Today, we at ECMPS Technical Support bid a fond farewell to the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP).

The testing period for the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP) ends today, March 13, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. EDT. Soon after that, both the CTP technical support phone number and email address will be changed to return a message that the CTP testing period has ended.

From feedback which we have received, we know that the CTP was a useful tool for helping stakeholders make the transition from the legacy evaluation and submission tools to the ECMPS Client Tool. In addition, EPA has benefited from stakeholders who worked with the CTP. They provided valuable feedback on application functionality, bugs, and technical support issues.

The CTP was launched in May 2008, and from all accounts, the CTP has significantly helped sources and the EPA prepare for what is now the imminent mandatory use of ECMPS for reporting data.

Of course, like many farewells, there is also a simultaneous welcome. We welcome all of the new sources who are joining the official version of ECMPS for the first time. Many of you have spent time with the CTP and are familiar with the ins and outs of the Client Tool thanks to the CTP.

A warm welcome to all of the new stakeholders. Keep tuned in for the release of the 2009 Q1 version of the ECMPS Client Tool. It is still on target to be released on Tuesday, March 17th.

Labels: Industry Testing

The CTP Registration period ended on January 2, 2009. However, that does not mean the CTP has ended. Instead, the CTP is still around to assist ECMPS stakeholders in making the transition from the legacy systems (MDC and ETS-FTP) to ECMPS. Anyone who registered for the CTP before the deadline can continue to use the CTP both online and offline. In other words, the Test EPA Host System will continue to be available for CTP users.

Similarly, if you have registered to use the CTP, but you have yet to download and install the CTP, you can still do so by accessing the download pages on the ECMPS Support Web site. The current version of the CTP is version 4 which is identical in its functionality to the current production version of the Client Tool. The only difference between the production version and the CTP is that the CTP only works with test data and the Test EPA Host System.

The plans are for the CTP and CTP support to continue to be available until March 1, 2009. Shortly after that, the next version of the Client Tool for production will be released and all sources who have yet to switch to ECMPS for official data submissions will be able to make the transition at that point.

Labels: Industry Testing

The new year is almost here. Beginning on January 1, 2009, all affected sources will need to be monitoring data using resources that can report using the ECMPS Client Tool. In order to prepare for mandatory reporting using ECMPS, sources should take advantage of testing.

Testing is done using the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP). The CTP has all of the same functionality as the production version, but it works with test data instead of official data.

However, in order to test, you must register. The deadline to register for testing with the CTP is January 2, 2009.

Registration is simple and easy. Simply click here to fill out the registration form. All registrations received before the end of the day on January 2nd will be processed by Thursday, January 8, 2009.

Labels: Industry Testing

The ECMPS Client Tool version 4 for both production and the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP) has been released.

Instructions for Production Users

All current production users will be required to update their version of the Client Tool. They will be prompted to perform the update the next time that they attempt to connect to the EPA Host System. Steps for performing the update are available through the link which was provided in the email which you should have been sent or should have been forwarded to you.

New production users should have received an email or been forwarded an email which includes the link for getting started with the ECMPS Client Tool production version.

Any questions about installing or upgrading the production version of the Client Tool should be sent to ecmps-support@camdsupport.com.

Instructions for CTP Users

All current CTP users will be required to update their version of the Client Tool. They will be prompted to perform the update the next time that they attempt to connect to the EPA Host System. Steps for performing the update are shown here.

New CTP users will need to download the installation and run it on their computer. Instructions for installing the CTP for the first time can be found here.

Questions about installing or upgrading the CTP should be sent to ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com.

Technical Support Reminder

Technical Support will be closed on December 25, 2008 and January 1, 2009. On all of the other days from December 22nd through January 2nd, technical support will continue to be available. However, over those two weeks many of the technical support staff will be taking time off for vacation. Please be patient when waiting for responses to your questions as there will not be our usual full team of technical support staff available to help. By January 5th, when the new reporting period has begun, we will have our entire technical support staff back in the office.

Factoid About Release 4

For internal development and testing, all releases of the Client Tool are assigned a Greek letter name. This naming convention is based on the usual Greek letter naming scheme used for software development which begins with Alpha and then moves on to Beta.

