ECMPS Support

Although a large percentage of 2009Q1 emission submissions have been received, there are a large number that are outstanding. That means that many people will be scrambling today to try to finish up their submissions. There is no need to panic.

For our part, at technical support, we will answer as many questions as we can. However, if you are submitting a technical support request today, please remember that you are arriving late to the queue and your question may not be answered as fast as you would like.

If you find yourself in the last minute mode trying to complete your submissions, please consult the information in the FAQ on what do if you are running out of time to submit.

Labels: FAQ

There have been hundreds of submissions coming in to the EPA Host System during these last several days of the submission period.

In just the three business days of this week, over 22% of the emissions which have been received were submitted. As of this posting, over 85% of emissions files have been received. However, that still leaves hundreds of emissions files which have yet to be submitted, and that does not include the monitoring plan and QA submissions which precede the emissions submissions.

If you still are completing your submissions, you should expect some delays in the processing of your data on the EPA Host System and the subsequent receiving of the feedback email.

We are always looking for ways to improve the efficiency of the processing of the files, but, on this last day of the submission period, please be patient as you are not the only one trying to wrap things up before the deadline.

An important step in the submission process is receiving the feedback. For many sources, this is the final step that closes the loop of the submission process.

In ECMPS, every submission, whether it is monitoring plan, QA, or emissions data, results in feedback. Although there is one feedback per submission, the feedback can be viewed in two different ways. First, some background.

One of the biggest changes with ECMPS is that the evaluation of the data is mandatory prior to the submission of data. This necessitates that all data submitted to the EPA have met a certain standard of evaluation. Prior to ECMPS, the data could be evaluated prior to submission, but it was not required. MDC and MDC-Hourly were voluntary programs, and ETS-FTP only required that the RT Column EDR met very minimum standards.

Now all of the evaluation takes place prior to submission. That means that the feedback file which includes the results of the evaluation is actually generated in the Client Tool. During submission, that feedback file is submitted to the EPA Host System along with the data. Then after the submission has been processed by the EPA Host System, the feedback which was sent with the data, is sent via email.

The email with the feedback is the way in which most people view their feedback. However, there is another way. Because the feedback ordinates from the Client Tool, the feedback is already in the Client Tool and can be viewed, saved, and printed from there. The way to do that is through the Submission Log in the Submission module.

The Submission module lists every submission performed by you. to view the Feedback report, simply click on the link under the "Submission Error Status" column.

With the number of submissions taking place at the end of this reporting period, it can take a while for a submission to be processed by the EPA Host System. And that means it might be a while, even hours, before the feedback email is sent. In the meantime, you can access that very same feedback report from the Submission Log.

The problem which prevented users from logging in to the EPA Host System has been corrected.

There is a known outage at this time. EPA Computing Personnel are working to correct the problem. There is no ETA when the problem will be resolved. However, it is anticipated that the problem can be quickly corrected.

Labels: Technical Support

At technical support, we have to focus on both the big picture as well as the details of submissions.

The details are what most of you are familiar with because that is your focus-- you want to figure out some problem related to your particular source(s), get the problem solved, and submit your data to the EPA.

The big picture deals with a number of things including the impact that a software bug can have on a potentially large number of sources. And of course, the big picture also focuses on all of the data being submitted by the end of the reporting period.

As you know we are tracking the total percentage of submissions that have been completed. This tracking is updated several times a day and displayed prominently on this Web site's homepage. This percentage represents the number of 2009Q1 emissions files which have been submitted without critical 1 errors.


A number of us at technical support made some predictions as to what percentage we thought the progress meter would reach by the end of the submission period.

If you would like, you can record your own prediction as to what percentage of emissions submissions without critical errors will be completed before the stroke of midnight on April 30, 2009. Simply add a comment to this post with your prediction. The person who is closest will be given due recognition in a later post. (Anonymous predictions are accepted, but no credit can be given to those who do not include their name.)

As a final note for this post, please remember that as the reporting month comes to a close, just like you, we, at technical support will continue to be very busy. We appreciate your patience as we try to answer as many questions as possible.

Just a reminder that you should not wait until the last minute to use the resources available on this Web site to help you answer your questions. And do not wait until the last minute to send in your technical support requests. The later you send your requests, the less likely it is that we will be able to answer it in time for you to complete your submission by the deadline.

Communication is always important. At ECMPS Support, we are always trying to improve communication with the stakeholders. Part of that effort is constantly enhancing content. Another part is using all available means to communicate.

