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Create a New Situation

In order to see what the effects of going to work or using work incentives might be, you can use WorkWORLD to ask "What-If?" questions.

In the new "What-If" situation column, you answer the same questions, or new questions, as if the situation you want to test were true. For example, you may not be employed, and so you answered "NO" to the question, "Earnings: Do you have any income from wages, salary, or self-employment?" You want to know, however, what will happen to your benefits and net income if you got a job. In the new column, you would therefore answer "YES" to that same question. A new question will then appear, asking you how much you are earning. You would then enter an amount to see what would be the effect of earning that amount.

After you have answered all of the questions about your current situation (that is, after you have completed the situation), you can create a new situation using either your mouse or the keyboard. First, we'll do it using a mouse:

Using a mouse:

1.    Click on the "New Situation" icon (The 5th icon from the left on the toolbar - a person with a light bulb on over his head).

2.   All of your answers in the first column will be copied into the second column. The input box for the Situation Label answer at the top of the second column will be open, and you may enter your own label or accept the default "What-If 1":

3.   Use the Windows scroll bar on the right to scroll up and down to the input boxes in the column labeled "What-If 1" for the questions whose answers you want to change.

4.   Click on the answer boxes and make the changes.

5.   Some changes may cause new questions to be presented to you. If they are, a "QUESTIONS PENDING" notice will appear in the status bar on the bottom of your screen:
 

Answer those questions until the "Situation Complete" notice appears in the status bar:
 

6.   Some changes will cause the input boxes of other questions to become gray. That means that those questions are no longer relevant to your situation.

For example, if the change is from living with others to living alone, it is no longer relevant whether or not you are married as far as your SSI benefit amounts are concerned.

7.   Review the results and compare them to the results for your current situation.

Now we'll create another New Situation, this time using the keyboard. Besides the keyboard difference, however, you'll see that this time a pop-up box will appear asking you to "Please choose a situation to base your new What-If situation on." (The first time there was only one situation to choose, the Current Situation, so no pop-up box appeared.)

When the pop-up box does appear, choose the situation that you think will have the most answers the same as your new What-If. That way you will have to make the fewest changes.

Using the keyboard:

1.    Hold down the "Alt" key and press "S" and then "N" (for Situation, New):

  + ,

2.   Since there is more than one previously entered situation, a window appears from which you may choose which previous situation to use as the basis for the new one:

3.   Use the keyboard up-arrow and down-arrow to choose the situation to replicate. Hit the enter key to have this information copied into the new situation column:

  or ,

4.   All of your answers in the first column will be copied into the new column. The input box for the Situation Label answer at the top of the new column will be open, and you may type your own label or accept the default "What-If" label by using the enter key:
 

5.   Hold down the "Alt" key, and press the "Down arrow" and "Up arrow" keys repeatedly to take your cursor down or up to the first question whose answer you want to change:

   + or

6.   Make the change.

7.   Some changes will cause new questions to be presented to you. (A "QUESTIONS PENDING" notice will appear in the status bar on the bottom of your screen.):
 

Answer those questions until the "Situation Complete" notice appears in the status bar:
 

8.   Some changes will cause the input boxes of other questions to become gray. That means that those questions are no longer relevant to your situation.

For example, if the change is from living with others to living alone, it is no longer relevant whether or not you are married as far as your SSI benefit amounts are concerned.

9.   Review the results and compare them to the results for your current situation.

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