Working with Scenarios

This article explains how to work with scenarios in Stimaro — forking the whole estimate into a what-if you can explore freely, comparing it against the base, and then merging it back or throwing it away.

What a scenario is

A scenario forks the entire estimate so you can explore a what-if, compare it against the base, and then merge or discard it. The base and a scenario are independent working copies — items, rates, bid, and markup all fork — and changes made in one only cross back into the other through an explicit merge. Nothing you do inside a scenario touches your base until you decide to bring it over.

That's what makes a scenario safe to experiment in: you can try aggressive labor rates, a different markup, or an alternate approach to the work without disturbing the base bid you're actually planning to submit.

Creating a scenario

When scenarios exist, the top bar shows a Base label with a branch icon, so you can always see which copy you're working in. To create a scenario, click the Scenario button in the top bar (its tooltip reads New scenario).

That opens the New Scenario dialog:

1. Enter a Scenario name — the field placeholder is e.g. Aggressive labor rates, and the name can be up to 60 characters.
2. Click Create & open, or Cancel to back out.

Creating a scenario switches you into it immediately, so you're editing the fork rather than the base from that point on.

Switching between base and scenarios

You move between the base and any scenario from the top bar. Because each is an independent copy, switching changes which working set of items, rates, bid, and markup you see and edit.

Comparing a scenario against the base

On the Bid tab, a Compare button diffs the active scenario against the base and shows the result read-only. That's how you see exactly what changed — which numbers the what-if moved — before you decide whether the scenario is worth keeping.

Merging or discarding

Once you've compared and the scenario looks right, you merge it back into the base, bringing its changes across. If the what-if didn't pan out, you delete it instead. Deleting asks you to confirm — "Delete this scenario? This action cannot be undone." — because a discarded scenario can't be recovered.