The Building Blocks

This tutorial will explain the basics building blocks of RuleFour

To build a Lego model we need to first know what a Lego block is and how it works and clicks together and then we need to know what are we trying to make.

At lot of our modelling experience is Excel based and as such we can end up thinking and ordering like a spreadsheet. RuleFour takes away the constraints of a spreadsheet by using a database approach.

A database is an organized collection of data

Think of each data item in the database as a cell in a spreadsheet. In this example the value or data in cell L32 is 235,444 where we have calculated the value for the TRD-2000 Hour PM Service for Period 5.

In RuleFour, we store the value 234,444 with other metadata so we can reuse it over and over again. In RuleFour the metadata we use to lookup values are called "tags". We can use these tags to filter the database and create different combinations. Rulefour also stores other metadata along with the value which could include the Unit and Period.

We can store a whole lot of extra data or tags as well. In the example below we have stored:

• Cost element name "TRD - 2000 Hour PM Service"

• Equipment Item "TRD Fleet"

• Mining Process "Prestrip 1"

• Expense Element "Maint Materials - Mechanical"

• Responsibility "Maintenance"

• Accountability "Mobile Plant Superintendent"

• Period "Period 5"

• Year "2023"

The database will contain hundreds and thousands of stored values each with stored tags. We can then use the filters to extract and reuse the data to report in many different ways. If we filter on <Period> = Period 5 only ,all data for Period 5 will be included including our value of 235,444. If we filter for <Accountability> = Mobile Plant Superintendent the value of 235,444 will be included. If we filter for <Expense Element> = Maint Materials - Mechanical AND <Responsibility> = Maintenance it will also be included.

In RuleFour, the metadata or tags come from Lists and the value is created by combining Inputs through the Rule of Four explained in the next tutorial.