For over 20 years, Locus environmental software customers have saved enormously on their setup and and data entry costs. This infographic highlights the aggregate savings of all users based on conservative estimates of time and cost for different aspects related to our software.
The global economy is currently being tested on a magnitude that we have never witnessed before. The effects of COVID-19 have pushed the limits of individuals, and the organizations that they run. As we collectively face short-term problems related to the pandemic, long-term effects of climate change have, in some ways, been magnified. When the dust settles, and we tackle COVID-19, we will still be facing the consequences of climate change. It is now, however, not after COVID-19 is controlled, that organizations must make steps towards tackling environmental issues. On a positive note, there is a return on investment in sustainability, and there are pragmatic ways of achieving sustainable goals.
The connection between saving money and resources and investing in sustainability is well known. Year after year, sustainable projects result in billions of dollars in savings for the companies investing in them. By 2030, return on investment in sustainability will be $26 trillion. And while those companies investing in sustainability have better numbers, they’re continuing to push for higher sustainability goals, as are government agencies. Companies not making these investments are not only missing out financially, but they are falling behind when it comes to long-term preparedness. Without a doubt, the organizations who are acting first have the leg up. When it comes to sustainability, two proverbs attributed to Benjamin Franklin are as true as when he first said them. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, and “a penny saved is a penny earned.” Pair those variables with the ever-growing awareness and importance of sustainability by the green investor and the green consumer and you have a powerful combination.
Nearly 80,000 emission-reducing projects by 190 Fortune 500 companies reporting data showed nearly $3.7 billion in savings in 2016 alone. – WWF | worldwildlife.org
With climate-related issues comprising the top five long-term risks in terms of likelihood, the need for investing in sustainability becomes all the more apparent. This sentiment is mirrored in a recent Bloomberg article, where Bill Gates suggests that the most difficult long-term problem facing the world today is climate change, and the effect it has on the environment. While outlining several difficulties, he points to one shining light in the fight to sustain a healthy climate: the acceleration and innovation of technology over the past two decades created to tackle the problem. Not many understand more than Locus the fight to maintain, and reduce, and use resources wisely. Locus has, for over two decades, provided advanced tools to improve sustainability on a grand scale.
Several organizations have taken advantage of the sustainability software solutions Locus provides. One example is Del Monte Foods, one of the largest producers of food in the world. They partnered with Locus for sustainability data management, eliminating errors in old data and better monitoring resource usage and cost. They also use Locus’ sustainability app to visualize and report data on the fly. They are tackling sustainability from a practical standpoint, addressing real data, not a nebulous idea. And they have been better off for acting early instead of waiting.
In the end, we must address the problems that face us. We need to tackle COVID-19 and how it affects our organizations, but be mindful that every quarter and every year that sustainability goals are pushed back, there are dollars being lost seeking out attainable improvements to our environment. Not only that, but every step that isn’t taken towards sustainable goals is a step behind other organizations making practical investments in their future and the wellbeing of everyone.
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Regardless of the size of your organization or the industry you’re in, chances are that right now artificial intelligence can benefit your EHS&S initiatives in one way or another. And whether you are ready for it or not, the age of artificial intelligence is coming. Forward-thinking and adaptive businesses are already using artificial intelligence in EHS&S as a competitive advantage in the marketplace to great success.
With modern EHS&S software, immense amounts of computing power, and seemingly endless cloud storage, you now have the tools to achieve fully-realized AI for your EHS&S program. And while you may not be ready to take the plunge into AI just yet, there are some steps you can take to implement artificial intelligence into your EHS&S program in the future.
Perhaps the best aspect of preparing for AI implementation is that all of the steps you take to properly bring about an AI system will benefit your program even before the deployment phase. Accurate sources, validated data, and one system of record are all important factors for any EHS&S team.
Used alongside big data, AI can quickly draw inferences and conclusions about many aspects of life more efficiently than with human analysis, but only if your sources pull accurate data. Accurate sources data will help your organization regardless of your current AI usage level. That’s why the first step to implementing artificial intelligence is auditing your data sources.
Sources pulling accurate data can be achieved with some common best practices. First, separate your data repository from the process that analyzes the data. This allows you to repeat the same analysis on different sets of data without the fear of not being able to replicate the process of analysis. AI requires taking a step away from an Excel-based or in-house software, and moving to a modern EHS&S software, like Locus Platform that will audit your data as it is entered. This means that anything from SCADA to historical outputs, samples, and calculations can be entered and vetted. Further, consider checking your data against other sources and doing exploratory analysis to greater legitimize your data.
AI requires data, and a lot of it—aggregated from multiple sources. But no amount of predictive analysis or machine learning is going to be worth anything without proper data validation processes.
