The reported value used for “Enter Heat Input” entry is the arc energy even though it is referred to as heat input. This has always been an issue since all the historical work on in-service welding always referred to arc energy as heat input and that has continued with this model. How the model addresses different welding process is by the arc efficiency option selection.
This is an efficiency that is used by the model and it relates to how the heat is applied. It is not necessarily the same as the process efficiency that you find when calculating the try welding heat input as you described. The effect of the efficiency can be shown in the model when we enter the same welding heat input in two different cases but change the welding process. The report will document the same welding heat input value but it will have different cooling rates, inside surface temperature, and hardness values.