ECMPS Support

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We are about to hit the technical support rush hour which occurs at the end of each reporting period.

As technical support requests increase in the last days of the submission period, please be patient. At technical support, we are working to answer your questions as quickly as we can, but the later you wait to submit your question, the more likely it will not be answered in time. And, if you really wait until the last couple of days to submit a request, it is very likely that you will not get a quick turnaround because there will be a large number of requests ahead of yours in the technical support queue.

Labels: Technical Support, Technical Support Tip

A large number of Part 75 data reporters are affected by the Acid Rain Program (ARP). ARP is a nation-wide program run by the EPA which reduces sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions through an emissions trading program. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Acid Rain Program.

As part of its ongoing educational efforts, the EPA, during this 20th anniversary year, is blogging about the Acid Rain Program. A number of interesting and informative posts on ARP have been posted including, a description of what acid rain is, how emissions trading works, and an explanation of continuous emissions monitoring (CEMS).

As stakeholders, you are familiar with much of this information. However, because the EPA is covering this topic from A to Z, there might be some new information in the blog posts. And, the posts are also an opportunity to share with others what the purpose and context are for all of the data reporting that you do.

Around 10:15 a.m. EDT on Thursday, April 15th, ECMPS Technical Support experienced a power outage which disabled our network. Although the power has been restored, we still have not begun to receive the technical support emails sent to ecmps-support@pqa.com which were sent since the power outage.

All emails sent since the power outage will be received. They simply have been queued up, and once our email server is running again, the emails will be added to our ticketing system. At that point, ECMPS Technical Support will address the tickets in the order in which they were sent.

If you have any questions, please call the technical support telephone number.

Labels: Technical Support

April 1st marks the beginning of the 2010 quarter 1 reporting period. Sources required to report emissions data under the Acid Rain Program (ARP), Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) have 30 days to submit their emissions data to the EPA using the ECMPS Client Tool. Note, some sources have also elected to report under the Mandatory Reporting Rule (MRR) using the Client Tool. These submissions should also be completed during the 30 day reporting period.

During this reporting period, the EPA expects to receive over 3,900 emissions data submissions. Given these large number of files that need to be submitted over the next 30 days, we, at technical support, encourage all sources to start working as soon as possible on the evaluation and submission of their data.

Start Early

We want to encourage sources to start early primarily because, with the large volume of submissions expected, if you have questions, you will get a faster response to your technical support request, the earlier in the month that you submit your request. If you wait until later in the month to begin working with your data and you run into problems that require technical support, your request will be added to a much longer queue than if you had submitted the request earlier in the submission period.

Technical Support Information

Information on getting technical support through the resources on the Web site or by submitting a technical support request has all been consolidated in the Web site's Help section. We would like to highlight that, as necessary, FAQs and Known Issues will continue to be updated throughout the submission period. Hours for technical support are listed on the Contact Us page.

Resubmission Requests

Requests to resubmit QA or emissions data should be made using the Resubmission Request Form. Beginning with the 2009 quarter 3 reporting period, the form was been put online in order to streamline the process of receiving the information for the request and providing the necessary submission access.

Keep Up-To-Date

To keep up-to-date with ECMPS News items, we would suggest subscribing to ECMPS News.

You can receive the ECMPS News posts via email by subscribing to ECMPS News or adding the ECMPS News feed to your RSS Reader. To subscribe via email, simply enter your email address in the box provided on the upper right part of the ECMPS News page and click the Subscribe button. To receive the RSS feed, click on the RSS feed, which also located at the bottom of every page on the Web site.

Labels: Technical Support, Technical Support Tip

The 2010 Q1 version of the Client Tool has a known issue that generates an incorrect RATA status error.

The error message indicates that OPHOURS, OSHOURS, or OPDAYS is missing for 2009Q4.

This error is being incorrectly generated for sources which have switched from ozone season reporting in 2009 to quarterly reporting in 2010. The evaluation check is not correctly recognizing this reporting frequency change, and the check is determining that data are missing. Because the source was an ozone season reporter in 2009, the data were not required for that source in 2009Q4.

Sources who believe that they are receiving this error incorrectly should contact technical support.

Labels: Known Issues

Due to a planned outage, the EPA Host System will be unavailable on Saturday, March 27, 2010 from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. During this time, Client Tool users must use the Client Tool "offline".

