Providing transparent information

A primary objective of the design of the UNDO tool is to provide links to literature and publications for data and information used to produce all parameters and rates in the tool. The tool is built on a collection of the peer reviewed data, literature and research. This information is easily accessible from the UNDO tool interface. If a user feels that critical information is missing or incorrect (e.g. if a certain BMP is not available in the tool or if an input rate is not based on current or best quality data), the user can provide the Department of Water with an appropriate scientific reference (e.g. scientific report or peer reviewed journal article), and the information will be reviewed and considered for the next version of the UNDO tool.

More information on version updates and implementation of new data is provided in the Technical Manual. Background information is accessible in three different formats through the UNDO tool’s interface: information tabs, fact sheets and the help menu.

Information tabs

Information tabs are provided alonside each of the elements that the user enters in an UNDO tool project (including land-use types, treatments and export attributes). The information tab will either provide a brief explanation of the element when the user hovers the cursor over the tab, or if the tab is clicked it will display an information sheet. Information sheets provide a brief summary of the definition of the particular element, and information or data used for that element to generate a nutrient input, export, or treatment.

The information sheets have a link to the fact sheets or to the help menu for more detailed information and references. An example of the information sheet for multiple dwellings (a type of residential landuse ) is shown in Figure 3-4.

Fig 3-4: Example of information tab for Multiple dwellings residential.

Fact sheets

Users can access fact sheets using the command bar panel in the left (Figure 3-3a). Facts sheets provide a summary of the data/information used in the UNDO tool and relevant studies and references used (Figure 3-5b). They are detailed (between 2 and 10 pages long) and provide a list of relevant literature and studies, a summary of each of these studies, and justification for the rates adopted in the UNDO tool.

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(b)

Figure 3-5: a) the fact sheet menu bar on the UNDO interface and b) example of an UNDO tool fact sheet

Help menu

The UNDO help file is available in the main menu bar, located on the top of the command bar (Figure 3-3). The help file provides an online version of this user guide, with search functionality and indexing. The help window is displayed in Figure 3-6.

Fig 3-6: Location of Help menu in UNDO tool.