Selecting Driver Type
This article explains how to select the right driver type in Model Reef.
You will learn:
What driver types exist.
How each type is intended to be used.
How driver type affects where the driver appears and how it is referenced.
Drivers do not hit financial statements directly. They are reusable input series that variables and formulas reference.
Driver types in Model Reef
Model Reef supports three main driver classes:
Economic drivers Prices, inflation, FX rates, index series and other value based or market based assumptions.
Operational drivers Units, volumes, headcount, hours, utilisation and other activity based assumptions.
Modifier drivers Growth rates, uplift factors, seasonal indices, discount factors and other pure multipliers or scalars.
All three types are stored as time series and can be used anywhere drivers are allowed.
Where to choose driver type
You choose driver type when you:
Create a new driver in the Driver Editor.
Convert or reclassify a Data Library entry as a driver.
Map imported series from external sources that you intend to use as drivers.
The driver type is shown alongside the driver name for easy identification.
How driver type affects usage
Driver type influences:
How you think about the meaning of the driver (price, quantity or pure modifier).
Where it is likely to be used in formulas.
How other team members interpret it when they see it in sidebars and pickers.
It does not directly change accounting behaviour, but it is important for model clarity and governance.
Choosing the right type
As a rule of thumb:
Use economic drivers for anything that behaves like a monetary rate, price, index or macro series.
Use operational drivers for quantities, counts and utilisation measures.
Use modifier drivers for relative adjustments, growth rates and percentages that modify other series.
Choose a type that matches how the driver will be used most of the time.
Reclassifying driver type
You can change a driver type later if needed:
Reclassification does not change the underlying time series.
All variables and formulas referencing the driver continue to work.
The driver will appear under the new type grouping in the Driver Editor and sidebars.
Document any major reclassifications with notes so collaborators understand what changed.
Related articles
Last updated