As development continued, this naming convention was continued beyond these first two letters of the Greek alphabet. This last version--Version 4--was named for the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet which is Eta. (For more about the Greek alphabet, click here.)

Labels: Industry Testing, Release Schedule Information

As most stakeholders know by now, the next few months will be a time of busy preparation for mandatory reporting under ECMPS. At the Stakeholder Meeting, we shared some charts that showed the challenges that lie ahead.

First, during this year in which submission under ECMPS was optional, we have seen the voluntary participation grow steadily each reporting period. However, as the chart below shows, the number of sources which have yet to make the transition is substantial.


Given this large number who will be coming in during the first two reporting periods of 2009, we would suggest that sources take advantage of the testing environment which is available. With so many sources switching to ECMPS in 2009, there will be a great deal of requests for technical support. Anything sources can do to prepare themselves and prevent "long lines" in the technical support queue, can only help.

Our experience at technical support has been that sources who tested before making the transition to officially submitting under ECMPS, had a much better time in making the transition. (For more information on how to register for testing, click here.)

The next chart shows testing registration and participation in testing. The blue columns show the cumulative number who registered to test during each quarter, and the red columns show the number of testers who logged in to the Test EPA Host System at least three times during the quarter. The three logins were considered a minimum participation in testing the Client Tool. Again, the numbers are encouraging, but it would be more encouraging if the actual participation level was higher. For example, the projected participation for this quarter is only 66% of registered testers.


Based on this chart, we at technical support have the same recommendation--test the Client Tool. It is not enough to register to test, you need to actively test the Client Tool.

The final chart, shows the types of production technical support requests that we have received since the production Client Tool was released in April.


The smallest category is Policy Issues which requires Technical Support to defer to EPA in order to receive an answer. An example of this might be a question about an unusual configuration.

The next category in increasing size is Application Bugs which are questions which are related to actual bugs in the software. For example, if a user identifies that an evaluation check does not work correctly and we confirm this to be the case, the ticket is put in this category.

After Application Bugs, the next largest category is Technical Requests which are non-development issues such as questions about installation or connecting to the EPA Host System through a proxy server.

The second largest category is General Inquiries which are typically requests for information that run the range of basic questions about ECMPS to questions about how to perform a specific function in the Client Tool.

Finally, the largest category is Data Issues which consists of questions about how to report data under the XML format and the new ECMPS reporting instructions.

Given the large number of Data Issue questions, we can only recommend once again that testing be performed. This can only decrease the number of data questions which stakeholders will have when they transition to the mandatory reporting under ECMPS in 2009. (For more information on how to register for testing, click here.)

Labels: Industry Testing

The EPA Host System outage which was announced last week has begun. It will continue from today, December 8th until Tuesday, December 16th. The outage affects both production and CTP users. The EPA Host System will be unavailable during this time in order to perform system updates for the new release of the Client Tool. The new release of the Client Tool for both production and CTP is scheduled for December 17th. At that time, the EPA Host System will again be available.

During the outage, the following functionality in the production version and the CTP will not be available:

1. Log in to the EPA Host System
2. Synchronize with the EPA Host System
3. Retrieve data from the EPA Host System
4. Submit data to the EPA Host System
5. Complete the initial synchronization which is part of the installation.

After the update has been completed, a blog post will be added to announce that the update is complete and the access to the EPA Host System is again available.

Labels: Industry Testing, Scheduled Outage

Please note that you will be unable to connect to the EPA Host System from December 8th through December 16th. This outage affects both production and CTP users. The EPA Host System will be unavailable during this time in order to perform system updates for the new release of the Client Tool. The new release of the Client Tool for both production and CTP is scheduled for December 17th. At that time, the EPA Host System will again be available.

During the outage, the following functionality in the production version and the CTP will not be available:

1. Log in to the EPA Host System
2. Synchronize with the EPA Host System
3. Retrieve data from the EPA Host System
4. Submit data to the EPA Host System
5. Complete the initial synchronization which is part of the installation.

After the update has been completed, a blog post will be added to announce that the update is complete and the access to the EPA Host System is again available.

Labels: Industry Testing, Scheduled Outage

In observance of Thanksgiving Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Thursday, November 27th and Friday, November 28th. Technical support will be available again on Monday, December 1st.

