Be able to select a default summary type for a model

[bdeaton]

In the spirit of trying to keep our models size-efficient, we encourage model builders to set the summary type to "none" whenever possible in calculation modules (trying to follow the DISCO method here!).

Unfortunately, when a new line item is created, the summary type always defaults to "sum" and it's very easy for model builders to forget to check and/or change that. Going back through after the fact can be tricky and time consuming as we have to carefully check that that changing the summary type of an existing line item won't break downstream calculations. We would like to be able to choose the default summary type so we can set it to "none" in our models. That way, it would force out model builders to change to "sum" only when needed and we would hopefully recognize some good space savings on new development.

[DavidSmith]

Adding to this, it would be great to add a Type to a module (along the lines of DISCO) so that when you create a module, the summary options are set.  You could set the defaults ; e.g. Calculation modules are off, Output modules are on etc.  Then when you create a module you define a type

[StaceyB]

Being able to set a default for summary type would be very useful. It would help to ensure that module sizes are not larger than necessary because a model builder did not either know or remember to manually set the summary type to none when appropriate.

@DavidSmithI completely agree! That is a great suggestion and would be a great addition! 

[bdeaton]

@DavidSmith - yes, based on DISCO type would be fantastic and would encourage more folks to follow the method. It would be nice to be able to easily choose which module type a particular module is and have an easy way to filter the module list by DISCO type.