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Planning Community Toolbox
USACE Castle
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Categories
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Agreements
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Civil Works Budget
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Delegations
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Risk-Informed Decision Making and Planning Support Tools
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Planning Models
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Software
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Collaboration and Virtual Information Sharing
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Report Writing and Communication
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Templates and Checklists
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Planning Data Sets and Mapping Resources

 
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Software

  • Ecosystem Restoration Model Library
      The Ecosystem Restoration Planning Center of Expertise Model Library is intended to serve planners and practitioners of ecosystem restoration by consolidating and providing access to information about ecosystem restoration planning models and software.

  • Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) Tools Network
      The EBM Tools Network by NatureServe provides tools, training, and webinars for: climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning, ecosystem-based coastal and marine spatial planning, and integrated land-sea planning to minimize the impacts of land use on coastal and marine environments. The Corps has a subscription for more advanced queries and information.

  • Hydrologic Engineering Center: Software
      This collection of software developed by the USACE Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) includes models and software frequently used by the USACE planning and engineering communities, including HEC-RAS, GeoRAS, HMS, GeoHMS, SSP, RPT, ResSim, EFM, EFM Plotter, FDA, GeoFDA, DSS, CWMS, LifeSim and more.

  • e-Risk Register Tool Corps Castle
      The e-Risk Register is an online tool designed by the USACE Institute for Water Resources to assess, manage, and view project risks in a consistent and integrated manner across Civil works project lifecycles. Training on use of the e-Risk Register website, including how to add new projects and how to find current and legacy APT projects, is available through the "Need Help?" link within the Tool.

  • IWR Software (including some HEC Software)
      The Corps Institute for Water Resources (IWR) has developed software for several planning functions and hydrologic engineering tasks, including the Container Model Suite of Tools and HarborSym; Civil Works Regional Economic System (RECONS) Program; and IWR Planning Suite.

  • Planning Model Documentation and Resources
      This link provides resources to different models that can be used on a variety of Water Resources projects.

  • Recent US Climate Change and Hydrology Literature Applicable to US Army Corps of Engineers Missions
      Concise and broadly-accessible summaries of the current science (2015) with specific attention to USACE missions and operations. Each of the 21 regional reports summarizes observed and projected climate and hydrological patterns cited in reputable peer-reviewed literature and authoritative national and regional reports, and characterizes climate threats to USACE business lines. They also provide context and linkage to other agency resources for climate resilience planning, such as sea level change calculation and coastal risk reduction resources, downscaled climate data for subregions, and watershed vulnerability assessment tools.

  • Regional Economic System (RECONS)
      The Civil Works Regional Economic System (RECONS) Program is a regional economic impact modeling tool that was developed to provide accurate and defendable estimates of regional economic impacts associated with USACE spending. It can be utilized to track progress and justify continued operation, maintenance and construction work performed by the Corps. RECONS is the only USACE certified Regional Economic Development (RED) model for agency wide use.

  • USACE Climate Hydrology Assessment Tool
      The qualitative analysis required by ECB 2016-25 includes consideration of both past (observed) changes as well as potential future (projected) changes to relevant hydrologic inputs. A first-order statistical analysis of the potential impacts to particular hydrologic elements of the study can be included as supplemental input to this qualitative assessment, but is not required. However, this analysis can be very useful in considering future without project conditions (FWOP) and the potential direction of climate change. This web-accessible tool allows USACE staff to easily access both existing and projected climate. This allows districts across the country to develop repeatable analytical results using consistent information. In doing so, we reduce potential error and speed the development of information so that it can be used earlier in the decision-making process, ideally in the development of risk registers.

  • USACE Climate Preparedness and Resilience Applications Portal Corps Castle
      USACE is developing a suite of web accessible tools to support repeatable analytical results for climate preparedness and resilience planning and engineering design, including a sea level change calculator and tools supporting impacts analysis and design for climate-impacted hydrology.

  • USACE Screening-Level Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment at the Watershed-Scale Tool Corps Castle
      Climate vulnerability assessments are necessary to help guide adaptation planning and implementation so that USACE can successfully perform its missions, operations, programs, and projects in an increasingly dynamic physical, socioeconomic, and political environment. USACE has completed several activities associated with high level assessments of vulnerability to climate change. These include a preliminary assessment presented in USGS Circular 1331 and high-level vulnerability analysis to climate change required by the Council on Environmental Quality. These nationwide screening-level vulnerability assessments are designed to be conducted in phases (so the initial assessment can be refined) using a modular approach (so new and updated information can replace initial information) and supported by tools and visualizations used by district staff.

