POTW Administration & Compliance System (PACS) is designed to centrally manage multiple data sources. The data warehousing capabilities of its Oracle backbone coupled with PACS’ N-tiered application design philosophy, make PACS a user-friendly, comprehensive and extensible enterprise-wide solution to manage environmental compliance programs for water authorities.

The Work Flow

Work Order Management
PACS provides a comprehensive Work Management system that lets inspectors and supervisors schedule sampling trips, inspections, permitting, enforcement, and any other activities that require follow-ups. Any activities performed by utility authorities can be identified as “tasks” and logically grouped under one work order. For larger-scale related activities, a user may group various work orders into a larger logical unit called ‘Project’ for effective management of similar tasks. Projects can then be tracked separately with their own uniquely-defined due dates. Advanced work management features include the automatic scheduling of follow-up tasks and/or an alert to supervisors when a facility is found to be in non-compliance, or a particular task has not been completed before its scheduled due date.

Inspectors can schedule work, define purposes, establish due dates and assign the appropriate technicians and inspectors all from one central location. A user can schedule multiple work activities for multiple locations all with one click of a button.

Managers can easily monitor resource allocation and activity progress for a particular project. In addition, supervisors are automatically notified by PACS if tasks are not completed in a timely manner.

Directors can view reports that show workloads within the organization as well as analyze the project costs. PACS allows you to project resource and cost requirements for environmental programs affecting your organization.

NPDES Compliance
PACS lets you quickly generate monthly and quarterly Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) to meet the NPDES compliance requirements. Since the monitoring information that is used to generate the report is already stored in PACS , DMR report generation is as easy as a few mouse-clicks. The user can configure DMR report templates that will store the required reporting parameters and calculation logic needed to generate the DMR results. The DMR report template will drive the system to generate DMRs that meet regulatory submission requirements. DMR calculation results can be viewed, refined and approved as necessary before generating the final DMR for submission.

Sampling
Sampling is made easy with bar code labels, Chain of Custody reports, and field schedule reports. The PACS uses bar-coding to track every stage of sampling events and keeps you up-to-date. Sampling is tracked from planning -> scheduling -> sampling -> sample login -> testing in progress -> results approved. In addition, field measurements can be electronically collected (using a pocket PC) in the field and uploaded to the database.

The LIMS EDI module automatically forwards sample IDs and analysis requirements from the PACS to the LIMS in the laboratory after samples have been logged in. Analysis results, once approved for release, can be automatically brought into PACS via the LIMS EDI.

Inspection
In the User Inspection screen, a user can manage the inspection schedule, enter inspection reports and track inspection history.Inspection reports can be completed using blank Inspection forms (auto-generated by PACS) or by filling data in an easy-to-use inspection form on the Pocket PC. PACS interfaces with the Pocket PC. Inspection forms with company data can be downloaded to the device to assist inspectors to complete inspection reports in the field. When an inspection has been completed, the reports are automatically uploaded to the database.

Final inspection reports are generated by PACS in Microsoft Word format. All inspection reports are saved in the PACS Oracle database. Content search of historical inspection reports is also provided.

Inspectors can flag violations based on inspection results. Follow-up tasks, due date, and personnel assignment can be managed within PACS until the violation case is closed.

Permitting and Self-Monitoring Reports
The Permit module will calculate draft limits, track permit revisions, generate permit documents in Microsoft Word and save permit documents to support document content searches. In addition, blank Self-Monitoring Report (SMRs) forms can be generated to facilitate SMR data collection from industrial users.