The Outline view has been enhanced. There are now state icons that show the status for each object in the outline. There are contextual menu entries, such as insert and delete, to manage objects. Parameters are now shown as a tree organized by each system on the desk top. This makes it easier to see where each parameter came from as well as which systems must be updated for each design point.

Several New DOE types have been added. These include Box-Behnken, Custom + Sampling (which uses an OSF algorithm to enhance a custom DOE) and Sparse Grid, an adaptive DOE/Response surface method that features automatic adaptive refinement.

Sparse Grid requires a specific DOE as a starting point, this is labeled as Sparse Grid Initialization in the GUI and uses a Clenshaw Curtis formulation. While calculating the response surface, Sparse Grid adds design points to the DOE in order to resolve gradients where necessary. It is more efficient than other methods, particularly for large numbers of parameters.

Goodness of fit has been reworked and extended. It is now an independent object with its own table of metrics and predicted vs observed chart. Verification points have also been added to check the goodness of Fit. Design candidates can easily be turned into verification points so that the “real solve” can be compared with the response point to determine the accuracy of the response surface. There is a new option to plot the design points on the response charts, these provide visual feedback and another way to check the goodness of fit.

Efficiency has been enhanced. An internal cache of design points are shared by all the DX systems in a workbench project in order to avoid recalculation between systems. These design points are stored as they are created and calculated design points can be recovered so that the series of simulations can resume after a power shutdown or hard crash.

Data from any table or chart can be exported in CSV (formatted ascii text) file format for use outside of Workbench. It is also possible to import a DOE (in CSV format), with or without results. This could be used to import a particular DOE formulated elsewhere, or to use DX to post process experimental data.

An Excel system is also available within the Workbench Component systems and can exchange parameters with DX and the Parameter set bar. Parameters can be flagged in Excel using the “Name a Range” method. In this way, Excel can be used as a solver within the workbench project. Users may want to optimize based on Excel calculated parameters such as cost, or perhaps the Excel system could be a reduce order model (ROM) coupled with parameters from other systems on the project page.

Correlation samples can now be previewed without a full update, similar to the DOE tables. Once started the correlation update can be stopped, partial results reviewed and then the correlation can be continued.

It is possible to edit the initial value of a disabled parameter.

DX Help has been enhanced and can be accessed with F1.