Abstract: |
INFORMS is a decision support framework currently designed specifically for the Forest Service IBM platform. The acronym comes from "Integrated Forest Resource Management System." INFORMS was engineered to support planning tasks associated with watershed and project-level planning, and is used to assist forest- and district-level users in resource project management for the purpose of decision-making following the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) process. The INFORMS interface is built primarily upon ArcView, with additional Oracle Forms as needed to support essential functions. Some custom (i.e., non-Oracle Forms and non-ArcView) windows within INFORMS are used when neither Oracle nor ArcView could support the needed functionality. The underlying Oracle data structure behind INFORMS supports numerous planning functions, including the ability to:
- Support the entire NEPA process and improve decision quality and quantity
- Capture and isolated project or decision support data sets from corporate spatial and attribute databases
- Define project team members and define their access to INFORMS functions
- Access and run a range of analytical tools such as models, scripted queries, Arc Macro Language routines, and rule bases (a knowledge base component)
- Build and retain project alternatives via ArcView themes and Oracle datasets
- Track progress on projects on decisions via access to an event log or analysis record
Analytical tools used in INFORMS will vary from site to site since users at each site determine the suite of tools they wish to integrate within INFORMS. This can include information needed to make analysis accurate and site specific. |
