a rn/v United states
Environmental Protectior
mr t % Agency
EPA /600/B-16/268
Rapid Benefit Indicator (RBI) Checklist Tool -
Quick Start Manual
Authors: Austin Bousquin, 2Walter Berry, 2Marisa Mazzotta, Hllaudette Ojo
kDak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Participants
2U.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Health and
Environmental Effects Laboratory, Atlantic Ecology Division, Narragansett, Rl 02882
Disclaimer:
This project was supported in part by appointments to the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and
Education participant research program supported by an interagency agreement between the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. This document has
been reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and
Development, and approved for publication. Any mention of trade names, products, or
services does not imply an endorsement by the U.S. Government or the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. The EPA does not endorse any commercial products, services, or
enterprises. This is part of contribution number ORD-018240 of the Atlantic Ecology Division,
National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory, Office of Research and Development,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Rapid Benefits Indicators (RBI) approach consists of five steps and is outlined in Assessing
the Benefits of Wetland Restoration - A Rapid Benefits Indicators Approach for Decision Makers,
hereafter referred to as the "guide". This checklist tool is intended to be used to record information as
you answer the questions in that guide. This quick start manual gives you directions on the mechanics
of the checklist tool, but does not provide guidance on performing the assessment as the guide does.
Requirements
The checklist tool uses a macro-enabled Excel workbook (.xlsm) and was developed in Microsoft Excel
2013. It may or may not be back- or forward-compatible with different versions of Microsoft Excel,
including Microsoft Office for Mac. If the checklist tool is not compatible with your system, you can
download the Simplified Checklist Tool which is a normal Excel worksheet (.xlsx), or print Appendix 1
of the guide or the companion tillable PDF file. Operating system and hardware requirements for
running this tool are the same as those for using Microsoft Excel
2013: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/ee624351(office.l5).aspx#Overviewl
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Enabling Macros
If you get a Security Warning... Because this workbook contains VBA macros, you may be challenged
with a Security Warning upon opening the workbook (a message in upper left of screen). If you do
receive this warning, respond by clicking "Enable Content", and comply with subsequent dialog boxes
if requested to continue.
Example of security warning (exact wording and formatting varies by Excel version).
1 SECURITY WARNING Some active content has been disabled, Click for more details.
Enable Content
Welcome Page
The Welcome Page includes information on;
1) Enabling the VBA Macros in the checklist tool which allow for its advanced capabilities
2) How this checklist tool relates to the guide
From this page you can click:
3) "View Example Checklist" to open the Tutorial page
4) "Start New Checklist" to start a new, blank checklist and open the Main Menu page
5) "Edit Existing Checklist" to open the Main Menu page to alter previously entered data
Hovering the mouse over buttons:
6) Many buttons have a description that appears when the mouse is placed over
the button
The Rapid Benefits Indicators (RBI) approach consists of five steps and Is outlined In
Assessing the Benefits of Wetland Restoration - A Rapid Benefit Indicators Approach for
Decision Makers, hereafter referred to as the "guide". This checklist toot is intended to be
used to record information as you answer the questions in that guide. The tutorial included
with this tool gives you directions on the mechanics of the checfdist tool, but does not
provide guidance on performing the assessment as the guide does.
0
What would you like to do?
View Checklist
Tutorial
0
Edit Existing
Checklist
If you get a Security warning... This workbook contains VBA macros, you may be challenged with a
Security Warning upon opening the workbook {a message in upper left of screen). Elect to 'Enable /
Content" and comply with subsequent dialog boxes if requested to continue.
Example of security warning (exact wording and formatting varies by Excel version).
