ECMPS Support

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

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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