Learning ArcGIS Pro

Creating geoprocessing models
As mentioned earlier, geoprocessing models are custom tools you create from within
ModelBuilder. ModelBuilder provides the graphical interface for building models as well
as accessing additional model-only tools, iterators, environmental settings, and model
properties.
Models are created for a number of reasons. The first and most common is to automate
repetitive processes performed in ArcGIS Pro. If you have an analysis, conversion, or
other process you perform on a regular basis, a model can be used as a way to automate it.
Secondly, you can use a model as a way to think through and flowchart a process within
ArcGIS Pro. This can help you ensure you have considered all the tools and data you will
need to complete a process. Once completed, the model then provides the tool for
completing that process as well as the visual and textual documentation that explains how
the process was performed.
You can share models with those in your organization so they can use it to perform the
process. This can reduce your workload and allow you to concentrate on other tasks that
require greater knowledge and skill levels. Because a model runs the geoprocessing tools
contained within it automatically, you can create a model that is easy for other less GISsavvy
members of your organization to run themselves without needing a full
understanding of ArcGIS Pro. This also helps standardize our methodologies, ensuring
everything is done in a consistent and approved manner.
All of this helps to save us time and money through increased efficiency, which is
ultimately the main power of ModelBuilder. Like tasks, models consist of multiple
components and have their own terminology associated with them.