I SECURITY WARNING Some active content has been doabied. Click for mow dctaife. Enable Content
C7)
Welcome to the Rapid Benefit Indicators (RBI) Checklist Tool
2 Rapid Benefit Indicator (RBI) Checklist Tool - Quick Start Manual
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Main Menu Page
Forms to enter data
Jep 1: Describe the decision context
Step 2: Select ecosystem services and describe benefits |
J
©
0
©
Step 3: Flood Risk Reduction
Step 3: Scenic Views
Step 3: Environmental Education
Step 3: Recreation
Step 3: Bird Watching
Step 3: User Defined (Custom)
Step 3: Equity & Reliability
©
View/Print Step 1 Results
View/Print Step 2 Results
Pages to view/print results
0
View/Print Step 3 Benefit Results
0-
View/Print Step 4 Summary
On the left side of the Main Menu are buttons to open forms for data entry:
1) Step 1 loads a form to enter background information applicable to your assessment and the
restoration sites under consideration. The checklist can accommodate 1-10 sites.
2) Step 2 loads a form to select the most relevant ecosystem services and their associated benefits for
the potential restoration site(s). Guide pages 4-5 describe how to choose these. This form is also
used for basic information about each of the benefits, including possible concerns or "disservices"
that may result from restoration, and how ecosystem services flow to benefit people (guide pages
20-21). Default text for benefits from the guide (pages 22-27) is provided, but can be altered to fit
the benefits you are assessing. The form also requires you to indicate whether you intend to assess
the Social Equity and Reliability of benefits.
3) Step 3: "Flood Risk Reduction", "Scenic Views", "Environmental Education", "Recreation", and "Bird
Watching" each load a form specific to that benefit, with questions following the Rapid Benefit
Indicators assessment developed in the guide.
4) Step 3: "User Defined (Custom)" loads a blank Step 3 form for adding other benefits.
5) Step 3: "Equity & Reliability" loads a form to enter information regarding social equity and
reliability of benefits.
Step 3 form buttons will not appear until benefits have been selected in step 2.
On the right side of the Main Menu are buttons to format and open pages showing results:
6) "View/Print Step 1 Results" loads a formatted page showing results entered on the Step 1 form.
7) "View/Print Step 2 Results" loads a formatted page showing results entered on the Step 2 form.
8) "View/Print Step 3 Results" loads a formatted page for each of the selected benefits showing the
results entered into each benefit indicator form.
9) "View/Print Step 4 Results" loads a formatted page showing summarized results from all benefit
indicators, color-coded to facilitate comparisons.
Form buttons will not appear until data are entered for each step.
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Filling Out Data Entry Forms
Each of the buttons on the left of the Main Menu opens a pop-up form. Until the pop-up form is closed,
changes cannot be made to the Excel tool. As new entries or changes are made in the forms, the data in
the tool are updated, automatically incorporating your edits. While you do not need to save edits to
individual forms before closing that form, you will need to save all entries and edits to the workbook
before closing the tool
Each form has some standard sections:
1) A red "Close" button
2) The header includes the name of the form followed by the name of the current site if it is a site-
specific form (for example, the Step 3 forms are all site specific). Site-specific forms will always load
showing the first site.
3) Site-specific forms all have standard navigation buttons at the bottom to go to the previous site or
to the next site. If there is no previous site (when editing the first site) this button is replaced by a
button to navigate to the previous step (as shown in the figure) If there is no next site (when
editing the last site) this button is replaced by a button to navigate to the next step.
Non-standard form functions:
4) Forms may have check boxes. Check boxes for "Yes/No" questions allow only one to be selected.
On the Step 2 form, multiple check boxes can be selected for services and benefits
5) Forms may have buttons that will initiate another pop-up. Until that pop-up is closed, the form
cannot be altered.
6) Forms may have quantitative text boxes. Although non-numeric responses can be entered in these,
only numeric responses are summarized in the Step 4 summary page/sheet.
7) Forms may have qualitative (narrative) text boxes, usually for the user to provide notes on a
previous response. Notes can be important when deciding between two sites that have similar
features, where additional information on those features helps differentiate them. Notes can also
provide information on how a previous response was determined.
