A decision support system for updating and incorporating climate change impacts into rainfall intensity-duration-frequency curves: Review of the stakeholder involvement process

Highlights

• This paper reviews stakeholder involvement in the development of a DSS concerning climate change impacts on IDF curves.

• The DSS project reflected the nature of a “knowledge mobilization” funding mechanism, emphasising practical tool development.

• The stakeholder involvement process incorporated recommended practices and principles identified in the DSS literature.

• While generally successful, limited funding constrained stakeholder representativeness and long-term involvement.

Abstract

Stakeholder involvement can serve to increase the quality of decision support systems (DSSs) and increase the perceived legitimacy of DSS outputs. Involving those who are ultimately affected by the outputs of DSSs in system design and development also reflects democratic principles. Importantly, stakeholder involvement can help ensure that the outputs of DSSs are used in decision-making processes. However, DSSs often fail due to poor engagement of stakeholder and end-user communities in the development and design of systems. The stakeholder engagement process applied in the development of the Computerized Tool for the Development of Intensity Duration Frequency Curves under Climate Change described here followed many of the tenants of best practices identified in the literature. While the engagement strategy was generally considered successful, over- and under-representation of some stakeholder groups and long term funding issues were weaknesses in the engagement process.

Introduction

Environment and water management-related Decision Support Systems (DSSs) and related computer-based information systems frequently experience low uptake (Diez and McIntosh, 2009, Dragan et al., 2003, Giupponi et al., 2007, McCown, 2002, McIntosh et al., 2005, Ochola and Kerkides, 2004, Oliver et al., 2012, Van Delden et al., 2011). McIntosh et al. (2011: 1394) argued the main challenge associated with uptake of DSSs by end-users includes the “… quantity, quality and appropriateness” of the involvement of end-users in the DSS development process. Conversely, many authors have identified improved stakeholder engagement as a means of increasing the uptake and application of computer-based systems, including environmental models, computer-based information systems and decision support systems (DSSs) (Baroudi et al., 1986, Diez and McIntosh, 2009, Oxley et al., 2004).

There are numerous reported benefits of the involvement of a variety of stakeholders in the development of DSSs (Diez and McIntosh, 2009, Fiorino, 1990, McIntosh et al., 2011, Oliver et al., 2012). Through participation in the development processes, users are able to affect design of systems to satisfy their needs, develop a sense of ownership, and develop an understanding of how systems can assist them in their work (Barki and Hartwick, 1994). Local stakeholders are likely to have a better understanding of the implications of certain DSS outputs at the local scale (Voinov and Bousquet, 2010). Further, stakeholders are often “… more likely to be listened to than the scientists who may be perceived as foreign to the problem or the locality” (Voinov and Bousquet, 2010: 1277), increasing the likelihood that DSSs will be used in local decision-making. Involving individuals in the design of systems and decisions that affect them is also viewed as reflecting democratic values (Korfmacher, 2001, Pretty, 1995), as individuals have a right to be involved in the design of systems and decisions that will ultimately have a direct impact on them (Oliver et al., 2012).

Despite the value and importance of stakeholder participation in DSS development, stakeholders are often not effectively involved in development processes. Reasons for limited involvement include lack of stakeholder engagement strategies, lack of funding for stakeholder involvement, improperly defining the scope of stakeholder involvement at the beginning of a project, improperly defining relevant stakeholder groups, mismatches in scale with respect to funding organizations (which may be national) and implementation (typically local scale), defining and involving stakeholders late in the development process, among other barriers (McIntosh et al., 2011, Quinn, 2010).

This paper reviews and critiques the stakeholder engagement process used to support the development of the Computerized Tool for the Development of Intensity Duration Frequency Curves under Climate Change (hereafter referred to as the IDFCC tool). The IDFCC tool is a DSS designed to assist local water management professionals in the updating and adjustment of rainfall intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves to account for the potential impacts of climate change on extreme rainfall regimes in Canada. The IDFCC tool was developed to increase the capacity of local water managers to integrate climate change impacts into infrastructure planning, design, operations and maintenance decisions through increasing the availability and applicability of Global Climate Model (GCM) outputs. The tool was designed to be user-friendly, was published on the Internet and is freely accessible to any member of the public. Stakeholder involvement was a key component of the design of the tool.

Part 2 describes the purpose and background of the IDFCC tool, including a description of rainfall IDF curves, their use, and the need for climate change affected IDF curve information in Canada. Part 2 also provides an overview of the IDFCC tool and its user interface. In Part 3, a review of the context and practice of stakeholder involvement in DSS development is provided. Part 4 provides methods for inclusion of stakeholders in the development of the IDFCC tool, and Part 5 provides a discussion of results of the involvement process.