2.  BACKGROUND

SHIMS began in 1986 as a project in the Central Region.  The original goal was to automate
the creation of WS Form E-19A (Abbreviated Report on River Gage Station).  The first
database and applications were designed and implemented by Bob Barnicle using Rbase 5000
from Microrim Inc.

In 1990, the project was expanded to include information in the full WS Form E-19 (Report on
River Gage Station) and cooperative observer information.  At this point, development was
assumed by Mike Callahan and Ed May using Paradox 3.5 from Borland Inc.

In 1992, the SHIMS database was selected as a foundation for the hydrologic database in
AWIPS, HydroBase.  For the next four years, revisions in SHIMS followed the evolution of
HydroBase.   In the Summer of 1996, the first AWIPS systems were deployed.  These systems
contained the HydroBase database.

In the fall of 1996, a working group was formed with a mission to: 1)  update the SHIMS
documentation so as to better describe the fields in SHIMS, and 2) to determine the
appropriate changes to the database contents and structure of SHIMS.  The efforts of this
group, consisting of Mike Callahan, Ed May, Mark Glaudemans, and Al Shipe, led to the
release of SHIMS 4.11 and this associated document.