UR 3.1: Automate Carbon Calculations: Logic and UI

[amyburness]

Expectation:

1.1) As a plugin user, I want to calculate several carbon impact metrics for a scenario.

Acceptance Criteria:

1.1) When the user has run a scenario they should be provided with a UI (fig 2) in which to add and calculate custom carbon metrics based on the scenario outputs. 1.2) The user needs access to the expression builder to generate custom calculations 1.3) The user must have access to a CPLUS calculation library that gives guidance on Carbon calculations 1.4) The user must have access to variables required for the calculations from the scenario calculation.

[amyburness]

how we want to initiate step 5:

1. This is and optional wizard we initiate this in step 4
2. detect the activities chosen in step 2
3. calculation guides for specific metrics

[gkahiu]

@amyburness below is a summary of the proposed workflow with accompanying implementation notes:

A) Step 4 will now incorporate an option for customizing the metric table as shown below:

Implementation Notes

Illustration

Incorporate a checkbox for customizing output metrics table (see A) By default, the control will be unchecked If checked and the user does not define anything, then the output report will use the default table On clicking the edit button, a wizard will be shown with the steps described in B) below Clarification: Should we persist the last-used custom metric configuration when QGIS is closed/restarted; OR, Should we persist the custom design only for the current session that QGIS is open. Any restart of QGIS will default to 2 above and user has to redefine the customization afresh; OR, User to redefine the customization afresh for each scenario run? In terms of level of effort, the first option will require much more time, whereas the last two options will take less time to incorporate

B) The wizard workflow is described below:

The UI mockups are for illustration purposes, and there will be slight changes in the actual implementation.

Step 1 – Intro Page

Implementation Notes	Illustration
Intro page with brief description and graphic illustration Propose an appropriate image and any additional text to use

Step 2 – Column Customization

Implementation Notes

Illustration

Area column will be loaded by default but the user will have the option of removing it Area metric control will be disabled since the value is auto-calculated Column name will be mandatory Default horizontal alignment will be Centre For convenience purposes, a user will have the option of specifying a column-wide metric If column metric is not specified then the user will have to specify the metric for each selected activity (in step 3)

Step 3 – Activity Metric Customization

Implementation Notes	Illustration
This will be an optional step on condition that a metric has been defined for each column in step 2 If a column metric has been defined, user will have the option of choosing to retain it for all selected activities or define a custom metric for specific activities Greyed-out cells indicate the cell values are not editable

Step 4 – Summary and Save

Implementation Notes	Illustration
This will present a summary of the metrics configuration A user can hover over a specific activity metric to see the specific expression used On clicking Finish, the configuration will be saved and automatically initiate the report generation process

General Implementation Notes:

a. We can have two scenario analysis report templates: the default one (currently being used), which will be applied when no custom metrics are required, and a second one, which (re)moves the PWL weighting table to create more space on the left for additional user-defined metrics columns.