Investigate a Goal

Debugging can be undertaken using a 'top down' approach. The top down approach is where you investigate a goal and set the input attributes relevant to that goal as required.

To investigate a goal using the Debugger:

  1. Launch the Debugger.
  2. In the Data view, select the attribute that you want to investigate. You can set up your entities and relationships before starting your investigation. It is also handy to filter the attributes list by Input + Goal attributes to ensure you are selecting a goal attribute.

    Debugger Data view showing goal attribute selected
  3. Right-click and select Investigate. This will open the Decision view with the attribute you have selected as the goal. The value of this attribute is unknown and all of the relevant paths to the goal are shown in the tree below it.

    Debugger Decision view showing unknown goal attribute
  4. Work your way through the list of attributes, setting values. It can be useful to select Relevant only and Base only attributes to help identify which attributes to provide answers to. After setting a value, the list of attribute values in the Decision view will be updated with the value you have specified, along with any changes to the expandable tree view showing relevant branches of your rule structure. That is, you might answer a question that means another branch of the rules is now irrelevant towards proving the goal.
  5. Continue investigating attributes until a value for the goal is known.

    Debugger Decision view showing known goal attribute

You can also trigger the investigation of a goal:

  • from within a Word or Excel rules document. Simply put your cursor in the conclusion attribute in the rule and select Go To. In the pop-up window, select View in debugger.
  • from the Data tab in Policy Modeling. Right-click an attribute and select View in debugger in the pop-up window.

In both cases, the Debugger opens to the Decision view with the attribute you have selected as the goal.

Tip: At any time while investigating a goal you can right-click on an attribute, select Attribute Usage and see how the attribute is used in the rules. You can filter the list of relevant attributes using the check boxes at the top of the Decision view. For more information, see View the Decision for a Known Attribute.