Collected data must be relevant to the problem you are trying to solve. Therefore, you need validated data, which is a truly difficult ask with Excel, in-house platforms, and other EHS&S software. Appropriate inputs, appropriate ranges, data consistency, range checks (to name a few)—are all aspects of data that is validated in a modern EHS&S software like Locus Platform. Without these checks inherent to a platform, you cannot be sure that your data, or your analyses are producing useful or accurate results.
Possibly the best reason to get started with AI is the waterfall effect. As your data uncovers hidden insights and starts to learn on its own, the more accurate your new data will be and the better your predictions will become.
A unified system of record and a central repository for all data means that you see an immediate increase in data quality. Starting with AI means the end of disconnected EHS&S systems. No more transferring data from one platform to another or from pen and paper, just fully-digitized and mobile-enabled data in one platform backed up in the cloud. You also gain the added benefit of being able to access your data in real-time, incorporate compliance/reporting on the fly, and save time and resources using a scalable solution instead of a web of spreadsheets and ad-hoc databases.
Whether you are ready for AI or not, investing in these otherwise useful steps are necessary for any program looking to harness the power of artificial intelligence. When you are ready to take that next step, you will be well on the path to AI implementation, with a solid data infrastructure in place for your efforts.
To learn more about artificial intelligence, view this NAEM-hosted webinar led by Locus experts, or read our study on predicting water quality using machine learning.
Software as a service (SaaS) databases offer several unique features that allow you to manage your environmental data more thoroughly and efficiently. This infographic highlights twelve key features of SaaS databases for environmental software. 
This infographic was created based on a four part series of blog posts on the same topic, which can be read here.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 11 December 2018 — Locus Technologies, (Locus), the industry leader in EHS, sustainability, and compliance management software, is pleased to announce that PennJersey Environmental Consulting (PennJersey), a leading environmental site assessment and remediation firm located in Milford, New Jersey, has selected Locus EIM SaaS-based software to more efficiently track analytical data, automate its field data collection, laboratory analyses, and overall enterprise data consolidation for its clients.
“With Locus EIM, our professionals and staff will be positioned to manage our laboratory data more efficiently. We were especially drawn to the ability to automate the laboratory data validation to assure the quality and usability of the data. EIM will provide our clients greater efficiency and allow us to focus on providing the timely and cost-effective solutions to their assessment and remediation challenges,” said Rodger Ferguson, President of PennJersey.
“Our deep understanding of the EHS compliance market enables us to quickly address environmental mandates, such as PennJersey’s tracking and management of soil, air, and groundwater data, with precision,” said Neno Duplan, Founder and CEO of Locus. “Locus EIM can indicate what levels of target compounds are in the soil, air, or water samples, how the data are trending, and provide real-time alerts to abnormalities. Overall, our solution ensures better monitoring, real-time analysis, aggregations and reporting of data that leverages a modern SaaS-based platform.”
Continued from Part 3
11) Databases are simply more capable when it comes to data stewardshipData management is a broad term that includes the range of activities that we have discussed elsewhere in this blog series, including sample planning and collecting, inputting data, uploading EDDs (Electronic Data Deliverables), and analyzing and reporting environmental data and information.
However, the full scope of data stewardship is even broader than this, including necessary things like knowing where your data is located and knowing the quality of the data used in your regulatory reports.
Here at Locus, we have had new customers come to us with some incredible horror stories:
These are just some of the latest examples we have encountered. We are constantly surprised and concerned at the variety of ways that organizations can unwittingly put their critical data at risk.
The key to effective data stewardship is to know where it is, know its quality, and have uninterrupted access to it. This is something that Excel can’t offer, and it’s also something a hodgepodge of spreadsheets, emailed PDF files, stacks of hard copy boring logs in multiple offices, and custom-built databases simply can’t do.
12) Databases are more supportive of software quality assurance practicesQuality assurance is a popular topic of discussion, but few people consider it in terms of the configurations (behind the scenes code) that people add to popular off-the-shelf programs such as Excel or Access. Of course, these programs go through rigorous quality assurance testing before being released to the public to ensure they perform as expected. After all, no one questions that Excel can perform math correctly.
However, what is often not considered, are the macros, custom functions, and calculations that are often added to spreadsheets when deployed for managing environmental data and other tasks.
Here at Locus, we have yet to encounter one Excel spreadsheet or Access database from a customer that has been documented, testedand comes with clear user instructions. We also have never encountered anyone that has never made errors in Excel by picking the wrong cells for a formula.
You would avoid these types of oversights and lax QA protocols with commercial software that relies on expert functionality for its business. For example, if Locus EIM did not perform proper calculations (repeatedly) or load data properly (repeatedly), the product would not be successful in the marketplace, and we wouldn’t have thousands of users who trust and use our software every day. This level of quality assurance is simply not found in user-configured, ad hoc “databases” built-inExcel or Access.
