# Exploring the Causal Model

When you open a Digital Twin from the Digital Twin Management page, the causal graph fills the centre and the Overview panel sits on the right. The graph is where the model lives — every variable, every relationship, every direction of cause and effect is visible at once.

This page covers the two things you do most often in this view: pick a layout for the whole graph, and drill into a single variable to see what drives it. The other sections of the Overview panel — model quality, configuration, version history, individual relationships — have their own pages.

For context on how a Digital Twin is built in the first place, see [Step 5: Build Digital Twin](/user-guide/creating-digital-twin.md).

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## Two layouts: Flowchart and DAG

The toolbar above the canvas switches the layout. The model is the same — only the arrangement of nodes and edges changes.

### Flowchart

Variables flow left to right by their position in the causal chain. Inputs on the left, outcomes on the right. Good for tracing a single path from cause to effect.

<figure><img src="/files/vnV7dscA53V5FK3jiOAx" alt="Digital Twin Management page with the model shown as a left-to-right flowchart"><figcaption><p>The flowchart layout. Inputs sit on the left, outcomes on the right.</p></figcaption></figure>

### DAG

The same model drawn as a node-and-edge graph: nodes positioned by their relationships rather than by causal level. Good for spotting clusters and central variables.

<figure><img src="/files/Il0zeDBJRHneliep2suw" alt="The same Digital Twin shown as a DAG with circular nodes"><figcaption><p>The DAG layout. The legend on the left maps node colour to data type and edge style to relationship type.</p></figcaption></figure>

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## The Overview panel

The right-hand panel summarises the state of the twin:

* **Model status banner** — green when the twin is trained and ready to simulate, with a **Run Simulation** button.
* **Version details** — version number, last-modified date, and a one-line summary of what changed.
* **Config** — datasource, included variables, model type. Three links open deeper views: *View Config*, *View Relationships* (opens the [Causal Relationships](/more-details/digital-twin/causal-relationships.md) panel), and *Create New Version*.
* **Evaluation** — accuracy bar. *View Evaluation* opens [Reviewing Model Quality](/more-details/digital-twin/model-quality.md).
* **Simulations** — recent runs and suggested runs. *View All Simulations* opens the full history; the same content is covered in [Step 6: Run Simulations](/user-guide/simulations.md).
* **To Do's** — model-generated suggestions for interventions worth running, each tagged with the simulation type that produced it and a **Run** button to launch it.

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## Inspecting a single variable

Click any node in the graph and the right panel switches to **Variable Details**. You see:

* A natural-language summary of how the variable is influenced.
* A ranked list of top influencers with their relative strength.
* A Sankey diagram labelled **100% explained** — width proportional to causal contribution.

<figure><img src="/files/evAIXYEI8tpP3S1CFwx2" alt="Variable Details panel for Churn next to the flowchart layout, with a Sankey diagram in the bottom right"><figcaption><p>Variable Details for Churn, with the flowchart in the centre and the Sankey in the bottom right.</p></figcaption></figure>

The same panel works alongside the DAG view; the selected node is highlighted on the graph.

<figure><img src="/files/2okpMDAKumgnBen5cawI" alt="Variable Details panel for Churn with the DAG layout in the centre and the selected node highlighted"><figcaption><p>The same Variable Details panel against the DAG view.</p></figcaption></figure>

### Reading the Sankey

The diagram is normalised: every incoming path sums to 100%. The widest flow is the dominant driver; narrow flows are minor contributors. In the example, Churn is driven primarily by InternetService, with OnlineSecurity, Contract, TechSupport, and tenure as supporting drivers.

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## What to look for

* **The chain from input to outcome.** Pick the variable you care about — usually a business outcome — and trace backward through the graph. The widest Sankey flows tell you where intervention will have the most leverage.
* **Direct vs indirect drivers.** A variable can affect an outcome through several routes. The Sankey shows the relative weight; the graph shows the actual path.
* **Surprises.** A driver you didn't expect in the top three. A relationship that runs the wrong way. A central variable that nothing else points to. These are usually the most interesting findings — and the most useful to validate with domain knowledge.

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## Other Working with a Digital Twin pages

* **Reviewing Model Quality** *(coming soon)* — how trustworthy is the model?
* [Inspecting Causal Relationships](/more-details/digital-twin/causal-relationships.md) — individual edges and their statistics.
* [Configuration](/more-details/digital-twin/configuration.md) — model settings, included variables, constraints.
* **Version History** *(coming soon)* — multiple versions of the same twin.

See [Digital Twin overview](/more-details/digital-twin.md) — general overview.


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