<s>
IFPS	B-Application
(	O
Interactive	O
Financial	O
Planning	O
System	O
)	O
was	O
a	O
financial	O
modeling	O
language	O
created	O
by	O
professor	O
Gerald	O
R	O
.	O
Wagner	O
and	O
his	O
students	O
of	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Texas	O
at	O
Austin	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1970s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IFPS	B-Application
was	O
marketed	O
by	O
Execucom	O
,	O
an	O
Austin-based	O
company	O
started	O
by	O
Wagner	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IFPS	B-Application
was	O
available	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
platforms	O
,	O
including	O
IBM	O
mainframes	O
(	O
VM/CMS	B-Application
)	O
,	O
DEC	B-Device
VAX	I-Device
,	O
various	O
flavors	O
of	O
Unix	O
,	O
DOS-based	O
PCs	B-Device
and	O
Macintosh	O
Computers	O
(	O
named	O
"	O
Mindsight	O
"	O
-	O
running	O
on	O
two	O
floppies	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IFPS	B-Application
seems	O
to	O
have	O
been	O
an	O
important	O
inspiration	O
for	O
the	O
Javelin	O
financial	O
modeling	O
application	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
parts	O
of	O
the	O
IFPS	B-Application
approach	O
were	O
later	O
used	O
by	O
Lotus	O
's	O
Improv	O
-	O
like	O
the	O
separation	O
of	O
model	O
logic	O
and	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Difference	O
to	O
spreadsheet	O
software	O
(	O
Lotus	O
1-2-3	O
and	O
later	O
Excel	O
)	O
:	O
Mainframe	O
and	O
PC/Mac	O
versions	O
of	O
IFPS	B-Application
completely	O
separated	O
the	O
logic	O
model	O
(	O
connections	O
between	O
variables	O
)	O
and	O
the	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IFPS	B-Application
mainframe	O
versions	O
also	O
allowed	O
to	O
simulate	O
stochastic	O
events	O
by	O
providing	O
a	O
range	O
of	O
probability	O
distributions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IFPS	B-Application
approach	O
made	O
it	O
easy	O
to	O
communicate	O
complex	O
models	O
even	O
to	O
laymen	O
and	O
managers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IFPS	B-Application
was	O
eventually	O
out-competed	O
by	O
spreadsheets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IFPS	B-Application
was	O
an	O
essential	O
financial	O
model-development	O
tool	O
for	O
long	O
range	O
planning	O
and	O
strategic	O
planning	O
,	O
popular	O
business	O
practices	O
in	O
the	O
1980s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
an	O
"	O
English-like	O
"	O
language	O
,	O
IFPS	B-Application
made	O
it	O
very	O
simple	O
to	O
express	O
relationships	O
among	O
financial	O
concepts	O
without	O
having	O
to	O
worry	O
about	O
sequential	O
logic	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
program	O
would	O
figure	O
out	O
dependencies	O
among	O
variables	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
I	O
was	O
fortunate	O
to	O
work	O
with	O
IFPS	B-Application
for	O
over	O
ten	O
years	O
as	O
an	O
analyst	O
at	O
Champlin	O
Petroleum	O
aka	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
I	O
believe	O
it	O
was	O
the	O
rise	O
of	O
risk	O
management	O
in	O
the	O
commodity	O
industries	O
over	O
"	O
assumption-based	O
"	O
techniques	O
like	O
long	O
range	O
planning	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
spreadsheets	O
per	O
se	O
,	O
which	O
contributed	O
to	O
IFPS	B-Application
loss	O
in	O
popularity	O
.	O
</s>
