How-To

Create a Project

How To CREATE A PROJECT

1. Navigate to the Projects page.
2. Click on the ‘+ New Project’ button in the upper left corner of the Projects grid.
3. Complete the Project form with a Project Name and Description. Type and select any existing scenarios you would like to add to this project group. When finished, click ‘✓ Update.’
4. To view or edit the scenarios in each project from the Projects page, use the small arrow on the left side of the grid to expand or collapse the project details. You can search for projects by Project name, Description, Created By and/or Created On using the filter column icons beside each heading in the grid. Use the ‘Clear Filters’ and ‘Expand All Projects’ buttons in the upper left corner of the grid to clear any applied filters or view the scenarios in each project group, respectively.

How To EDIT A PROJECT

1. Navigate to the Projects page.
2. Find the project you would like to edit and click the ‘Edit Project’ button.
3. Make the desired updates to the project and click ‘✓ Update.’

Create a Scenario

How To CREATE A SCENARIO

1. Log in using your Email and Password.
2. Click on the ‘+ New Scenario’ button in the upper left corner of the Scenarios grid.
3. Complete the Scenario form with a Scenario Name, Cost Profile, Base Condition, Scenario Description, Geography, and any Additional Information.  If you would like the scenario to be filtered as one of your Selected Scenarios, check the ‘Add to My Scenario List’ box. This will make the scenario show up in a personalized list if you check that filter on the Scenarios page. If this is a baseline scenario, check the ‘Is BaseLine Scenario’ box. Making a scenario a 'Baseline' makes it available for for comparison reports.
4. Click ‘Save’ to save your scenario and stay on the Add Scenario page. Click ‘Save and Close’ to save the scenario and return to the Scenarios page. Click ‘Back To List’ to discard your scenario and return to the Scenarios page.
5. When you have returned to the Scenarios page, click the green arrow beside your scenario to run the scenario.

How To COPY A SCENARIO BASE CONDITIONS

1. Click on the ‘+ New Scenario’ button in the upper left corner of the Scenarios grid.
2. Click on the ‘Copy Scenario Without BMPs’ button.
3. A pop-up will open with a drop-down list of existing scenarios. Select the scenario you would like to copy from the drop-down list.
4. Click ‘Copy.’
5. Click ‘Save’ to save your scenario and stay on the Add Scenario page. Click ‘Save and Close’ to save the scenario and return to the Scenarios page. Click ‘Back To List’ to discard your scenario and return to the Scenarios page.
6. When you have returned to the Scenarios page, click the green arrow beside your scenario to run the scenario.

Add/Edit BMPs

How To COPY BMPs FROM AN EXISTING SCENARIO

1. Navigate to the Scenarios page.
2. Find the scenario you would like to add BMPs to and click on the Scenario name or the Edit button to open.
3. Scroll down to Scenario BMPs.
4. Click on ‘Copy BMPs’.
5. If you would like to copy BMPs from another scenario, select the bubble next to ‘Single Scenario,’ then click in the box below Single Scenario(s) and search for or click on the scenario you would like to copy BMPs from. If you would like to copy BMPs from another scenario, but only for one sector within that scenario, select the bubble next to ‘By Sector.’ Click in the box below the sector you would like to copy BMPs from and search for or click on the scenario you would like to copy BMPs from.
6. Click ‘Save’ to save your scenario and stay on the Add Scenario page. Click ‘Save and Close’ to save the scenario and return to the Scenarios page. Click ‘Back To List’ to discard your changes and return to the Scenarios page.
7. When you have returned to the Scenarios page, click the green arrow beside your scenario to run the scenario.

How To UPLOAD BMPs FROM A FILE

1. Navigate to the Scenarios page.
2. Find the scenario you would like to add BMPs to and click on the Scenario name or the Edit button to open.
3. Scroll down to Scenario BMPs.
4. Click on ‘Upload BMPs’.
5. Click on the ‘Template File’ hyperlink to download the upload template.
6. Complete the BMP upload template and save in Excel.
7. Navigate back to DTAP, and under BMP Files, click ‘Select File’.
8. Select your BMP upload template from the File Explorer and click ‘Open’.
9. Click ‘Save’ to save your scenario and stay on the Add Scenario page. Click ‘Save and Close’ to save the scenario and return to the Scenarios page. Click ‘Back To List’ to discard your changes and return to the Scenarios page.
10. When you have returned to the Scenarios page, click the green arrow beside your scenario to run the scenario.

How To DOWNLOAD ERROR FILE

After uploading a new template to DTAP, check for data errors using the error file.