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

• Christmas - Thursday, December 25, 2008
• New Year's Day - Thursday, January 1, 2009
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 16, 2009
• Memorial Day - Monday, May 25, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

There will be limited technical support for CTP users November 24-26. This will allow our technical support staff to focus on providing support for production users who need to complete 2008Q3 submissions.

In addition, there will be NO technical support for CTP and production users on Thanksgiving which is Thursday, November 27th and the following day, Friday, November 28th. Our office is closed on Thanksgiving and our technical support staff is also taking the day off on Friday.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

The testing period for the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP) has been extended until January 15, 2009. (It was scheduled to end November 21, 2008.) This extension allows stakeholders more time to work with the Client Tool in order to prepare for 2009 when Part 75 reporting must be done using the ECMPS Client Tool.

It is not likely that the test period will be extended beyond January 15, as we will need to use that time to prepare for 2009Q1 production.

Note that, the deadline for registering to test is Friday, January 2, 2009. More information about the CTP and how to register can be found here.

As was previously announced, CTP technical support is limited during the last two weeks of October (Monday October 20 through Friday October 31). This allows our technical support staff to focus on providing support for production users during the crunch time of the submission period. In addition, CTP support will also be limited around the Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays.

During these limited support time periods, you may continue to send emails to ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com during these weeks, but your issue may not be resolved immediately.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

As we are sure that everyone is aware of, this is the reporting month for 2008 third quarter data. The deadline to submit emissions data is October 30.

In order to focus on technical support for the production version of the ECMPS Client Tool, technical support for CTP users will be limited over the next two weeks (October 20 - 31).

CTP users can continue to submit technical support questions, but they should expect a much longer than usual turn-around time for the answers to their technical support questions.

Labels: Industry Testing

In observance of Columbus Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Monday, October 13th. Technical support will be available again on Tuesday, October 14th.

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

• Thanksgiving - Thursday and Friday, November 27-28, 2008
• Christmas - Thursday, December 25, 2008
• New Year's Day - Thursday, January 1, 2009
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 16, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

Recently, EPA discovered a problem with the dates in the program records of numerous units. These dates provide information as to when:

• A unit becomes affected by the program (Unit Monitor Certification Begin Date or UMCBD)


• A unit must begin reporting hourly emissions data for the program (Emissions Recording Begin Date or ERBD)


• A unit's emissions begin counting toward compliance (Unit Monitor Certification Deadline or UMCD).

The ERBD in the program record is significant for ECMPS reporters because the begin dates in the monitoring plan records should be based upon the ERBD in the applicable program record. For example, the begin dates in the SO2 method record and the initial SO2 system record should be the same as the ERBD of the ARP program record.

Because the dates in many unit program records were incorrect, the begin dates in many records in previously submitted monitoring plans are also incorrect. Therefore, it will be necessary to validate and, if necessary, correct the begin dates in all monitoring plans affected by the program date corrections.

The corrected program dates will be automatically downloaded into the Client Tool the first time you log in to the EPA Host System. To determine if any of your monitoring plans are affected by these corrections and need to be resubmitted, view the Submission Access Report.

Prior to fixing the begin dates in your monitoring plan, you will need to update to the Client Tool software using the Update Service located under the EPA Host menu.

After you have updated your software, please re-evaluate the affected monitoring plans. If any of your begin dates are incorrect, you will receive errors on the evaluation. Typical errors that may be found in the evaluation report include METHOD-14-C, PROGRAM-2-B, PROGRAM-3-B, PROGRAM-5-B, and PROGRAM-6-B.

To help you correct these errors, you can view the dates in your program records in the monitoring plan printout and the unit characteristics tab in the monitoring plan section of the Client Tool. If you believe any of the dates in the program records are incorrect, please contact technical support.

Labels: Industry Testing

Following the release of version 3 of the Client Tool (both the production and the CTP versions), we have found a number of issues that need to be addressed prior to the end of the 2008Q3 submission period.

In order to address these issues, a update to version 3 of the Client Tool needs to be made. We are scheduling this update to be released on Tuesday, October 7th.

