Analytica User Group

The Analytica User Group provides a support system and various resources among existing Analytica Users.

Webinar Series

The Analytica webinar series uses GotoMeeting with conference calling technology as a media for regular presentations on topics of potential interest to the community of Analytica users and modelers. Webinars are interactive, with questions and tangents welcome. Webinars are a great place to learn more about Analytica and other related topics! Seats are limited. To sign up for a particular webinar, see "How to Attend" below.

Topic scope includes:

• Introduction to new Analytica 4.0 features.
• How-to: How to utilize specific Analyica features.
• Case-studies: Presentation about successful applications.
• General modeling topics. E.g., an introduction to XYZ theory, and modeling this in Analytica.
• Analytica training.

In the upcoming weeks, we expect to offer several webinars covering features new to Analyica 4.0.

Webinar presentations may last anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes, depending on the topic (an estimate of duration should be included with the topic).

Lumina may record make a recording of User Group webinars, including audio of the presenter and participants. Lumina reserves the right to make these recordings available (or not) at its discretion.

Schedule of Upcoming Webinars

Handles and Meta-Inference

Date and Time: Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007 at 10:00 - 11:00am Pacific Standard Time

Presenter: Lonnie Chrisman, Lumina Decision Systems

Abstract

Meta-inference refers to computations that reason about your model itself, or that actually alter your model. For example, if you were to write an expression that counted how many variables are in your model, you would be reasoning about your model. Other examples of meta inference include changing visual appearance of nodes to communicate some property, re-arranging nodes, finding objects with given properties, or even creating a transformed model based on portion of your model's structure.

The ability to implement meta-inferential algorithms in Analytica has been greatly enhanced in Analytica 4.0. The key to implementation of meta-inference is the manipulation of Handles to objects (formerly refered to as varTerms). This webinar will provide a very brief introduction to handles and using them from within expressions. I will assume you are pretty familiar with creating models and writing expressions in Analyica, but I will not assume that have previous seen or used Handles. This topic is oriented towards more advanced Analytica users.

Local Indexes

Date and Time: Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 at 10:00 - 11:00am Pacific Standard Time

Presenter: Lonnie Chrisman, Lumina Decision Systems

Abstract

A local index is an index object created during the evaluation of an expression using either the Index..Do or MetaIndex..Do construction. Local indexes may exist only temporarily, being reclaimed when they are no longer used, or they may live on after the evaluation of the expression has completed, as an index of the result. Some operations require the use of local indexes, or otherwise could not be expressed.

In this talk, I'll introduce simple uses of local indexes, covering how they are declared using Index..Do, with several examples. We'll see how to access a local index using the A.I operator. I'll discuss the distinctions between local indexes and local variables. I'll show how the name of a local index can be computed dynamically, and I'll briefly cover the IndexNames and IndexesOf functions.

How to Attend

To attend, you need to sign up by contacting Lumina at webinars@lumina.com or (650) 212-1212. Attendence is limited to 15 people, so don't sign up unless you sincerely intend to attend. Also, sign up at least a day prior, since the webinar may be cancelled if there are few pre-registered participants.

These Webinars are FREE to users who have an up-to-date annual maintenance subscription (MTS). If you are unsure, check with mailto:sales@lumina. For those without MTS, an attendence fee of US$100 is charged.

How to be a Presenter

Being a presenter at an Analytica webinar provides an opportunity to make others in the Analytica community aware of your successes or capabilities. Consultants may find this an opportunity for exposure to others with particular modeling needs. Also, if you are an Analytica aficionado, this is a great opportunity to help others.

If you would like to be a presenter, submit your proposed topic to webinars@lumina.com and possible presentation times (include the time zone). We will schedule the GotoMeeting conference (you do not need a gotoMeeting subscription yourself) and we will make you presenter during the session, allowing you to share your screen while you talk. You will most likely make use of Power Point and a running Analytica during your presentation.

