Authenticated users and saving data from simulation runs

#1

Hello,

We are trying to analyze user behavior for a research project. The simulation is modeled in Vensim and we hope to use Forio Epicenter as the interface to our model.

Some questions on your Professional plans -

  1. If the number of authenticated users for a plan is X, does this mean that Forio will provide X login/passwords?
  2. Also does this mean that
    (a) Only X users could run the simulation in total OR
    (b) Up to X users could run the simulation at any one time
  3. If the answer is 2(a), could two users sign-in with the same login/password at the same time and still have their data separately recorded and saved? We could provide a separate disambiguating token such as a Amazon Mechanical Turk Worker ID.
  4. If the answer is 2(b), if the same user login/password is used at a later time would the data be recorded separately? Or will the earlier data be lost?
  5. Separately, how is data saved, and how can we access the data? Would it be possible to include time marks for when decisions are taken in the simulation (for e.g., on clicking a button ‘Advance Simulation’, data should be saved.)

Thanks!

Regards,
Aditya

#2

Hi Aditya!

Thanks for your interest in Forio Epicenter. Answers to your questions

  1. You are able to create users and groups for your simulations. If your plan allows 1000 users, you may create up to 1,000 users and passwords.

  2. Specifically, this means you have XXX (1000 in the above example) unique user names and passwords.

  3. Each run done by your simulation is tied to a unique run id, as well as the user and group. Any user can do as many runs as possible, either at the same time or at different times.

  4. Data is not erased. Each new run has its own run id

  5. All data is saved to a backend database. You can build a “run comparison” simulation with our interface builder which will let you run and compare multiple runs using an interface based on a template. You can also use the Forio Epicenter.js javascript libraries to directly create new runs, set variables, get data for either current or archived runs.

Regarding time marks for decisions, you’ll have that yourself. Forio provides API (the Data API) to store arbitrary information. You can create a simulation and add JavaScript commands to store timestamps when users make decisions.

For more information, create a sample simulation at forio.com/epicenter. Upload a Vensim model, and choose Interface Builder.

To create more complex simulations using JavaScript programming, consult our documentation at https://forio.com/epicenter/docs.

#3

Thank you for the information. Yes, I’m working with some toy models to get a feel of the interface Epicenter provides.

~~Aditya