Managing the Growth of the Model
William Preinitz · 2012
This chapter discusses how models evolve structurally over time, and how they should be grown so that they can continue to create value for the business unit. Models, like people, grow, and experience a growth pattern passing through the stages of infancy, youth, young adult, maturity, and in many cases death. Infancy is the early design phase, the specification of the output reporting, the menu structure and the description and construction of the basic module structure of the visual basic application (VBA) code. In youth phase, the code is written, the basic model is tested and validated, and the first deal is done. The model then begins to grow inwardly. The basic framework and form remains intact, but the complexity and Range of operations increase. The modeling framework becomes “richer,” able to accomplish more varied operations and become subtler in its analytical capacity. Many issues also arise over time. These are usually related to maintaining control of the model, model promotion, validation processes, potential software evolutions, and structural evolution of the model, and need to be addressed as the model enters its maturity.