During multi-step simulation, a step uses its predecessor's output to generate output on its own. Therefore, all data produced by a step depend on the data produced by previous step. For split-experiments, all runs - and all data of all pertaining steps - that branch after a given step depend on the the parent's step data. Figure 7.1 shows three runs created from a flow with three steps, with runs number 2 and 3 splitting from run 1 after step 1. If run 1 is removed, runs 2 and 3 are said to be orphaned, indicating the fact that their split parent is not available any more . Note that only data from the second step on are available in runs 2 and 3.
Figure 7.1:
Runs 2 and 3 split from run 1 after step 1.
Data for step 1 is only available in run 1.
After removing run 1, runs 2 and 3 are
orphaned. Information about how step 1 was produced is maintained,
but output data are not available.