VEDA is a powerful yet user
friendly set of tools geared to facilitate the creation, maintenance,
browsing, and modification of the large data bases required by complex
mathematical and economic models. Also, smart exploration of the results
created by such models and the creation of reports. The VEDA system is composed
of two major subsystems – VEDA Front-End (VEDA_FE) and VEDA Back-End
(VEDA_BE).
Overview
of the VEDA system for TIMES modeling
Data
and assumptions are fed into VEDA_FE that provides input to the TIMES code.
VEDA_FE accepts input from a variety of Excel files with different (flexible)
structures that are tailored to work efficiently with data intensive models.
The TIMES code works in the GAMS environment and produces text output that is
read by VEDA_BE. VEDA_BE produces numerical and graphical (mainly via Excel)
output for the user. Future updates will have VEDA_FE and VEDA_BE interacting
more and more. For example, it will be possible to view the results for the
processes/commodities being browsed in VEDA_FE. Similarly, input information
for the processes/commodities selected in VEDA_BE will be a click away.
VEDA_FE is the outcome of MARKAL
and TIMES modeling assignments executed by its developer over the past 15
years. It is under continuous development, driven by a very strong desire to
keep increasing the efficiency and transparency of managing input (and
output) of data-intensive models. The vision statement of VEDA applications
is to
take the drudgery out of modeling.
The developer being its first user
is a very special feature of VEDA. Intimate domain knowledge has obvious
advantages for software development, but every silver lining has a cloud...
The system is fundamentally biased
towards large-scale multi-region models. It can certainly support small
single-region models, but its real power comes into play when modeling
several regions together. Early incarnations of VEDA were used only in
projects where the developers were directly involved. The primary focus of
this system has been on expanding the envelope of possibilities; helping new
users emerged as a priority only recently.
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