1. Navigate to the Scenarios page.
2. Find the scenario you uploaded a BMP template to and click on the Scenario name or Edit button to open.
3. Scroll down to Scenario BMPs.
4. Click on ‘Upload BMPs.’
5. In the BMP File Upload History grid, click on the ‘Error File’ hyperlink.
6. An excel file will download with a description the upload template errors. Correct the errors in the BMP upload template. Then, repeat the steps in How To UPLOAD BMPs.

How To ADD BMPs

1. Navigate to the Scenarios page.
2. Find the scenario you would like to add BMPs to and click on the Scenario name or Edit button to open.
3. Click on the ‘BMPs’ tab.
4. Click the ‘+ Add BMP’ button.
5. Complete the form with all BMP information, including a Unique Identifier, Geographic Scale, Geography, BMP Type, Landuse, Amount, and Unit. Click ‘Save.’
6. Click on the ‘Scenario’ tab.
7. Click ‘Save’ to save your scenario and stay on the Add Scenario page. Click ‘Save and Close’ to save the scenario and return to the Scenarios page. Click ‘Back To List’ to discard your changes and return to the Scenarios page.
8. When you have returned to the Scenarios page, click the green arrow beside your scenario to run the scenario.

How To EDIT BMPs

1. Navigate to the Scenarios page.
2. Find the scenario you would like to edit BMPs in and click on the Scenario name or Edit button to open.
3. Click on the ‘BMPs’ tab.
4. Find the BMP you would like to edit and click the ‘Edit BMP’ button.
5. Make the desired updates to the BMP and click ‘Save.’
6. Click on the ‘Scenario’ tab.
7. Click ‘Save’ to save your scenario and stay on the Add Scenario page. Click ‘Save and Close’ to save the scenario and return to the Scenarios page. Click ‘Back To List’ to discard your changes and return to the Scenarios page.
8. When you have returned to the Scenarios page, click the green arrow beside your scenario to run the scenario.

Run Reports

How To RUN A REPORT

1. Navigate to the Reports page.
2. From the drop-down list, select a Report Type.
3. Type in a Report Name.
4. From the drop-down list, select a Scenario.
5. Click ‘Download Report’.
6. An excel file will download with the File Name you created and for the type of report you selected from the drop-down list.

TMDL Comparison Report

1. Navigate to the Reports page.
2. From the drop-down list, select a ‘TMDL Comparison.’
3. Type in a Report Name.
4. From the drop-down list, select a Baseline Scenario. This list includes all scenarios that were created with the ‘Is BaseLine Scenario’ box checked.
5. From the drop-down list, select the scenario(s) you would like to compare to your baseline.
6. From the drop-down list, select a Geographic Scale.
7. The geographies located within the same geography as your scenarios will appear in the left-hand side box. To select which geographies to include in the report, click on the name in the left-hand side box, followed by the single arrow to move it over to the right-hand side box. To select all geographies, click on the double arrow button. To de-select geographies, repeat these steps moving from right to left.
8. Click ‘Download Report’.
9. An Excel file will download with the File Name you created.
   1. Read Me The Read Me sheet within the report contains information including the DTAP version the report was created using, the date the report was created, the report type, and the names and base conditions of the selected scenarios.
   2. Scenario Acres-Detailed The scenario acres sheet contains the following columns:
      1. BaseYear – the base year of the selected baseline scenario
      2. GeographyFullName – the name of the geographies selected when creating the report
      3. SectorName – the name of the sector
      4. LanduseName – the name of the land use
      5. Acres (column E) – the amount of acres that make up each land use in the in the baseline scenario
      6. Acres (column F) – the amount of acres that make up each land use in the comparison scenario
      7. Acres Diff (column G) – the difference in acres between the baseline and the comparison scenario

         The Acres and Acres Diff columns repeat for each additional comparison scenario.

   3. Scenario Loads-Detailed The following scenario loads sheets (TN, TP, TSS, and Bacteria) are all formatted the same way, and contain the following columns:
      1. BaseYear – the base year of the selected baseline scenario
      2. GeographyFullName – the name of the geographies selected when creating the report
      3. SectorName – the name of the sector
      4. LanduseName – the name of the land use
      5. TnLbs (column E) – the pollutant load coming from each land use in the baseline scenario
      6. TmdlNPercent (column F) – the percent reduction required to meet the TMDL in the selected geography
      7. TnLbs (column G) – the pollutant load coming from each land use in the comparison scenario
      8. TnLbs Diff (column H) – the difference in loads between the baseline and the comparison scenario
      9. TnLbs Percent (column I) – the percent reduction between the baseline and the comparison scenario

The TnLbs, TnLbs Diff, and TnLbs Percent columns repeat for each additional comparison scenario. Not all geographies and pollutants (TN, TP, TSS, and bacteria) have a TMDL requirement. Negative percentages in the TnLbs Percent column indicate a reduction in loads between the baseline and comparison scenario. Use this column to compare to the TMDL percent to, and see if the comparison scenario meets the TMDL requirements.