Labels: Scheduled Outage

Many stakeholders are not aware that, as required by the Clean Air Act, the Clean Air Markets Division (CAMD) hosts an annual auction of SO2 allowances each March. The 250,000 available allowances can be bid on by anyone who has provided sufficient funds to cover the bid. (See the Auction Fact Sheet for more information.)

This year's bidding will be from March 10th until March 18th, and the actual auction, during which the winners are decided, will take place on March 23rd. Prior to this year, bids were submitted on paper forms. However, this year the bidding is to be made online through the CAMD Business System (CBS). (The financial portion of the bid is handled separately from CBS.)

For more information on how to bid, click on the CAMD forms page and scroll to the "EPA SO2 Allowance Auction" section.

Also, results from previous auctions, can be viewed here.

Labels: CAMD Business System

The 2010 Quarter 1 Release of the Client Tool is now available.

For details about what was included in this release, consult the Release Notes.

In order to use the Client Tool, you must be a Designated Representative, Alternate Designated Representative, or an ECMPS agent for a Representative. In addition, you must have a CAMD Business System (CBS) user name, current CBS password, and have completed a CROMERR Subscriber Agreement Form.

All current users of the Client Tool will be prompted to upgrade to this latest version the next time that each user logs in to the EPA Host System. For more information about the Update Service which updates the Client Tool, watch the Update Service tutorial.

All new users of the Client Tool must first download and install the 2009 Q4 version of the Client Tool, and then be automatically updated to the 2010 Q1 version. Users are urged to follow all instructions on the Web site and to consult the Installation Guide for step-by-step instructions on how to install the Client Tool.

In order to insure that all technical support questions are tracked and answered, EPA has requested that all technical support questions, including installation questions, should be submitted to ECMPS Technical Support.

Labels: Release Schedule Information

As part of the preparation for the release of the 2010 Q1 version of the ECMPS Client Tool, the EPA Host System will be unavailable from March 3rd until the new version is released, which is scheduled for March 9th.

When the the latest version is released, users who have already installed the Client Tool will be required to update to the new version. Users who need to install the Client Tool for the first time will need to download the 2009 Q4 version from the Technical Support Web site, install the downloaded software, and then go through the automatic update to the 2010 Q1 version.

For users of the shared database version of the Client Tool and DBAs, the necessary update files will be put on the Technical Support Web site.

During the planned outage time, users will only be able to use the Client Tool in the "Work Offline" mode. The following functionality will not be available:

• Log in to the EPA Host System from the Client Tool.


• Perform the initial synchronization which is the last step in installing the Client Tool.


• Synchronize data from the EPA Host System.


• Retrieve data from the EPA Host System.


• Submit data to the EPA Host System.

Labels: Scheduled Outage

No ECMPS Meeting at the May EPRI CEMS User Group Meeting in Cleveland

Over the past several years while ECMPS was being prepared for its launch, CAMD held ECMPS Stakeholder meetings in association with the EPRI CEMS User Group meetings which were held every spring. These were valuable meetings for discussing the new process, demonstrating the Client Tool, answering questions, and receiving feedback. CAMD and ECMPS Technical Support are very appreciative of all of the questions and feedback that were provided by users through those meetings. That interaction with users was an important part of the success of ECMPS.

Since the last ECMPS Stakeholder meeting in St. Louis, ECMPS has completed a year of mandatory use. During that year, the process and the Client Tool have continued to mature. However, no major functionality has been added to the Client Tool. And, as we see from technical support tickets, the vast majority of users' questions are very specific to their data. Given this situation, CAMD has decided to not host an ECMPS meeting at the May 2010 CEMS User Group Meeting in Cleveland.

Feedback and suggested enhancements which come from users are still very important, and CAMD would appreciate if users would provide that feedback through technical support. In addition, as in years past, CAMD will host a booth in the exhibition hall of the CEMS User Group meeting, and ECMPS users are encouraged to come by to visit with the staff who will be there to receive feedback and answer questions.

Labels: Stakeholder Meeting

Upcoming Software Update scheduled for March 9, 2010

As usual, an ECMPS Client Tool update is scheduled to occur in the month prior to a reporting month. However, in a one time change, the update is scheduled to occur earlier than usual. In March, the software update is scheduled to be released on March 9th. At that time, the latest version of the Client Tool--the 2010Q1 version--will be made available.

