Driver Editor Screen
This article explains the Driver Editor screen in Model Reef.
You will learn:
What a driver is in Model Reef.
How to view and edit driver time series.
How drivers connect to variables and formulas.
Drivers provide reusable inputs that shape variable behaviour across the model.
What the Driver Editor is for
Where the Variable Editor controls a single variable's behaviour, the Driver Editor controls shared input series, such as:
Market growth rates.
Unit prices.
Volumes, headcounts or utilisation.
FX rates or inflation.
Seasonality indices.
Other modifiers used in formulas.
Changing a driver can affect many variables at once.
Opening the Driver Editor
You can open the Driver Editor from:
The drivers list within a branch or model.
The Data Library viewer when you open a driver entry.
A formula or variable that references a driver (via drill down).
Once open, you see the full time series for that driver across the model timeline.
Driver types
Model Reef groups drivers into three main classes:
Economic drivers
Prices, inflation, FX, macro indices and similar.
Operational drivers
Units, volumes, hours, headcount, utilisation and so on.
Modifier drivers
Percentages, scalars, adjustment factors and scenario modifiers.
The driver type is mostly for clarity and organisation. It does not by itself create P&L or cashflow entries until a variable uses the driver.
Editing driver values
In the Driver Editor you can:
Enter values directly by period.
Apply preset patterns such as growth, flat ranges or seasonal shapes.
Import historical series from the Data Library or external sources.
Copy and paste ranges from spreadsheets if needed.
Changes you make here update all variables and formulas that reference the driver.
Timing, frequency and interpolation
Drivers use the model's base periodicity, but you can:
Define driver values at a coarser level and have Model Reef interpolate.
Use schedules to apply different values in different periods.
Apply seasonality patterns to repeat over each year.
For many use cases, drivers are smoother than variables and act as simple, intuitive assumption series.
Linking drivers to variables and formulas
Variables and formulas can use drivers in several ways:
Direct multiplication, for example
Revenue = Units driver × Price driver.Adjustment factors, for example
Opex = Base cost × Inflation driver.Scenario toggles, for example
Volume × Scenario modifier driver.
The Driver Editor does not show all uses of a driver, but you can usually drill down from variables to see which drivers they reference.
Documentation and collaboration
As with variables, you can:
Add notes explaining what the driver represents and where the numbers come from.
Attach source files, such as market reports or CSVs.
Tag the driver for review or ownership.
Because drivers can affect many variables, good documentation here is particularly important.
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