How to work with Knowledge Bank

How to Use the Knowledge Bank in Decision Critical: Two-Way Sync & Master Data Setup

Written by Decision Critical

Updated 1 day ago

Latest updated on 9/14/26

Knowledge Bank: The Central Truth Engine

The Knowledge Bank serves as the central operational library for your company. Instead of manually re-entering specs, equipment run-rates, and cost structures every time you build an operational branch, the Knowledge Bank functions as a single source of truth to assemble scenarios and centrally update models using pre-loaded data sets.

Where is Knowledge Bank?

Knowledge Bank is located in your company section (/analytics page).

Core Architecture & Navigation
Opening the Knowledge Bank exposes the foundational categories that drive your business logic:

PRODUCTS: Defines semi-finished/finished/traded goods, packaging variants, unit configurations, and base sales pricing.
STAFFING: Houses role definitions, base wages, shift schedules, and operational labor capacities.
EQUIPMENT: Catalogs production machinery, footprint dimensions, depreciation cycles, and recurring maintenance/rigging costs.
PROCESS LIBRARY: Stores manufacturing/service steps, batch runtimes, routing rules, and equipment assignments.
RAW MATERIALS: Maintains the bill of materials (BOM), unit purchasing costs, supplier minimum order quantities, and scrap rates.
UTILITIES: Models resource consumption profiles (power, water, gas, etc,.) per unit.
TAX: Stores applicable corporate rates, VAT/sales tax rules, and payroll tax.

How It Drives Decision Critical Models

Global Cascading Updates: Modifying a master specification in the Knowledge Bank (such as bulk grain pricing or utility rates) instantly cascades across all linked scenarios, eliminating the need to update duplicate formulas manually.
Modular Scenario Assembly: When launching a new test scenario (e.g., comparing Single-Product Wholesale vs. Multi-Channel Retail), models pull building blocks directly from this bank to project sales, profit, and 5-year CAGR without rebuilding operational logic from scratch.
Standardized Assumptions: Keeps cross-scenario comparisons valid by ensuring that every scenario runs on the identical physical and operational baseline.

Knowledge Bank: Products

The PRODUCTS section defines everything your business outputs or resells. Instead of treating all inventory as generic lines, Decision Critical categorizes products into three distinct operational classifications to govern whether items are manufactured in-house, used as intermediate components, or purchased purely for resale.

The Three Product Classifications
Selecting the right type determines the underlying rules for labor, machinery, bill of materials (BOM), and sales routing:

SEMI-FINISHED PRODUCTS:
- Role: Physical goods produced using company or outsourced resources (labor, equipment, buildings) that are consumed downstream in further production rather than sold directly.
- Key Drivers: Raw material consumption rates and production process cycles.
- Availability: Available strictly as inputs for finished manufactured goods or other complex semi-finished steps.
- Brewery Example: "Unfermented Wort" or "Base Green Beer" before filtration and kegging.
FINISHED PRODUCTS (Manufactured Goods):
- Role: Completed products manufactured through internal or outsourced processes, ready for direct distribution and sale.
- Key Drivers: Full routing through equipment, direct labor touch-time, BOM raw materials, and packaging configurations.
- Brewery Example: "Golden Ale 16oz 4-Pack" or "Seasonal Stout 50L Keg."
TRADED GOODS:
- Role: Finished inventory purchased directly from an external supplier and resold without undergoing physical transformation.
- Key Drivers: Purchase wholesale unit cost, freight/lead time, minimum order quantities (MOQs), and retail markup.
- Brewery Example: Branded glassware, brewery T-shirts, or imported non-alcoholic beverages.

Product List Management
The catalog interface provides high-level tracking across all items:

Code: Unique internal SKU or inventory reference code.
Name: Clear operational title of the product.
Used in: Displays downstream parent assemblies or finished goods that consume this specific item.
Cost: Automatically calculates the unit manufacturing cost (COGS) or lowest procurement cost.

Creating a New Product
Click the green [+] button in the bottom-right corner of the table to open the modal:

Select Type: Choose between SEMI-FINISHED PRODUCTS, Manufactured goods, or Traded goods.
Product Name: Enter the identifying name.
Main Unit of Measure: Select the primary base unit (e.g., liter, barrel, unit, kg).
Action: Click CREATE PRODUCT AND PROCEED TO PRODUCT CARD to open the deep configuration sheet (BOM, labor routing, and packaging rules).

Knowledge Bank: Staffing

The STAFFING directory defines the organizational roles that supply operational labor, oversight, and administration across your facilities. Rather than modeling payroll as a disconnected total sum, Decision Critical structures staffing by individual positions so labor capacity, hourly rates, and shift schedules link directly to production machinery and process runtimes.