The update will address the known issues which have been identified with version 3. For the most part, many of the known issues only address a relatively small number of sources who are submitting official data through ECMPS.

However, one of the issues to be addressed will affect a majority of the sources who have switched to using ECMPS for official data submissions. In many cases, the Emissions Recording Begin Date (ERBD) for a unit needs to be corrected. The ERBD affects the begin dates for methods and systems.

After the corrections to the dates have been made through the update, the evaluation of monitoring plan data may include METHOD-14, PROGRAM-2, PROGRAM-3, PROGRAM-4, or PROGRAM-5 evaluation check errors. Note, that this will affect monitoring plan data which have been previously submitted with no critical errors. In addition, because the ERBD is fundamental to the monitoring plan, the monitoring plan data will need to be evaluated after the update. These evaluation errors can be corrected by adjusting the method and system begin dates.

Much more detailed information about the impact of this date correction will be posted prior to the release of the update. This information will include details about how to correct the evaluation errors that will occur.

In the meantime, if production users are receiving any of the evaluation errors listed above, it is probably best to wait until the update has been released before proceeding to attempt to correct these errors.

The update for CTP3 will be identical to the update for production. This will continue our practice of keeping the CTP in sync with the production version of the Client Tool.

Labels: Industry Testing, Release Schedule Information

The ECMPS Client Tool version 3 for both production and the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP) has been released.

Instructions for Production Users

All current production users will be required to update their version of the Client Tool. They will be prompted to perform the update the next time that they attempt to connect to the EPA Host System. Steps for performing the update are available through the link which was provided in the email which you should have been sent or should have been forwarded to you.

New production users should have received an email or been forwarded an email which includes the link for getting started with the ECMPS Client Tool production version.

Any questions about installing or upgrading the production version of the Client Tool should be sent to ecmps-support@camdsupport.com.

Instructions for CTP Users

All current CTP users will be required to update their version of the Client Tool. They will be prompted to perform the update the next time that they attempt to connect to the EPA Host System. Steps for performing the update are shown here.

New CTP users will need to download the installation and run it on their computer. Instructions for installing the CTP for the first time can be found here.

Questions about installing or upgrading the CTP should be sent to ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com.

Technical Support Reminder

Technical support for both production and the CTP will be unavailable from September 19 through September 22 due to PQA moving its offices.

Labels: Industry Testing, Release Schedule Information

Please note that you will be unable to connect to the EPA Host System from September 8th through September 16th. The EPA Host System will be unavailable during this time in order to perform system updates.

During the outage, the following functionality in the production version and the CTP will not be available:

1. Log in to the EPA Host System
2. Synchronize with the EPA Host System
3. Retrieve data from the EPA Host System
4. Submit data to the EPA Host System
5. Complete the initial synchronization which is part of the installation.

After the update has been completed, a blog post will be added to announce that the update is complete and the access to the EPA Host System is again available.

Labels: Industry Testing, Scheduled Outage

Perrin Quarles Associates (PQA) will be moving its offices from Friday, September 19 through Monday, September 22. During that time, we will be unable to provide technical support for production and CTP users because both email and telephone services will be unavailable. We would suggest that users wait until after the move to contact technical support with their questions.

Note, that after the move, the contact information will remain the same. Emails for CTP technical support should still be sent to ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com and emails for production technical support should still be sent to ecmps-support@camdsupport.com.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

In observance of Labor Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Monday, September 1st. Technical support will be available again on Tuesday, September 2nd. However, note that as has been previously announced, there will be limited technical support from September 2nd through the 5th in order to allow us to prepare for the release of version 3 of the ECMPS Client Tool.

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

• Columbus Day - Monday, October 13, 2008
• Thanksgiving - Thursday and Friday, November 27-28, 2008
• Christmas - Thursday, December 25, 2008
• New Year's Day - Thursday, January 1, 2009
• Presidents' Day - Monday, February 16, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here.

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

The testing period for the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP) has been extended. Originally, the testing period, which began in May, was scheduled to conclude at the end of September. The Clean Air Markets Division (CAMD) has extended the testing period until November 21, 2008.

All stakeholders can continue to register to test on the ECMPS Support Web site registration page. Registered testers can also continue to access the CTP EPA Host System until November 21, 2008. After that date, testers will only be able to test offline.

