The EA needed a centralised, automated, easy-to-use data acquisition, monitoring and reporting tool to streamline these processes. Following a competitive tendering process, MonitorPro was chosen, initially for a pilot project. then for a nationwide application. Suzanne Laidlaw, Business Intelligence Projects Manager & Data Returns Service Manager says, “EHS Data submitted a proposal through the Government Framework. They came in as providing the most comprehensive service, already proven. It was the best product available.” The software is now being rolled out nationwide and across industrial sectors.

The Environment Agency were looking for certain key features which would assist in data management:

• Automatic importing and validation of submitted data via electronic means.
• Flexibility the system would need to recognise different names for the same pollutant, e.g. Nox, nox, Nox but store it consistently.
• Email alerts generated when there are compliance breaches or issues which need resolving.
• Scheduling of which operator should be sending what data, and when (and alerting if not sent).
• A simple to use Web based browser access, allowing users in various offices across the region to access data and information in a very easy and intuitive way.
  
• Flexible reporting, including scheduled and user-generated.
• The solution would need to have clear audit trails to facilitate accountability and be accredited to MCERTS.
• Scalability would be essential as the solution would have to be expandable across the UK, cover a number
  of sectors and have a long lifecycle of deployment.
  

Data MonitorPro is a powerful solution which institutes an automatic check between the government’s issued Permits and the company supplied reporting. No other Environmental Agency is known to be using such a sophisticated system at this time. This is the leap forward EHS Data have created, the automation of this process. It is saving the EA time and money so officers can do their, higher-level tasks more effectively. EA staff can now receive automatic warnings if reports are not submitted on time, if data is missing or if there are Permit Breaches. Managers can get regional reports on Compliance Breaches and general reporting statistics. In-depth analyses covering the whole of a company’s data can be generated, including historical ones for comparison. MonitorPro is being constantly updated. It has flexibility in the data formats and layouts it can accept and process – these protocols are being developed in partnership with EA to ensure that it is compatible with the widest degree of data input. Suzanne Laidlaw says, “EHS Data are very receptive to making changes and incorporating ideas that we have.”

EHS Data is continuing to work with the Environment Agency to ensure that MonitorPro continue to meet the EA’s needs in the future. The solution is continuously being expanded in size to accommodate the increasing amount of data from the national and cross-industry roll-out. MonitorPro is continuously updated to maintain the position as the most effective environmental data management tool, globally. It is being gradually rolled out to other sectors that involve permitting, for example water quality
monitoring or electrical waste recycling. “MonitorPro is very well suited to monitoring large amounts of data. It works very well with emissions monitoring compliance data. We receive over 80,000 submissions each year and it is able to handle all of those,” continues Suzanne Laidlaw.

A new single, central MonitorPro database was constructed, hosted on EHS Data’s servers, and the data migration began. The initial South East Regional landfill monitoring data was uploaded, and consisted of: 

• 350 sites
• 10,000 sample points
• 1,200 parameters measured
• 10,000 name aliases
• 1.1 million readings

Environment Agency users access the system using either a
cloud-based Web portal called MonitorPro Web, or the installed client programme called MonitorPro Desktop. At that time, it was projected that the payback period for this system would be in the region of 12 months, taking account of the time and cost-saving of automated data handling. However, the reality was that it paid for itself in about three months.

This is a national database of information about releases and transfers of substances from regulated industrial activities, to protect the public and the environment, and to share with other Agencies. MonitorPro is being rolled out as the central repository of all the PI information. Data is collected and stored in MonitorPro. It works automatically checking that data is correct on arrival, analysing for abnormalities, errors and differences to previous years’ submissions. MonitorPro will also do the analytics and reporting for EA, trending performance, reporting on abnormalities and changes.

Over the past year MonitorPro has been expanded to cover the rest of England, following the successful pilot. It has proved it is able to handle the large expansion of data input and perform effectively. Neil Gillan said that the challenges were getting staff to invest time in learning the new system, which has big pay-off in terms of time saved completing repetitive tasks, which are now automated. He says, “The system is fairly intuitive so it doesn’t take a lot to learn how to use it effectively.” Suzanne Laidlaw agrees, “The interface is very intuitive, and while training was provided, it is very easy to use generally.” The payback time is expected to be one year. It will dramatically improve the capability of the Environment Agency to validate the compliance of the operators it regulates.