Past Topics >>

The Analytica User Group is a way for Analytica users to support each other by sharing tips and function libraries. It includes a webinar series with tutorials and demonstrations on key Analytica features.

Webinar Series

There is usually an Analytica user webinar each week, presented by a user from Lumina or elsewhere. Webinars include demonstrations and tutorials on key issues for Analytica users, sometimes on how to use existing features more effectively, and sometimes on features of new or upcoming releases.

Webinars are interactive, using Citrix Gotomeeting to share screens and a phone teleconference. Questions, comments, and tangents are 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. Presentations may last anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes (with an estimate provided upfront).

Lumina often records User Group webinars, including audio and screensharing, and makes them available so that those who couldn't make it at the original time can view them later.

Schedule of Upcoming Webinars

Data Center Capacity Planning

Please note that this presentation will be on Wednesday rather than Thursday this week.

Date and Time: Wednesday, October 21, 2008 10:00am Pacific Daylight Time

Presenter: To be announced. Probably KC Mares, Lumina Decision Systems (formerly Director of Data Center Planning for Yahoo)

Abstract

Data center energy demands are on the rise, creating serious financial as well as infrastructural challenges for data center operators. In 2006, data centers were responsible for a costly 1.5 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption, and national energy consumption by data centers is expected to nearly double by 2011. For data center operators, this means that many data centers are reaching the limits of power capacity for which they were originally designed. In fact, Gartner predicts that 50 percent of data centers will discover they have insufficient power and cooling capacity in 2008.

This week's presentation will provide an overview of ADCAPT -- the Analytica Data Center Capacity Planning Tool. For this webinar, the User Group will be joining a presentation that is also being given outside of the Analytica User Group, but I (Lonnie) think is also of interest to the User Group community in that it shows of an example of a re-usable Analytica model, containing several very interesting and novel techniques, applied to a very interesting application area.

The Analytica Wiki, and How to Contribute

Date and Time: (tentative) Thursday, October 30, 2008, Pacific Daylight Time

Presenter: Lonnie Chrisman, Lumina Decision Systems

Abstract

The Analytica Wiki is a central repository of resources for active Analytica users. What's more, you -- as an active Analytica user -- can contribute to it. As an Analytica community, we have a lot to learn from each other, and the Analytica Wiki provides one very nice forum for doing so. You can contribute example models and libraries, hints and tricks, and descriptions of new techniques. You can fix errors in the Wiki documentation if you spot them, or add to the information that is there when you find subtleties that are not fully described. If you spend a lot of time debugging a problem, after solving it you could document the issue and how it was solved for your own benefit in the future, as well as for others in the user community who may encounter the same problem. When you publish a relevant paper, I hope you will add it to the page listing publications that utilize Analytica models.

I will provide a quick tour of the Analytica Wiki as it exists today. I'll then provide a tutorial on contributing to the Wiki -- e.g., the basics of how to edit or add content. The Wikipedia has had tremendous success with this community content contribution model, and I hope that after this introduction many of you will feel more comfortable contributing to the Wiki as you make use of it.

Large Scale Sampling Library

Date and Time: TBD (probably September 2008)

Presenter: Max Henrion, Lumina Decision Systems

Abstract

The large-scale sampling library provides a functionality to evaluate selected output nodes in small batches, making it possible to run large scale Monte Carlo simulations that otherwise would not fit in available RAM.

This presentation introduces this library and how to use it.

Bond Portfolio Analysis

Date and Time: (tentative) 11 Dec 2008, 10:00am Pacific Standard Time

Presenter: Rob Brown, Incite! Decision Technologies

Abstract

coming soon

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:

Modeling the Precision Strike Process
The Performance Profiler
Variable Stiffness Cubic Splines
Introduction to DetermTables
Importance Sampling (Bayesian posteriors)
Importance Sampling (rare events)
Statistical Functions
Table Splicing
Analytica Web Player
SubTables
Creating Custom Distribution Functions
Using the Check attribute to validate inputs and results
The Dynamic Function
Logistic Regression
Creating Control Panels
Statistical Functions
Creating Scatter Plots
Using Regression
New Functions for Reading Directly from an Excel File
Advanced Tornado Charts -- when inputs are Array-Valued
Using the Analytica Decision Engine (ADE) from ASP.NET
OLE Linking
Tornado Charts
Correlated and Multivariate Distributions
Assessment of Probability Distributions
Graph Style Templates
Sneak preview of Analytica Web Publisher
Querying an OLAP server
Querying an ODBC relational database
Self-Indexes, Lists and Implicit Dimensions
Flattening and Unflattening of Arrays
Introduction to Arrays and Array Abstraction
Local Indexes
The Iterate Function
The Reference and Dereference Operators
Modeling Utility Tariffs in Analytica
Modeling Energy Efficiency in Large Data Centers
Calling External Applications
Introduction to Linear and Quadratic Programming
Non-Linear Optimization
Writing User-Defined Functions
Modeling Markov Processes in Analytica
Manipulating Dates in Analytica
Button Scripting
Manipulating Indexes and Arrays in Analytica Expressions
Edit Table Enhancements in Analytica 4.0
Handles and Meta-Inference

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.

Statistical hypothesis testing.
- Standard textbook tests
- Computing p-values using Monte Carlo for complex and non-standard statistical models.

Numeric precision - numeric round-off, underflow, etc., why they happen, what to do about it.

Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return -- introduction to the use of these commonly used metrics for quantifying decision quality.

Using the Performance Profiler to understand where your model consumes time and memory resources.

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

Intracacies of the Domain attribute

Mastering Array Abstraction

Writing User-Defined Distribution functions.

Getting data into Analytica.

DetermTables

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

Approximate and Stochastic Dynamic Programming

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.