Difference between revisions of "User's manual"

Revision as of 17:26, 9 June 2009

Introduction

This is a the basic User's Guide for entering and editing Decision Support Systems (DSS) Information information. The purpose of this document is to provide users a method for entering the required information for each system.

Associated with this document is another which covers the basic procedures for creating and editing wiki text. Users with little or no experience in inserting information in media wiki, should start there, to understand the foundations of wiki text editing. In this page it will be covered the specific aspects for entering DSS information

The main idea of the wiki site is to provide a repository in which to store information related to Decision Support Tools for Forest Resources. This repository, thanks to the nature of the wiki tool used will be dynamic, continuously evolving over time. It will serve also as a storage point of a controlled vocabulary or ontology on Decision Support Tools

Brief description of the process

To insert a new DSS these are the generic steps to be followed, although variants are possible:

1. Create a new page
2. From the template provided copy the necessary section headings for the adequate description of the system in focus
3. Fill in each section with the required level of detail
4. Attribute the appropriate Categories

If the available text is already available, as it may have been described in user's manuals, help systems or publications, the whole procedure should take something from 1 to 3 hours for each system described.

Template Use

As a first approach, users are encouraged to use the template provided. The basic method, as outlined above, consists in copying the wiki text of the Template and pasting it to the appropriate system. This can be perfomed by pressing the edit tab in the top of the template and selecting and copying the text.

Some notes are important to point regarding the use of the template

• The template provided has been defined as a consensus document and is not specific for any DSS. It also does not need no be fully filled. It is expected that several sections may be absent for the presentation of a given DSS
• Although it was aimed that it should be as complete as possible, the template may not encompass all the features and characteristics required for the description of a given system. It is therefore possible to add sub-sections where appropriate. Whenever possible, subsections should be added instead of full sections.

Tagging and the use of categories

After finishing editing the document It must be tagged with the appropriate Categories. Categories are useful fro grouping systems that share the same characteristics. For instance, all the Swedish DSS should be tagged with the [[Category: Swedish_DSS]] category, or all systems that use Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) for optimization should be tagged with [[Category: MIP_Optimization]]

Categories can further be grouped into super-categories. As an example, The [[Category: MIP_Optimization]] can be further categorized into a super category of [[Category: Optimization algorithms]]. This process can be replicated indefinitely

A full list of the available categories can be found here

An easy way to add the respective categories to a DSS wiki page is to copy the appropriate Category codes from the general list and past it to the DSS page.

A category can appear anywhere in the page, however it is considered a good practice to put it near the section where it is relatated

Important notes related to the use of categories:

• Categories are, in general, non exclusive. Meaning that a given DSS can have any number of Categories, even if on the same super-category
• The provided list is bound to be dynamic. And if necessary New Categories can be added. Please see below the steps required to add a new category

Adding a new category

If it is found necessary to add a new Category, the following steps are to be followed

1. Add the desired category to the DSS and save the page
2. Click on the Category link in the bottom of the page, following the ling and appropriately edit the contents. If necessary, add the super-categories required
3. Modify the Full DSS Category List inserting the new information in the appropriate spot