Patera joins RysoAI

Patera has joined RysoAI. Its work on interactive documents will become part of our interface development. Started in 2021, Patera explored how a reader could work with the numbers inside an explanation.

A value in a Patera document could become an adjustable variable. Calculations elsewhere in the text would respond when it changed. Readers could also open a result to inspect how it had been calculated. The document held both the explanation and a way to examine its assumptions.

An explanation you can test

A report might conclude that a business needs more stock. Its recommendation could depend on expected demand, the inventory already available and the time needed to receive another order. The reader may agree with most of the reasoning while wanting to test a different demand estimate.

In a static report, that can mean copying figures into a spreadsheet and rebuilding the calculation. The reader has to keep track of which numbers came from the document and which assumptions they changed. An interactive document can keep the calculation beside the explanation as the reader works through an alternative.

Patera used familiar spreadsheet-style formulas to connect values in the text. A reader could adjust a number directly and see the dependent results update. Opening a calculated value revealed the relationship behind it, so the document could support both a quick reading and a closer examination.

Following an assumption through a decision

We want to apply that approach to forecasts. A demand estimate, for example, could feed an inventory plan. The document could show how the expected demand relates to stock requirements and the timing of an order. Changing the estimate would reveal which parts of the plan depend on it.

Other inputs would remain visible too. A forecast of demand and an assumption about delivery time have different roles. A reader should be able to vary one while holding the other constant, then trace the effect through the calculation.

Keeping those relationships explicit also makes a discussion more precise. Two people may disagree about the forecast while using the same calculation. They can examine that disagreement in the document, without rebuilding the whole plan around a different set of numbers.

Documents and conversation

Patera’s work will inform how we present forecasts, calculations and explanations together. We are developing these ideas alongside conversational interfaces, where someone can ask about an outcome or explore an alternative in their own words.

The two forms offer different ways into the same decision. A conversation can help someone identify the assumption they want to test. A document can keep the values and relationships in view while they work through the consequences. We are interested in how they can be used together without making the underlying calculation harder to inspect.

Our next work builds on Patera’s adjustable values and visible formulas. We want a reader to be able to follow an explanation at their own pace, investigate the part they question and return to the wider decision with the changes still in view.