For more information about the details of CTP testing, read all of the information on the Getting Started page and the CTP Registration page.

If you have any questions about the CTP testing period, send an email to Technical Support at ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com.

Labels: Industry Testing

The ECMPS Client Tool Preview version 2 (CTP2) is now available for all CTP users. CTP2 includes various changes that bring the CTP up-to-date with the production version of the Client Tool. The changes from CTP1 are included in the release notes. The release notes can be viewed by opening the CTP Help file after the update to CTP2 has been made, or the release notes can also be viewed online on the Documents page. (See "CTP2 Release Notes" document on the documents page.)

In order to update to CTP2, please follow the instructions provided on the CTP update page.

If you have any questions about this release, send an email to ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com.

Labels: Industry Testing

The CTP 2 release is still not yet available. As a result, CTP users cannot yet log in to the CTP EPA Host System. If you attempt to log in, you will receive a message that your user name and password are invalid.



An announcement via email and on the blog will be made when the release is available.

Labels: Industry Testing

In order to update the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP) to version 2, the CTP EPA Host System will be unavailable for several hours on Wednesday, July 16. Beginning at 10:00 a.m. EDT on July 16, the CTP EPA Host System will become unavailable. We anticipate that the update will be completed by 2:00 p.m. EDT. Until the update is completed, the CTP EPA Host System will remain unavailable.

Before the outage begins at 10:00 a.m EDT on Wednesday, July 16, you should log in to the CTP EPA Host System through the CTP and complete the synchronization associated with the login.

This outage does not affect ECMPS production users. It only affects CTP users.

During the outage, the following functionality in the CTP will not be available:

1. Log in to the CTP EPA Host System
2. Synchronize with the CTP EPA Host System
3. Retrieve data from the CTP EPA Host System
4. Submit data to the CTP EPA Host System
5. Complete the initial synchronization which is part of the installation.

After the update has been completed, a blog post will be added to announce that the update is complete. The post will also include instructions on how to update your version of the CTP to version 2.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this outage may cause.

If you have any questions, please contact technical support by sending an email to ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com.

Labels: Industry Testing

In observance of Independence Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Friday, July 4th. Technical support will be available again on Monday, July 7th.

Please send any technical support questions you have on Friday to the appropriate technical support email address--ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com for the CTP and ecmps-support@camdsupport.com for production users. We will begin to address your questions beginning on Monday morning.

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

• Labor Day - Monday, September 1, 2008
• Columbus Day - Monday, October 13, 2008
• Thanksgiving - Thursday and Friday, November 27-28, 2008
• Christmas - Thursday, December 25, 2008
• New Year's Day - Thursday, January 1, 2009

Labels: Industry Testing, Technical Support

In observance of Memorial Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Monday, May 26th. Technical support will be available again on Tuesday, May 27th.

Please send any technical support questions you have on Monday to the appropriate technical support email address--ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com for the CTP and ecmps-support@camdsupport.com for production users. We will begin to address your questions beginning on Tuesday morning.

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

• Independence Day - Friday, July 4, 2008
• Labor Day - Monday, September 1, 2008
• Columbus Day - Monday, October 13, 2008
• Thanksgiving - Thursday and Friday, November 27-28, 2008
• Christmas - Thursday, December 25, 2008

Labels: Industry Testing

During the ECMPS Stakeholder meeting on Tuesday in Nashville, a number of resources were mentioned. These included resources for general information about ECMPS, training materials, registration Web pages, and much more. Included in the meeting packet was a handout which listed a number of these resources. In this post, the resources are listed again with links for everything which is available via the Internet. I would like to especially highlight the tutorials which were mentioned, but not demonstrated. The tutorials are excellent resources for learning how to use the ECMPS Client Tool to report your data to the EPA. These are in the same vein as the MDC tutorials, but, by using the latest in presentation technology, they are most certainly the next generation in tutorials. Each tutorial is a brief (10 minutes or less), informative audiovisual presentation which focuses on a specific topic related to the ECMPS Client Tool. The tutorials do not take long to access online, and they each include closed captioning. Currently, there are five of tutorials available to be both viewed online or downloaded to your computer. Many more tutorials covering a wide range of topics related to the Client Tool will be released over the coming months. A new post will be made on this blog when a new tutorial is released.