Positions Directory Overview
The main directory window acts as the central catalog for all standardized roles across the enterprise:

Central Repository: Defines reusable role templates (e.g., Head Brewer, Packaging Line Operator, Quality Assurance Tech, Shift Supervisor).
Modal Controls: The header includes quick tools to expand to full screen, open in an external view, or collapse back to the navigation bar.
Creation Trigger: Clicking the green [+] button in the lower right opens the creation modal to set up a new position profile.

Creating a New Position
The creation dialog establishes the primary identifier and naming conventions before routing to detailed compensation and schedule rules:

Position code: Auto-generated structured alphanumeric tag (e.g., PTN-001) to maintain clear auditing across scenarios and departments.
Name of position: Clear descriptive title defining the role's primary responsibility.
Action Buttons:
- CONFIRM AND RETURN: Saves the position to the directory list without immediate further setup, ideal for bulk role mapping.
- CONFIRM AND PROCEED: Saves the entry and immediately opens the detailed Position Card to configure compensation tiers, hourly burden, working hours, and machine certifications.

Why Centralized Positions Matter

Direct vs. Indirect Allocation: Standardizing positions centrally allows you to assign specific roles directly to equipment operation or production recipes (driving direct COGS) while keeping managerial and back-office roles under operating expenses (OpEx).
Cross-Scenario Labor Parity: Updating wage inflation, benefits overhead, or standard shift hours in the Knowledge Bank updates every scenario utilizing that position code without manual recalculation.

Knowledge Bank: Equipment Module

The EQUIPMENT directory catalogs the physical machinery, production lines, and fixed capital assets required to execute your manufacturing processes. Establishing equipment centrally ensures that asset values, depreciation methods, and machine footprints remain uniform across all scenario models.

Equipment Directory Controls
The main directory serves as the centralized repository for all machinery configurations:

Search Bar: Quickly filters existing machines by name or internal code.
Window Controls: The top-right icons allow toggling filters, locking/unlocking directory views, popping the window out, expanding to full screen, or closing back to the side menu.
Add Equipment: Clicking the green [+] button launches the CREATE NEW FIXED ASSETS TYPE creation modal.

Configuring a New Fixed Asset Type
The setup dialog establishes the foundational financial identity of the equipment:

Equipment code: Auto-generated unique tag (e.g., EQP-001) used across process maps, maintenance logs, and financial statements.
Equipment name: Operational descriptive title (e.g., 15-Barrel Mash Lauter, Automated Canning Line, Steam Boiler).
Purchase price: The baseline capital expense (CapEx) to purchase one unit before custom rigging, installation, or additional fees.
Useful life (years): The total service duration over which the asset's cost is spread.
Depreciation Method: Directly beneath useful life, this defaults to Straight-line depreciation, calculating the uniform non-cash expense that hits your P&L each accounting period.

Display Settings

Clicking the slider/filter icon in the top right of the EQUIPMENT DIRECTORY opens the DISPLAY SETTINGS: EQUIPMENT panel. This view lets you customize which operational, spatial, and financial parameters appear in your catalog view.

Show in Summary Column

Controls the primary metadata displayed directly beneath or alongside the asset's main identifier:

Equipment name: Shows the full operational label (locked by default).
Avatar: Displays a graphical icon representing the machine type (e.g., boiler, kettle, tank).
Equipment code: Shows the unique alphanumeric identifier (e.g., EQP-001).
Maximum utilization: Displays the maximum planned operational hours per week. This ceiling drives plant capacity limits and equipment bottleneck modeling.

Show Columns

Toggles data columns across the directory grid to focus on finance, engineering, or physical site limits:

Purchase price, USD: Displays baseline capital acquisition cost (CapEx).
Useful life: Shows asset lifespan in years.
- Display depreciation convention: Toggles an inline breakdown of the selected write-down method (e.g., straight-line).
Operators: Shows labor headcount required simultaneously to operate the equipment.
Space requirement(m2): Displays physical surface footprint reserved inside the facility.
Utility usage: Flags active consumption linkages (electricity, gas, water, drainage).
Other recurring expenses: Flags custom, quarterly, or annual maintenance schedules attached to the unit.

Action Options

CONFIRM AND RETURN: Saves the baseline asset to the directory for rapid, high-level equipment list building.
CONFIRM AND PROCEED: Saves the entry and immediately opens the detailed Equipment Card to set physical footprints, operator requirements, maximum weekly runtime capacity, and recurring materials/expenses schedules.

Knowledge Bank: Utilities

The UTILITIES directory defines the resource consumption rates and grid tariffs required to operate your facility and machinery. Instead of treating power and water as a generic lump-sum operational expense, Decision Critical enables causal tracking by linking utility rates directly to equipment operating hours, batch recipes, or facility floor areas.

