What is MP Ember? #

MP Ember™ is a platform for operational architects, systems engineers, business process designers, security analysts, and anyone needing deeper insight beyond how systems are required to behave and into how systems actually behave. It is a modern, user-friendly implementation of the Monterey Phoenix (MP) framework for modeling the behavior of missions, workflows, software, hardware, people, and processes.

MP Ember provides a powerful, integrated web-based workspace: write your models in a familiar code editor, execute them to generate comprehensive sets of event traces, and immediately explore results through interactive graphs, trace lists, and visualizations – all without abandoning other tools used for specifying required behaviors.

The original MP language, approach, and tools were pioneered at the Naval Postgraduate School by Dr. Mikhail Auguston (trace generation technology) and Dr. Kristin Giammarco (user interface and emergent behavior analysis). Leveraging this foundation and the expertise of original MP team members, MP Ember delivers enhanced accessibility, performance, security, and professional-grade features.

Why MP Ember? #

MP helps you reason rigorously about complex systems and process behaviors. It uses a lightweight formal method based on event grammars to automatically generate scope-complete sets of possible scenarios (exhaustive up to your defined limits). This reveals intended behaviors, uncovers hidden assumptions, exposes emergent issues, and supports verification/validation far more effectively than manually developed use cases or traditional simulations.

Typical Workflow for New Users #

1. Start or open a project. Begin with built-in examples, templates, or your own model.
2. Edit in the code editor.  Use the high-level MP language to define events, schemas, constraints, and behaviors (simple, readable syntax suitable for both technical and non-technical users).
3. Run the model.  Generate traces (event sequences) and supporting views.
4. Explore and analyze. Navigate the interactive graphs (e.g., sequences through your behavior logic), trace list, and other visualizations. Compare traces, identify patterns, annotate findings, and drill into details to understand outcomes, risks, timing, resources, and more.

Compared with Early Tools #

• More robust architecture with improved stability and scalability (e.g., AWS-based load balancing).
• Two modes for flexibility: Project mode (auto-saves models to your account) and Scratch Pad mode (quick, temporary brainstorming).
• Enhanced security features, including password self-service.
• Multiple workspaces for better organization (personal and team).
• Retains the intuitive, beginner-friendly interface while adding professional capabilities.
• Full compatibility with existing .mp schema files from other MP tools.

Tips for Getting Started Quickly #

• Browse the pre-loaded example library for domain-specific starter models.
• Start with small models that have a limited number of alternative branches to build familiarity quickly.
• Run at scope 1 first to explore a small but fully exhaustive search space, then increase the scope for deeper analysis.