Online Resources for CWMS/HEC-RTS
HEC Discourse
HEC Discourse is the primary resource for submitting technical questions and finding answers to those issues. If you don't have a user account, please sign up for one on the Discourse site. Please use Discourse as your primary resource prior to reaching out to HEC staff or other experts directly.
The HEC Discourse forum is open to all USACE employees. It is a good resource to see if another user has run into the same issue (and has already be solved by an HEC subject matter expert or another USACE team member). You are also encouraged to submit answers and comments that could help other users with their questions.
When posting to Discourse please make sure to include the following information:
- Software version
- Issue encountered
- Steps taken to reproduce the issue
- The expected behavior
- Any screenshots or a short video showing the process/issue encountered
A link to the CWMS portion of Discourse can be found here (you must be logged into Discourse to view this section).
Confluence
Confluence is HEC's modern approach to user-guides and other documents. This replaces the need to publish and distribute PDFs that quickly become out of date. Corrections and updates to documentation can be completed immediately, instead of waiting until the next release of the document. Some helpful CWMS/HEC-RTS related document spaces can be found below.
- CWMS Documentation Space
- CWMS Users Manual
- This is the online version of the CWMS Users Manual.
- https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/confluence/cwmsdocs/cwmsum/latest
- Tutorials and Guides
- This is a location for step-by-step solutions to common forecasting issues within CWMS.
- https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/confluence/cwmsdocs/ctg
- CWMS Release Notes
- This is the location for the current Release Notes for CWMS.
- https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/confluence/cwmsdocs/cmrkit/latest
- Known Issues
- This is the location to see updates on current development of CWMS/HEC-RTS. You can see what bugs have been resolved, the status of current testing, and plans for what to be included in future CWMS releases.
- https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/confluence/cwmsdocs/cu/latest
- CWMS Training Materials
- Location of the training materials for PROSPECT #155 (CWMS Modeling for Real-Time Water Management).
- https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/confluence/cwmstraining/cwms-modeling-for-real-time-water-management-june-2024-159154855.html
- HEC-DSS Documentation Space
- HEC-HMS Documentation Space
- HEC-ResSim Documentation Space
- HEC-RAS Documentation Space
- HEC-FIA Documentation Space
CWMS Help Desk
There is an address that USACE employees can email for CWMS support or to report bugs. However, we strongly recommend checking Discourse and possibly posting your question there before reaching out directly to the Help Desk email.
- CWMS Help Desk: ceiwr-hec.cwms-helpdesk@usace.army.mil
- HEC-RTS Help Desk: hec.rts@usace.army.mil
Suggested order for support
- Discourse
- MMC Teams Chat/Working Sessions
- Email HEC
- HEC's website has a support page that list out program specific support emails
HEC Website
The HEC website is the location where majority of the above information is hosted. Additionally, the HEC-RTS page can be found here.
CWMS MMC Modeling Group on Microsoft Teams
The CWMS MMC Modeling Group on Microsoft Teams is the platform that provides for information sharing through webinars and workshops, one-on-one collaborations, and hands-on assistance. The CWMS MMC group offers the opportunity to collaborate and receive support from other field users and, if needed, the CWMS developers. There is a channel and assigned moderators per major software component in the CWMS package. Most questions or requests for support normally receive a response within 1-2 business days.
There is a Training channel where webinars on CWMS modeling related topics are hosted and archived.
There are also model specific working sessions where moderators and expert users help answer questions during the hour-long sessions.
If you are not part of the CWMS MMC Microsoft Teams Group and would like to join, please click on the link to request access.
CWMS Wiki
The CWMS Wiki is intended to encourage and facilitate interaction amongst CWMS users. In the spirit of this collaboration, contributions within this community should be considered as informative, rather than as statements of fact.
https://cwms.usace.army.mil/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=Home
HEC's YouTube Channels
- General YouTube
- CWMS YouTube
- HEC-HMS General
- HEC-RAS General
- HEC-RAS Sediment (Dr. Stan Gibson's Channel)
Data Resources
- Cumulus
- USACE repository for gridded data (only available to USACE at this time)
- Needs USACE Network connection and CAC authentication
- https://cumulus.corps.cloud/
- USACE repository for gridded data (only available to USACE at this time)
- CWMS Data API (CDA)
- Formally referred to as RADAR
- USACE repository for Time-series data
- HEC-Vortex
- Vortex is a collection of data processing utilities targeted for Hydrologic Engineering Center applications, e.g. HEC-HMS.
- Github: https://github.com/HydrologicEngineeringCenter/Vortex