Rapid modeling and analysis with QGENIE

QGENIE is a specialized interface to GENIE, a decision modeling environment developed by the Decision Systems Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh. QGENIE allows for rapid construction of graphical models in which all variables are propositional, almost no numerical probabilities are displayed at the user interface, and degrees of truth of propositions are displayed by means of node colors. All numerical parameters, such as prior probability distributions over variables and strengths of influences between variables, are entered by means of graphical sliders. While the underlying computations are all numerical and based on Bayesian updating, QGENIE makes the impression of a qualitative, ¿order of magnitude¿ type system that aids rapid model building and an approximate analysis of systems.