FAST 2.04-01 Organize inputs both by structure and commercial area
The most meaningful way of grouping inputs is first to consider their nature, e.g. separating constant inputs from series inputs, and actual values from forecasts data. These groupings can be further divided by what the inputs represent, for example, capital expenditure, financing, costs or revenue.
FAST 2.04-02 Include a dedicated instruction / comments column on Input sheets
Input sheet should be structured in descriptive style and at the same time maintaining its brevity. Add a “comments” column where any comments, notes or instructions related to a particular input can be precisely written. This information ensures that anybody handling a model understand how to use the input. Such a column will be visible on print-outs; do not use cell comments for such information.
FAST 2.04-03 Create self-documenting Input sheets
Together with readable code, the model can act as its own data book (a separate document is exceedingly expensive to produce and rarely up to date to be useful on the day). Printing the input sheets, together with a software copy of the model itself, should give other modellers all the documentation they need.