Utilities Directory Overview
The main directory serves as the centralized catalog of energy, water, and waste types available across scenarios:

Central Catalog: Standardizes tariff structures (cost per unit) to ensure all modeled equipment and facilities use identical utility assumptions.
Window Controls: The header includes a collapse arrow (<) to return to the global dashboard.
Add Utility: Clicking the green [+] button adds a new utility row with a dropdown selector.

Supported Utility Types

Clicking the Select utility type field opens the resource menu:

Electricity: Models power draw (kWh) for heavy machinery (e.g., pumps, refrigeration, canning lines) and base building lighting.
Water: Captures incoming volume (gallons, liters, cubic meters) used both as a direct beverage ingredient and for washdowns/CIP cycles.
Natural gas: Tracks heating fuel for direct-fired kettles, boilers, and building climate control.
Steam: Used in industrial facilities utilizing centralized or piped steam generation for boiling and sterilization.
Heat: Models thermal energy inputs for thermal exchange and facility heating.
Wastewater disposal: Accounts for sewer surcharges, spent process effluent, and volume-based municipal drainage fees.

Operational Importance

Direct Equipment Linkage: Once defined here, each machine (e.g., Mash Lauter or Gas-Fired Steam Boiler) can pull from this directory to calculate its hourly utility burn rate.
Capacity-Driven Spikes: Scaling up production runs automatically multiplies utility expenses based on equipment runtime, exposing energy cost surges during peak production months.

Knowledge Bank: Taxes Module

The TAX directory sets the fiscal and regulatory framework for your entire company. Instead of applying crude, post-model percentage cuts to net profit, Decision Critical separates tax obligations into distinct causal streams so that liabilities hit the balance sheet, payroll, and consumer checkout exactly as required by law.

The Four Tax Pillars

The TAXES DIRECTORY breaks taxation down into four core categories:

Sales tax:
- Function: Models point-of-sale consumption tax charged directly to the buyer.
- Financial Impact: Collected on behalf of the government; affects cash flow timing and gross checkout price, sitting as a short-term liability rather than an operating expense.
- Action: Click the green ADD button to set state, provincial, or local sales tax rates.
Value-added tax (VAT):
- Function: Models multi-stage consumption taxation common in international jurisdictions.
- Financial Impact: Tracks input VAT paid on raw materials/equipment versus output VAT collected on finished goods sales, calculating net tax credits or settlements.
- Action: Click the green ADD button to configure standard, reduced, or zero-rated VAT rules.
Corporate income tax:
- Function: Directly drives the bottom line by taxing net taxable profits at the entity level.
- Financial Impact: Informs your after-tax net margin and year-end tax reserve liabilities.
- Action: Click the green ADD button to define statutory corporate tax rates and brackets.
Payroll taxes:
- Function: Models graduated, bracket-based payroll tax obligations applied against employee compensation.
- Configuration (Tax Brackets):
  - Allows creating custom tiered wage thresholds (e.g., from $0.01$ to an upper dollar limit) with a dedicated percentage rate assigned to each tier.
  - Additional tiers can be stacked using the [+] button to model progressive statutory rates or wage caps.
- Cash Flow Timing (Payroll tax payable): Governs when the accrued tax liability actually leaves your cash account. Defaults to End of current month, with dropdown options to align with local remittance schedules (such as quarterly or following-month filings).

Why Centralized Tax Configuration Matters
Setting these rules in the Knowledge Bank guarantees that whenever you model a change in selling price, run an extra shift, or acquire high-value assets, all tax calculations update automatically across every scenario without breaking your cash flow projections.

Knowledge Bank and Scenario intregation

Integration: Knowledge Bank ⇄ Active Model

Staffing

The Staffing module supports full bidirectional synchronization between master corporate templates in the Knowledge Bank (KB) and your operational models.

1. Downloading from KB into an Active Model
Use this workflow to pull a pre-configured role template into your current scenario:

Step 1: Create and define the role in the Knowledge Bank (e.g., KB Staff, code KBS001, with base gross salary).
Step 2: Open your active scenario and navigate to Staffing > POSITION LIST.
Step 3: Click the lightbulb icon in the top-right toolbar of the modal.
Step 4: In the KNOWLEDGE BANK POSITIONS window, select the checkbox next to the target role.
Step 5: Choose the target department via the Select department dropdown (e.g., Brewing, Admin, Sales) and click CONFIRM ACTION.
Result: The position imports into the model's active directory. It appears with an initial status of ADD EMPLOYEES TO ACTIVATE THIS POSITION until specific headcount schedules are linked.

Import Note: Positions imported through this interface are not automatically linked as operators to existing equipment or processes. Re-establish these operational links inside the model or configure them via the Equipment and Product sections of the Knowledge Bank.