In another change, the release will only be available as an update to the Client Tool. This change will only impact users who need to install a new version of the Client Tool. For instance, if you need to install the Client Tool on a new computer, you will download and install the latest version of the installation--the 2009Q4 Service Pack 2 version--and then complete an update to the 2010Q1 version. User who already have the 2009Q4 Service Pack 2 version of the Client Tool will simply go through the update to get to 2010Q1 version.

In order to complete the deployment of the latest version of the Client Tool, the EPA Host System will be unavailable from March 2nd until March 9th when the new version is released. During that time, users will only be able to use the Client Tool "offline".

EPA Offices Remain Closed for Thursday, February 11, 2010

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reports that all Federal agencies in the Washington, DC area are again closed for Thursday, February 11, 2010.

This means that the U.S. EPA Clean Air Markets Division (CAMD) office will be closed, and personnel you are used to contacting will be out of the office.

EPA Headquarters Closed on Wednesday, February 10, 2010

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, all Federal agencies in the Washington, DC area are again closed for Wednesday, February 10, 2010.

This means that the U.S. EPA Clean Air Markets Division (CAMD) office will be closed, and personnel you are used to contacting will be out of the office.

EPA Headquarters Closed on Tuesday, February 9, 2010

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, all Federal agencies in the Washington, DC area are again closed for Tuesday, February 9, 2010.

This means that the U.S. EPA Clean Air Markets Division (CAMD) office will be closed, and personnel you are used to contacting will be out of the office.

EPA Headquarters Closed on Monday, February 8, 2010

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, today, Monday, February 8, 2010, all Federal agencies in the Washington, DC area are closed.

This means that the U.S. EPA Clean Air Markets Division (CAMD) office will be closed, and personnel you are used to contacting will be out of the office.

New FAQs on Retired Units and Shutdown and Stored Units

Many of you have asked how you should handle retired units and units which are to be shutdown and stored. (The latter category of units are desiginated as Long Term Cold Storage or LTCS.) To address your questions, the technical support team has added two FAQs.

For more information on how to report a retired unit, which is a unit that has permanently ceased operation, read the FAQ "How do I retire a unit?"

For information on how to report a LTCS unit, which is a unit has been shutdown and put into storage, you should read the FAQ "How do I put a unit into Long Term Cold Storage?".

If you have further questions about how to report either of these types of units, please contact ECMPS Technical Support.

Labels: FAQ

A Second Service Pack for 2009 Q4 Will Be Released

Since the release of a service pack last week, two additional issues have been identified which will be addressed by a second service pack. The first issue to be addressed will correct a problem that only affects shared database users. The problem is that, in some cases, shared database users are not able to complete the update from the 2009 Q3 version to the 2009 Q4 version. The update skips immediately from the 2009 Q3 version to the 2009 Q4 Service Pack 1 version. This does not provide a complete update to the latest version.

The second issue is related to Data and Maps data. This bug is preventing the processing of the the Data and Maps data on the EPA Host System after the data have been received by the EPA Host System.

Both of these bugs are described on the Known Issues page.

Because of the nature of these two bugs, a second, mandatory service pack will be released on Wednesday, January 13, 2010.

After the release of the service pack, the next time you log in to the EPA Host System, you will be prompted to update your Client Tool. The 2009 Q4 Service Pack 2, as it is being called, will update both the 2009 Q4 and the 2009 Q4 Service Pack 1 versions. If you have yet to update to the 2009 Q4 version (from the 2009 Q3 version), you will first be prompted to complete that update, and then you will go through only one additional update to SP2.

If you are a shared database user on the 2009 Q3 version, after your shared database has been updated to the 2009 Q4 version, you will be prompted to update to the 2009 Q4 Service Pack 2 version.

Because SP2 does not contain any Client Tool database changes, shared database users who have had their database updated to the 2009 Q4 version will only need to update their Client Tool.

Any questions about the update path should be directed to technical support.

Labels: Release Schedule Information

Service Pack Needed to Correct Submission Bugs

Two bugs have been found in the 2009 Q4 version of the Client Tool which affect the submission of data. Both of these bugs are described on the Known Issues page.

