Ventana software support forum

Marziyeh Emami writes: I want to examine the effects of energy prices especially electricity prices on macroeconomical indices such as GDP, Inflation rate, unemployment ,etc. so I need to model the macroeconomy model and link energy prices to macroeconomical indices. That sounds like a fairly big jo...

A soft variable is objectionable when its meaning is ambiguous. This is true of any variable in a model: when a term is ill-defined, those reviewing output question both the term and results that incorporate it. When variables are properly defined and explained, resistance to their use diminishes. S...

About certification, Keith Linard suggests that practitioners / educators to submit their suggested competency / skill-set lists to this list server. I would like to see that, too. I sat for the examination for certification as a public accountant 33 years ago (Connecticut USA). At the time, the exa...

L. Gustavo Sala Espiell wrote, "I need the help of the community to continue explaining....the differences between the mentioned scene in the film [Dead Poets Society] and the SD point of view quantifying soft data." It sounds like youre on slippery ground. Any model variable is like a dab...

Hi Luis, Before you get together with your group ask them to take some time to describe the issues they want help with. Specifically, you are asking them for their reference mode data. You can get this by asking them to describe the problems they see and to add some time series data in the form of g...

Jim Hines wrote that Ed Gallahers note on thermostats is "a terrific example of how most modeling difficulties are resolved when the real-world policies are understood." Hines says, "I have noticed that its much easier to model after asking people how they really make decisions, than ...

Hi Len, I co-authored a work with Jim Hines a few years ago which included a model of the single-family housing finance system in the U.S. The model included very interesting dynamics since the focus was on how federal financial guarantee programs such as Ginnie Mae and Fannie Mae affect the marketp...

>From my experience, there are several different issues in "Systems from the top". The nature of system dynamics is to be both "cross-functional" and "vertical". For organizations used to one and not the other, the methodology seems to over-reach. Inexperienced consulta...