Technical Support Tip #11: Let's Keep in Touch

One of the main purposes of the ECMPS Support Web site is to help stakeholders keep up-to-date with the latest technical support information. The Web site is updated virtually every business day in some way. These updates include new FAQs, additions to the list of known issues, or posts on the Blog.

In order to help you keep up with the new information, we offer several ways for you to keep in touch.

The first way to keep informed is to simply view the ECMPS Support Web site. All of the information on the Web site can be accessed through searches. Either the general search or the FAQ search.

The second way to keep up-to-date is to subscribe to one of our three subscription services. All three will provide information when a new post is made on the Blog. Generally speaking, these posts highlight major new resources such as a tutorial or important information such as these technical support tips. In addition, these posts include information about planned (and unplanned) system outages.

The three subscriptions are:

1. Subscribe to the Blog: By subscribing to the Blog, you will receive an email in your inbox in the morning which includes any Blog posts made the day before. If no posts were made, you will not receive an email. To subscribe, click on the subscription link, enter your email address, and click on the link that is sent to you in your email to confirm your subscription.


2. RSS Feed: Add the ECMPS Support Blog to your RSS Reader and you will receive updates within hours after a new post is added to the Blog.


3. Twitter: If you have a Twitter account, you can receive updates via Twitter. All posts on the Blog are distributed to Twitter within hours after being posted. Twitter accounts are free and set up via Twitter's site.

Labels: Technical Support Tip

As the reporting month starts to wind down, EPA is getting more requests to resubmit previously submitted data. This technical support tip reminds you to tell EPA why you want to resubmit.


Technical Support Tip #10: Tell Me Why

There are many reasons that you might want to resubmit data which have been previously submitted. Monitoring plan data can always be resubmitted. No special permission is required.

QA and EM data require permission to resubmit data. (The details about emissions submission access have been covered in a recent post.) One of the most important reasons for requiring you to provide a reason for the resubmission and require you to get permission to resubmit is to insure that EPA is able to assess the impact of any data resubmissions. For example, if the resubmission will affect YTD emissions totals, the EPA wants to know that.

The important point is that in all cases in which a request for resubmission is made, you should provide a reason for the resubmission. If you do not provide a clear reason, you will be asked to give one, and this will simply delay the resubmission process.

Labels: Technical Support Tip

Technical Support Tutorial Released

Right now technical support requests continue to arrive in ever increasing numbers. The technical support team is busy answering your questions, and they are always ready to pass on useful information which help you get your questions answered.

Thanks to our communications team, we are able to release a timely tutorial on technical support that can help you get your technical support requests answered even faster.

In this eleven minute online tutorial, you will learn about the various types of technical support requests and the steps that can be taken to resolve them. The tutorial will also briefly explain the functionality of the software used to log and track support requests.

In addition, in the tutorial you will find some information addressing the common types of errors -- installation errors, login issues, Client Tool application errors, and data evaluation errors. Finally, the tutorial will point out the ways that you can save time by getting help from existing resources before you contact technical support.

As the days of the reporting period wind down, we are anticipating that the number of support requests will only continue to grow at a rapid pace. The technical support staff will continue to work hard to answer your questions as rapidly as possible. However, you can help yourself by using the resources which are already available and are shown in this tutorial.

This tutorial, like all of the others, is an interactive, audiovisual presentation which can be viewed in an Internet browser.

To see the complete list of ECMPS tutorials, click here.

Submission Access and Opening and Closing Windows

ECMPS represents a number of changes from the legacy systems (the mainframe, MDC, and ETS-FTP). One of those changes which was only implemented this reporting period is the way that submission access is managed.

In the past, sources were able to submit emissions data throughout the reporting period as many times as they wanted.

That has changed this reporting period. Here is the current setup:

• At the beginning of a reporting period (April 1, July, 1, October 1, and January 1), the emissions submission window is opened for all sources who are required to report emissions data during that reporting month.


• Submission access is granted for 30 days with the deadline ending at midnight ET on the 30th day of the reporting month (April 30, July 30, October 30, and January 30).


• During the reporting month, once emissions data have been submitted which do not contain critical errors (no CRIT1 or CRIT2 errors), the submission window is closed for that reporting period.


• During the reporting month, submissions made which include critical errors (CRIT1 or CRIT2 errors) do not affect the submission access window. The window remains open until a submission without critical errors is made.

