A master watershed is a watershed shared by multiple modelers. The master watershed consists of the watershed's base and forecast data. The master watershed needs to reside somewhere accessible by all participating team members. If team members intend to contribute updates to the data or models, then that team member must have write privileges on the shared drive. The location can be either on a shared network drive or on the CWMS server.

The master watershed is not modified directly on the shared location. Instead, a copy of the master watershed is downloaded to each team member's computer. The team members edit their local copy of the master watershed, then upload changes back to the master watershed. Only files and DSS records that have been changed are uploaded and downloaded, this speeds up the process significantly since files that have not been changed do not need to be transferred.

A master watershed keeps track of the changes that each team member makes and notifies other team members of those changes. If the master watershed is modified by a member while others are working on the master watershed, the other members will receive a notification on the lower right-land side of their desktop alerting them that the files on their local copy of the master watershed are now out-of-date. If the watershed is closed at the time of the change, an out-of-sync notification will appear when the modeler next opens the watershed.

Any CWMS (Version 3.1 or higher) watershed can become a master watershed. The master watershed may begin as a watershed on your computer or already exist on a networked drive. Once the master watershed has been set up, pre- existing forecasts may be turned into team forecasts. This is further outlined in Section 22.4.

Regular watersheds will not have access to the team modeling features that master watersheds provide until they are upgraded to a master watershed. The following topics provide detailed instructions on how to set up a master watershed and walk you through the different setup scenarios.

Create a Master Watershed

Any CWMS (Version 3.1 or higher) watershed can become a master watershed. You can turn a regular watershed on your computer into a master watershed and then upload it to either a networked drive or a CWMS server. After the master watershed is uploaded, other modelers will have access to it. You can also turn a regular watershed that already exists on a networked drive into a master watershed. The following sections go through each of these processes in detail.

Create Master Watershed from Watershed on Your Computer

A regular CWMS (Version 3.1 or higher) watershed located on your computer can be turned into a master watershed and then uploaded to either a network drive or a CWMS server. To turn a watershed into a master watershed, open the watershed you would like to convert to a master watershed in CWMS (Version 3.1.1), select the Setup tab. From the Watershed menu, click Watershed Properties (Figure 1). 

1. The Watershed Properties dialog will open (Figure 2). From the Watershed Properties dialog, select the Team tab.
   
2. In the Team tab, select Team Watershed (Figure 2).
3. To upload a master watershed on a CWMS server, from the Server Configuration tab (Figure 2), the CWMS server must be defined and you must be logged into the server.
4. To upload the master watershed to the CWMS server, click CWMS Server. To upload the master watershed to a network location, click Windows Network.
5. If you are uploading to a CWMS server, the file pathname to the watershed's upload location will display next to CWMS Server, you can skip to Step 8.
6. If uploading to a local network location, the file path will need to be selected. To the right of the Watershed File box, click , a file browser will open. In the file browser, select the folder location on the shared network where you would like to upload the master watershed.
7. Click Open. This will close the file browser and set the file pathname in the Master Watershed Folder field.
8. Once the upload location has been selected and defined, click Upload Now. The Enter Upload Comments dialog will appear (Figure 3).
   
9. In the Enter Upload Comments dialog, type in a description for the upload and then click OK. The Enter Upload Comments dialog will close and the upload will start. Note: The comments are part of the versioning for team modeling and cannot be changed at a later date.
   The Watershed Properties dialog will become inactive during the upload process and display an Uploading indicator (Figure 4).
   
   An Upload message tab will appear along the bottom of the CAVI screen providing status updates during the upload process (Figure 5).
   
   When the upload has completed, an Upload Complete message will appear (Figure 6), indicating the number of files that were uploaded for the master watershed.
   

Once the watershed is uploaded to the CWMS server, other team members can access it and download copies of the files to their own computers. For more instructions on this process see

Create a Master Watershed from a Watershed on a Networked Drive

Watersheds that already exist on a networked drive can be turned into master watersheds and shared with the team. The following steps, show how you would convert a pre-existing CWMS watershed into a master watershed:

1. Start CWMS Version 3.1.1, but do not open a watershed. From the CWMS CAVI main window, click the Setup tab.
2. From the Watershed menu, point to Team, click Download Master Watershed. The Select Master Watershed dialog will appear open (Figure 7).
3. Select On Local Drive (Figure 7), to the right of the Watershed File box, click . An Open browser will display. 
   
4. From the Open browser, browse to the location of the watershed, select the watershed you want to make a master watershed, click Open. The Open browser will close, the location and name of the selected watershed will display in the Watershed File box (Figure 7).
5. From the Select Master Watershed dialog (Figure 7), click Apply. A confirmation window will display confirming the watershed is now a master watershed. Now you can download the master watershed to your computer.
6. Close the confirmation window, click Download, the Select Destination Location dialog will appear (Figure 8). Your preconfigured watershed location folder is displayed in the Locations list (Figure 8).
   
