Views of mathematical programming models and their instances

Large-scale mathematical models are built, managed and applied by people with different cognitive skills. This poses a challenge for the design of a multi-view architecture of a system that accommodates these differences. A primary objective of mathematical modeling is providing insights into problem behavior, and there are many constituencies who require different views for different questions. One consistency is composed of modellers who have different views of basic model components. Another constituency is composed of problem owners for whom models are built. These two constituencies, which are not exhaustive, have significantly different needs and skills. This paper addresses this issue of multiview architecture by presenting a formal framework for the design of a view creation and management system. Specific views the authors consider include algebraic, block schematic, graphic, and textual. Both form and content are relevant to view creation, and the merits of views are determined by their value in aiding comprehension and insight. The need for a central, formal structure to create and manage views is demonstrated by the inadequacy of direct mappings from any of the popular systems that are typically designed to support only one view of linear programming models and their instances.