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Introduction <br />environmental, and legal issues (e.g., minimum flows for fish, interstate compact issues, water rights <br />adjudication). Figure 1-2 illustrates the basic decision-making process within a DSS. The primary <br />goal is to define a problem and provide products that facilitate the decision-making process. <br />In order to implement a decision support process for a problem, the problem and the objectives in <br />solving the problem must first be clearly defined. Next, a procedure needs to be defined to analyze or <br />solve the problem. If this cannot be done, then the problem may have to be redefined or broken <br />intosmaller components. The final output from the process is one or more tangible products. Quite <br />often, in terms of water resources modeling, these are hydrographs or basin yield reports. <br />1.5.3 User-friendly Interfaces for Decision Makers <br />DSSs are typically developed around a series of databases. The databases are accessed through <br />graphical user interfaces (GUIs), models, and analysis tools that are components of a DSS and that <br />Problem Statement The problem is... <br />Objectives The objectives are... <br />Problem <br />Solving <br />Procedure <br />Final Product Baseline vs. Scenario? <br />Scenario vs. Scenario? <br />Figure 1-2. Basic Decision-making Process <br />provide information to decision makers. The system structure distinguishes a DSS from traditional <br />modeling approaches by providing a framework with easy access to the databases through user- <br />friendly interfaces. <br />These systems enable users to run computer simulation and optimization software without having <br />extensive knowledge of input and output data structures. DSS linkages to the database allow users to <br />display input and output data via a GUI and to perform data analyses with the visualization tools that <br />are typically an integral part of the interface. The key element of a DSS is the integration of the <br />a454/report/fmaUintro.doc 07/2&~OS I-ID <br />