As more environmental sites become embroiled in litigation, or are in the process of making health and risk clean up decisions, the importance of data quality assurance cannot be ignored. Water utilities that are charged with providing clean safe drinking water to the public can’t rely on ad hoc Excel or Access systems to analyze such critical data.
Custom databases built in-house vs. commercial softwareIf you’re serious about rethinking your environmental data management system and finally ditching your spreadsheets for a more mature and secure solution, you might be considering the advantages of having an in-house team or a contractor build a custom database system for you with Access or another widely available tool.
After all, only you know the idiosyncrasies that your organization deals with, right? You can have your developers tailor your system to fit your needs exactly.
Moreover, with a custom solution, you can make sure that it’s integrated with your organization’s other systems and processes, like document management and invoicing.
Some of this might be true, but let’s take a closer look—and consider the tradeoffs.
Every organization is different, especially if we’re comparing organizations and businesses across different industries. Water utilities face an entirely different set of challenges than a multinational oil and gas corporation. Despite these differences, diverse organizations share some remarkable similarities when it comes to managing environmental data, and in most cases, you’re not the only environmental professional who has experienced most of the challenges your organization has faced.
A commercial software vendor with customers in a wide variety of industries naturally collects an aggregated body of knowledge about the environmental data management needs (and quirks) of their customers. By adopting existing commercial software, your organization can benefit from the wisdom of this crowd, getting access to functionality and modules that can streamline your processes in ways you couldn’t imagine (or afford to develop).
On top of this, commercial software solutions that have been around for a while usually have pretty good support for various API integrations of commonly-used systems, or they can easily build the integrations into their solution (usually for a small fee). Attempting to build these integrations into a custom, in-house solution can lead to astronomical costs and unforeseen complications that often can’t be accurately estimated until the work is well underway.
Commercial software vendors are in the business of translating real customer needs into successful software products. As an environmental professional, you probably have a good understanding of your business processes, but do you trust yourself and your development team to find and implement the most efficient, effective, and scalable solution for managing your ever-increasing amounts of data?
“Off-the-shelf” can sometimes be a misnomer. Many commercial vendors nowadays have learned to build their platforms to be configurable and customizable, to better accommodate the wide variety of customer industries and organization-specific needs. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a few vendors to see what they can offer. Consider a vendor that has experienced domain experts, that have been in your shoes and are motivated to help you solve your problems, and deliver the solution you need.
A good vendor will ask many questions about your business processes, your current system, and your pain points. You might be surprised at how easy-to-configure and flexible “off-the-shelf” systems can be.
Are GIS and mobile part of your current environmental data management process? If so, you will absolutely want to have them integrated with any database solution. Otherwise you’ll be dealing with a mess of duplicate and out-of-date data all over again. Building integrations with these complex systems can be just as challenging as building the database management system itself.
A robust commercial software solution comes with these features built-in.
Let’s go even further—have you ever thought about how automation, the Internet of Things, or artificial intelligence could impact your business processes in 5 or 10 years (or sooner)? Commercial software vendors often have the resources and the incentives to explore new frontiers of technology and stay on the cutting-edge of their market. When your peers or competitors start integrating these new technologies into their workflows, will your custom system be able to adapt and keep up?
Hopefully, by this point, we have convinced you of the superiority of database management systems over spreadsheets when it comes to managing environmental data. Now, it’s time to make some efforts to examine the specific shortcomings of your current system and consider your options.
About the author—Gregory Buckle, PhD, Locus Technologies
Dr. Buckle has more than 30 years of experience in the environmental field, most of which have been devoted to the design, development, and implementation of environmental database management systems. When he joined Locus in 1999, he was responsible for building and deploying Locus’ cloud-based EIM software. He was also instrumental in customizing EIM for the water utility industry and developing EIM’s powerful Sample Planning and Data Validation modules. The latest iteration of the Sample Planning module that Dr. Buckle built is currently being used by Los Alamos National Laboratory and San Jose Water Company to plan and schedule thousands of samples per year.
About the author—Marian Carr, Locus Technologies
Ms. Carr is responsible for managing overall customer solution deployments and customer relationships with Locus’ government accounts. Her career at Locus includes heading the product development team of the award-winning cloud-based environmental ePortal solution as well as maintaining and growing key customer accounts with Locus’ Fortune 100 enterprise deployments. In addition, Ms. Carr was instrumental in driving the growth and adoption of the Locus EIM platform with key federal and water organizations.
Locus Technologies has expanded its environmental information management (EIM) software to automate the generation of self-monitoring report forms (SMRFs).
