ValidMind for model development — 101 Set up the ValidMind Library

Learn how to use ValidMind for your end-to-end model documentation process based on common model development scenarios with our series of four introductory notebooks. This first notebook walks you through the initial setup of the ValidMind Library.

These notebooks use a binary classification model as an example, but the same principles shown here apply to other model types.

Introduction

Model development aims to produce a fit-for-purpose champion model by conducting thorough testing and analysis, supporting the capabilities of the model with evidence in the form of documentation and test results. Model documentation should be clear and comprehensive, ideally following a structure or template covering all aspects of compliance with model risk regulation.

A binary classification model is a type of predictive model used in churn analysis to identify customers who are likely to leave a service or subscription by analyzing various behavioral, transactional, and demographic factors.

• This model helps businesses take proactive measures to retain at-risk customers by offering personalized incentives, improving customer service, or adjusting pricing strategies.
• Effective validation of a churn prediction model ensures that businesses can accurately identify potential churners, optimize retention efforts, and enhance overall customer satisfaction while minimizing revenue loss.

About ValidMind

ValidMind is a suite of tools for managing model risk, including risk associated with AI and statistical models.

You use the ValidMind Library to automate documentation and validation tests, and then use the ValidMind Platform to collaborate on model documentation. Together, these products simplify model risk management, facilitate compliance with regulations and institutional standards, and enhance collaboration between yourself and model validators.

Before you begin

This notebook assumes you have basic familiarity with Python, including an understanding of how functions work. If you are new to Python, you can still run the notebook but we recommend further familiarizing yourself with the language.

If you encounter errors due to missing modules in your Python environment, install the modules with pip install, and then re-run the notebook. For more help, refer to Installing Python Modules.

New to ValidMind?

If you haven’t already seen our documentation on the ValidMind Library, we recommend you begin by exploring the available resources in this section. There, you can learn more about documenting models, find code samples, or read our developer reference.

For access to all features available in this notebook, create a free ValidMind account.

Signing up is FREE — Register with ValidMind

Key concepts

Model documentation: A structured and detailed record pertaining to a model, encompassing key components such as its underlying assumptions, methodologies, data sources, inputs, performance metrics, evaluations, limitations, and intended uses. It serves to ensure transparency, adherence to regulatory requirements, and a clear understanding of potential risks associated with the model’s application.

Documentation template: Functions as a test suite and lays out the structure of model documentation, segmented into various sections and sub-sections. Documentation templates define the structure of your model documentation, specifying the tests that should be run, and how the results should be displayed.

Tests: A function contained in the ValidMind Library, designed to run a specific quantitative test on the dataset or model. Tests are the building blocks of ValidMind, used to evaluate and document models and datasets, and can be run individually or as part of a suite defined by your model documentation template.

Metrics: A subset of tests that do not have thresholds. In the context of this notebook, metrics and tests can be thought of as interchangeable concepts.

Custom metrics: Custom metrics are functions that you define to evaluate your model or dataset. These functions can be registered with the ValidMind Library to be used in the ValidMind Platform.

Inputs: Objects to be evaluated and documented in the ValidMind Library. They can be any of the following:

• model: A single model that has been initialized in ValidMind with vm.init_model().
• dataset: Single dataset that has been initialized in ValidMind with vm.init_dataset().
• models: A list of ValidMind models - usually this is used when you want to compare multiple models in your custom metric.
• datasets: A list of ValidMind datasets - usually this is used when you want to compare multiple datasets in your custom metric. (Learn more: Run tests with multiple datasets)

Parameters: Additional arguments that can be passed when running a ValidMind test, used to pass additional information to a metric, customize its behavior, or provide additional context.

Outputs: Custom metrics can return elements like tables or plots. Tables may be a list of dictionaries (each representing a row) or a pandas DataFrame. Plots may be matplotlib or plotly figures.

Test suites: Collections of tests designed to run together to automate and generate model documentation end-to-end for specific use-cases.

Example: the classifier_full_suite test suite runs tests from the tabular_dataset and classifier test suites to fully document the data and model sections for binary classification model use-cases.

Initializing the ValidMind Library

The ValidMind Library provides a rich collection of documentation tools and test suites, from documenting descriptions of datasets to validation and testing of models using a variety of open-source testing frameworks.

Install the ValidMind Library

Recommended Python versions

Python 3.8 <= x <= 3.11

To install the library:

%pip install -q validmind

Initialize the ValidMind Library

ValidMind generates a unique code snippet for each registered model to connect with your developer environment. You initialize the ValidMind Library with this code snippet, which ensures that your documentation and tests are uploaded to the correct model when you run the notebook.

Get your code snippet

1. In a browser, log in to ValidMind.

2. In the left sidebar, navigate to Inventory and click + Register Model.

3. Enter the model details and click Continue. (Need more help?)

   For example, to register a model for use with this notebook, select:

   • Documentation template: Binary classification
   • Use case: Marketing/Sales - Attrition/Churn Management

   You can fill in other options according to your preference.

4. Go to Getting Started and click Copy snippet to clipboard.

Next, load your model identifier credentials from an .env file or replace the placeholder with your own code snippet:

# Load your model identifier credentials from an `.env` file

%load_ext dotenv
%dotenv .env

# Or replace with your code snippet

import validmind as vm

vm.init(
    # api_host="...",
    # api_key="...",
    # api_secret="...",
    # model="...",
)

Getting to know ValidMind

Preview the documentation template

Let’s verify that you have connected the ValidMind Library to the ValidMind Platform and that the appropriate template is selected for your model. A template predefines sections for your model documentation and provides a general outline to follow, making the documentation process much easier.

You will upload documentation and test results unique to your model based on this template later on. For now, take a look at the default structure that the template provides with the vm.preview_template() function from the ValidMind library and note the empty sections:

vm.preview_template()

Explore available tests

Next, let’s explore the list of all available tests in the ValidMind Library with the vm.tests.list_tests() function — we’ll learn how to run tests shortly.

You can see that the documentation template for this model has references to some of the test IDs used to run tests listed below:

vm.tests.list_tests()

Upgrade ValidMind

After installing ValidMind, you’ll want to periodically make sure you are on the latest version to access any new features and other enhancements.

Retrieve the information for the currently installed version of ValidMind:

%pip show validmind

If the version returned is lower than the version indicated in our production open-source code, restart your notebook and run:

%pip install --upgrade validmind

You may need to restart your kernel after running the upgrade package for changes to be applied.

In summary

In this first notebook, you learned how to:

• Register a model within the ValidMind Platform
• Install and initialize the ValidMind Library
• Preview the documentation template for your model
• Explore the available tests offered by the ValidMind Library

Next steps

Start the model development process

Now that the ValidMind Library is connected to your model in the ValidMind Library with the correct template applied, we can go ahead and start the model development process: 102 Start the model development process