Need Help with User Input for Model Builder

[LisaD]

I am really stuck here and chat support has not been available for over an hour. 

I have a database that we use to plot information for a project.  My boss wondered if it would be possible to make the data live so we could play around with the variables used to calculate the number we use to create the plot.  Eight variables go into it and several more are calculated using those variables.  I thought I could use model builder to prompt the user to enter those 8 parameters and then from there recalculate the values in those fields based on the new variable values.  But I can't figure out how to get model builder to prompt the user for values because it has been many years since I have used model builder. Any help would be appreciated because I am really stuck.

[curtvprice]

I thought I could use model builder to prompt the user to enter those 8 parameters and then from there recalculate the values in those fields based on the new variable values.  But I can't figure out how to get model builder to prompt the user for values because it has been many years since I have used model builder. Any help would be appreciated because I am really stuck.

If you set model elements as parameters and run the model as a tool (that is, without opening the model in edit mode) you can successfully run your scenarios. You can add validation (filtering) to set up pick lists, etc. for your input parameters in the model tool properties. Datasets produced at the end of your model are added to the map if exposed as output parameters.

Facility with the Calculate Value tool and little bit of Python can be very helpful in setting up a model like this, for example, to convert your input parameters to expressions for the Calculate Field tool.