We will introduce an artificial sample project that will be used to illustrate the Datagrid functionality.
- Alternatives (Alt1, Alt2, and Alt3)
- We named the Objectives based on the Measurement Methods used when evaluating the alternatives with respect to (wrt) those objectives (Pairwise, Rating, Direct, UtilityCurve, StepFunction)
The Datagrid for this example looks like the following:
The Cost and Risk are values used in the Allocate process. The Alternative Attributes, if they exist, are also displayed -- we will ignore them here.
The values in the display are the priorities for the alternatives for All Participants.
Similar Datagrid displays can be produced for any participant or group of participants by selecting the participant or group from the pull-down menu.
You can also select the normalization, either Normalized or Unnormalized;
and then select Ideal or Distributive for Normalized Results.
You can Download the Datagrid as a .xlsx file for one user or group at a time.
You can modify the downloaded file -- such as add, edit, delete Alternatives, enter judgments (for participants Datagrid), and alternative attributes assignments.
The 
button is used to create a .xlsx file (readable in Excel) with four sections:
- Datagrid
- Calculated
- Instructions
- The Math Explained
Datagrid for All Participants:
The Datagrid for All Participants (see below) contains the: 
The Calculated sheet is similar to the Datagrid sheet but shows the ratio scale priorities derived from the specific measurement types of Pairwise, Ratings, Utility Curves and Step Functions: 
The Instructions sheet displays instructions you can follow when working with Datagrid: 
Datagrid for One of the Participants:
The Datagrid for one of the participants (in this case, the John Doe) is:
Since John Doe is the only participant with judgments/data, it looks the same as the Datagrid for "All Participants."
However, when we download the Datagrid for the John Doe, we see a difference in the Datagrid tab of the spreadsheet:
The difference is that Ratings are shown as they were input by the participant; in this case, Very Good, Good to Very Good, and Moderate for the three alternatives respectively.
The Utility Curve and Step Function data are also displayed instead of the priorities.
After Downloading the Datagrid file of one of the participants, you can change data on the downloaded .xlsx file and upload it back to Comparion.
Note: We recommend utilizing the Datagrid upload functionality primarily for uploading Alternative scores or judgments. Adding Alternatives and their attributes can be conveniently accomplished from the Define Model > Alternatives page.
Entering or Changing Data for Uploading: Any of the cells in green can be changed either manually by pasting from the clipboard, or by using an Excel macro.
In order to edit the Datagrid, you need to click the Enable Editing button found at the top:
From our example, John Doe has the following data:
We will edit the DataGrid of John Doe as follows:
- Rename Alt1 to Alt1_rename.
- Delete Alt_3.
- Add values for Costs (100, 200, 300).
- Change the Ratings (Good, Outstanding) for the two alternatives.
- Update the alternative attribute alt_string (aaa, bbb) and alt_categorical (category3,category4).
- Note:
- For non-categorical attributes, the values should satisfy the attribute type (string, integer, float, boolean), or else it will be ignored during upload.
- For categorical attributes, if the category entered is not an existing category of the given attribute, the category will be added as a new category (in our example, category4 will be added as a new category).
- For multi-categorical attributes, any changes will be ignored.
- Note:
- Add new alternative'Alt4_new" and add 0.2 rating, 0.7 direct priority, 0.5 Utility Curve and 60 Step Function data.
The Datagrid after the changes will look like below:
Note: Only the Project Managers can manage the alternatives (add, rename, delete) and update the Costs, Risks, and alternative attributes. For Participants, only changes for the judgments can be uploaded; any other changes will be ignored during the upload. In our example, John Doe is a Project Manager of the model.
After updating the Datagrid, simply save the file and upload it back in Comparion.
To upload, select John Doe and then click upload.
Note: Upload Datagrid only works for Participants. You cannot upload Datagrid for groups.
A model to browse for the file to upload will be displayed as shown below; click Choose File and browse for the DataGrid file, and then click the Upload button.
The resulting Datagrid is shown below:
Note: The categories are populated for the newly added alternative "Alt4_new" even if they were not added by uploading the .xlsx file; this is because these are defaults for the alternative attributes, which were specified from the Alternatives page.