Understanding Results

UNDERSTANDING RESULTS

The final results stored in the database are accurate and consistent. However, when retrieving the data and displaying it in the UI, some precision may be lost due to rounding or formatting differences between the database and the application. You may notice that some values — like acres or nutrient loads — differ slightly (such as by 0.1) between reports, the raw data and what’s shown in the application. This is expected behavior and comes from how decimal numbers are handled, rounded, and displayed at different stages in the system. Below are a few reasons:

• Rounding Inside SQL Functions
• Precision Differences in Raw Queries vs Functions
• Floating-Point Arithmetic Behavior
• Different Rounding Rules in SQL vs C#
• Chained Calculations Amplify Rounding

Example with numbers:

Prioritization Runs

How To USE THE PRIORITIZATION TOOL

1. Navigate to the Prioritization page.
2. Click on the ‘+ New Prioritization Run’ button in the upper left corner of the Prioritization Runs grid.
3. Complete the Run Information by entering a name for the prioritization scenario run. Optionally, you may enter a Description and/or assign the Run to an existing project. 
4. Select a scenario as the baseline for prioritization. This is the scenario that your prioritization run is built from. It provides starting loads. NOTE: Scenario Geography Type must be a single Municipality, HUC12, Historic Watershed or NHD Catchment.
5. Select a top Target Prioritization Category. The target priority is the goal that you want to set, a pollutant, a cost, or some combination of those. 
6. Enter your incremental target cost. Incremental cost is the amount of funding you can add to the current cost to cover the cost of BMPs. You can also ignore cost altogether by checking the ignore box if not interested in considering costs.
7. Set the target load by moving the slider bar until the target load is correct. The slider represents percent reduction from the base load, and the pounds calculate automatically.
8. Select which BMPs you would like to be considered. Select the land uses and area percentage that you are willing to have change to another land use.
9. The Prioritization Grid is for reference and updates based on the priority, BMPs, and land uses that you selected.
10. Click ‘Save & Run Prioritization’ to save your run and return to the Prioritization Runs page. Click ‘View Results’ to jump directly to the Prioritization Results page. Click 'Close' to discard your changes and return to the Prioritization Runs page.
11. When you have returned to the Prioritization Runs page, click the View Prioritization Results icon in the right-most column of the grid beside your new run to view a summary of the results. Click the Edit Prioritization Run icon to go back into the run and make changes, or the Copy Run to create another, identical run that can be edited for comparison purposes.

How To ADD PRIORITIZATION RUN BMPS TO A SCENARIO

1. Navigate to the Prioritization page.
2. Click on the View Prioritization Results icon beside your run in the grid.
3. Click on the 'Export BMPs To A New Scenario' button in the upper right corner of the grid.
4. Enter a Scenario Name and Description.
5. This process will create a new scenario with the same base conditions and geography as the baseline scenario. The BMPs from the prioritization run will be added to the newly created scenario. Check the 'Copy Baseline Scenario BMPs' check box if you want to also copy all the BMPs from the baseline scenario to the newly created scenario.
6. Click 'Save' to return to the Prioritization Runs grid, or click 'Cancel' to discard your changes and return to the Prioritization Runs page.

Scenario runs are different than prioritization runs. Prioritization runs are intended to provide information about the most effective BMPs for the user’s goals and the amount of implementation that is optimal for each of those BMPs on each land use present. These data can then be used in a regular scenario using “Export BMPs To A New Scenario” button on the prioritization run’s results page.

Prioritization runs evaluate the maximum impact of each individual BMP according to the user’s input on goals. Goals include willingness to implement certain BMPs, funding, land area available, and priority pollutant on the defined area of interest.

Scenarios evaluate all the BMPs together. Running the prioritization results as a scenario should be the user’s final step. Estimated loads will be different between prioritization runs and scenarios. Land use change BMPs change the underlying acres in each land use. The BMPs are then applied to the updated land use acres in scenarios. In prioritization runs, the land use acres are not updated as more BMPs are added to a prioritization run.