There are a number of reasons for this change. First, and foremost, is that the official evaluation of all data takes place in the Client Tool prior to the submission of data. In other words, sources can insure that their data passes all the evaluation checks to their satisfaction before a submission needs to be made.

Second, the Submission module displays all of the data which need to be submitted. As long as the window remains open, the Client Tool will indicate that the emissions data are available to be submitted. This caused confusion which was easily eliminated by simply closing the submission access window once a submission without critical errors was received.

Finally, if it is necessary to make a subsequent resubmission of emissions data during the reporting period, sources can simply make a request to EPA asking to resubmit the emissions data. However, it will be necessary to provide a reason for the resubmission in order to provide adequate documentation. This should not be considered a major effort or very formal process but still an important step in insuring that such requests are sufficiently documented.

Queue Tips: Responding to Your Questions

The technical support staff is working very hard to answer as quickly as possible the many questions which are flowing into our technical support ticket queue.

We know that you are also busy and you are trying to get your technical support question answered in order to get your data submitted. However, it is not always possible to reply quickly with an answer to your question for a variety of reasons. One important reason is that it takes time to do the research and verify our answers for many of the questions we receive.

In general, just a few reminders:

• If you have not heard back from us, do not worry, we are not ignoring your question. Please remember that you are one of hundreds of users of the Client Tool, and many of those other users have questions, as well. We will respond to your question as soon as we can.


• We take questions on a first come, first serve basis. The earlier you get in your question the better.


• Do not call or send additional emails to follow-up, if you have not heard back from us. Responding to follow-ups only takes us away from answering your questions. If you get the automatic email response, we have your question in the queue, and we will respond to your question as soon as possible.


• Investigate what you can as much as possible. Use the resources on the ECMPS Support Web site, especially the Reporting Instructions. For more information on how to use these resources, consult the Technical Support Tips posts.


• We cannot correct problems that have to be fixed in the DAHS. If the file generated from your DAHS produces evaluation errors in the Client Tool, we can help you understand why the data are failing the evaluation checks. We cannot explain why your DAHS produced the data which were put in the XML file. You must contact your DAHS support personnel or your consultants to assist you with how your data files are generated.


• Send in your question with as much information as possible. In general, the more information, the better. Otherwise, we just have to send you a reply asking for more information, and then we have to wait for your reply. This can mean lots of time wasted on your end as well as ours.

Finally, a warning about sending in questions later in the reporting month. If you wait until the latter part of the month, especially the last week or so, to ask a question, it is unlikely that we will be able to get to your question in time before the submission deadline. We anticipate the volume of questions will be too great at that point to permit us to quickly answer your question.

The series of technical support tips continues with this new installment related to the ECMPS Support Frequently Asked Questions.

Technical Support Tip #9: Get down to the FAQs

Another recent upgrade to the ECMPS Support Web site is the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section. The FAQ section, which has been around for a while, has been enhanced to make it much easier to find answers to common questions.

Much information can be found in the FAQs which can help you answer your own question and keep you working toward completing your submissions. Keep in mind that the information in the FAQs is not part of the general Web site search. In order to view relevant FAQs, you need to go the FAQ part of the Web site because the general Web site search will not retrieve any FAQs in its results.

First, the main FAQ page has an instant response search which begins to search as you type in a keyword related to your question. Once you see a FAQ you want to view, simply click on the FAQ's link.


The other way to view the FAQs is to browse the categories. You can do this by clicking on the Browse Categories tab and selecting a category. All of the FAQs associated with that category are displayed.


Finally, any suggestions for FAQs are always welcome. Simply send them to technical support.

Labels: Technical Support Tip

This is the latest in a series of posts on technical support tips.

Technical Support Tip #8: Search for the Answers

Recently, the search engine for the ECMPS Support Web site was upgraded. The new search engine will search through all of the Web pages and documents which are on the Web site. And, the search database is updated every night to capture any changes that happened during the previous day.

What this means for stakeholders is that the search feature is a valuable tool to help you find the information you need. Simply type in your search in the Search box located on the left side of the screen on every Web page and then click the Go button. Your search criteria will be applied, and all of the relevant results will be displayed.

Labels: Technical Support Tip

Technical Support is starting to get busy, and suggestions for the tips keep coming. Here is the latest technical support tip for getting help with your ECMPS questions.

Technical Support Tip #7: Know the Issues

Bugs are a fact of software, and the Client Tool is no different. Although the Client Tool has gone through rigorous testing, bugs have and will appear.

