# The list all key variables in the system of interest.
* [ ] Variable One Example * [ ] * [ ] * [ ] * [ ] * [ ] * [ ] * [ ] * [ ]
>NOTE: there will need to be a unique set of variables (always evolving) for any given system being modeled.
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One of Vester's gifts is clarifying why you don't want to have more variables than necessary. His famous picture of Lincoln made the point clear to me. Of course you have to know why you are creating the model, what problems you are addressing.
# Enter name of variable To define a variable there is a line of 22 letters at the left editor. The entering of a variable name is completed with RETURN and the next variable number appears. The variables are now saved in the relational databank and are taken over for the following steps as well. By clicking RETURN at the beginning or the end of a line a new variable name can be interposed at any time, while the following variables shift forward by one number.
50 different variables can be inscribed on the whole. With more than 25 variables the scrolling bar appears on the right side of the list you now can move with the left mouse key pressed.
The **limit of 50 variables** for one system model has been integrated with the objective to guide the user to limit the number of variables. On one side too many variables can nearly not be handled in a model. On the other side, too many variables indicate that several different aggregation levels are mixed: too detailed variables should be integrated in other variables or be the basis for submodel or an overall model.
# Describe variable By clicking a variable in the variable list with the left mouse key its name appears again in the right editor. Here you may enter its description. The editor functions in a way that whole words jump to the next line automatically. Manual formatting is recommended only after revising the text to its final form.
By leaving the variable set you have to confirm the changes. The set is now saved automatically in the relational databank and can be called up during any of the following working steps.
COPYING DESCRIPTIONS--The text of the description can of course be copied from and to outside files by the usual 'windows way' (marking it blue with the holding the mouse key and using ctrl+C and ctrl+V).
Export of texts as continuous text: Via the PRINT Button the descriptions of the variables can be exported as continuous text (UTF-Format).
Via IMPORT / EXPORT the list of variables can be exported as a CSV-file and also be imported from a CSV-file.
# Change name of variable Because changing of variable names has an effect on the whole program, it is possible only in this working step. To do this put the cursor of the keyboard to the respective line and overwrite the previous variable name with the help of the key BACKSPACE or DELETE.
By leaving the variable set you have to confirm the changes that are now saved automatically in the relational data bank for all of the following working steps.
# Delete variable After having deleted with BACKSPACE or DELETE the letters of a variable name a warning window appears (after clicking again DELETE) in which the deletion of the variable has to be confirmed. The following variables move back by one number.
# Overall view of the variables To get a survey of the complete variable set with more than 25 variables, click the button TOTAL VIEW. The complete list disappears via mouse click on the same button.
# New arrangemet of the variables By clicking in the number of a variable with the left mouse key it may be shifted upwards or downwards with the pressed mouse key. The numbering and the description adapts automatically to the new order.
In the next working steps, too, the program adapts the new order automatically in order to avoid any confusion in the further run. In the impact matrix or in the effect system the specific values or connections entered for the variables will of course move along with them.
# Demo and notes **FUNCTION OF THE DEMO BUTTON--** After clicking on DEMO in the information window some key passages of the system tool 'Partial Scenario' (based on worked out models of the original German version) show up with explanations of our 'system ghost'. In these demo- windows nothing can be changed or added. By 'leafing' through it BACK and FORWARD you can see step by step how to use the different functions of the tool. If you want to try out more how to work with the different possibilities of that tool you may use the SAMPLE 'My occupation' starting from the menu.
To practice yourself the use of the above functions, you may call up the sample model 'My Occupation' by clicking the button SAMPLE in the menu. After having returned to the menu, all changes you made in that model will turn back to their original state.
**FUNCTION OF THE NOTES BUTTON--** After clicking the note-button a note-book appears with special editors for each working step. The comments written in the opened editor are automatically attributed to the step VARIABLE SET of the system model worked on. Of course these notes can be called up and printed also from the INFO-screen of the other tools of your system model.
# To scale variables Variables - as the name tells - have no fixed values attributed. In order to not to forget this property you may use the button SCALING and mark the changing state of a variable between its upper and lower limits.
For this the program offers you a virgin scale, the description of the variable and next to it a little editor to write down first both extreme states corresponding to position 0 and 30.
Then you name intermediate states (e.g. every 5 points) and put it with the pressed left mouse key along the vertical scale. The inputs you make can be quantitative or qualitative.
The knowledge of the intrinsic dynamics of a variable will rise the understanding of its interactions you have to deal with in the following working steps. Since the scaling done here can be called up later on for a simulation a good piece of work has already be done for that step. Of course the complete scaling need only to be carried out there.
If you want to 'evaluate' the scale by showing the states of the variable in colors (red-yellow-green) you can choose where to put its optimum by clicking on the specific entry.