Webinars

    2022
  • Introduction to the New e-Risk Register (15 December)
    This webinar provided an overview of the new e-Risk Register, which will provide study teams and the vertical team a high- quality tool to better assess, manage, and view all risks for a particular project in a consistent and integrated manner across project lifecycles and the full enterprise. Presenter Erin Rooks (Economist, Institute for Water Resources) discussed the migration of the Assistance for Project Teams (APT) Tool into the new e-Risk Register and re-oriented planners to these existing tools within the new application, in addition to demonstrating the new tool. Finally, the webinar described how the e-Risk Register is different from the Planning Risk Register.
  • Life Safety Risk Indicator (20 October)
    This webinar provided an overview of the Life Safety Risk Indicator (LSRI). In an effort to develop a consistent way to recommend projects that warrant funding based on risk to life safety, USACE has developed the LSRI tool, which provides a screening-level, relative representation of the life risk (average annual life loss) that would be reduced if a given structural or non-structural flood damage reduction project was constructed. The LSRI is intended to serve as a budget tool to prioritize studies and projects starting with the FY25 budget development process. The LSRI builds off of and replaces the Life Safety Hazard Index (LSHI) tool by incorporating not just consequence information, but also likelihood of the consequences. Presenter Jason Needham (Consequence Specialist, Risk Management Center) described the LSRI methodology and introduced the web-based LSRI tool and how to use it.

    2019
  • EPA EJSCREEN Tool (31 October)
    The EPA has developed an environmental justice mapping and screening tool called EJSCREEN to help highlight places in an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement that may warrant additional consideration, analysis, or outreach because of the potential for environmental justice concerns. This webinar introduced and demonstrated the core functionality the EJSCREEN tool, including how to: navigate EJSCREEN; screen for environmental justice; and analyze data. The web-based tool offers a variety of powerful data and mapping capabilities that enable users to access environmental and demographic information across the entire country with color-coded maps, standard data reports, and more.
  • IWR Planning Suite II (3 October)
    This webinar provided an overview of the capabilities and uses of the USACE-certified IWR Planning Suite II (IWRPS-II) software. The webinar was presented by Shawn Komlos and Laura Witherow (Institute for Water Resources), as well as and Cory Rogers (CDM Smith) and focused on the IWRPS-II Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis module and its potential uses during execution of USACE Planning Studies.

    2018
  • IWR Planning Suite II (26 July)
    Ms. Laura Witherow (Institute for Water Resources) and Ms. Monique Savage (St. Paul District) provided information on the IWR Planning Suite II, the latest certified version of the IWR Planning Suite Software used to conduct Cost-Effectiveness and Incremental Cost Analyses and Annualize Ecosystem Outputs for ecosystem restoration, impact analysis, and mitigation planning. The webinar highlighted the new capabilities of IWR Planning Suite II, including multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), uncertainty, and watershed wizard. Additional topics included how the software is used in planning, a brief review of each module within the software, and instructions on downloading the software.
  • Using 3-D Drawing Software in Civil Works Planning (5 April)
    Mr. Stephen Stello (MVN) shared his experience and successes using 3-D drawing software in Civil Works planning documents. Mr. Stello has been using Sketchup and other 3-D drawing software to create 3D models of USACE projects including flood risk and navigation projects, and provided information on how these 3-D software tools can be useful in the planning process.

    2016
  • Social Vulnerability: Overview and Analysis (3 November)
    Ms. Susan Durden and Dr. Seth Cohen, both with the Institute for Water Resources, provided a review of the "Other Social Effects" account and described socially vulnerable populations and factors that make them vulnerable during an flood or storm event. Dr. Cohen provided an overview of the IWR primer on social vulnerability entitled "Identification and Engagement of Socially Vulnerable Populations in the USACE Decision Making Process." Ms. Durden shared information on the Social Vulnerability Index Explorer (SOVI-X), a tool that performs social vulnerability analyses of populations at risk under with and without project conditions.

Corps Castle Item is restricted to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, CAC required. Document will open in a new window.

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Updated: February 2023