Inputs

Setting up the inputs you'll process in your pricing model

The first step of any pricing model is to define and format the inputs that you'll ingest to generate your price.

Whether you're building your pricing model from scratch, editing an existing version of your model or working from a Swallow template, the first step will always be a light blue INPUT block.

INPUT block is always the first step in your model

You can set your model to ingest hundreds of data inputs that you might want to use to calculate pricing, to determine things like eligibility or coverage, or simply static information like names or contact details that you'll use to identify a customer or to create documents or receipts.

Examples of what you might want to define in an input step:

Label	Type	Example
Date of birth	date	1982-12-25
Name	string	Bob
Number of Children	integer	2
Amount	decimal	100.00
Do you smoke?	boolean	FALSE

1. Create a new input

To get started, click the cog in the top left of the 'INPUT' block and you'll open a table, which will list all of your inputs.

To add a new input, click the 'ADD' button in the top right of the table.

ADD button for new inputs

2. Format your new input

The next step is to set up and format your new input.

Label

This is the customer-facing description of the data you expect to be entered into the field.

It will also be the text that will be shown any auto-generated web form.

Output Key

This is output name that will be passed to the next step, and how you'll reference the input in any syntax in future steps.

This will be auto-generated based on the label you've given, but you can edit it at any time.

Type

This the data type of the input, to ensure that your data is collected in the correct format.

You can choose from 5 data types: Boolean, Decimal, Integer, String or Date.

Default Value

This is the default value you want to set.

This is the input the model will default to if the value is not defined by the customer.

Static

Use this toggle to define whether the input needs to be inputted by customer, or whether it will be a value that is always fixed.

This may be something like a base value, commission or tax.

Indicator

Use this toggle to define which inputs you want to use as identifying pieces of information that you will be able to search for within the quote data.

This might be a name, zipcode/postcode, vehicle registration, or unique ID.

There is a limit to 4 indicators per model.

Adding or editing new inputs

3. Complete your input table

Repeat the process above for adding and formatting your inputs until you have all of your inputs in your table.

You should end up with a list of all the values that will be collected from a customer via a form or API.

The inputs will then be available to the next steps in your model.

A completed input table