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<br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />, ~ <br /> <br />iJODZSl <br /> <br />Functional Specification for the Planning Model <br /> <br />similar interfaces, in order to minimize the learning required for the Planning Model. With <br />respect to defining scenarios, the CUA conventions suggest that activities should be organized <br />around top-level menu bar options, such as "File" and "Edit." <br /> <br />Beneath these headings a set of appropriate options will be defined to initiate the various <br />stages of browsing and selecting scenarios, beginning the definition of a new scenario, entering <br />data to be used in the scenario, and so on, A design objective will be to minimize the number <br />of user actions (key strokes and mouse movements and clicks) required to accomplish a logical <br />sequence of operations. Two equally important design objectives will be to give the user <br />flexible control over the sequence of activities and to encapsulate those activities into a small <br />number of formats or "dialog boxes," in order to facilitate the user's navigation and reduce the <br />amount of reading and recognition tasks required of the user. The general goal is to create an <br />environment for the scenario specification activities which is convenient and intuitively obvious <br />to the user. <br /> <br />Throughout the programming specification and implementation phases of the project, <br />users will be involved in an iterative design and testing process to ensure that the logical <br />structure and the visual presentation of the scenario specification tasks meets the objectives of <br />ease and understandability. <br /> <br />Graphical Representation of Network <br /> <br />Experience with network models has demonstrated that it is essential for a human to be <br />able to refer to a schematic diagram of a network, in order to understand its structure. This <br />has been found to be true even with traditional models, where the human user must specify the <br />network structure to the model through a non-graphical medium, such as a text file. A visual, <br />or "graphical," representation of the network enables the user to understand the relationships <br />among various parts of the system through the notion of location and the similarity of the <br />diagram to a map-like view of the system, and through the notion of connectedness and the <br />human visual ability to trace pathways represented by a chain of arrows. The Baseline <br />network will be configured so as to facilitate modeling of river flows at locations of USGS <br />gages. <br /> <br />Therefore, an essential design criterion for the user interface is that it include a graphical <br />representation of the Baseline network, referred to hereafter as the "network diagram." The <br />interactive functionality of the network diagram will include support for four different user <br />activities . <br /> <br />1. Accessing Point-Specific Data. The user will be able to indicate that <br />he wants information about a particular component or location <br />represented as an arc in the network simply by selecting the <br />corresponding arc in the network diagram. The information might then <br />be displayed in a dialog box. Similarly, information pertaining to a <br />standardized construct composed of multiple arcs could be presented in <br />an organization corresponding to the conceptual nature of the <br />construct. <br /> <br />2. <br /> <br />Specifying a Scenario - Changing Parameter Values. If a user were <br />in the process of specifying a scenario, then by selecting an arc or <br />construct in the network diagram he would be able read and <br />interactively modify parameter values pertaining to the selected object. <br /> <br />19 <br /> <br />, .... .... ,.~>,;,.>~.,; <br />~.';,., 0 _ .,,~,=- <br /> <br />""----~,- <br />