The EMDS system is a product of the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service. As such, the application is public domain and available free of charge.

However, individuals interested in developing EMDS applications need to be aware that two commercial application development systems are required in conjunction with EMDS in order to create or edit logic models for landscape evaluation or decision models for planning. In particular,

·       NetWeaver Developer (Rules of Thumb, Inc.) is needed for creation and editing of logic models, and

·         Criterium DecisionPlus (InfoHarvest, Inc.) is needed for creation and editing of decision models.

NetWeaver Developer is included on the CD and can be installed from the NetWeaver folder. The application is distributed by Rules of Thumb as "annoyance ware." It will pester you with reminders that your copy is not registered until you provide a valid license number. The USDA Forest Service has a site license for NetWeaver Developer, and Forest Service developers should register through the NRIS Tools intranet site. Non-Forest Service developers need to register NetWeaver Developer directly through Rules of Thumb.

A student version of Criterium DecisionPlus is included on the CD. This sis a fully functional version, but only supports design of very small decision models. Developers should download the full version of CDP and register with InfoHarvest to receive an activation code. The USDA Forest Service has a site license for Criterium DecisionPlus, so Forest Service developers can receive the activation code by registering with InfoHarvest through a link at the bottom of the EMDS download page on the NRIS Tools intranet site (Forest Service developers must register from a valid agency IP address). Non-Forest Service developers should use the standard commercial registration process to obtain an activation code.