ECMPS Support

Although a large percentage of 2009Q2 emission submissions have been received, there are a large number that are outstanding. That means that many people will be hustling to complete their submissions before the end of the day on July 30th.

At technical support, we will answer as many questions as we can. However, if you are submitting a technical support request in these last hours of the submission period, 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.

As was posted earlier, ECMPS Client Tool users should review the Known Issues page in order to determine if what they are experiencing has already been identified as a known issue and what the particular work-around might be.

In general, as soon as an issue is identified as a "Known Issue", it is posted on the Known Issues Web page.

Two recent additions to the Known Issues list include:

A Comma Too Far

Description

The Client Tool Help instructions for LME users incorrectly state that an imported CSV file should contain 10 commas per line; CSV files should only contain 9 commas per line.

Status

To successfully import an LME file, create a CSV file with 9 commas. This issue will be fixed in the next release of the Client Tool.

Blame it on the Bug

Description

Some evaluation errors may be caused by software bugs.

Status

Click here for a list of evaluation errors that could be caused by software bugs, and possible resolutions to these issues. These issues will be fixed in the next release of the Client Tool.

The complete list of currently identified known issues is available on the Known Issues Web page.

Since the release of the latest version of the ECMPS Client Tool last month, several important known issues have been identified. In general, as soon as an issue is identified as a "Known Issue", it is posted on the Known Issues Web page. This page is good place to check when you run across an error message or what appears to be a bug.

Here are two from the list of known issues which were recently added:

"Out of Sync"

Symptom

Some monitoring plans are being identified as being "Out of Sync" despite the fact that the Client Tool has recently been successfully synced with the EPA Host System. The cause for this bug is still under investigation.

Solution

There is a work around until the bug is fixed. To synchronize a perpetually "Out of Sync" monitoring plan, a user must retrieve the monitoring plan from the EPA Host System. If the user has made changes to the monitoring plan data in your local Client Tool database that have not been submitted and the user does not wish to overwrite, the user should export the data prior to retrieval, and then re-import the data after the monitoring plan has been retrieved from the EPA Host System. The export step should be unnecessary for users who made the changes by importing files into the Client Tool. After syncing with the EPA Host System, these users can simply import in monitoring plan data.

HOURGEN-13-A

Symptom

The emission evaluation produces error HOURGEN-13-A, indicating that the monitoring plan does not have an open submission access window for the current reporting period, even though the submission period has begun and the Client Tool has logged into the EPA Host System since the beginning of the submission period.

Solution

The solution is the same as listed under the "Out of Sync" error.

The complete list of currently identified known issues is available on the Known Issues Web page.

The presentations from the St. Louis Stakeholder Meeting have been posted. All of the material which was presented at the May 12, 2009 ECMPS Stakeholder Meeting have been posted on the ECMPS Support Web site.

The presentations are audiovisual presentations broken into the natural sections of the meeting. This allows you to listen to any of the sections of the meeting you would like to listen to rather than trying to find a particular section of the meeting from a longer presentation. The selections include a recap of the first mandatory reporting period under ECMPS.

For the first time, the presentations have both the PowerPoint slides as well as the video of the presenter. In addition, the Client Tool demonstration section is also included.

Please provide us with any feedback on these presentations using the Tutorials and Stakeholder Meeting Feedback form.

Just a reminder that there will be a brief, scheduled outage of the EPA Host System on Sunday, July 12th. The EPA Host System will become unavailable for a short time between 8:00 p.m. and midnight EDT. The actual downtime should be less than a half an hour. However, the specific time is not known because there are a number of servers which are involved in this planned outage, and the EPA Host System is only one of these servers. (Note this will also affect access to the CAMD Business System.)

The planned outage is to implement technology to increase the bandwidth of an internal connections within EPA's server infrastructure.

ECMPS users who attempt to connect during the actual time that the EPA Host System is unavailable will receive an error. ECMPS Support is recommending that users NOT attempt to connect to the EPA Host System during the hours of 8:00 p.m. until midnight EDT on Sunday, July 12th in order to avoid any problems.

Data and Maps is the Clean Air Market Division's (CAMD) publicly-accessible Web site for presenting emissions trading data. One of the types of data on the Web site is the emissions data which are submitted during each reporting period.

In the past, when data were submitted as EDRs, the emissions data for a quarter were moved over to Data and Maps approximately twenty days after the reporting period ended. Now, as part of the re-engineering work, the emissions data which are submitted as XML are being refreshed on a daily basis. That means that emission data which are submitted today are available to be viewed in Data and Maps tomorrow. (The data are actually loaded into Data and Maps around 4:00 a.m. ET. At that time, all emissions data are loaded into Data and Maps for all emissions data which have been submitted through ECMPS to the EPA Host System and have not already been moved to Data and Maps.) Note, the data are loaded as preliminary data. The data will remain preliminary until the data are finalized after compliance.

1. On the Data and Maps Web site, the data can be viewed by clicking on the Emissions image.


2. On the Emissions page, select the "Preliminary Unit Level Emissions" folder.


3. Select the "Quarterly" time frame.


4. Complete the Time Frame selection by selecting "2009" as the year and "Quarter 2" as the quarter and clicking the "Add Time Frame" button.


5. Select a program from the list and click the "Add Program" button. In this example, the "Acid Rain Program" is selected.


6. Note that your criteria are displayed below the tabs. Click on the "View Results" tab to query the database and return the results.


7. The results of the query are displayed in a table format on the Web page.



Questions about Data and Maps should be directed to Data and Maps Technical Support.

Labels: Data and Maps

With the 2009Q2 reporting period, all sources are required to submit Part 75 data using the EMCPS Client Tool.

With the advent of the new ECMPS Client Tool software, the old software which were used to check and report data can be removed. This includes MDC, ETS-FTP, and SecuRemote. Of the three of these application, the last one, SecuRemote, needs to be a turned off or uninstalled in order to prevent problems connecting to the EPA Host System. SecuRemote cannot be running when you attempt to connect to the EPA Host System through the ECMPS Client Tool.

For more information on how to uninstall SecuRemote and the other older applications, you should review the FAQ which answers the question, "How do I uninstall legacy applications?"

In rare cases, it might be necessary to maintain these applications. If you have any questions about whether or not you should uninstall any of these applications, contact Technical Support.

There will be a brief, scheduled outage of the EPA Host System on Sunday, July 12th. The EPA Host System will become unavailable for a short time between 8:00 p.m. and midnight EDT. The actual downtime should be less than a half hour. However, the specific time is not known because there are a number of servers which are involved in this planned outage, and the EPA Host System is only one of these servers. (Note this will also affect access to the CAMD Business System.)

The planned outage is to implement technology to increase the bandwidth of an internal connections within EPA's server infrastructure.

ECMPS users who attempt to connect during the actual time that the EPA Host System is unavailable will receive an error. ECMPS Support is recommending that users NOT attempt to connect to the EPA Host System during the hours of 8:00 p.m. until midnight EDT on Sunday, July 12th in order to avoid any problems.

Labels: Scheduled Outage

In observance of Independence Day, the ECMPS Technical Support Help Desk will be closed on Friday, July 3rd. Technical support will be available again on Monday, July 6th.

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

• Labor Day - Monday, September 7, 2009
• Columbus Day - Monday, October 12, 2009
• Thanksgiving - Thursday, November 26, 2009
• Friday after Thanksgiving - Friday, November 27, 2009
• Christmas - Friday December 25, 2009

You can view the full technical support holiday schedule here