Locus’ EIM Software Automates the Generation of SMRFs for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ)
Originally Posted on Environmental Leader
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – In response to industry and customer requirements, Locus Technologies (Locus), the leader in cloud-based environmental compliance and information management software, has expanded its award-winning Environmental Information Management (EIM) software to automate the generation of Self-Monitoring Report Forms (SMRFs).
Locus EIM solves the problem of expensive, labor-intensive manual SMRF generation by completely automating the process. SMRFs are required by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, and are meant to meet the monitoring and reporting requirements as set forth by each facility’s Aquifer Protection Permit (APP) or Reuse Permit. An example form may include data such as sample date, analysis date, lab ID, reported concentration or method, and can incorporate other extremely specific information.
Thanks to Locus’ new functionality, once arranged in EIM, companies can generate SMRFs within minutes in the approved formats, using validated data. Companies can set up EIM for all permitted facilities and realize immediate cost and time savings during each reporting period. Relevant data are directly uploaded to the system, reviewed and validated, then reported in the proper regulatory required formats. These new output formats can be easily modified to generate the exact format needed by other cities that are required to submit similar self-monitoring report forms.
“Incorporating the automatic generation of SMRFs within our EIM software is a testament to the true flexibility of Locus’ software platforms,” said Neno Duplan, President & CEO of Locus Technologies. “It is our goal here at Locus to automate reporting by providing as many off-the-shelf standard reports as possible. SMRF reports are just one of many examples. By automating reporting our customers streamline their management processes, so that they increase operational efficiencies and lower reporting costs.”
Data quality for EHS compliance or sustainability management isn’t a glamorous topic — especially when it comes to analytical data management.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 7 January 2014 —Versar, Inc. (NYSE MKT:VSR) has selected Locus Technologies’ (Locus’) Environmental Information Management (EIM) software to be its preferred environmental data management system for the firm’s Performance Based Remediation (PBR) program for the U.S. Air Force (USAF).
Versar will take advantage of EIM’s ability to support analytical data compatible with Environmental Resources Program Information Management System (ERPIMS), the electronic system that the Air Force uses for validation and management of data collected from environmental projects at its bases. In addition, Versar will utilize the ERPIMS regulatory export feature and the EIM data validation module.
Versar is currently providing PBR services to the USAF under the 2009 Worldwide Environmental Restoration and Construction (WERC 09) contract through September 2020. The Versar Program, as both Prime contractor and Team subcontractor, presently includes nearly 200 contaminated sites at 15 Air Force bases in 10 different states across the U.S. The total value of the work (if all options are awarded) is approximately $110M; Versar is the Prime contractor with direct responsibility for 128 sites valued at $93M under three separate Task Orders (TOs) and is a Team subcontractor on a fourth TO.
“We are very proud Versar has determined that EIM has the robust and versatile functionality to meet the company’s data management requirements for its USAF PBR Program,” said Neno Duplan, President & CEO of Locus. “We are constantly striving to incorporate specific features into our software, such as the ERPIMS compatibility, that will make a big difference for our customers.”
ABOUT VERSAR, INC.
Versar, headquartered in Springfield, VA, is a publicly traded global project management company providing sustainable, value-oriented solutions to government and commercial clients in engineering, construction management, environmental services, and munitions response market areas. For more information, visit www.versar.com.
It’s no secret that hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, has been a popular topic for debate in recent years. Another occurrence revolving around this that has garnered support from some, and opposition from others, is Texas’ oil and gas regulatory agency, the Railroad Commission, updating its rules to address all aspects of the drilling process.
The latest version of the proposed rule changes is expected this week, and will be the largest revamping of Texas well construction regulations since the 1970s. These rules are important to ensure that toxic, fracking-related fluids do not leak into aquifers due to poor construction of oil and gas wells. These regulations will require examinations of things such as the quality of the protective cement placed between layers of pipe in a well, and a pressure test for the pipes themselves.
Keeping with the controversial theme around hydrofracking, some say the rule changes are too restrictive, and others say they aren’t enough. But most agree that hydrofracking does have the potential to contaminate groundwater if not performed correctly.
The contamination of groundwater can occur from faulty drilling or well completion. For the natural gas industry to ensure this doesn’t happen and to stay in compliance with these new regulations, it must keep up with an ongoing monitoring of site conditions and air emissions, management of production water, and the remediation of adverse environmental impacts: all of which involve the collection and analysis of large quantities of complex data.
Owners of hydrofracking sites and drilling companies need to take advantage of existing software tools to better organize their hydrofracking waste and water quality data. By using SaaS based software like Locus’ EIM to organize, manage, validate, visualize, store, and report this information, they can effectively demonstrate that this drilling can be done safely and transparently.