7. Select the appropriate watershed location folder from the Locations list, click OK, the download of the master watershed will begin. The Select Master Watershed dialog (Figure 7) will become inactive during the download process and display a Downloading indicator (Figure 9).
   
   A Download tab will display in the Message Pane (Figure 10), providing status updates during the download process.
   
   When the download is finished a Download Complete window (Figure 11) will display. Click OK, the Download Complete window will close. An Open Watershed window will display (Figure 12) asking if you would like to open the watershed in CWMS.
   
   

Download an Existing Master Watershed

When you are ready to share the master watershed with other team members, they will need to download a copy of the master watershed to their computers.

To download an existing master watershed: 

1. Start the CWMS Version 3.1.1, but do not open a watershed. From the CWMS CAVI main window, click the Setup tab.
2. From the Watershed menu, point to Team, click Download Master Watershed (Figure 13). The Select Master Watershed dialog will appear open (Figure 14).
   
   
   To continue downloading the master watershed from a networked drive see the next section – Download from a Networked Drive. To download from the CWMS server, see the section Downloading from the CWMS Server. 

Download from a Networked Drive

The following steps will guide you through downloading the master watershed from a network drive:

1. From the Select Master Watershed dialog, click On Networked Drive (Figure 14), to the right of the Watershed File box, click . An Open browser will display.
2. From the Open browser, browse to the location of the watershed, select the watershed you want to make a master watershed, click Open. The Open browser will close, the location and name of the selected watershed will display in the Watershed File box (Figure 14).
3. From the Select Master Watershed dialog (Figure 14), click Apply. If the watershed is already a master watershed, a No Changes Made window will display. If the watershed is not a master watershed, the watershed will be set as a master watershed and a message window will state that the watershed was successfully updated. Close the message window.
4. From the Select Master Watershed dialog (Figure 14), click Download. A Select Destination Location dialog will display (Figure 15). Your preconfigured watershed location folder is displayed in the Locations list (Figure 15).
   
5. Select the appropriate watershed location folder from the Locations list, click OK, the download of the master watershed will begin. The Select Master Watershed dialog (Figure 9) will become inactive during the download process and display a Downloading indicator (Figure 9).
6. A Download tab will display in the Message Pane (Figure 10), providing status updates during the download process.
7. When the download is finished a Download Complete window (Figure 11) will display. Click OK, the Download Complete window will close.
8. The real-time messaging systems will also display a message (Figure 16) indicating that files have been added for the master watershed.
   
9. When the download is done, An Open Watershed window will display (Figure 12), asking if you would like to open the watershed in CWMS. To open the watershed, click Yes.

Downloading from the CWMS Server

Once a master watershed has be uploaded to the CWMS server, other team members can download a copy of it to their computers. To retrieve a master watershed from a CWMS server, you must be logged into the CWMS server before selecting the master watershed. Continuing from the steps in the section titled Download an Existing Master Watershed, to download the master watershed from the CWMS server:

1. First, be sure you are logged into the CWMS server you would like to retrieve the master watershed from.
2. From the Select Master Watershed dialog (Figure 17), click On CWMS Server. The Watershed list displays the available master watersheds.
   
3. Select which master watershed you would like to copy to your computer. Click Download, the Select Destination Location dialog will display (Figure 15). Your preconfigured watershed location folder is displayed in the Locations (Figure 15).
4. Select the appropriate watershed location folder from the Locations list, click OK, the download of the master watershed will begin. The Select Master Watershed dialog (Figure 9) will become inactive during the download process and display a Downloading indicator (Figure 9).
5. A Download tab will display in the Message Pane (Figure 10), providing status updates during the download process.
6. When the download is finished a Download Complete window (Figure 11) will display. Click OK, the Download Complete window will close.
7. When the download is done, An Open Watershed window will display (Figure 12) asking if you would like to open the watershed in the CWMS. To open the watershed, click Yes.

Turning Team Modeling Off

If you no longer need to use team modeling with the local copy of the watershed you can turn the feature off. Turning team modeling off will convert the watershed into a regular watershed and it will no longer communicate with the master watershed. The watershed will behave as a normal CWMS watershed and all team modeling options will be disabled.

To turn team modeling off for the local copy of the watershed: 

1. First, from CWMS, open the master watershed that is on your computer, click the Setup tab.
2. From the Watershed menu, click Watershed Properties (Figure 1), the Watershed Properties dialog will open (Figure 2). 
3. Click on the Team tab (Figure 18), uncheck Team Watershed. Click OK, the Watershed Properties dialog will close.
   
4. From the Toolbar, click , this will save all changes made to the watershed.