What's the difference between a metric and a modeled metric?
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A metric is a value that someone enters or reports directly for a record (or pact)—it’s declared, not calculated.
Source: human-reported (manual entry or spreadsheet import)
Examples: “Acres treated,” “Linear feet restored,” “Number of trees planted,” “Number of Volunteers”
What it represents: what was done and how it relates to broader goals.
Where it lives: attached to an activity record and/or pact, often tied to an activity type and/or a funder program metric list
Programmatic metric lists are defined by a funding program and available to users to select once a pact within the program has been created.
Organizational metrics are available to standard users who want to curate their own list of metrics and assign them to activity records.
A modeled metric is a value that FieldDoc computes by running a model with user provided inputs such as activity type, geometry/footprint, extent, context layers, etc. . It’s derived.
Source: model output (calculated)
Examples: “Estimated nitrogen reduction,” “Estimated phosphorus reduction,” “Sediment reduction,” “Estimated runoff reduction,” sometimes “Estimated GHG benefit,” etc.
What it represents: the estimated impact of what was done, based on an accepted methodology
Where it comes from: the Model Library / model run. A model run and the resulting modeled metrics can bet assigned to a pact or an individual activity record.
If you can answer “Where did this number come from?” with “Someone reported it”, that's a metric
If the answer is “The model calculated it from inputs/geometry”, that's a modeled metric
Metrics are great for tracking scope and delivery (what, where, how much).
Modeled metrics are what you use for defensible impact reporting when a program needs standardized estimates across projects.
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