An HEC-FIA alternative consists of information on consequences for a given hazard. An HEC-FIA alternative is a combination of an Inundation Configuration, Impact Areas, Structure Inventory, Critical Infrastructure, Impact Response Curves, Agricultural Data, and computation settings. If the HEC-FIA project contains more than one alternative (for summer and winter crop conditions, for instance), you can build HEC-FIA model alternatives around each of them.
For further information on how to develop the information required in defining an alternative in HEC-FIA, see the HEC-FIA User's Manual.

Import an HEC-FIA Alternative

To import an HEC-FIA alternative: 

1. From the File menu, point to Import, click HEC-FIA, and Import Alternatives dialog (Figure 1) opens.
   
2. Click Select/Add Project, and a file browsing dialog opens.
3. From the file browsing dialog, navigate to and select the HEC-FIA 3.0 project file (.prj extension) you wish to import.
4. Click Open, and the file browsing dialog closes.
5. From the Import Alternatives dialog, click Import, the HEC-FIA alternative is imported, and a confirmation dialog opens.
6. Click OK, and the close confirmation dialog closes.
7. Click Close, and Save your watershed.

Edit an HEC-FIA Alternative

To edit an HEC-FIA alternative:

1. From the HEC-RTS main window, click on the Setup module, from the Watershed Tree, from the Models folder, expand the FIA node (Figure 2). This provides you with a list of all the available HEC-FIA alternatives for this watershed.
   
2. Right-click on an HEC-FIA alternative, from the shortcut menu (Figure 2), click Alternative. The HEC-FIA Edit Alternative dialog will open (Figure 3).
    
3. Edit the HEC-FIA alternative as desired. For further information on how to modify HEC-FIA alternatives, see the HEC-FIA User's Manual.
4. Click OK, the HEC-FIA Edit Alternative will close. Be sure to save your HEC-RTS study.
5. Save your watershed

It is recommended that you only make changes from the Impact Area Editor (Figure 4), for the price index values. To access the Impact Area Editor, right-click a HEC-FIA model alternative from either the table in the Modeling Module or from the Watershed Pane in the Setup Module, and select Impact Areas.

For further information on how to edit HEC-FIA alternatives and impact areas, see the HEC-FIA User's Manual.

Copy an HEC-FIA Alternative

To copy an HEC-FIA alternative:

1. From the HEC-RTS main window, from the Modeling Toolbar, click . The HEC-FIA software will be launched.
2. From the HEC-FIA main window, from the Study Tree, expand the Alternatives folder, right-click on the HEC-FIA alternative you wish to make a copy of. Right-click on the HEC-FIA alternative, from the shortcut menu (Figure 4), click Save As.
   
3. The HEC-FIA Save Alternatives As dialog will open (Figure 5). Specify a new alternative name in the Name field and fill out the Description field (if desired). Leave the Directory field alone.
   
4. Click OK, to complete the copy process. The copied alternative will now be shown in the HEC-FIA Alternative editor.

Delete an HEC-FIA Alternative

To delete an HEC-FIA alternative:

1. From the HEC-RTS main window, from the Modeling Toolbar, click . The HEC-FIA software will be launched.
2. From the HEC-FIA main window, from Study Tree, expand the Alternatives folder, right-click on the HEC-FIA alternative you wish to delete. Right-click on the HEC-FIA alternative, from the shortcut menu (Figure 4), click Delete from Study.
3. An HEC-FIA Confirm Manager Delete window will open (Figure 6), asking do you really want to delete the selected HEC-FIA alternative. Click Yes, the HEC-FIA Confirm Manager Delete window, and the HEC-FIA alternative will have been removed from the HEC-RTS study.
   

For further information on how to delete alternatives in HEC-FIA, see the HEC-FIA User's Manual.