At Technical Support, we work with the Client Tool development and testing teams to take an identified issue to its conclusion. As soon as we become aware of a potential bug, we pass it on to the development team for investigation. If it is determined to be a bug, an assessment is made as to its impact upon users.

In most cases, the impact of a bug is determined to be minimal. That often means that the bug will be fixed in the next version, but for the current version of the software the bug can remain because it is of minimal impact or there is a workaround. These are classified as Known Issues, and they are posted on the Known Issues Web page.

Users should check the Known Issues Web page when they come across an issue because it might already have been identified and posted. If users find it here, they may save a step or two in getting their technical support questions answered.

If users do not find that their issue is a Known Issue, they should contact Technical Support.

Labels: Technical Support Tip

This is the sixth installment in this series on technical support tips to help you get your technical support question quickly answered.

Technical Support Tip #6: Details, Details, Details

One of the most important things that you can do when you submit a technical support request is to provide plenty of information about your issue in your email. The information you give should include enough details so that the technical support person is able to focus on resolving your issue rather than trying to determine what your issue really is because too little information was provided.

For example, we have received tickets which essentially read:


The person who writes this email can expect some frustration on the part of the technical support person who gets this ticket, and there will have to be a follow-up email because this is not enough information to determine anything.

There are many aspects to the submission process and it would be next to impossible to troubleshoot the problem with that little of information provided in the email.

Instead, in the email, the user needs to include much more detailed information about what the problem really is. For example, the user should provide information about what happened during the submission, what was being submitted, and a screen shot of what the user saw when the problem occurred.

The point is that the technical support email needs to include details in order to get the process moving forward. When it comes to providing details about your technical support problems, the more details, the better.

Labels: Technical Support Tip

Today, Service Pack 1 (SP1) of the 2009 Q1 version of the Client Tool has been released. This is a required update of the Client Tool.

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 or users who have only used the ECMPS Client Tool Preview (CTP) must download and install the 2009 Q1 SP1 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.

A year ago today, ECMPS was launched. The 2008 Q1 version, or version 1, of the Client Tool was made available for users to download and install on April 1, 2008.

Nineteen facilities had volunteered to submit their official 2008 Q1 data using the ECMPS Client Tool. That meant that 58 emissions files were to be submitted by April 30, 2008.

At 12:29:59 PM EDT on April 1, 2008, just a short time after the software was made available for download, a monitoring plan was successfully submitted. This marked the first submission of any kind in the new ECMPS. Just over a half hour later, at 1:05:37 PM EDT, the first emissions file was successfully submitted.

Today, marks the beginning of the 2009 Q1 reporting period. All sources which report Part 75 data are required to use the ECMPS Client Tool for the submission of their data. For this April reporting period in which sources who report on a quarterly basis will be required to report, ECMPS is expecting emissions data to be submitted for 3,703 monitoring configurations from 1,317 facilities. In terms of emissions data expected to be submitted through ECMPS by April 30, 2009 that is 64 times more emissions data files than were expected just a year ago.

These numbers just underscore the fact that this is a significant challenge for everyone over the next month. And these numbers also point out how the entire transition to ECMPS has been a major undertaking for all stakeholders. At ECMPS Support, we hope that everyone has a successful submission period, and we look forward to assisting sources in completing their submissions.

Today is the day one of the first mandatory ECMPS reporting period. At ECMPS technical support, we are continuing to prepare for the many technical support requests we will receive over the next several weeks. To help you get your questions answered quickly, we are continuing the series on technical support tips.

Technical Support Tip #5: Stay on the Subject

Every email sent to the technical support email address is entered into our technical support ticketing system. After you send the email, you should receive an automatic reply that indicates your request has been received. This email includes your ticket number.

Our technical support staff will get back to you as soon as possible with an email reply which is sent from our ticketing system. The reply may ask for clarification or additional information or it will include the resolution to your issue.

In any case, if at any time you want to send along more information about your ticket or reply to a follow-up request from technical support, simply reply to the email that was sent--either the automatically generated one that was sent immediately after you sent your initial request or any emails sent by a technical support person.

Do not start a new email, and do not change the subject line in your reply. The subject line allows the ticketing system to keep track of your emails and attach them to the appropriate ticket. If you change the subject line, you will delay the response to your ticket because your reply will not automatically be added to your ticket's information history.

Labels: Technical Support Tip