
• How do I aggregate an array from a fine grain index (e.g., days) to a coarser index (e.g., months)?

Distributions

• How do I generate independent distributions across an index, for example, so that Noise := Normal(0,1) is independent for each time point t?

• How do I define a chance variable so that its uncertainty is correlated with an existing chance variable?

• How do a fit a distribution to historical data?

User-Defined Functions

• How do I create my own User-Defined function?

• How do I create a custom distribution function?

How do I model X (Depreciation)?

• Depreciation (offset in time)?

To model depreciation, two inputs are required: 1) a schedule of spend to be depreciated 2) a depreciation schedule

For this example, the index time is 10 year series with a constant startYear=2008 time:=sequence (startYear,startYear+9,1)

Example depreciation schedule is a 5yr MACRS depreciation schedule entered as a variable: Table(time)(.2,.32,.192,.1152,.1152,.0576,0,0,0,0)

SpendOverTime is a variable indexed by time with the capital spend amounts as desired: table(time)(0,0,111,0,0,0,0,0,0,0)

Create a user defined function: Function_Depreciation, Parameters: (SpendOverTime,DepreciationSchedule), Definition: index depr_years = copyindex(time); var deprStartyr:=time; sum(if time-depr_years+1<1 then 0 else slice(SpendOverTime,time,Depr_years-startYear+1)*slice(depreciationSchedule,time,time-depr_years+1),depr_years)

Then create a depreciation test variable to check the result Variable: DepreciationTest definition: function_Depreciation(spendOverTime,DepreciationSchedule)

What does Analytica use to represent missing values?

Analytica has no special MissingValue constant.

I would recommend using Null. However, because Analytica does not interpret this (or any other constant) as meaning a missing value, you will need to insert appropriate conditional logic to deal with the missing values in the appropriate fashion. For example:

Sum( MaybeMissing(x), I )

Product( MaybeMissing(x,1), I )

where Function MaybeMissing( x ; defX : optional )

Definition: if x=Null then if IsNotSpecified(defX) then 0 else defX else X