DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING WATER QUALITY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN MONTANA FOR IMPROVED DATAQUALITY, EFFICIENCY, AND PUBLIC OUTREACH

摘要

WARD and CWAIC have improved the manageability, data quality and integrity, and availability of the State of Montana's 303(d)/305(b) related information since their release. This was because DEQ incorporated the use of three key principles in their development. First, they used the power of relational databases. This allowed DEQ to manage complex relationships related to water quality assessments, assessment staff, citations, and assessment conclusions more efficiently. Second, they used these applications to enforce business process rules. This helped to ensure all 303(d)/305(b) assessments were consistent in structure and quality. Third, they created flexible reporting/querying tools for both internal staff and the public. This third principle made the information contained within these applications accessible to larger audiences because users of these applications did not require special software or sophisticated computer skills. In addition, users could retrieve information ondemand, rather than waiting for trained staff to develop specialized reports for them.