Documentation
Modeling
Overview

Modeling

The Canvas

The Guesstimate Canvas The guesstimate canvas is the environment in which all Guesstimate models are made. It is a grid of cells, similar to a spreadsheet, and each empty cell can be filled with a metric (see below). There are several aspects to the canvas:

Documentation Widget

The documentation widget is located along the right edge of the canvas. Clicking on the documenation widget opens a documentation sidebar, giving quick access for modelling help. The Documentaiton Sidebar

Canvas Toolbar

The canvas toolbar sits just beneath the model name, and contains menus and buttons to take various actions on the model or selected metrics.

The Canvas Toolbar

The buttons are (from left to right):

NameDescriptionKeyboard Shortcut
File MenuHas nested options for copying or deleting the model entirely, and importing SIPs and SLURPs.N/A
View MenuHas nested options to toggle different view states and turn on or off arrows.N/A
Cut ButtonCuts (copies, then deletes) all currently selected metricsctrl/cmd - x
Copy ButtonCopies all currently selected metricsctrl/cmd - c
Paste ButtonPastes the currently copied region onto the selected cell.ctrl/cmd - v
Delete ButtonDeletes all currently selected metricsdel/bksp
Undo ButtonUndoes the most recent change to the modelctrl/cmd - z
Redo ButtonRedoes the most recently undone change to the modelctrl/cmd - shift - z or ctrl/cmd - y
Calculator MenuAllows you to view and create calculators off this modelN/A

On the far right of the toolbar (not shown above) is a dropdown menu to toggle view mode or edit mode. In view mode, you can interact with the model, but changes will not be saved, whereas in edit mode, changes will be saved.

The Model Description

The model description allows you to describe a model in more detail than just the name. Here, you can include citation, long-form explanations, images, or links to more information. The description is edited in Markdown. To open the description, click on the 'right arrow' button on the left side, at which point you will see a form where you can edit the description.

Description Form

Metrics

You can fill canvas cells with metrics. A metric can have a name, description, and a value.

Metric

To create a metric, simply double click on any empty cell in the canvas.

Metric names are used for reference, and their descriptions (which, like model descriptions, use Markdown) can provide sources or additional context around a metric value.

Metric values can be of several different types. These are explored in more detail here.

The metric card will report information about the value of that metric. For help interpreting these results, see here.