Where the hell is model builder?

Building and running a model has been dangled in front of me for a while, though I could never really find where the hell ESRI stuck that sucker in ArcMap.

Model builder provides an organized, methodical way to run or re-run one or a series of geoprocessing tools. Most importantly, it allows a user to easily test various scenarios in a project that uses of any number of intermediate tools or dataset manipulations.

A process can range from a simple, single iteration:
to a more complex work flow:

The basic design of a process:


To create a new model, right click on a toolset in ArcToolbox and select Model from the New menu.


Right click on the new model and choose Edit to open Model Builder.

That's it. To continue from here, simply drag and drop shapefiles and tools into the building area, set up some processes and run the model with a single click of the Run button . Select Delete Intermediate Data from the Model menu to quickly clean up the previously run session to try another set of variables. Click Auto Layout button to automatically align any tools and processes you have cluttered around the screen.