ECMPS Support

ECMPS Technical Support will not be available today. Our office building lost power last night due to a small, intense storm. It is estimated that power will not be restored to the building until late in the evening of Friday, June 25th.

Until power is restored to our building, we will not be able to reply to support requests. If you have a technical support question, please submit your question via the technical support email address. Any emails which are sent will not be lost. The emails will simply be queued up until the technical support staff is able to access the ticketing system.

There are two known issues related to assigning agents in the CAMD Business System (CBS). The problems do not affect all users, but, if a user experiences any problems assigning agents, the current workaround is to submit an Agent Notice of Delegation form to CAMD.

The problems related to the CBS agents functionality are being corrected and tested. At this point, it is estimated that the problems will be corrected in the next several days.

In the meantime, if users elect to use the paper form workaround, they should print out the Agent Notice of Delegation form, complete it, and have it signed. They can then submit a scanned copy via email to Laurel DeSantis at CAMD.

Any questions about the paper form should also be directed to Laurel DeSantis.

More information about assigning agents, can be found on the CAMD Web site agents page.

Labels: CAMD Business System

This past February, PQA, which is contracted by CAMD to provide ECMPS technical support, was acquired by SRA International. During the subsequent months following the acquisition, the technical support work has not been affected.

Over the coming weekend, a couple of changes will be made that will affect access to technical support. However, the level and commitment to technical support, as well as the team providing technical support will remain the same.

Beginning Friday evening, June 18th, after EDT work hours, the following two changes will be made:

1. The ECMPS Support website will have move from ecmps.pqa.com to ecmps.camdsupport.com. Users who access the old URL will be redirected to the new URL.


2. The ECMPS Support email address will change from ecmps-support@pqa.com to ecmps-support@camdsupport.com. Any support tickets sent to the old technical support email address, ecmps-support@pqa.com, will be forwarded to the new email address. However, responses to these requests will come from the new support email address. This means that stakeholders should add the ecmps-support@camdsupport.com email address to their "safe senders" list.

Also, during the integration process over the weekend, the ticketing system will most likely become unavailable at times. This means that any support tickets sent in between Friday evening on June 18th and early Monday morning on June 21st will be queued up and delivered to the support ticketing system after the network is restored. At that point, ECMPS Technical Support will address any tickets in the order in which they were sent. We expect that the integration will be completed by 5:00 a.m. on Monday, June 21st and that support will be business as usual after that time.

If you have any questions or experience any issues related to access to technical support, please use the technical support telephone number (434-817-6097) as a backup to the support email address.

Labels: Scheduled Outage, Technical Support

The 2010 Quarter 2 Release of the Client Tool is now available.

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 can download and install the 2010 Q2 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.

With the growing use of Smartphones (e.g., cell phones with Internet access), a number of Websites are providing Smartphone-friendly versions of the Website. The Smartphone-friendly version of the Website is helpful for making the Website more accessible for users who are navigating the site on their Smartphone. For instance, the U.S. EPA has established EPA Mobile which is designed for mobile device access of its Website.

Through feedback, Technical Support has often heard that ECMPS Client Tool users rely on Smartphones for their communication. At ECMPS Technical Support, we want to know if it would be helpful for the ECMPS Support Website to have a mobile version that would be more easy to view and navigate with a Smartphone.

Like many mobile versions of the full Website, the mobile version would be a stripped-down version of the full version. However, the mobile version would include important features such as ECMPS News, EPA Host status, and contact information.

Let us know what you think. Would it be helpful to have a mobile version of the ECMPS Support Website? Send your comments to ECMPS Technical Support or add a comment to this news item.

On June 9, 2010, the 2010 Q2 version of the Client Tool is scheduled to be released. On that same day, the CAMD Business System (CBS) will also be updated in order to include new functionality and bug fixes. Both of these will include new security enhancements in order to prevent phishing attacks.

What is a phishing attack?

Phishing attacks are a form of online identity theft which are designed to have users unknowingly provide their authentication credentials. For example, a phishing attack will send users unsolicited emails requesting an action on their part that is initiated by clicking on a hyperlink in the email. The hyperlink sends the user to a spoofed website which has been designed to look like the actual website. The user enters authentication credentials, and the spoofed website captures the authentication credentials. Once the authentication credentials are captured, access is then available to the actual website with legitimate credentials.

Security Changes to Prevent Phishing Attacks

In order to prevent phishing attacks, the following changes have been made:

1. All password changes must be completed in CBS. The ability for users to change their password through the Client Tool has been removed.


2. Emails which originate from the CAMD Business System (CBS) will no longer have hyperlinks to CBS. Emails from CBS may contain hyperlinks to the Clean Air Markets Website, but emails should never contain a hyperlink to CBS. If a user receives an email from CBS which contains a hyperlink to CBS, the user should not click on the link and contact CAMD regarding the email.


3. Emails from CBS will never request that a user click on a hyperlink in order to verify the user's authentication credentials (e.g., user name, password, challenge questions and answers). If a user receives an email from CBS which requests that the user verify the user's authentication credentials through a hyperlink, the user should not click on the link and contact CAMD regarding the email.


4. Confirmation emails sent after a user's password has been changed will be sent to the old and new email addresses. If a user receives an unexpected CBS email which indicates that the user's password has been changed, the user should contact CAMD regarding the email.


5. Users will be required to provide an answer to a randomly selected challenge question from the user's pool of challenge questions when changing personal information, challenge question answers, passwords, and email addresses.

If you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact Laurel DeSantis at desantis.laurel@epa.gov or 202-343-9191.

Labels: CAMD Business System