NWIS Conversion to the Data General Completed Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 12:11:31 -0500 To: "E - All WRD Employees" From: "Robert M. Hirsch, Chief Hydrologist, USGS" (by way of Joanne C. Taylor) Subject: NWIS Conversion to the Data General Completed Cc: " , WRD Archive File, Reston, VA" In Reply Refer To: Mail Stop 414 MEMORANDUM October 8, 1997 To: All Water Resources Division Employees From: Robert M. Hirsch (signed) Chief Hydrologist Subject: NWIS Conversion to the Data General Completed I am pleased to announce the completion of the conversion of the National Water Information System (NWIS) from the Prime to the Data General (DG). This is a significant milestone for the USGS. In September 1982, the first Prime was installed. In 1985, the first subsystems of NWIS were installed on the Primes. With the 1987 release, all subsystems of NWIS were installed. There was considerable improvement to the system through 1991. USGS data management needs are constantly changing reflecting our evolving programs. NWIS will continue to change to meet the expanding hydrologic information management needs of the USGS and our customers and to keep pace with current hardware and operating systems. The NWIS program office is to be commended for staying on schedule and within budget. Although the NWIS conversion and installation went smoothly, with few problems, the effort was extensive and complex. The underlying structure of the DG version of NWIS is new software. There are 1.6 million lines of code in the NWIS system. More than one third of those lines were changed, added, or deleted in the conversion. New software had to be written for data transfer, interface with Ingres, security, and station change. Because of the substantial changes, about a third of the project time was allocated for a very thorough testing process. The dedication and cooperative spirit of many people, which included support during evenings and weekends of the transfer period, made the smooth transfer of NWIS to the DG possible. At the risk of having this memorandum sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, I would like to recognize and thank the following: Verne Schneider, Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Technical Support Alan Lumb, Acting Chief, NWIS NWIS Conversion Team: John Briggs, Team Leader; Ileana Arroyo, John Atwood, Todd Augenstein, Colleen Babcock, Scott Bartholoma, Carmen Baster, B. J. Bour, Candice Bostwick, Roland Bryant, Mark Farmer, Andy Halper, Dave Kemper, Jim Kirk, Lari Lopp, Sharon Mathey, Gary Rogers, Robin Sevin, and Ruth Thornberg. NWIS Quality Assurance and Test Leaders: Charles Merk, Jeff Christman, Lee Lenfest, and Bill Roddy. Technical Advisory Committee Members and DIS Staff: James Bettandorff, Merritt Blalock, Daphne Chinn, Glenn Doonan, Richard Hollway, Gail Kalen, Graig McHendrie, Shawn Noble, Gregory Senko, Gregory Shank, Robert Wakelee, Daniel Winkless, and William McEwen. User Testers as part of the Formal Test Plan: Nancy Barber, Bill Bartlett, David Cohen, Kathy Fitzgerald, Kerry Garcia, Rene Garcia, Linda Geiger, Susan Grams, Terry Holland, Julia Huff, Richard Hunrichs, Joel Johnson, Gail Keeter, Bill Kirby, Patricia Ladd, Keith McFadden, Norman Midtlyng, Addis Miller, James Pearman, Edward Pustay, Kathleen Rowland, Verne Sauer, Terry Schertz, Pat Strelakos, Judy Tegeler, Wayne Webb, and Judy Wheeler. Transfer and Installation Testers: Wyoming District--Melanie Clark and Skip Eshelman; Colorado District--Barbara Kerans; West Virginia District--Mike Cunningham and Paul Exter; Tallahassee, Florida, Office--Linda Geiger; Virginia District--Carmen Baxter; New York District--Todd Siskin. Alpha Test District: Idaho District--Randy Fields and many District staff members. Beta Test Districts: Idaho, Arizona, Texas, and Maryland. PARTWIS Review Team: Janice Ward, Marritt Blalock, Ernest Brunson, James Jancaitis, and Robert Mason. I would like to give special recognition to the work that Gary Rogers did on the conversion project. Gary did the preliminary work that showed that the conversion was possible. He also wrote the filter program which helped both NWIS and the Districts convert their Fortran programs from the Prime to the DG and wrote the software that allows the use of Ingres as a data base management system in place of the Midas files used on the Prime. On my recent visits to District Offices, I have asked technicians and computer specialists how the new system is working for them. They have all indicated that the transition was successful and the system is performing well. I understand that within about 6 months we will have a new release of NWIS that will contain a number of significant improvements. The Senior Staff will soon be discussing the continuing plans for modernization of our data base software. We will involve employees and customers of WRD as we proceed and will keep all employees informed of our plans. Please join me in thanking the many people who have made the conversion project a success.