CWMS OpenDCS User Manual and Resources Home

Purpose of Page

This page is to help steer USACE Water Managers or OpenDCS users to OpenDCS documentation and resources.

OpenDCS Project

OpenDCS is an open source project.  The software is currently used by various government agencies, specifically those that work in or support water resources management.  No one agency owns the software.  USACE CWMS servers use OpenDCS.  OpenDCS is built to support a few databases including the CWMS database. 

OpenDCS software has evolved out of years of development on various pieces of the software (once originally their own components) - including LRGS, DECODES and Computation Processor.  Over time, various contracts and offices has moved the software forward, with various priorities and agency uses driving the development and enhancements.   As an open source project, the end-user documentation is open source as well.  See the next sections for more information about documentation and resources. 

Documentation

The following documentation is general OpenDCS documentation and not specific to any agency implementation.

Latest  Documentation: Read The Docs

• Public Online: https://opendcs.org & https://opendcs-env.readthedocs.io
• This documentation will include the latest additions, revisions and updates
• 

Documentation at Time of Release

• Windows Client:  Static html is stored in the <installLocationPath>/doc/html/ directory.  Use an html viewer (i.e. FIrefox or Chrome), and open the index.html file.
  • 
  • In the example above, OpenDCS is installed in C:/OPENDCS.  Open the index.html using Firefox or chrome to navigate through the html documentation.  Keep in mind that these files are static and only contain the content that was available at the time of the release.
• Servers:  Static html is stored in the /wm/wmsoft/opendcs/v#.#.#/doc/ directory.  

Legacy PDFs 

• Select legacy PDFs can be found here: https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs/wiki/Documentation . These are no longer being updated by any know individuals or entities.  

Resources

In addition to the documentation outlined above, there are also some e-mail distribution lists.

E-mail Lists

• CWMS-OpenDCS-Support@usace.army.mil
  • How to get added: E-mail the group and ask to get added.
  • This e-mail is specifically for USACE CWMS and OpenDCS community of users.  It is made up of USACE OpenDCS developers and experienced users. 
  • Questions regarding OpenDCS in relation to CWMS.                                                     
• opendcs@freelists.org
  • How to get added: Subscribe at https://www.freelists.org/list/opendcs 
  • Archive of e-mails sent: https://www.freelists.org/archive/opendcs/  
  • You will not be able to e-mail the list unless you are subscribed.
• opendcs-dev@freelists.org
  • How to get added: Subscribe at https://www.freelists.org/list/opendcs-dev 
  • Archive of e-mails sent: https://www.freelists.org/archive/opendcs-dev/
  • You will not be able to e-mail the list unless you are subscribed. 

HEC OpenDCS Discourse 

HEC Discourse is the primary repository for finding CWMS answers to and submitting technical questions and issues. If you don't have a Discourse user account already, please sign up for one on the Discourse site. The "HEC Discourse Site" tab at the top of the screen will take you directly to the site (https://discourse.hecdev.net/). Please refer to the Read The Docs or CWMS OpenDCS Discourse (https://discourse.hecdev.net/c/opendcs) prior to reaching out directly to HEC staff or other system administrators/experts.

GitHub

The GitHub repository is the home to the official OpenDCS source code:  https://github.com/opendcs/opendcs 

The following documentation is intended for USACE water managers or system administrators.

OpenDCS on USACE Servers

CWMS OpenDCS Release Notes: https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/confluence/cwmsdocs/odrn

• Server relevant information about latest OpenDCS releases 
• Quick notes on launching OpenDCS GUI, upgrading versions on servers, recapping DCSA user structure