Archive of Past Topics

Visit the Archive of Past Topics for abstracts, example models, and recordings of previous Analytica User Group webinars. Previous topics that have been presented include:

Potential future topics

If you would like to see a webinar on a given topic, please feel free to add it here. If you see a topic listed and would like to be a presenter, let us know.

• Rapid review of features new to Analytica 4.0.

• Importance Sampling. Global sample weighting and use of extended statistic functions in 4.0.

• Topics in Regression: Using the Regression function in flexible ways, such as infering VARMA models, DFTs, etc. Estimating secondary statistics (i.e., uncertainty in the parameters) and modeling the full uncertainty in resulting model predictions (the RegressionDist function, etc). Alternative regression models (Probit_Regression, Logistic_Regression, Possion_Regression, etc).

• Logistic Regression: Quick intro to logistic regression (generalized regression), including Probit_Regression, Logistic_Regression, Possion_Regression, etc. Using these to fit probability estimates in Analyica, Analyica Optimizer experience, exploring result with new graphing features.

• New 4.0 graphing features general overview

• Creating graphs of multi-dimensional data.

• Graph Style Templates: Creating libraries of style templates, including some behind-the-scenes settings.

• An in-depth look at graph style settings.

• MdxQuery - Interacting with Microsoft Analysis Services or other OLAP servers.

• Producing graphs from ADE: Including how to serve graphs from web pages.

• Manipulating dates in Analytica

• Integrating with external programs: Utilizing external programs or scripts (VBScript, Perl, etc) from within an Analytica model.

• An introduction to button scripting in Analytica

• New extensions to the Analytica Optimizer

• Introduction to Linear, Quadratic and Non-Linear Programming, and the basics of using Analytica Optimizer.

• Intracacies of the Domain attribute

• Writing user-defined functions. Understanding parameter qualifiers. Introduction to new 4.0 qualifiers. Writing distribution functions. Writing array abstractable functions.

• Mastering Array Abstraction

• Sampling and Distributions - new 4.0 additions/extensions. Also, writing custom User-Defined Distribution Functions.

• Integrating with external applications using RunConsoleProcess.

• Handles and Meta-Inference.

• Using references (the \ and # operators)

• Getting data into Analytica.

• DetermTables

• Implementing iterative algorithms. Convergence algorithms using Iterate. Use of While..Do. Recursive functions, slice assignment, etc.

• Large-scale sampling. Techniques when memory limitations constrain sampleSize.

• Creating User-Defined functions. Review of Function Parameter Qualifiers.

• Understanding Evaluation Contexts

• Bayesian Inference

• Sensitivity Analysis.

• Dynamic Programming

• Correlated and multi-dimensional distributions

User Survey Results

During the first week of September, we sent out a survey to people who had attended webinars so far. Please continue providing us with feedback. Here is some feedback to date:

Level of difficult and speed:

So far, of those who answered this question, 25% say "a bit too easy", 25% say "too hard/fast", and 50% say "just right".

Topics requested for future webinars:

• How to run multiple iterations, e.g. 100 iterations with uncertainty sample of 1000.

• Sampling for rare events.

• Using the lognormal function.

• Financial modeling

• New array functionality (subtables, choices in tables)

• Optimizer !!!

• Dynamic models (twice requested)

• Choice of distributions

• Re-sampling and radomize methods and uncertainty sample size

• Tricks for sensitivity analysis

• Input and output nodes

• Importance analysis

The Analytica Wiki

The Analytica Wiki contains many resources, including in-depth reference materials, relevant articles, example models, tutorials, etc., to help users master Analytica and find what they need. Even better, Analytica users can contribute! You can upload your own models, articles, expand on or correct materials that are there, etc., for the benefit of the entire Analytica community.

The Analytica Forum

The Analytica Forum is a message board where users can post questions to the Analytica community, or view what others have posted. Many materials of general interest have been posted there (however, we hope to eventually update the Wiki to reflect all this material, where it can be more conveniently organized). The forum is maintained indepedently by an enthusiastic Analytica user. Our thanks to to Mike for all his efforts!