EPA ECMPS Website

• Reporting Instructions
• Schema Documents
• Check Specifications
• Monitoring Plan Test files
• QA Test files
• Emissions Test files

PQA ECMPS Website

• Tutorials
• FAQs
• Blog
• Stakeholder Meeting Presentations
• Client Tool Help Files (In Client Tool)

Registration

• Register to test with the Client Tool Preview (CTP)
• Register to submit official data in 2008 via ECMPS
• Register to submit initial monitoring plans and certification applications for CAIR SO2

Technical Support (EPA receives copies of all technical support emails)

• Client Tool Preview (Testing)
• Production

Labels: Industry Testing, Reporting Instructions, Stakeholder Meeting, Tutorial

CAMD has scheduled a new testing session for the ECMPS Client Tool. The testing session will run from May through September 2008.

Testing is open to all stakeholders including facility staff, DAHS vendors, consultants, and other industry personnel. On the registration form, participants will be asked to designate the facilities for which they would like to have data. The data for the designated facilities will be provided to testers through the Client Tool. The data provided will only include monitoring plan and previously submitted QA Cert Test data. Testers who would like to test the emissions data functionality of ECMPS must provide their own emissions data.

Registration for this testing session is now open and will remain open throughout the testing session. Testers who register before the testing session begins will not receive their login and password until the testing session has begun.

The version of the Client Tool which will be available for testing, with a few exceptions, will be the same as the production version which was released on April 1st for facilities who opted to submit data for first quarter 2008. The primary difference between the testing version and the production version is that testing version will only point to the special testing area that has been established by EPA. The testing version will not affect any official data.

For more information on testing and the registration form click here.

If you have any questions, please contact technical support by sending an email to ecmps-testing@camdsupport.com. EPA is copied on all emails sent to this address.

Labels: Industry Testing

The next ECMPS testing session is scheduled to run from May through September 2008. As that testing period draws near, we are receiving more questions about testing. This mailbag answers questions about what version of the Client Tool will be available for testing and how to transfer monitoring plan data corrections made in testing to the production environment. The answer to the second questions is a little long, but that is because there is a great deal of information to discuss on this topic.

Version of Client Tool for Testing

Question
What version of the Client Tool will be available for testing?

Answer
The Client Tool available for testing will be the same version as the one used by sources who have opted to begin reporting official data through ECMPS with one important exception. The exception is that the testing version will only allow testers to interact with test data. The test data which is available through the Client Tool is based on the most current official data, but that is where the connection ends. Any changes to the test data do not affect official data.

Transferring Monitoring Plan Data Corrections from Testing to Production

Question
I am interested in testing the Client Tool. If I correct the problems in my monitoring plan in a test version of the Client Tool, will I be able to use that corrected data once I switch over to use ECMPS for official submissions?

Answer
The answer to that question is both yes and no.

The are four reasons that the monitoring plan data corrections made during testing will not necessarily transition over to the production version. These are listed in order of increasing likelihood that the reason will make a difference.

The first reason is if the official monitoring plan changes between testing and when the source begins using ECMPS for official submissions. Right before the transition, EPA will load the official monitoring plan data into ECMPS. After the source installs the production version of ECMPS, the source will receive, through synchronization in the Client Tool, the official monitoring plan data. The data would not match any monitoring plan data which had been saved from the testing period.

The second reason is if the monitoring plan XML schema structure changes between testing and when the source begins using ECMPS for official submissions. Although there is no guarantee that this will not happen, at this point, it seems unlikely that a structural change to the XML schema will be necessary. If a structural change were to happen, any XML files saved from testing might need to be altered in order to conform to the new XML schema structure before the data in the files could be imported into the production version of the Client Tool.

The third reason is if the monitoring plan evaluations are modified between testing and when the source begins using ECMPS for official submissions. Although much testing has taken place to verify that the evaluation checks are operating correctly, there is the possibility that the evaluation checks will need to be modified because there is a bug or the evaluation specification is modified. In that case, although the monitoring plan data evaluated cleanly in the testing version, the data might have evaluation errors in the production version.