Because of the nature of these two bugs, a mandatory service pack will be released on Thursday, January 6, 2010. After the release of the service pack, the next time you log in to the EPA Host System, you will be prompted to update your Client Tool to 2009 Q4 service pack 1. (If you have not already updated to the 2009 Q4 version of the Client Tool, you will first update to the 2009 Q4 version and then to the 2009 Q4 service pack 1 version.)

Labels: Release Schedule Information

January 1st marks the beginning of the 2009 quarter 4 reporting period. Sources required to report emissions data under the Acid Rain Program (ARP), Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) have until January 30th to submit their emissions data to the EPA using the ECMPS Client Tool.

During this reporting period, the EPA expects to receive over 3,900 emissions data submissions. Given these large number of files that need to be submitted over the next 30 days, we, at technical support, encourage all sources to start working as soon as possible on the evaluation and submission of their data.

Start Early

We want to encourage sources to start early primarily because, with the large volume of submissions expected, if you have questions, you will get a faster response to your technical support request, the earlier in the month that you submit your request. If you wait until later in the month to begin working with your data and you run into problems that require technical support, your request will be added to a much longer queue than if you had submitted the request earlier in the submission period.

Technical Support Information

Information on getting technical support through the resources on the Web site or by submitting a technical support request has all been consolidated in the Web site's Help section. We would like to highlight that, as necessary, FAQs and Known Issues will continue to be updated throughout the submission period. Hours for technical support are listed on the Contact Us page. Note, that technical support will be unavailable on the business day of Monday, January 1st because it is New Year's Day.

Resubmission Requests

Requests to resubmit QA or emissions data should be made using the Resubmission Request Form. Beginning with the 2009 quarter 3 reporting period, the form was been put online in order to streamline the process of receiving the information for the request and providing the necessary submission access.

Keep Up-To-Date

To keep up-to-date with ECMPS News items, we would suggest subscribing to ECMPS News.

You can receive the ECMPS News posts via email by subscribing to ECMPS News or adding the ECMPS News feed to your RSS Reader. To subscribe via email, simply enter your email address in the box provided on the upper right part of the ECMPS News page and click the Subscribe button. To receive the RSS feed, click on the RSS feed, which also located at the bottom of every page on the Web site.

Labels: Technical Support, Technical Support Tip

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on New Year's Day, Friday, January 1st. Technical support will be available again on Monday, January 4th. Please note that due to many of the technical support staff being out of the office until January 4, 2010, responses to your questions might take longer than normal. To receive the fastest reply to your questions, we recommend sending your questions via email rather than using the telephone.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 15, 2010
• Memorial Day - Monday, May 31, 2010
• Independence Day (Observed) - Monday, July 5, 2010
• Labor Day - Monday, September 6, 2010

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Christmas Day, Friday, December 25th. Technical support will be available again on Monday, December 28th. Please note that due to many of the technical support staff being out of the office until January 4, 2010, responses to your questions might take longer than normal. To receive the fastest reply to your questions, we recommend sending your questions via email rather than using the telephone.

The ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will also be closed on the following upcoming holidays:

• New Year's Day - Friday, January 1, 2010
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 15, 2010
• Memorial Day - Monday, May 31, 2010
• Independence Day (Observed) - Monday, July 5, 2010

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Technical Support

The holiday season is here, and that means that technical support staff will be taking days off to be home for the holidays.

Technical support will continue to be provided over the next several weeks, but as some of our staff take well deserved time off, it might take a little longer than usual to respond to and resolve your technical support requests.

Also, note that there will be no technical support available on December 25, 2009 and January 1, 2010. However, beginning January 4, 2010, the technical support team will all be back in the office.

From everyone at ECMPS technical support, we hope your family and you have a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year.

Labels: Technical Support

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, today, Monday, December 21, 2009, all Federal agencies in the Washington, DC area are closed.

This means that the U.S. EPA Clean Air Markets Division (CAMD) office will be closed, and personnel you are used to contacting will be out of the office.

The 2009 Quarter 4 Release of the Client Tool is now available.

For details about what was included in this release, consult the Release Notes.

In order to use the Client Tool, you must be a Designated Representative, Alternate Designated Representative, or an ECMPS agent for a Representative. In addition, you must have a CAMD Business System (CBS) user name, current CBS password, and have completed a CROMERR Subscriber Agreement Form.

