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Operation Schedules

An operation schedule is the list of dated management operations in a management schedule: planting, fertilizing, tillage, irrigation, harvest and so on. It works together with the decision tables attached to the same schedule, which add operations that depend on conditions. You edit both in the Land Management tab of the Management section. See Configuring Management for selecting a land use and assigning a schedule to it.

Reviewing an operation schedule

  1. Open the Management section and select the Land Management tab.
  2. Select a land use in Selected Land Use. Management Schedule in Use shows the schedule assigned to it.
  3. The operations table in the middle of the tab lists the schedule's operations in order.

The table columns are:

  • op_typ: the operation type, for example plnt, fert, harv, kill or skip.
  • mon, day: the month and day of the operation.
  • hu_sch: the heat unit fraction that schedules the operation.
  • op_data1, op_data2, op_data3: operation data. For a plant operation op_data1 is the plant; for fertilizer it is the fertilizer, and op_data3 is the amount in kg/ha.

Click a row to read the operation as a sentence in the status line, for example "This operation will apply 150 kg/ha ... fertilizer on the 15th day of the 4th month of the year."

When Show Map is on, the hu_sch and op_data3 columns are hidden to make room for the map.

For an irrp (paddy irrigation) operation, the sentence says whether it turns ponding on or off. SWAT+ decides this from op_data3: 0 turns ponding off, a positive value is the target ponding depth in mm, and a negative value takes the target from the irr.ops entry named in op_data1.

The Hide Ops and Hide DTL buttons at the lower right hide the operations table or the decision table view to give the other more room. A hidden section's button then reads Show Ops or Show DTL; click it to bring the section back. Selecting another land use shows both again. The decision table view is also hidden when the schedule has no attached decision tables, and comes back when you click a table in the left panel.

Editing operations

Adding an operation

  1. Click + Operation below the operations table. The operation editor opens.
  2. Set the fields:
    • Operation Type: the operation type, one of plnt, harv, kill, hvkl, till, irrm, irrp, fert, pest, graz, burn, swep, prtp, weir, pudl and skip.
    • Month and Day: the date.
    • Data 1 and Data 2: the options for the operation type, for example the plant and the transplant for plnt, or the fertilizer and the application method for fert. For plnt, harv, kill and hvkl, Data 1 lists only the plants in the land use's plant community. For pudl, Data 1 lists the tillage operations in tillage.til and Data 2 the puddle operations in puddle.ops.
    • Data 3: a number, such as the fertilizer amount.
  3. Read the sentence under the editor, which describes the operation as you edit it.
  4. Click Save.

Save is enabled once an operation type is selected and Month and Day are both 1 or more. A skip operation needs no date. The new operation is added to the end of the schedule; the Toolbox does not reorder operations.

The operation editor has no field for hu_sch. An edited operation keeps its hu_sch value.

Editing an operation

Click the edit icon on the operation's row, change the fields, and click Update.

Removing an operation

Click the remove icon (tooltip "Remove from Operation Schedule") on the operation's row.

Writing the changes

Operation changes are not written to file until you click the write button (tooltip "Write Management") at the right of the top bar. Click it before you select another land use, or the changes are lost.

Creating schedules

Click the + button next to Management Schedule in Use to create an empty schedule. See Creating a schedule.

Attaching and removing decision tables

Decision tables add conditional operations to a schedule, for example planting once the soil is warm enough.

Attaching a decision table

  1. Open A Decision Table to Attach in the left panel. It lists the land management decision tables in the project.
  2. Select a table.
  3. Click the + button next to it (tooltip "Attach to selected Management Schedule").

The table appears under Attached Decision Tables and opens in the decision table view.

Removing a decision table

Click the remove icon (tooltip "Remove from Management Schedule") next to the table under Attached Decision Tables. This removes the table from the schedule only; the table stays in the project.

Viewing an attached table

Click a table under Attached Decision Tables to show its conditions and actions. See Decision Tables.

Attaching and removing are written to file with the rest of the schedule when you click the write button.

Purging operation schedules

Schedules that no land use uses can be removed with the broom button next to Management Schedule in Use. It removes unused schedules and unused land use decision tables in one step, with no confirmation. See Purging unused schedules and decision tables.