The fourth reason is that the nature of importing data is that for monitoring plan data, the imported data are merged with the existing data in the Client Tool. If one of the key fields for a particular data record is different between the imported data and the existing data in the Client Tool, there will be two records at the end of the import process for that particular data record. Typically, this happens for data for which the dates had to be corrected. There are good reasons for the data to be merged during import which necessitate that this remain the primary method for importing monitoring plan data. We have, however, begun to investigate whether there would be a way to allow the imported monitoring plan data replace the existing monitoring plan data in the Client Tool.

I would suggest using the following approach to correcting monitoring plan data. After the data have been corrected in the testing version of the Client Tool, run the monitoring plan printout report. Print it out and save it as a PDF file. This report lists all of the data in the monitoring plan, and it will be a useful reference for correcting your data in the production version. The second thing I would suggest is to export the monitoring plan data and save the XML file. Even if the file needs to be modified and the import method is not changed, the data in the file will be a good starting point for correcting the monitoring plan data in the production version. In production, after importing the data, the problems caused by the merge of data records with different key fields are fairly easy to find and correct. And in the case of data that was added and new requirements the data imported from the file should bring that in to the Client Tool without any problems.

For more information about particular monitoring plan data corrections, view the Blog series, "Preparing for ECMPS".

Labels: Industry Testing, Mailbag, Transition to ECMPS

Tomorrow, February 1st, is a notable day in the ECMPS calendar because a number of deadlines fall on that date.

First, February 1 is the last day to sign up for testing the current version, Gamma A, of the Client Tool. The next testing session for the Client Tool is not planned to begin until April.

In addition, after February 1, access to the Test EPA Host System will be stopped. That means that industry testers will not be able to synchronize data, retrieve data, or submit data because all of these functions require access to the Test EPA Host System. In addition, you will not be able to download, install, and test the Client Tool after February 1, because installation requires the ability to connect to the Test EPA Host System.

However, after February 1, testers will still be able to use the Client Tool "off line". That means that testers can continue to work with any data which they have in their Client Tool. For example, testers can use all of the evaluation capabilities of the Client Tool to run the EPA evaluations on the data which they have in the Client Tool. For most testers, this has been the most valuable capability in testing.

After February 1, technical support for "off line" testers will continue to be available. Click here for more information about contacting technical support.

The second deadline which falls on February 1st is the deadline to register to switch to ECMPS in order to begin reporting official data starting with the first quarter 2008 emissions data. Click here to register officially to switch to ECMPS for all data submissions. Note, the next deadline will be May 1st. You must register by that date in order to be able to submit second quarter 2008 emissions data.

Finally, the third deadline on February 1st is for registering to use ECMPS to submit CAIR SO2 and mercury certification applications. In order to begin using the Client Tool to submit certification applications when the production version is released, you must register by tomorrow. The registration form can be accessed by clicking here. Note, the next deadline is March 1st. You must register by that date in order to be able to begin using the Client Tool on April 1st for certification applications.

Labels: Industry Testing

Please note that during the holidays, there will be a minimum of technical support available for ECMPS Testing. Most of our technical support staff will be taking a well-deserved holiday break from now through January 1, 2008.

Full technical support will be available again on Wednesday, January 2, 2008. Until that date, please send in all of your technical support questions by emailing ecmps-beta@camdsupport.com, and we will respond to your questions as soon as possible.

Labels: Industry Testing

The testing period for the ECMPS Client Tool is scheduled to end this Friday, December 21st.

We continue to receive feedback and technical support questions from testers that enable us to improve the Client Tool in many ways including correcting bugs, modifying check specifications, and adding enhancements. We also continue to get testers signing up to test which allows the Client Tool, and in particular, the evaluation checks, to be tested against a wider variety of data. For these reasons, CAMD has decided to extend the testing period until Friday, February 1, 2008.

Anyone who has participated in any of the 2007 testing of the Client Tool can continue to test until February 1, 2008. Of course, anyone who has not participated in testing is welcome to register to test. For information on how to register to test, click here.

Note that the current version of the Client Tool is the Gamma A version. Testers must use this version to test. For information about the Gamma A version, click here.

Labels: Industry Testing