Silt Reduction - Site 1: (-keystone
A. Has/wi flooring ocnjredjbccur downstream of (he ate? (s ypj (~~ tio / \
B. Cari the we retam water lhai other wee tows nto the Soo<#ari? ** Yts N®
C. Flood reduction benefits do not requre Comfiementary Inputs (MA) p f
i. ttsw »arry pecpie or homes are in flood mnes and 0-2.5 mies dowTstear- of [f-jr
the arte'
A.1 How large s the restoration sis?
A.2 Does the srte contain additional features that may ticrease the ate's
retention vdime?
Note the add bona) features: | Abatement prgtHfcifY ] and 1.10E5 fa a fCCt of
B. i Are f*re any subsSflutes (dams, fcvees, etc.) between the ate and people Y„ (""nr.
who benefit?
I 3 DAns and 1 Levee
0.2Mswmany Crumber orpereeM cove*) exisar^ wedandsare wtfana 5-mie I * B4 -- Mi?
r«k* of «*«e> I |Ltogrgntj,|
C. Flood reduction benefits do not have Complementary Inputs (NA)
0. Are people who may benefit aware of and concerned about flood rric n the* location?
^ res No
Back to Step 2 NextSrti
£3)
4 Rapid Benefit Indicator (RBI) Checklist Tool - Quick Start Manual
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User-Generated Pages (Sheets) for Viewing and Printing Results
Once you have entered your results into the Checklist tool using the Forms, you can use the tool to
produce formated pages for viewing and printing these results. Although results can also be altered in
these view/print pages, we recommend using the Forms for data entry.
The Checklist Tool uses row height and column width to dynamically adjust the page sizes based on user
entries in previous steps. These have been formatted to optimize printing in landscape mode. Row
heights and column widths can be manually adjusted to suit your needs, but be aware that navigating
between sheets may cause your formatting adjustments to be lost. Be cautious, as any changes you
make to colors, questions, guidance on questions, worksheet names or headers may not be reset by
starting a new project and may alter checklist functionality.
Each page has 3 standard sections:
1. Header: The section along the top of the page describes what step of the process the user is on and
what sites correspond to each column.
2. Questions and Categories: The section along the left of the page is numbered and lettered based
on the step and question, to match questions to the assessment guide. If you click on the question
in the cell you will also be provided with more details on what the question is asking.
3. User Entries: For each question, the information that was entered in the forms will appear in these
cells. Based on certain entries, some parts of the assessment may automatically be filled out. For
example, when you change the names for sites in Step 1, names for those sites will be updated in
the headers of subsequent steps. In some instances this makes it important to fill out the
assessment steps and questions in order.
Each page has a "Reset" or "Clear Form" button, which deletes all the entries on the form and starts that
step over. The Step 2 page also has a "Refresh" button to update sections 2.B-2.D based on the Benefits
that are checked in 2.A. Each page will also refresh when it is opened. Editing user entries on pages will
update the entries on the Forms the next time the form is opened, with the exception of entries that
were entered in a previous step such as site names (entered in step 1) and entries on the Step 4
summary page. Each time the Step 4 summary page is opened the user entries on it will refresh,
meaning any previous changes made in the table on Step 4 will be lost.
Step 4 Summary Table Color Coding
The view/print results page for Step 4 summarizes responses from Step 3 into a color-coded table.
See guide pages 57-59 for more information on how user entries are color coded and can be used to
make decisions.
A brief overview:
• Blue-colored responses indicate higher-valued benefits, and red-colored responses indicate lower-
valued benefits.
• If both sites have the same color, more information may be needed. If all sites had the same "No"
response, they appear in gray. If all sites had the same "Yes" response, information recorded in the
notes sections for these questions may help further differentiate the sites.
• If a response is in black, no information was entered in Step 3. This may be because that site didn't
pass initial screening, indicating a benefit is not produced.
• If a question is not applicable it appears in gray with "NA."
Changes can be made to the color or text in the results area of the summary table, but these changes
will not be saved to earlier steps of the assessment and will be overwritten anytime the page is
refreshed. The text and formatting of questions and headers for the summary table should be altered
with extreme caution since these may be permanent even after starting a new checklist.
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