# Organize and view your data

The Nominal [data model](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model.md) can be shaped to fit your workflow. Start from how you test, which determines the structure. Then add how you use the data, which works with any structure. Or, skip directly to the [three underlying approaches](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model/overview.md#applying-the-data-model).

## How you test

[![I have data right now and I want to see it right now, I am not worried about organizing it yet](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/bench.svg)](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/bench.svg)

**Quick visualization**

[Quick visualization](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model/paradigms/stories/data-fast.md "I have data right now and I want to see it right now, I am not worried about organizing it yet")

[![I have a static test station and need to execute tests repeatably and compare their results](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/repeatable.svg)](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/repeatable.svg)

**Repeatable test execution**

[Repeatable test execution](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model/paradigms/stories/repeatable-runs.md "I have a static test station and need to execute tests repeatably and compare their results")

[![I build and rework test rigs while the hardware is still changing. I want to see my data right away, and decide how to organize it once I know what it is.](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/test-station.svg)](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/test-station.svg)

**Test station development**

[Test station development](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model/paradigms/stories/test-engineer.md "I build and rework test rigs while the hardware is still changing. I want to see my data right away, and decide how to organize it once I know what it is.")

[![We're developing a controller on a handful of dev boards. I probe some signals by hand and script the rest, rework boards as bugs turn up, and want each board's data live now and comparable later.](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/control-loop.svg)](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/control-loop.svg)

**Controller development**

[Controller development](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model/paradigms/stories/control-loop.md "We're developing a controller on a handful of dev boards. I probe some signals by hand and script the rest, rework boards as bugs turn up, and want each board's data live now and comparable later.")

[![I don't have hardware yet. I'm building software, test procedures, and simulations, and I need those results to line up with real tests later.](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/simulation.svg)](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/simulation.svg)

**Simulation before hardware**

[Simulation before hardware](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model/paradigms/stories/simulation-first.md "I don't have hardware yet. I'm building software, test procedures, and simulations, and I need those results to line up with real tests later.")

## How you use the data

These work with any of the approaches, and you can combine them, such as live monitoring of a hardware control loop.

[![I sit on console during a test and watch live telemetry from the system in front of me. I want every channel on screen, and calculations that still work on units that record fewer channels.](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/on-console.svg)](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/on-console.svg)

**Live monitoring on console**

[Live monitoring during a test](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model/paradigms/stories/on-console.md "I sit on console during a test and watch live telemetry from the system in front of me. I want every channel on screen, and calculations that still work on units that record fewer channels.")

[![I don't want to read plots after every test. I want each test checked against its limits automatically, with a clear pass or fail.](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/checks.svg)](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/checks.svg)

**Automated pass/fail checks**

[Automated pass/fail checks](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model/paradigms/stories/automated-checks.md "I don't want to read plots after every test. I want each test checked against its limits automatically, with a clear pass or fail.")

[![After a test I pull channels from a time range, sometimes from several units, analyze them in Python, and put the results back next to the original data.](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/post-test.svg)](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/_images/post-test.svg)

**Post-test analysis**

[Post-test analysis](https://dev.nominal.io/platform/data-model/paradigms/stories/post-test.md "After a test I pull channels from a time range, sometimes from several units, analyze them in Python, and put the results back next to the original data.")