2. Uploading from an Active Model into Knowledge Bank

Use this workflow to promote a role created manually within a specific scenario up to the global company library:

Step 1: In your model's POSITION LIST, find the manually created role (e.g., Brewer) and click its RULES button.
Step 2: In the top-right corner of the POSITION (ALL PERIODS) window, click the Gear (Settings) icon.
Step 3: In the POSITION SETTINGS panel, scroll down to the Knowledge bank integration card.
Step 4: The status will indicate that the position does not currently exist in the Knowledge Bank. Click UPLOAD POSITION.
Result: The system confirms the upload with a success notice, assigns a formal Knowledge Bank code (e.g., PTN-001), and locks the master template into your global directory for use across all other scenarios.

Equipment

The Equipment module utilizes a two-way synchronization bridge between master templates in the Knowledge Bank (KB) and specific operational scenarios.

1. Downloading Equipment from KB into an Active Model
Pull standardized machinery definitions into an active scenario to preserve company-wide cost, footprint, and operating assumptions:

Step 1: Define the master asset inside the Knowledge Bank EQUIPMENT DIRECTORY.
Step 2: Open your active scenario and navigate to EQUIPMENT LIST.
Step 3: Click the lightbulb icon in the top-right toolbar of the modal window.
Step 4: Select the target machine from the Knowledge Bank list to import its specifications directly into the scenario.

2. Uploading or Linking Model Equipment to KB
Promote machinery configured inside an active model up to the master Knowledge Bank or link it to an existing KB record:

Step 1: In the scenario EQUIPMENT LIST, locate the asset (e.g., Mash Lauter) and click its RULES button.
Step 2: Click the Gear (Settings) icon in the top header bar of the EQUIPMENT TYPE window.
Step 3: Under the Knowledge bank integration section in EQUIPMENT TYPE SETTINGS, choose an action:
- Link to existing KB item: Use the Link to knowledge bank equipment dropdown to map the scenario asset to an existing record.
- Upload as new: Click UPLOAD EQUIPMENT to push the local configuration to the global library as a brand-new fixed asset type.

3. Resolving Synchronization & Operator Conflicts
When linking an existing model item to a Knowledge Bank template that has diverged, Decision Critical provides resolution controls:

Sync Actions: When data diverges, the modal displays two directional choices:
- REFRESH FROM KNOWLEDGE BANK: Overwrites local scenario parameters with master KB data.
- UPLOAD UPDATE TO KNOWLEDGE BANK: Pushes local scenario changes up to overwrite the KB master template.
Confirm Compatibility Assumptions: If assigned labor differs between systems, a compatibility prompt presents two options:
- Synchronize knowledge bank equipment operators to scenario settings: Overwrites KB operator settings to match the scenario (links or de-links roles like Brewer).
- Ignore (do not synchronize) operators: Updates machine specs while preserving existing operator allocations independently.
Confirmation: Once applied, the interface confirms that the asset is synced and displays the active Knowledge Bank code (e.g., KBM001) with a green confirmation toast.

TAX

Tax Integration: Knowledge Bank ⇄ Active Model
The Tax module uses a centralized link between your company-wide tax profiles in the Knowledge Bank (KB) and active scenarios. This lets you push updates across models or build locally and upload to the central library.

1. Downloading Tax Settings (KB ➔ Active Model)
Use this workflow to pull pre-set tax rules into an operational model:

Step 1: In the Knowledge Bank, set up your target tax profile under the TAXES DIRECTORY.
Step 2: Open your active scenario model and click TAX.
Step 3: Set the Reference tax set dropdown to match your company's knowledge bank (e.g., knowledge bank '...' ).
Step 4 (Importing Rates):
- Import Specific Tax: Inside an individual tax card (e.g., Sales tax), click the dedicated IMPORT FROM KNOWLEDGE BANK button to pull only that specific stream.
- Import All: Click the master IMPORT FROM KNOWLEDGE BANK button (with the lightbulb icon) on the top right header to pull all four tax types at once. Alternatively, click Synch all at the bottom.
Result: The tax card updates with the KB rate and displays a blue checkmark indicating active synchronization.

2. Uploading Tax Settings (Active Model ➔ KB)
Use this workflow when you define custom tax rules directly inside an active scenario and want to save them as master corporate standards:

Step 1: Configure the custom rates and schedule manually
Step 2: Click the lightbulb upload icon with the upward arrow in the top right corner of the window header.
Result: The scenario's custom tax profile uploads directly to the Knowledge Bank master directory, standardizing it across all future models and branches.

💡 If this doesn’t solve your issue or you have more questions, feel free to reach out through our [contact form]. We’ll get back to you within 2–3 business days.

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