Source Rivers Trial Applications Review

1. Source Rivers Trial Applications Review Source…the taste test

2. Purpose of Trial Applications • Assess Source Rivers in an application for a target river system to determine: • Source meets eWater Partners modelling requirements for water resource planning and management (ie, “Fit for Purpose”) – a complete integrated package • How well Source performs against existing modelling tool – comparisons to IQQM, REALM, BIGMOD • influence the software development process itself - direct link between model testing & ongoing model construction • Wide variety of different river systems to test the usefulness of Source – good coverage

3. Locations of Source Rivers Trial Applications Trial applications established in 2008/2009 Namoi River Goulburn-Broken-Loddon-Campaspe Macintyre Brook Murray River: Lower Lakes to Colignan Murray River: Upstream of Lock 9 ACT Melbourne metropolitan catchments Pioneer Murrumbidgee Goulburn river

5. Trial Application involvement in Source • Feedback to development • Producing content for User Documentation – SRG and User Guide • Development and delivery of Source Rivers training • Trial Application workshops • Forster a community of practice • Progress updates on each trial application • Feature demos • “How to build plugins” workshop • Reporting on outcomes of trial applications and assessing Source capabilities • Formal reporting requirements for SEWPAC/NWC funding agreement • “fitness for purpose” report

6. Outcomes of Trial Applications • All were successful in configuring Source Rivers to simulate their target systems. • In general, all reported that Source Rivers compared well to the outputs of the existing modelling platform, • most differences explainable or an improvement due to enhancements in functionality. • Modelling complex interactions of target system highlighted: • Areas where Source improves upon existing modelling platforms • areas that require usability improvements and documentations/guidance for converting to Source • Innovative approaches to modelling aspects of river system if functionality was unavailable

7. Outcomes of Trial Applications • Some discrepancies were reported and still require investigation • Critical defects preventing testing resolved in latest release • On-going process of testing and review • Problems with performance of load and runtimes; stability • Beneficial features • Expression editor: widely used, flexible, powerful tool • Chart tool: visualisation, first-cut analysis of scenario results • Outputs: easy export of required results; great variety of outputs • Plugins: customised functionality, extensibility (although steep learning curve)

8. Summary of recommendations • Improving the performance and stability of Source. • Continue testing existing and new features within the current trial application project. • Continued investigation of differences in outputs between Source Rivers and existing modelling platform • Continued testing of existing functionality as defects and issues are fixed by the Source development team (ie, Source Rivers version 2.17 & 2.18) • Testing required functionality not available this year • Expansion of trial application beyond agreed requirements

9. Summary of recommendations • Continue Source Rivers code development to provide functionality that has been identified as essential to complete the trial applications. • User Interface & tools improvements • Chart tool functionality – more features • expression editor – improve usability & docs • recording outputs – descriptions, improved selection

10. So…Yum or Yuck? • Yum, but needs cream and sprinkles! • Full reports and feedback from other trial applications collated into Summary report at end of Nov – endorsed by Rivers URG • Inform work plan for 2012 and beyond • Final workshop next week – take stock of past few years

11. Thanks to all involved in the Rivers Trial Applications!