All current users of the Client Tool will be prompted to upgrade to this latest version the next time that each user logs in to the EPA Host System. For more information about the Update Service which updates the Client Tool, watch the Update Service tutorial.

All new users of the Client Tool must download and install the 2009 Q4 version of the Client Tool. Users are urged to follow all instructions on the Web site and to consult the Installation Guide for step-by-step instructions on how to install the Client Tool.

In order to insure that all technical support questions are tracked and answered, EPA has requested that all technical support questions, including installation questions, should be submitted to ECMPS Technical Support.

The CAMD Business System (CBS) is currently unavailable in order to complete a scheduled upgrade. CBS is scheduled to be available again on Thursday, December 17th.

Labels: CAMD Business System

CAMD is looking for Feedback from Data and Maps Users

The data which are submitted through ECMPS end up in two locations. The first place is the EPA Host System which is the production database for all CAMD Business System and ECMPS data. A copy of some of these data are also copied to another database. That database is a read-only database which is used by the Web-based application Data and Maps.

Data and Maps is a publicly-accessible Internet application that provides access to emissions, allowance, compliance, and other program data which have been submitted to the EPA Host System.

CAMD would like to get feedback from users regarding their use of Data and Maps. If you, or someone you know, uses Data and Maps and would be available to be contacted by CAMD in order to provide feedback on Data and Maps, please send an email to the Data and Maps technical support.

Labels: Data and Maps

New Features Suggested By Users

The 2009 Q4 version of the Client Tool is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, December 16th. Along with bug fixes, the new version will have some new features. This is the third in a series of posts on some of the new features that will be available in the 2009 Q4 version.

The last post mentioned new features that had been suggested by users in the Shared Database Users' Forum (SDUF). Of course, suggestions come from users who are not shared database users. This post includes new features in the 2009 Q4 Client Tool that were suggested by users who are not part of the SDUF.

1. Allow monitoring plans to be entered for locations that are not going to be operational for more than a year into the future.


2. Add the serial number as a column to the upper data grid on the Components tab.


3. Add retired monitoring plans to Feedback Report.


4. Show submissions for all agents in Submission Log. (Shared Database only.)


5. Add option to view release notes when updating.

Suggestions for enhancements are always welcome, and any suggested enhancements should be sent to technical support. Before submitting a suggested enhancement, you should first first check the Requested Enhancements page.

If you have a suggested enhancement, send it along to technical support. However, you also might want to first check the Requested Enhancements page. On that page, there is a long list of suggestions which have been received along with the statuses of the requests. In some cases, your suggestion may already be on the list. If not, send an email to technical support with your suggested enhancement.

Recently Added FAQ explains How to Resubmit Data

With the January submission period, year-round reporting sources will complete their 2009 emissions submissions. However, as might be expected, the fourth quarter reporting often leads to the resubmission of data for previous quarters in the reporting year.

At ECMPS Technical Support, we are anticipating that the January reporting month will not be any different than in previous years, and we are fully expecting that that there will be an increase in requests to resubmit data.

In order to prepare for that, there is a new FAQ which answers the question of how to resubmit data.

The FAQ is organized by the three different data types--monitoring plan, QA, and emissions. It describes what sources need to do in order to resubmit these different data types.

If you need to resubmit data, please consult this FAQ for information on what steps you need to take.

Labels: FAQ, Technical Support Tip

Enhancements Suggested by the Shared Database Users' Forum

The 2009 Q4 version of the Client Tool is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, December 16th. Along with bug fixes, the new version will have some new features. This is the second in a series of posts on some of the new features that will be available in the 2009 Q4 version.

In this post, the focus is on features that were first suggested by the Shared Database Users' Forum. The Shared Database Users' Forum is made up of volunteers who have agreed to provide feedback on their use of the Client Tool in the context of using it in a shared network database setup.

All of the following new features for the 2009 Q4 version were suggested by forum participants.

1. The Evaluation Results screen now includes the ability to save all of the results to a Microsoft Excel file.


2. The File Import Validation Report now includes the User ID associated with each import.


3. Date filters were added to the QA report selection criteria screens.
   


4. A User Locks Report was added to show what resources are locked by which users.


5. All report selection screens were made to be re-sizable.

If you are a shared network database user and would like to participate in the forum, send an email to technical support indicating your interest in participating in the Shared Database Users' Forum.