• MUSIC comes with Bureau of Meteorology-formatted climate files over 50 reference cities widely distributed throughout Australia. Users can also use their own local climate data, available from the Bureau of Meteorology.
• Catchment characteristics (area, land use, impervious area, etc).
• Conceptual designs of stormwater treatment measures (type, size, etc).

There are four basic options for production of outputs from MUSIC simulations:

• Time Series Graphs
• Statistics (tabular)
• Cumulative Frequency Graphs
• Life Cycle Costing

In addition, users can export data for analysis in other software packages, and copy graphical output from MUSIC for display in reports and presentations.

There are three cautionary notes about the appropriate application of MUSIC. First, MUSIC is not a detailed design tool; it does not contain the algorithms necessary for detailed sizing of structural stormwater quantity and/or quality facilities. MUSIC should be viewed as a conceptual design tool.

Second, MUSIC should be only one of several tools used in Water Sensitive Urban Design. This is because factors other than stormwater quality (e.g. land and soil characteristics, amenity, passive recreation, and landscape design) are also important. Nor does MUSIC incorporate all aspects of stormwater management that decision-makers must consider. Hydraulic analysis for stormwater drainage, life-cycle cost analysis, indicators of ecosystem health, and the integration of urban stormwater management facilities into the urban landscape are currently omitted from the model. Future versions of MUSIC will incorporate lifecycle costs analysis and ecosystem response prediction.

The third caution relates to (a) the assumptions inherent in the design of MUSIC, and (b) the need for calibration. There are a number of assumptions in the MUSIC model. For example, the rationale used for selecting default parameters assumes certain conditions are present. Users MUST read the MUSIC User Manual, including its appendices, to understand these assumptions, and the impact that breaches of them may have. Users should also attempt to calibrate models developed in MUSIC, wherever possible. Calibration should be undertaken for the rainfall runoff model, using local flow data wherever possible. Similarly, wherever reliable data on expected pollutant concentrations, or treatment performance are available, they should be used to calibrate the MUSIC model. Simulations developed without calibration should be reported with appropriate caveats.